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Straits near Beaufort, 10th Sept. 1815

Dear Brother,

David Hellen was with me today and informed me that he was going to New York, and I immediately set about writing a letter which has become a very uncommon thing with me. I received a letter from Brother Leffert dated at Wilmington on the 29th of May last, who informed me that he was loading a ship for Liverpool but did not let me know whether he was going there himself or not. His, like the rest of his letters, was short, barely informing me that he believed our friends in general were well.

The prospect before us here is very discouraging. We were visited with a storm on the 3rd and 4th of this instant, which raised the tide to such tremendous heights that it overflowed all the low lands on the seaboard, and although the lower floors of our houses are generally 2 feet or more above the ground, yet I have heard of but very few that did not have the tide on the floor. The sea made a fair breach over the land, washing away fences and everything that would float, which was carried in long rafts over the cornfields, laying everything waste in their progress. Great numbers of stock are drowned, and without some unexpected relief, I fear

many of the poorer class must suffer the effects of famine.

I have seen a number of hurricanes during my residence in this country but never saw such inundation before, and I could have wished that I might have been permitted to have finished my pilgrimage before it happened. I am within a few weeks of finishing my 79th year, and although I am blessed with a good degree of health, the infirmities of age are daily reducing my strength, and I can perceive my mortal powers also are fast declining. Therefore, you need not be at a loss to account for the imperfections of my letter, as my eyesight is much impaired of late. I shall attempt to write but one letter, making use of you as my proxy to deliver my most cordial respects to all my dear relations and friends, warning them that this is likely to be my farewell address.

The surviving members of my family here are generally in tolerable health, but some of them, I fear, will suffer severely by the common calamity above described, as they are in low circumstances and have large families of small children. I am, dear brother, with every consideration of love and respect, your aged brother,

Saml. Leffers