William and Waldo: Finances and Family

Abstract After Charles Chauncy Emerson’s death, Waldo and William Emerson settled into an easy and familiar relationship, the type that is typical of brothers who care for each other and who have gone through rough times together. There were other family members who needed care and assistance: Bulkeley was boarded out for the rest of his life and there were expenses associated with that; Ruth Haskins Emerson stayed with Waldo’s family from the mid-1830s onwards, visiting with William’s family in New York at regular intervals; and Mary Moody Emerson needed a great deal of help to extricate herself from a bad real estate deal. On a more positive note, there were visits the two families exchanged, and the road from Concord to New York was well traveled. But, as the years progressed, money became a major theme of the brothers’ correspondence, both in terms of William’s helping Waldo to arrange for lectures in New York and Waldo’s assisting (actually, bailing out) William with his real estate speculations on Staten Island.