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Jane Jeffrey Renwick, grandmother to both John Wilkes and Jane Smedberg
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Dearest Jeanie: Highlights of the Wilkes-Smedberg Papers (1853-1913)
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A large number of the original letters are written in criss-cross fashion. During the antebellum period, the United States Post Office charged per page. Enterprising letter writers managed to get around this charge by writing letters in two directions. This letter dates to July 8, 1853.
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•The families select April 20, 1854 for the day of the wedding in New York City for the wedding of John ("Jack") Wilkes and Jane ("Jeanie") Smedberg.
•Jack began the long journey from Charlotte in March.
•As the 20th grew "alarmingly near," Jeanie counted on the latest communication technology of her time
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In late 1853, Charles Wilkes entered into an agreement with a firm in New York and established The Capps Gold Mine, Company. The property was part of the estate of his wife's uncle, James Renwick. It was decided that Jack Wilkes would manage the production at St. Catherine's Mill which was located just outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. At the time, the railroad finally reached what was then a small town with dirt roads that became impassable in bad weather. Jack took on the task of preparing the residence on the property for his new bride.
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Postcard of Devasego Falls near the Smedberg's summer home.
The summer of 1853 found Jeanie in the Catskills at the Smedbergy's summer house Devasego in Greene County, New York. Here she passed the days entertaining friends, horseback riding, picnicing, minding her younger brothers as well as her nieces and nephews. Her letters from this time period are filled with a longing to be with Jack and for him to find employment that would enable them to marry.
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In December of 1849, Lieutenant Jack Wilkes spent Christmas with the Smedberg family on his way to join the USS Marion. He will be at sea for almost three years in the Pacific. From that year on until 1851, Jeanie spent every summer with the Wilkes family in Washington, DC. During this time she met Stephen A. Douglas; Harriet Lane Johnson, niece of President James Buchanan; Sophie Alexander, Mrs. Andrew Jackson, and General Jack Gibbon.