Circa 1851-1857 - Letter sent via the Augusta & Atlanta Rail Road (later the Georgia Rail Road and Banking Company) regarding the delay of a visit home because the family and its enslaved workers had contracted Scarlet Fever

A. M. Fannin

About this Item

This stampless letter measures 15½" x 9¾". It was sent by A. M. Fannin and M P Allen to their relatives, care of "Miss L. A. Fannin / Madison / Ga." It bears a faint circular red "Augusta & Atlanta R.R." station agent postmark and a manuscript "5" rate mark. In this letter Fannin and Allen express their concerns about a Scarlet Fever epidemic that has struck their family and its enslaved workers at Madison. "All said all the negroes have had the sarlet fever Sis was so uneasy was the reason why we did not write is it so All had a very sore throat and high fever Ms Allen gave him Dr. Simmon's fever medicine he has quite recovered. . . you must not expect us down till you all get well I would not have the boy exposed to the scarlot fever. . . Mrs Chercer is quite sick, Mrs Tom Gibbs is in very poor health unable to leave the house. [the] little girl has gone entirely blind. . ." . Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, Scarlet Fever, was a mostly benign childhood disease. That changed abruptly around 1820, when a pandemic of particularly severe strains periodically erupted around the world. Although many outbreaks remained mild, often they resulted in a number of fatalities. An especially lethal outbreak occurred at Augusta, Georgia in 1832-3. No doubt that was bearing heavily on the Fannin families minds when this letter was written in the 1850s. Although the letter is undated, we know that it was sent between 1851 and 1857 because of the rare Augusta & Atlanta R.R." station agent postmark. Although most of the word, "Augusta" is very faint, probably due to an off-center strike, enough is visible that it can be identified as the #455-A-4 postmark in Towle's U.S. Route and Station Agent Postmarks; this postmark was only used during those years. Very little information about the Augusta & Atlanta Railroad is available. It was originally chartered in 1833. Several years later that charter was amended to include banking operations and the company's name was apparently changed to the Georgia Railroad & Banking Company. Although the banking side of the business was extremely successful, railroad operations remained small. By 1850 it operated only 213 miles of track, and by that had only increased to 232. As a result, the quantity of mail processed by the company (which was also referred to as the Georgia Railroad) was small. (For more information see Martin's Atlanta and its builders : a comprehensive history of the Gate city of the South, Katz & Moren's "Severe Streptococcal Infections in Historical Perspective" in Clinical Infectious Diseases Vol. 14 and Storey's "Georgia Railroad" in Georgia's Railroad History and Heritage accessible via the Internet Archive Way Back Machine.) At the time of listing, no other examples of mail processed by Augusta and Atlanta are for sale in the trade. None have appeared at auction per the Rare Book Hub and none are held by institutions per OCLC. The Stamp Auction Network shows one example has appeared in a philatelic auction (Lot 1032 in the Schulyer Rumsey Auction Sale 45, 24-27 January 2012 which realized $850). . Seller Inventory # 009998

Bibliographic Details

Title: Circa 1851-1857 - Letter sent via the ...

Binding: Envelope or Cover

Condition: Very good