If you will look in your mothers Bible, you will find that your
grandfather, JOSEPH CHARLESS, was born in Lexington, Kentucky, on the
17th of January, 1804; that his father, whose name was also Joseph
Charless, was born July 16th, 1772, in Westmeath, Ireland, being the
only son of Captain Edward Charles, whose father, (or paternal
ancestor, John Charles), was born in Wales and emigrated to Ireland in
the year 1663.
Your great-grandfather, Jos. Charles, fled from his native country to
France, in consequence of his having been implicated in the Rebellion of
1795, at the head of which figured the young and noble
Emmet, who fell a sacrifice for loving too well his enslaved country.
After remaining a short time in France, he sailed for the United States
of America, where he arrived in 1796, landing at the city of New York.
Upon his arrival in the United States he added an s to his name to
secure the Irish pronunciation of Charles, which makes it two syllables
instead of one, as pronounced by us.
He settled in Philadelphia, and being a printer by trade, he
secured a situation with Matthew Carey, who, at that time, did the
largest publishing business in the Quaker City. He often boasted of
having printed the first quarto edition of the Bible that was ever
issued in the United States. In 1798 he married Mrs. Sarah McCloud, a
widow (with one child), whose maiden name was Jorden.
Sarah Jorden was born January 28, 1771, near Wilmington,
Delaware. During the American Revolution her parents, with their
family, were driven by the Hessians from their home in Delaware, and
resided subsequently in Philadelphia.
In the year 1800 Mr. and Mrs. Charless removed from Philadelphia
to Lexington, Kentucky; to Louisville in 1806, and to St. Louis in
1808. In July of that year Mr. Charless founded the Missouri
Gazette, now known as the Missouri Republican, of which he was
editor and sole proprietor for many years. This is the first newspaper
of which St. Louis can boast, and I am told it still has the largest
circulation of any paper west of the Alleghany Mountains.
As regards the character of your great-grandfather, he was a
noble specimen of the Irish gentleman-impulsive-warm-heartedness being
his most characteristic trait. He was polite and hospitable, his
countenance cheerful, his conversation sprightly and humorous. Sweet
is the memory of the times when his children and friends gathered
around his plentiful board. Often have we seen him entering his
gateway, followed by the mendicant, who would soon return thither
literally laden down with provisions from his well-stored larder. His
wife was no less hospitable, not less charitable and kind to the poor,
but more cautious. She was of the utilitarian school, and could not
bear to see anything go to waste, or anything unworthily bestowed. Not
so easily touched with the appearance of sorrow as her husband was, but
always ready to relieve the wants of those she knew to be destitute,
she would herself administer to the sick with a full heart and a
generous hand. But she had a natural aversion to indolence, and would
not give a penny to any she esteemed so, lest it should tend to
increase this unmeritorious propensity. She was herself exceedingly
industrious, and took great delight in making her family comfortable,
and, in fact, supplying the wants of every living thing about her, even
to the cat and the dog. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her
hands hold the distaff. She riseth also while it is yet dark, and
giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.
Both possessed honorable pride, and were plain, unpretending
people, making no claim to an aristocratic ancestry, but, after a long
life spent in a growing city of considerable size, they died, leaving
many to speak their praises, and not one, that I have ever heard of, to
say aught against them. He departed this life at the age of sixty-two,
having enjoyed robust health until within two weeks of his death. His
widow was gathered as a shock of corn, fully ripe, into the garner of
the Lord, at the advanced age of eight-one.
From an obituary notice of her I will quote the following lines:
Mrs. Sarah Charless was an exemplary Christian, and was one of the
most zealous and untiring in her exertions to build up the Presbyterian
Church established in this city under the pastoral care of the Rev.
Salmon Giddings. Eminently charitable in her disposition, and ever
willing to alleviate the evils of others, she endeared to her all upon
whom the hand of misfortune hung heavily. Well was it said of her by
one of the most eminent men of our State-the Hon. Edward Bates-that
she was a woman upon whom the young man, far from friends and home,
could always rely.
Of a family of eight children, viz: Robert McCloud, Edward,
John, Joseph, Anne, Eliza, Chapman, and Sarah Charless, Joseph alone
was left in this pilgrimage word to mourn for his mother. Eliza
Wahrendorff, daughter of Anne Charless Wahrendorff, and Lizzie
Charless, your own dear mother, were the only grandchildren left to
mingle their tears with his. Great was the void caused in our small
family circle when this excellent woman, this aged Christian, this
revered and much loved parent was laid in the silent tomb. It is sweet
now to think about her love of flowers, and how often she would say,
when they commenced shooting up in early spring, that they reminded her
of the resurrection morning. May you, my dear mother, realize the
blessedness of this truth-when Jesus shall bid his redeemed ones rise
from the cold ground which has so long shrouded them-and come forth,
more beautiful than the hyacinth, to bloom forever on the borders of
the river of life! And may you, my sweet children, have a pleasant and
happy childhood, loving all that is lovely and hating all this is evil,
that you may grow up to be good men and women; and in old age, when
memory fails, may you, like her, rejoice and revel again amid the
innocent scenes of early life, looking through them up to that glorious
world above us, where the inhabitant shall no more say he is sick, or
shall feel the infirmities of age.
Affectionately, GRANDMA.