“Hattie grows lovelier every day.”

Maria Frost, December 1, 1862.

The child mortality rate was high in the mid-1800s, with 34% of children born in 1860 not living to see their fifth birthday. The Goodell family was not spared.  Lavinia Goodell’s sister and brother-in-law lost two young children.

Maria and Lewis Frost already had one son when, on January 20, 1858, Lewis Frost wrote to his in-laws reporting that Maria had just given birth to a fine, healthy eight pound boy in Arcade, New York, which is near Buffalo. Lewis said, “I am very glad the child is a boy though I did not expect it. The name is not ready yet. If he lives a few weeks, we shall try to find a name.” Sadly, the infant remained unnamed. On February 19, 1858, Lewis wrote, “Our baby is just leaving us. We all feel sure that it cannot survive the day out…. The babe we shall take to Riga for burial…. Maria says she is not sorry she had the child. Neither am I.”

Maria had another son in 1859. In 1861, she was pregnant again. Lavinia left her parents’ home in Brooklyn and travelled to Arcade to spend two months with the Frosts prior to the baby’s birth. In late August, Lavinia’s mother wrote, “I need not inform you that your letter dated Saturday noon containing the joyful intelligence of the birth of a granddaughter at the red parsonage made quite a sensation at No. 311 South Third Street. This you are already aware of. I had made up my mind that if it was a son it would be all for the best. All the time I hoped it would be for the best to have it a daughter.” A few days later, Clarissa wrote again and suggested names for the infant: Clara Cleveland, Juliet, and Maria Lavinia, but Maria and Lewis Frost named their daughter Harriet. The family affectionately called her Hattie.

In an age when travel was difficult, the family learned about Hattie’s personality and development through her mother’s letters. On December 1, 1862, Maria wrote, “Hattie grows lovelier every day. I wish you could see her. She is a very ‘knowing’ baby.” On July 14, 1862: “Hattie is getting to be roguish, when I tie on her bonnet to play in the yard she says, ‘Me don’t run away,’ shaking her head with the most honest look possible, and as soon as I go to the house skedaddles.”

In the summer of 1863, Maria was planning a trip to Brooklyn. On August 28, Lavinia wrote, “I do hope you will make out to come on this Fall. We are anticipating it so much! I want to see all the children, but know you cannot bring them all, so perhaps it had better be Hattie. The dear little chick! Can it be that she is a ‘young lady’ of two years!” But on September 7, Maria replied:

How much I have anticipated visiting home this fall, but now I feel I am destined to disappointment. Last week I sewed on Hattie’s clothes every evening to get her ready for the journey. But now the scarlet fever has broken out in our neighborhood & I know not but our darlings may be taken down. I do not dare to leave at present.

Unfortunately, Maria’s fears were borne out. Hattie Frost died of scarlet fever on October 13, 1863. Lavinia wrote to her sister:

How happy we had been in anticipating your visit with her this fall! I had formed so many golden plans! I cannot realize, even now, that I shall never see that sweet little face which I have so often loved to imagine. But we must not in grief for our loss forget how much happier she will be than if she had been spared to struggle through a life of pain and suffering.

Now dear sister, do not grieve too much. Remember our little Hattie is safe in our Father’s arms and can never know the trials we are called to endure. How much she has escaped!

The October 29, 1863 issue of the Principia, William Goodell’s anti-slavery newspaper, contained a notice of Hattie’s death and a touching poem written by Lavinia.

On November 4, Lavinia wrote Maria again:

Do not grieve too much, dear sister, over this great sorrow. Let us try and think of all the bright and beautiful things connected with it. Our little Hattie is safe now, and free and happy, and will never know the trials which it may be our lot to bear. That thought is a great comfort to me. I, too, had built many castles concerning her future. But we have a little angel baby now, to welcome us, if we are ever so blest as to reach the threshold of our Father’s mansion.

In April 1866, Maria Frost gave birth to another son. She confided to Lavinia, “I hoped to have another Hattie, but there is not a family likeness to her in my boy.” The Frosts’ final son arrived in 1869. All four Frost boys had full lives, with the youngest living until 1956.

Sources consulted: Letters from Lewis Frost to William and Clarissa Goodell (January 20, 1858, February 19, 1858); Letters from Clarissa Goodell to Lavinia Goodell (August 29, 1861; September 4, 1861); Letters from Maria Frost to Lavinia Goodell (December 1, 1862; July 14, 1862; September 7, 1863);  Letters from Lavinia Goodell to Maria Frost (August 28, 1863; October 19, 1863; November 4, 1863); The Principia, October 29, 1863; https://www.statista.com/statistics/1041693/united-states-all-time-child-mortality-rate/.

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