Letters Packet 7 (d)

Amerikan Bord Heyeti (American Board)

Letters from Elias to Martha, largely recounting daily life in Constantinople, mission business, his personal studies, and travels. In Dec. 22 1868 from Constantinople he writes: “Last Friday night at ½ past 10 we were startled by the cry of fire, and saw that it was near and that the sparks were blown directly toward our neighborhood. Indeed many fell on our premises, but we were preserved unharmed. The new palace of Fuad Pasha, by the Seraikeriat [?] (537.jpg), was completely burned and only the walls now standing. We do not know anything of the cause of the fire. The building was just about finished and very finely finished too. It seems to have been all along intended as a palace although the L. Herald said it was to be finished as an office for the Ministry of Police. But even in noticing this fire, and designating the building as Fuad Pasha’s palace, they did not condescend to correct this former statement. F. Pasha is himself away in Italy seeking health.” Later, in Feb 1869 Elias discusses logistical questions related to the translation and distribution of the Gospels in Bulgarian, Armenian and Turkish, especially in relation to the maintenance of his health, and considers where (America or “the East”) is the best place for him to reside. On Feb 12 1869 he reports: “Hadji Hatoon is failing fast, and can probably survive only a few days. It is a comfort to think what a promotion it will be for her to die.” Hadji Hatoon was an Armenian woman, a member, according to Maria West’s 1875 account, of the Peshtimaljian family, who converted from Orthodox to Presbyterian Christianity following the conversion of her husband and daughters. Feb15 1869: “You will have learned from the papers the death of Fuad Pasha, Turkish Min. for Foreign Affairs. He was doubtless the ablest and most liberal man in the government, and should trouble arise this spring or there is still some reason to apprehend, they will severely feel his loss. The Cretans have given up for the present. But will Greece be content as long as Crete, Epirus & Thessaly are under Turkish rule? The New York demonstration of sympathy in the cause of the Cretans was rather late in the day.” Feb 24 1869 letter to Martha discusses disagreement with a Hagop Mattoryan the bookbinder about the leadership and management within the mission at Yenikapı. March 4 1869 Elias writes that “Haji Hatoon has gone to her rest.” He considers the various pros and cons of moving to a new house in Pera. May 27 1869: “The Annual Meeting closed yesterday…Edward was designated to Sivas, with special ref. to labor for Mohammedans.” In July 1871, Elias writes of the Istanbul house: “I found our house remarkably free from fleas. I hardly see one in a day. Musketoes & gnats there are, enough to make it necessary to use my musketo net.” In July 1871 Elias describes his daily routine: breakfast at 7 (coffee and semolina), “picked a dozen ears of corn (just now in its perfection) and took to Bliss.” Then “work at the bookstore, the usual routine of preparing copy and correcting proofs.” At 5 an emergency request came from the printers, then home in time for supper (leftover chicken stew) by 6. Then reading and prayer, airing the bed, “and by the time I got downstairs and lighted my lamp it was 8 o’clock.” In 1872, on board a steamer ship, Elias remarks that he does “not remember ever to have taken passage in a steamer so crowded.” He also notes that “we have on board the Panthay envoy…the envoy is a prince, a son of the emperor of Yunan. This his interpreter tells me is the proper name of the new empire. Panthay, he says, is a name which the Burmese give to the people of Yunan, but no such name exists in Chinese, which is their language.” Nov. 4 1872: “Maquesia.” After a brief stop in Smyrna (from where he write on Nov. 1) Elias has apparently transferred to a different steamer ship en route for “Beyroot”, which he finds much more comfortable than the crowded Vulcan. “We have some American travellers on board – also the Greek Patriarch of Antioch with whom I have had some conversation. He is a feeble old man.” By Nov. 7 he is writing from Beyroot, where he has joined Dr. D. Bliss and his two sons, Mr. Dodge, Mr. Hallock, and Dr. Thomson and his daughter Emilia. He describes the construction of new college buildings, and the appearance of the church and Bible House; the college is reported as having 85 students. He mentions that he and Mr. Bliss are thinking to travel to Abeih, Damascus, Balbek, and Zableh. Dr. Van Dyke is also in Beirut, managing “college, hospital and literary work” and “the entire charge of the press.” On Nov. 28 he explains that he will not visit Abeih or Sidon due to his poor health, but will accompany Mr. Bliss to Egypt, where they are met by Mr. Ewing. On Dec. 2 they depart for Alexandria, and Elias writes from Ramleh on Dec. 6, “forty years today since you and I first landed in Malta.” On Dec. 10 he contributes to a sermon in Turkish and Armenian, but notes of the Armenians: “There is not much interest among them and not more than ten or twelve came, and of these only half knew Armenian.” Dec and Jan letters generally written from Sinoris.. From Osiook (Egypt), Feb 24 1873: “Four weeks from today with God’s blessing I hope to be in your arms and to clasp you in mine. And then this suspense of waiting for letters will be over. … I have had this morning a beautiful donkey ride. The weather, which has been rather cold, is again mild and the sky perfectly clear. It gives to the mountains East of the Nile a delicate purple tinge, and such a back-ground sets off the green of the fields and the beauty of the river and clumps of trees scattered here and there to the best advantage. I do not think there is a prettier view in Egypt.” On Feb 16 1872, on board a ship entering Seraglio Point (Constantinople): “Of the 20 passengers in this cabin four are English, and the three gentlemen would like to see a war between England and America – not that they do not respect America, but they say both parties will respect each other the more after a fight. I tell them that for those two countries to make war would be just like England and Scotland going to war. It is strange how recklessly some people talk of a fight – of letting blood, and its doing people good, &c.” Feb 19 1872 Elias has reached Smyrna, then taken a train to Magnesia. A May 1877 letter from Constantinople lists various statistics related to the mission (image 821.jpg, Ajanda 7). May 15 1877, Constantinople: “The milkman has mowed the grass of our garden, and it is quite an improvement. The locust trees are loaded now with blossoms, and are musical with the hum of multitudes of bees. Martha and Elias typically use “Constantinople” to refer to the city, as in a letter from May 15 1877. Just a week later, on May 22, Elias marks a letter from “Stamboul.” From Constantinople, May 25 1877: “The Turks are much depressed at the loss of Ardahan, an important fort 30 or 40 miles N.W. from Kars. It seems that Kars is now besieged. [Ottoman Russian war] Martial law is proclaimed in Constantinople, but I do not think it will affect us.” A May 8 1868 letter notes the baptism of the infants Emma Ray Trowbridge, Bertha Briant, & Mary Alice Schauffler. May 25 1868 Elias writes that a Pastor [Pausegh??] “announced that he was going to start this week for America!...He goes to make arrangements for an Armenian colony in the West. We have discouraged him so far as we have had opportunity, but – The worst of it is he is trying to imitate the example of Tomas and has got the consent of his church, and desires to be considered still as their pastor. Of course we shall use all our influence against this arrangement.” 852.jpg-853.jpg June 5 1868: Elias to Martha from Constantinople, regarding topics considered in the annual meeting of the mission: “Mr. Washburn’s paper on female missionaries. It was an elaborate document, but failed to impress its arguments or results strongly on any body in the meeting. The mission voted in favor of additional unmarried females coming to join several stations, 3 each for Cons’ple and Broosa, 1 for Marsovan & Cesarea, and one each for Phil. and E.Zagia if those stations should desire it; but voted also that no new plan was necessary.” “Constantinople High School. The sense of the mission was that we aid in starting such a school, but look to having it as soon as possible under native management and self-supporting.” Includes a listing of new missionary requests and mission emphasis: “Labor among Turkish speaking Greeks in Asia Minor. The Smyrna, Broosa & Cesarea stations to prepare special reports on this subject for the next ann. meeting.” (869.jpg). “Labors for Mohammedans: The mission voted in favor of a missionary’s being stationed at each of our larger stations expressly for this work. At the same time they recommend labors in the Arm[enian] and Bulg[arian] departments to labor as they have opportunity for the Mohammedans, and those in Turkish department to labor also for Arm[enian] and Bulg[arian] &c.” A number of other matters are also detailed. June 22 1868, Elias details, including a drawn map (878.jpg), a fire in the neighborhood in which “some 200” houses were destroyed, but the Riggs home was spared.

Letters from Elias Riggs to his wife Martha, largely during their years of intermittent separation 1868-73. Riggs recounts his travels, encounters with various people, his health, domestic matters, and occasional musings about their life together. Letters are somewhat out of order (a number dated 1872 follow the 1873 group). Handwritten in ink. Some illegibility due to ink bleeding between thin sheets of paper, but generally in very good preservation (essentially no rips/tears, major stains, folds, etc.). The last section of letters, dated to 1868 and written on blue paper, are very thin and illegible.

1868
1877

English

Constantinople, Smyrna, Rhodes, Dardanelles, Beyroot (Beirut), Abeih, Damascus, Baalbek, Alexandria, Ramleh, Cairo, Sinoris, Medineh, Osiook, Magnesia, Athens, London, Bebek, Marash, Khalki

Missions, Missionaries, Martial law, Publications, Women missionaries

SALT Research

https://archives.saltresearch.org/handle/123456789/45841

Correspondence

Letter

Print, handwriting

ABARPC007D

Open Access

United Church of Christ (UCC), American Research Institute in Turkey (ARIT), SALT Research

On deposit at SALT Research from UCC and ARIT