Correspondence, January-November, 1855

This series consists of letters written by Mary Eliza Bradbury to Lewis H. Jackson between January 1855 and November 1855. Bradbury devoted approximately half of each letter to religious devotion, and the other half to local news. She wrote quite flirtatious letters to Jackson, scolding him lightly when he offended her and joking with him about the other girls in Wilmington, where he lived. Bradbury also spends time discussing her work at her school. In September, 1855, she wrote:

I have a very good school, but not room to take many more. I have bought a very nice stove, which by the way would be first rate for a Study.

Not long afterwards, she mentions competition. Another woman opened a school directly across the street from her. Cecil County, Maryland, did not have an official public school system in place until 1859, allowing for various types of schools to open. In October, 1855, Bradbury wrote:

My week day school is in a very prosperous condition, but I know not how long it will continue so, as there is a school opened right opposite to me. Our preacher's daughter is the Teacher. I do not intend to give myself any uneasiness about it, for if my way is shut here, it will be opened some where else, and the Lord will take care of me.

In her letters, Bradbury also talks about trips that she had taken to both Philadephia and Wilmington. Arrangement is chronological.