Joseph Nevitt
This letter was written by Pvt. Joseph Henry Nevitt (1836-1871) of Company F, 35th Iowa Infantry. Joseph was the son of Thomas Nevitt (1789-1871) and Eve Earnest (1782-1842). He was married to Lucinda (“Linny”) A. Thompson (1838-1914) in 1858. Joseph made his living as a shoemaker in Grandview, Louisa County, Iowa, before he enlisted in August 1862. The Nevitt’s had at two daughters — Sarah Ovanda Nevitt (1859-1941) and Florence Anne Nevitt (1861-1936).
The 35th Iowa Volunteer Infantry regiment was mustered into service at Camp Strong (Muscatine County) in September 1862. After garrison duty in Cairo, the Iowans were sent to cover the rear of Grant’s siege lines surrounding Vicksburg. The regiment was involved in significant action during 1864 the Red River Campaign, followed by the Tupelo battle, Sterling Price’s Missouri expedition, Nashville, and Mobile.
1864 Letter
TRANSCRIPTION
Addressed to Mrs. L. A. Nevitt, Grandview, Louisa County, Iowa
Postmarked New Orleans, Louisiana
December 12th 1864
Well, my dear Linny, I did not get all on the other sheet so I will finish my letter now as it is after reveille. Well, I put out my wash today. I washed two shirts and three pair of drawers and one pair socks and one handkerchief. I have my clothes all clean now and after I got done my washing out, I made up a mess of biscuit for dinner. We had a good dinner. I will tell you what we had. We had nice fried beef stake and flour gravy and nice biscuit and good butter and coffee. We thought that was a good dinner but I would like to be up there to eat one of your dinners. I think it would suit my appetite about right now.
Well Linny, I would like to be up there the best kind. I would give almost anything if I was there tonight with you and the sweet little gals. Oh how I would love to see you and the little gals so well. Balis says he had a great deal of fun when he was up there. He thinks a great deal of the little girls. He says they are smart little girls. Well, I must stop.
Give my love to all the friends but keep a large portion for you and the dear little girls. Kiss the little ones. Tell them to be good girls till Pa comes home. Good bye for a while. May God bless you all is my prayer. Write soon and oblige your own true boy. — J. H. Nevitt
Spared & Shared 7 
December 15th, 2016 at 11:56 pm
I am so excited to have run across this letter by Joseph Nevitt. I am a direct descendant of Joseph’s father, Thomas Nevitt, and Joseph would be–I believe–my great great great uncle. I knew about Joseph Nevitt from earlier published genealogies but didn’t know he left behind any literary remains like this letter. Griff, do you know of any other Nevitt letters? Where did you find this letter? (I ask just out of curiosity). This group of Nevitts had mainly been based in Pennsylvania, though Joseph obviously relocated to Iowa. It’s a very touching letter.
December 18th, 2016 at 2:34 am
Sorry. This is the only letter I know of. Transcribed it for a friend who buys and sells old letters on e-bay.
April 22nd, 2017 at 10:55 pm
Griff, is there any chance your friend still has the letter, or other Nevitt letters, and if so, could you pass on his contact information to me? If not, I completely understand. Just thought I’d ask. Even if he no longer has the letter, I’d be curious just to get information about where he ran across it, etc.
April 13th, 2024 at 9:10 pm
I am also a direct descendant of Joseph & Linny Nevitt. I would like to correspond with you somehow so I can learn more on my families lineage. If you would, you could email me at cal69_1976@hotmail.com. Thank you & hope to hear from you soon.
Christy (Stewart) Lindberg
March 8th, 2021 at 4:45 am
Griff,
Is it possible to contact the person who—at least at one time—was in possession of this letter? Because of my family relationship to Joseph Nevitt, I would be very interested in purchasing this letter, if its owner is interested in selling, or even if not, perhaps getting information from them about where they obtained the letter and whether there are other of Nevitt’s letters in existence.
March 8th, 2021 at 5:04 am
It is not possible. It was sold on eBay nearly six years ago. You could, however, leave a message in this comment section letting the current owner—should he or she see this transcription—know of your interest in acquiring it and how to get ahold of you. You never know. You can also download full-size color scans of the letter to your computer which is the next best thing to owning the original letter. — Griff