Every good fandom needs an honorary ’i know the end’ edit that’s just how it works. Please go ahead and direct all hate to @tallmadgeandtea it was her idea I am guiltless (kidding ofc). I fear I will be getting jail time for this and having my editing privileges revoked. But I simply had to do what must be done.
Please watch until the end. I spent my entire spring break working on this and nearly caused my phone to overheat.
Caleb Brewster's signature, an evolution 1778-1780
We start off reasonable and professional, in a letter to Benjamin Tallmadge dated October 22, 1778:
Caleb Brewster Lieut
Source: Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/resource/mgw4.053_0566_0567/?sp=1
That's good, you know, pretty solid. Clean, neat, mindful of his military position. Then a bizarre and exciting change of pace in a letter to Benjamin Tallmadge dated February 26, 1779.
I am with respect yours [etc.?] Caleb Brewster
Source, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/resource/mgw4.056_0281_0284/?sp=4&st=image
Incredible. Diva. I'm amazed he found stable ground to write this on and enough time to compose two pages. The "B" should be framed and taught in calligraphy classes. In the same letter, he writes a "g" so effusive it bisects New York in the row below to land on "at".
Was it too much? Did he fly too close to the sun? Has he since grown more secure in his correspondence or is this him at his most confident? Either way, 18 months later we see a more subdued return to form in a letter to Benjamin Tallmadge dated August 18, 1780.
With respect your friend and Humble Servant Caleb Brewster
Source: Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/resource/mgw4.069_0709_0710/?sp=1
No flourishes, short lines-- in fact, a total lack of swoops throughout the entire letter. But he's become a friend! Aww. I wish I knew what Maj. Tallmadge had written in return.
Other things I have found out while doodling on the themes of Chapter 18 of Wind and Water and researching tangents,
Caleb and Ben owned land together (?!?!), purchased August 5, 1784: "The Middle of the Island Farm" in Brookhaven Twp. and four lots in Nocamack. (The source given, that I can't access, is this: Page 251 Loyalism in New York during the American Revolution by Alex C Flick PhD. Columbia Univ. Press, London 1901. Accessed Meehan-411 16 Jan 2020.)
Caleb's father's name was Benjamin, likely the reason his son was also called Benjamin (another son was named Daniel, for his grandfather). His first daughter was named after his mother, Sarah.
He had three half-sisters from his father's first or second wife? (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Brewster-1687) Except the birth dates make it seem like Caleb was somehow born between the last two? Someone messed up the geneology there, or we're talking bigamy.
Alright, guys! I got another awesome discovery to post (courtesy of my cousin...again)!
My cousin stayed at the Three Village Inn in Stony Brook. We actually drove past it in 2017 when I visited Setauket, but I never went inside. So my cousin just recently was staying there and sent me pics...the cottages are all named after members of the Culper Spy Ring!!!
She made sure to send me a pic of the Tallmadge cottages sign XD
But anyway, I thought this was too cute NOT to share. I want to stay here so badly! The pictures on Google of the place are beautiful! Have any of you fine Tumblr folk stayed here before?
All i can say is that Turn: Washington's Spies is one of the BEST historical dramas I've ever watched. I loved every single episode of it. The characters, the ambientations, the writing, the soundtrack. Perfect. Just Perfect.
(well, expect for Anna and Abe's drama: i've found it unbearable, even when they already had such amazing patners like Mary Woodhull and Selah Strong)