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Iowa City, Iowa
August 21st 1878

My dear Phillip,

I do not know what you must be thinking of me, never having received an answer to your last letter and Walter's, which I received soon after my arrival in Jamaica. The reason of your not hearing ere this is I sent yours & Walter's letters, after letting Emily read them, on to your Mother & asked her to return them to me. I kept waiting for her to do so that I might get the directions and after waiting a long while & not receiving them, I wrote & enclosed you the accompanying letter, which Hannah asked me to forward you. I directed it as nearly as I could remember, and after some months it was returned to me & I found it was not correctly directed. You will now understand my apparent neglect.

I was very glad to get such a nice letter from Walter. I am so sorry he did not know in time to go with me to Jamaica, as I should have been very glad of his escort. I was obliged to go "Via New York" as I had the charge of my poor brother in law Mr. McCulloch. I was taking him to N. York to see him safely shipped to Scotland to his Brother. He is quite childish and unable to travel by himself. I quite intended returning to America Via New Orleans & staying a few weeks with you, but again I found it could not be managed, as I had three young Motherless girls with me who were coming over for change and were placed in my charge. I do wish though that though I could not manage to visit you and your good Wife and children that you would come up here and visit us. You will all be the better for the change North, as from the Papers, all down South has suffered from the excessive heat and now the Yellow Fever seems to be visiting the River Town and we often speak of you, and wonder if you have escaped and wish you would come up to us.

I enjoyed my visit to Jamaica very much. I saw a good deal of dear Emily and her four sweet young daughters. They came to see me off, when I left Kingston. They all work very hard & find it difficult to make both ends meet at all times. She is just as dear and nice as ever. I was always fond of her. I knew her before I met Henry, indeed it was at her house we first got acquainted. She looks sadly broken. She grows like her Mother. Hannah is as strong and brisk as ever. She is very comfortable living among her children. She went to Barbadoes in May to spend three months with Edith Short. She was to return to Jamaica at the end of this month to be with "Milly Grant" her youngest who is expecting her first early next month. I was unable to get round to the North side of the Island, as the coasting steamer ceased running two weeks after I got there, so was not able to see your Mother, Lucy, or Lizzie. I was also disappointed in not seeing my dear Lydia, she had been in England six months with her husband, & wrote me arranging to meet me in Kingston, but Mr. Rowe was taken ill & they were unable to return so I did not see her at all. We got letters from her last packet. Her husband's health is I am afraid so very poor that he will never again be able to return to work & will always be an invalid if he lives.

You will I am sure be astonished to hear that after eleven years of widowhood, I am about marrying again. I thought I never should, but my health is so very uncertain I have had so many attacks of lung trouble, that the Doctor advised me not to live in a cold country and while in Jamaica, an old friend & relative persuaded me to give up my resolution & marry him. His first wife was my first cousin & we had always been as sisters. She was the eldest daughter of Dr. McDermott of St. Thomas ye East (?) who I daresay you remember. She died just before I got to Jamaica and left 8 children, the youngest a baby. They all sadly needed a Mother's care & their Father (Mr. Harrison) thought no one would fill their Mother's place so well as I would. He had sent 2, 3, & 4th to England to school. I have the 1st, 5th, 7th here with me, two boys are at home with him. I shall leave this for New York on the 1st Nov. & will sail for Jamaica on the 21st arriving there on the 28th & be married on the 2nd Dec. Mr. Harrison, is very well off indeed he is attorney for several Estates & Lessee of one & owns several Pens. He is mine & Charlie's trustee having been a great friend of Charlie's Father. I found on consulting a Lawyer in Jamaica on Charlie's coming of age, that our money could not as we supposed be taken out of the Island or British securities & Charlie could only have the control of it after my death, so our plans were all overthrown. Charles will go to Jamaica with me. I feel very much leaving my dear Roger. We have been so much to each other for nearly 18 years. He will I suppose write you that he is likely to leave this next month & go to St. Louis. I daresay you could see him sometime soon, as he will be so much nearer.

September 19th. Last night Roger brought home a newspaper with Walter's death in it. We were dreadfully shocked my dear Phillip and most deeply do sympathize with you in this affliction. Just this time last year my Charles was laid low with malarial Fever & I thought he would be taken from me, so I can more keenly enter into your sorrow. I am adding a few lines to your Wife. This letter has been a long time in being finished & sent. My boys unite with me in love & sincere sympathy.

Believe me, yours affect--aly,
Caroline Swire

Notes: Walter is Walter Swire, Philip Swire's son. Emily is Emily Swire Brymer, Philip's sister, who lived in Jamaica. "Your Mother" refers to Philip Swire's mother, Frances Lydia (Cox) Swire, who resided in Jamaica. Hannah is Hannah Swire Haughton, Philip's sister, who lived in Jamaica. Mr. McCulloch is Thomas McCulloch, Caroline's brother-in-law, who had been married to her sister Mary Page. "Three young motherless girls" refers to three daughters of James Harrison, who was about to become Caroline's third husband. Henry is John Henry Dalzell "Henry" Swire, Philip's brother and Caroline's second husband. Edith Short is Hannah Haughton's daughter. Milly Grant is Hannah Haughton's daughter. Lucy is Lucy Swire Littlejohn, another of Philip's sisters. Lizzie is Elizabeth Swire Rutty, another of Philip's sisters. Lydia is Lydia Swire, Caroline's step-daughter. Mr. Rowe is Lydia's husband, William Rowe, and Anglican Archdeacon in Jamaica. "His first wife was my first cousin" refers to Susan Jane McDermott, James Harrison's first wife. Mr. Harrison is James Harrison, Caroline's third husband. Charlie is Charlie/Charles Barclay, Caroline's son by her first husband, Charles Barclay. Roger is Roger Swire, Caroline's stepson, the son of her second husband Henry Swire.

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