Northampton

This morning the group from Southern headed South to Canterbury and Dover while I headed North to Northampton, the home of Philip and Mercy Doddridge. It was an hour-long train ride that passed very quickly. Coming off the train I spotted Castle Hill church (AKA Doddridge Church) on my left. As I came closer, I heard the discordant wail of a young man sitting on a bench in front of the church chanting in Arabic from the Koran. Something Doddridge never likely had to deal with.

After about ten more minutes I arrived at the Northamptonshire Public Library, found my way to the reading room, and settled in for work. I opened a stiff cardboard box to find two Bibles, an accounting book, and five folders full of 190 letters. And so I began.

Initially I was going to translate the letters on the spot, but a few lines in I realized I could make better use of my time with my camera. So, I snapped a few pictures, uploaded them to the laptop, and voila! Decent quality reproductions at several hundred times the size (which is necessary for readability). Most of these letters were from Mercy Doddridge to her husband Philip. I'm very glad to have these letters as they provide a fuller picture of their marriage. In all I snapped 244 pictures of thirty some letters.

I included a few interesting items like pictures of Philip's inscription in his Grandfather's (John Bauman of Germany) Luther Bible. Bauman was run out of Germany for holding to Protestant beliefs. I also photographed a sermon that Doddridge composed almost entirely in shorthand! It looks like hieroglyphics to me.

I also found a letter from the Doddridge's son, Philip, to his mother from 1753 that is written in beautiful copperplate script.

I headed home after a quick lunch at McDonalds. In all it took about four hours roundtrip but advanced my research significantly. Now to transcribe these letters...