Mr. William Preston

Dear Sir

I am in destituiet circumstances at this present time I would like for you to plese Sir help me if you plese. I would not send to you for helpe my husband is no helpe to me a tall he has done Lost his mind intirely for he has been in that conditions for the Last five months going on six months I would not send to you mr preston but I am Really in need plese dount get offended at my Sending to you beings it is the first time as for myself I have been down sick with the melearel fever and I am not intirely well of it yet if I was able tow work Like I have been I would not [write] to you but I [am] not able to worke if you can helpe me mr. preston plese Sir to help as soon as you can if you plese I am the Daughter of Rachel that use to belong to your ma. mother sends her best Respects to you also Brother Randolph no more at present - plese Sir to answer this Letter as soon as you can I Still Remaine your obedient Servant until Death

Francis Vaughn

please Direct your Letter to
Jeffersonville Indiana

in care of my Son
Randolph Johnson

I am Living with my mother trying to take care of my mother

This letter is copied as true to the original as possible. William C. Preston of Louisville, Ky. was born in 1816, the only son of William T. Preston of Smithfield, Virginia. His mother was Caroline Hancock Preston, a powerful woman whose children greatly respected her financial abilities. William C. Preston married Margaret Preston Wickliffe of Lexington, Ky. (a distant relative and daughter of the largest slaveowner in Ky.), and after the Civil War they came to live in her parents' home in Lexington, Ky. He kept many solicitation letters from both blacks and whites - this gives us an idea of what it must have been like when there were no government agencies to whom one could appeal for financial assistance. In my opinion, this process of appealing to a wealthy white elite male who would sooner "own" me than see me be free would have been more horrific than walking into a welfare office. This letter can be found in Box 67 of the Wickliffe-Preston Family Papers, University of Kentucky's Special Collections and Archives, Lexington, Ky.