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Dr Telfair, who was rather timid in surgery, when we retired to consult, advised me to let it alone-; that it was too far gone for the knife to afford any hope -- But, though I shrank from so serious an operation, I was firm in insisting that the breast must be removed -- urging that it would never do to take away her last only slender hope-; that the operation might, at least, add quite a period of comfortable life to her yet -- So we decided to operate -- She wished her brother, Jefferson Davis to be present -- he was at church, and we had to wait until after dinner -- There was a covered passage way between the fron and th eback part of the house, where it was cool and shady and the light excellent -- We arranged a table for operating there, and as soon after dinner as it was practicable, I proceeded to cut the enormous tumor out -- the incisions were 8 inches or more in length, and the skin over the centre so in-volved, that it was difficult to cover the place well -- She bore the chloroform well -- Dr Telfair assisted me admirably, in holding the arteries as they were out-; and before night we had her nicely and comfortably laid in bed, with the dreadful disease taken from her -- She lost a quantity of blood, un-avoidably?, but reaction soon took place -- The wound closed by the first intention; not a drop of pus in healing-; she had a step daughter, Miss Angelina Slider, daughter of Judge S. by his first marriage, who was a most admirable nurse -- At the end of a few weeks, a red prominence appeared in the middle of cicatrix, and grew rapidly-; on the 10th of
August, it had attained the size of a pigeon's egg-, & I removed it-, with no assistance then that of Mrs Davis -- and Mrs Jackson-, widow of Rev, J. B. Jackson; a woman of remarkably masculine disposition; this was a more trouble- some operation than the first-; the parts were hardened by lymph deposit; & the hemorrhage was hard to control -- But it closed up nicely, and she recovered rapidly -- Some months afterwards, before I left for East Fla. as I was riding through Mount Pleasant I stopped at Jeff Davis' -- where she was spending the day, sewing & chatting with Mrs D-; she was bright & comfortable; the place was all gone, and gave no trouble -- She was complaining though, of some obscure, uneasy sensations in the abdomen, and during the coming winter she died, from the development of cancerous deposits in the chest and abdomen --
The operation had been a complete success-; it added several months of enjoyable and comfortable life to her span existence -- I was thankful that I performed it -- I got $250.00 for my fees --
During the summer I was winding up my business, and preparing to leave my practice and home in Quincy, to undertake the business of market gardening and orange growing on the St Johns, on the place that Mr Hargrove & I had bought -- I had always longed for such a life, and was so much enthused at the prospect of a large profit and early vegetable that I felt sure of success -- As I look back, I can see that my
venture was a very foolish one, I had, after settling up, only about $700.00 of capital-; the arrangements that I made for paying for the land, I regarded as perfectly secure; but they proved not to/be -- The note against Majr Johnson was never paid -- the judgment against Colson was paid some years later, through Mr I.R. Harris, but not in time to pay for the land -- The soil on the place too was exceedingly light and poor-; not fit for gardening, nor for ultimate success with the orange -- So, I made a reckless venture, and failed.
Having completed all my arrangements for making a start there, my plan was to go there myself first, with Mr Hargrove (Wm. C. H. and older brother of Jas [F?].H. who was going to move there with his wife, a dried up, little eldrely woman -- to over see the work on the place) and the hands-; and after making a start, I was to come back for the wife and children -- Accordingly on Wednesday, Oct 2d -- I left Quincy in my little one horse wagon, drawn by my fine grey mare -- in company with Jerry Coe, a mulatto boy who formerly belonged to Maj. Coe's family -- who had lived with me until Christmas) -- I went by way of Bowles' Bridge on Little River -- Mr Jas P. Hargrove met me at Condrey's and we talked over our plans & arrage-ments -- his brother Wm was to meet me at Stewart's Bridge on the [Ockloconee?] -- I found them there -- with a two mule wagon;- Mr & Mrs H. & 2 negro men -- [Laren?] and _____ We journeyed on to Tallahassee -- Mr. & Mrs. H. camped on the suburbs; and I went to brother Orson's, & spent the night at their house --
I had left Quincy with reluctance, as Mary Poole, my dear friend Mrs Harris' lovely daughter, only married last Spring-; was lying at her mother's house, right across the street from my residence, no doubt on her death bed -- She was under the care of Dr Telfair, and Dr Bond, who Will Poole had brought up with him -- So next day I left Mr Hargrove, and Jerry to go on with the wagons, and I returned on the after-noon train, to be with Mrs Poole; intending to follow in a few days, and overtake our crowd at Lake City -- I got back on Thursday -- Oct 3rd, and on the following evening Mary Poole died-; after giving birth, prematurely to a dead infant daughter-- It was doubtless, a blessing that she was taken, for during the few months of her married life, she had shown unmistakeable evidences of developing insanity-; a hereditary calamity --
I got a letter from Mr Hargrove on the following Monday, telling me that he was water bount at the Aucilla River; the water so high there was no crossing anywhere. So I left again on Wednesday, the 9th --
At Tallahassee I got a stock car and a flat attached to the train to take our wagons & stock; found everything afloat; the water over the rails at Lake LaFayette -- On the 10th we embarked everything on the cars; reaching Lake City at dark-; where we camped near the Depot -- I slept in Sam Spencer's warehouse, so that Jerry could sleep in the wagon, as he was ailing -- I gave him some medicine-; and on the 11th, after shipping some of our trunks as freight to Pilatka, to lighten our wagons-, we left for our overland trip to Pilatka, we had a very rough journey-; crossed some creeks where the bridges
had been carried away -- and had a very hard time of it indeed --
On Tuesday afternoon (15th) at 3 o'clock, we drove into Pilatka -- I found that I had no use for [mare?] at all-; as Mr Hargrove's two mules would more than do all of our work -- So I left my [mare?] at Col. Hart's, to use for her feed until called for --
Mr & Mrs Hargrove, with their negro boys, crossed the river in a flat boat, and went up the eastern side to our place -- Jerry and I went in the boat of a young man names Darties, with Mr Woodruff and Mr Robinson, two neighbors of ours -- I found a nice, two roomed log house, with passage between, & well shingled, ready for my family-; no floor though-; nor door, or windows -- I had had this made before hand, by correspondence --
Mr Hargrove had no house, but a pile of lumber was there out of which he soon constructed a shanty in which he & his wife camped --
The land that we were going to cultivate had once been cleared & under cultivation, but had been lying out for 10 or 12 years and was thickly grown up with long, slender saplings -- All hands of us pitched into work with a will; went to clearing right away -- The first thing I did was to put a floor to our house, and put in some windows & doors --
I sent for glazed sash; I worked very hard, and stood the work well -- When we bought the place, our arrangement was that I was to have the South Western third of the tract-; about 40 acres -- We supposed that it had a River front of 1/2 acre or