My dear sister and brother

I hope these few lines will find you all well as, thank God, it leaves us all at present. I was glad to hear from you again. I hope you will excuse my neglect of writing. Our poor brother Charles is dead. He died with a bleeding cancer on his lung. We went to see him once. We could hardly know know what he said for his poor lung was in such a state he could take nothing but thin food. Poor fellow, he was starving. That was last March and he died last June. We went to his funeral. He was buried very respectfully. His oldest daughter buried him. She is in service. His wife was a bad old woman and always was. She behaved bad to our poor mother and by all accounts so she did to poor Charles. The old woman is married again in less than six months after his death. It was no one that knew her character. I am sure no man never would have had her. Now I hear that her husband uses her badly, and they say serve her right for how she used to treat poor Charles. She is living in Norwich. She is much older than he was. Now this is his likeness he had taken in his blacksmith's days, not long before he was taken with that disease. Send me word if you knew him. Poor fellow, I hope he is gone to rest. I hope we shall meet him in heaven where parting will be no more. What a happy meeting that will be. Now I am sorry to tell you that our sister Hannah and husband are failed in business. They lived in a small farm, then they took a larger one in the same place about two years ago. They had to borrow money off different people and I am sorrow to tell you that he had forty pounds of my oldest daughter's. I am afraid she will not get half of it. Their auction was last Wednesday, 16th of March. They had a good auction, but the lawyer's expenses are so much that I am afraid the creditors will come short. Now I must tell you that I wish I was near your apples. The cider I don’t care about, but the apples I am very fond of. We have no apples in our place the last three years. I have had only one tart this year. I do wish it was not so far that you could send a hamper full. I was glad to hear that you are doing so well. I cannot boast of the times but thank God we live. This has been a very trying winter. We have had a great deal of snow that the roads had to be cut, and it lasted so long and bitterly cold. We had a storm of snow this week and it is very cold. I hope we shall get warm weather soon. How has it been in America? I can't get my husband to have his likeness taken [so] that I can send it. I will try him again this summer. My grandchildren keep increasing, I think I have 22. I must come to a close, hoping to hear from you again. Our love to all. We remain your loving sister and brother, Mary and Joseph Burton.