STEWART AND BARNES FAMILIES
1813 – 1931

	Little River E. Fla. July 16th, 1857
My dear Sir, It gives me much pleasure to hear from you. I hope our correspondence may be the ultimate cause of our meeting. You speak of having a cough, and here I would urge that you visit Florida. We are all entitled to coughs, and it is certainly herditary. Nothing but great care and providence will keep us alive. I have used every precaution for the last six years. I do not beleive that I could live two winters in North Carolina. I regard this climate and mild exercise as the only cure for weak lungs. Nothing else will reach the lungs effectually. Inhalation does not suceed, from the simple fact that the Nitrogen and Oxygen in the lungs will not permit anything to enter in it pure state. Taking medicine into the stomach to cure the lungs is pure nonsense. I insist on your visiting Florida. I believe your health would be better than it has ever been. Suppose you come this Fall and spend some time with me? You have been in Mississippi so long that I expect it would be hard to induce you to leave there, but if you would find that this climate suits your health better, it would be unwise not to leave. I think you would be pleased here. Like in all new countries there are many privations to under-go, but still there is a charm about frontier life, a retirement, a privacy, that I now would be loath to give up for the hustle of an older country. The change is very decided for me. I have been living in a village and town all my life, and now I do not see a person, not of my family, once a week. I have a good library, and my wife performs very well on the piano - so with literature and music, and the attention my farm requires, I am contented and as happy as can be. I have been a hard student all my life, and the danger now is that I will not exercise enough. I hear very seldom from North Carolina. When we leave there it seems that they soon forget us. I left friends there that I hope may do well, but the ties are very weak that bind me to anything there now. It is very doubtful when I will visit the State probably never. All that was dearest to me there lies in the graveyards at Stewartsville. I would like to go back sometimes, were it only to walk the soil my fathers walked. The Stewarts are nearly gone. It is sad to think that you are the only last male representative of the family. They all after numbering but a few years have gone before. I hope, my dear sir, that you may live three score and ten. If you never marry the name will be buried with you. I would like much to see you. I hope you will come to Florida soon. You must write me very soon and write at length. You are many years my senior, but I hope as a relative this correspondence will give you pleasure.
	It is with best wishes for your happiness, Jas. A. McQueen

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