Louisa Bruff to Frederick Douglass, June 1877

LOUISA BRUFF^{1Louisa Auld Bruff (1833–?) was the daughter of Captain Thomas Auld and his second wife, Rowena. Douglass remembered Louisa only as a small child who was born in 1833, the year he went to live at St. Michaels. Her mother, Rowena, had not been kind to the teenage Douglass. She despised him and the other slaves, depriving them of adequate nutrition, and for this he did not remember her fondly. By the time Douglass returned to St. Michaels, Maryland, to make peace with his former master, Captain Auld, in the spring of 1877, Louisa had become crippled by arthritis. Nevertheless, she and her husband, William Bruff, greeted Douglass warmly. Talbot County land records show that the Bruffs purchased the house for $1,000 and finally sold it on 1 October 1878, over a year after Douglass’s visit to Dr. Robert A. Dodson, for $1,200. Preston, Young Frederick Douglass, 106, 184–85, 188–89, 225n, 231–32nn.} TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS

St. Michaels[, Md.] June 1877.

MR DOUGLAS

SIR,

the thought occurred to me a few days ago, perhaps you would like to buy a nice Summer residence in St. Michaels, we, <have> got to sell the house we now reside in, Mr Bruff^{2William Bruff was married to Sarah Louisa Auld Bruff, the daughter of Captain Thomas Auld’s second wife, Rowena. He and Louisa greeted Douglass at their St. Michaels, Maryland, home on Cherry Street, where Douglass’s former owner, Captain Auld, resided. The location of Douglass’s reunion with Auld was disputed by the Auld family. They held that it took place at the country home of another daughter, Beverly. Despite this inconsistency, Douglass’s notes and letters regarding the visit show the Cherry Street home of William Bruff to be the location where, in the spring of 1877, Douglass returned as a free man to repair relations with the ailing man, which had been damaged by Douglass’s description of his treatment as Auld’s slave in his first two autobiographies. Preston, Young Frederick Douglass, 184–85, 225n, 231n.} has been unfortunate in business, and has to sell, his property, this house is my property and I want to sell it my-self, the house contains ten rooms, besides two more rooms in the cellar, it cost over four thousand dollars, but I will sell it for three thousand, I know it is a small item with you, but a very considerable one with me, we have a family of seven children five boys, and two girls, we have concluded if we can get hold of a little money to take our large family and move to Texas, thinking it will be better for our boys, my father is very feeble today, he suffers very much indeed, please to write and let me hear from you as soon as you can,

LOUISA BRUFF^{3Bruff added “Daughter of Capt Thomas Auld” below her signature.}

ALS: General Correspondence File, reel 3, frames 153–54, FD Papers, DLC.