From the Files of Marguerite Cook Clark: To Sarah M. Wimberly From Martha S. Lawson - October 28th 1839

Martha Susan Lawson gave or sent this poem to her eleven-year-old niece almost 185 years ago. Both Martha and Sarah left their homes in Georgia for Northwest Louisiana. Sarah's parents settled on land later known as Bienville Parish by 1838, and Martha did not come to Louisiana until sometime after 1838. The year is not known. 

Sarah Margaret Wimberly was the daughter of William Wimberly and Lucy Smith Lawson. Martha Susan Lawson was the sister of Sarah's mother, Lucy. Both women were married in Bienville Parish. Sarah married Joseph B. Bryan, brother of my great-grandfather, Terrell Bryan. Margaret married Dr. Isaac Anderson Caldwell. 

The poem is probably not an original poem written by Martha, as I have found the lines written in a variety of places on the Internet. 

Can memory e're forget the hours

That I have spent with you

As soon might  a fragrance quit

Or flowers refuse the dew

As soon might Sol withhold his rays

Or rivers cease to flow

Or should I e're forget the days

That I have spent with you.

As soon might stars refuse to shine

Or the moon her light impart

For the fond affections now entwine

Around my pensive heart.

As soon might beauty quit the flowers

Or the earth refuse the dew

As I should e're forget the hours

That I have spent with you. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2024 

Poem to Sarah M. Wimberly from Martha S. Lawson, 1839, from the privately held collection of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913-1989), Waynesville, North Carolina, 2021. The poem was accessed and scanned at the home of Marguerite Cook Clark's daughter in Alpine, Texas on April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. 

Vera Meeks Wimberly, Wimberly Family History, Ancestors, Relatives, and Descendants of William Wimberly, Pioneer from Georgia to Louisiana 1837 (Houston Texas: D. Anderson, 1979).