Transcript
of Cassandra Cheuvront's Suicide Note
written November 11, 1839
first transcription (unedited)
by Helen Cheuvront, 1988
EDITOR'S NOTE: Rose Olinger
provided me with a photocopy
of this letter to Mr. Joseph
Gusman, a family friend
who owned the mill and pond
where Cassandra chose to end her life.
She committed suicide by drowning
herself on Nov. 11, 1839
in the Gusman Mill Dam over
a love affair with Darius Hinkle.
As I was constructing this
site I was unsure whether I should include it,
but in the end decided it belonged
with the rest of the important family documents.
Mr. Gusman,
Don't
think that this is done in order to cast a slur on you or your family.
It is trouble and nothing else and Darius Hinkle is the cause of it all,
for I was living in peace with all my relations and neighbors, and enjoying
myself, very well and he came with all his deception that was possible
for a ------- to do, interrupted my peace and destroyed my mind.
When he first began to come I told him that I had a good home and that
I was well satisfied with it and did not want him to come and interrupt
me with out it was the sincerest decision of his heart and he profest all
the sincerity that he could and made so many solemn vows, that I was constrained
to place confidence in him, and soon there was a report started that he
was a trifling with me and I told him if it was the case I wanted him to
leave me then and he would not, but continues his visits until he had come
long enough to bring me to disgrace, and then left me without any provocation
from my hurt. I told him that I had a thousand times rather that
he would murder me at once for he has done it by inches. I have been
abused at home a branded on his account, I am forsaken by a good many of
my relations and all on his account, I can't express the trouble that I
have, it is more than I can bare up under, I can never see any satisfaction
any more, I leave this to tell you the truth about it, for it may be said
that this or that, was the cause of her doing so, but I have told you the
truth for these is my last words. Darius thinks he has not hurt me
to disgrace enough, I am informed that he has talked at great length about
me and very scandalously too. That is more than I can bear, for I
have suffered so much on his account it is the finish of my soul he wants,
tell him that he has got it now and he can live with it, if he had never
treated me as he has, I never should have come to this dreadful finish.
Cassandra Cheuvront |
Darius
Hinkle, b. May 8, 1813, on West fork River, Harrison Co., WVA, d. Dec.
1854 Harrison County. He was the son of Leonard Henkle,(b. c1789,
d. bef. 1840, Harrison Co., WVA), and Mary Cunningham(d/o Abraham Cunningham
and Mary ____), b. c1791 Pendleton Co., WVA. Leonard received from
his father Abraham Henkle (b. Mar 20, 1749, Bucks Co., PA, d. Sept 3, 1815,
Augusta Co. VA, m. Mary Catherine Teter) "the place on West Fork River
in Harrison County. An interesting note - Abraham
Henkle was brother of Anna Marie Elizabeth Henkle who married Moses Ellsworth,
parents of Elizabeth Elsworth, first wife of Cassandra's father, Joseph
Cheuvront.(see info here)
From
Henckle Genealogy, page 238: "Cassandra Cheuvront born December
28, 1812; died November 1, 1839; single."
The
Gusman Mill and Dam was origionally built by John Patton in 1820
and operated for nine years, deeding it and 50 acres, located about 100
yards below the mouth of Hackers Creek, to Josph Gusman. The following
account is from the book "Old Grist Mills of Harrison County" by
Harvey W. Harmer, and graciously shared by the present owner of the tract
of land, Paul Nay of Jane Lew, West Virginia.
"The
mill Joseph (Gusman) purchased was a small one, but soon after, he rebuilt
it, erecting a large three-story frame mill fully equipped with machines
for carding and spinning wool and weaving and fulling wollen cloth.
It was said to have been the largest and best mill, at that time, in the
country.
When
Gusman purchased the mill, one of his neighbors was Rev. Joseph Cheuvront
whose only daughter Cassie was then seventeen years of age. Three
years later her father died and she became a favorite in the Gusman family.
Darius Hinkle, a young man, also lived in the neighborhood, where he and
Cassie grew up together, and later were friends and sweethearts.
In
the summer season, boat riding on the river above the milldam was a pleasant
pastime and recreation. Often, Darius and Cassie came to the mill
and asked Gusman for the loan of his boat, and rowed up the river some
distance, then slowly drifted back in the moonlight. What more favorable
surroundings could any man find in which to make love to a beautiful young
woman? After the passing of her father, Cassie looked upon Gusman
as a father. He witnessed the growing friendship with Darius and
her with approval, and observed the romance of their lives, fully suspecting
it would soon ripen into marriage. Later, on November 22, 1829, Cassie
wrote Gusman, telling him of the devoted attention Darius had shown her
and of her expectation of marriage to him. But now she said he had
cast her aside, and life without him seemed undesirable; therefore she
contemplated suicide that night by drowning in a deep pool below the milldam,
the sole reason being her disappointment in love. The next morning,
shortly after Gusman received Cassie's letter, her lifeless body was found
in the river some distance below the mill."
Another
account from the same book ("Old Grist Mills of Harrison County"
by Harvey W. Harmer) page 77:
"Darius
Hinkle, according to local lore, had earlier deserted a sweetheart with
grievous results. When growing up he was friendly with Cassandra
(Cassie) Cheuvront, youngest daughter of the well known Rev. Joseph Cheuvront,
a Methodist minister. Their homes were not far apart along the West
Fork River in the area near the mouth of Duck Creek. After the Rev.
Cheuvront died, Cassie bacame close to the Joseph Gusman family.
Darius and Cassie frequently were together at the Gusman Mill on the West
Fork River, would go boating together on the millpond and were observed
to be close friends. For some reason, Darius stopped seeing Cassie
who was heart broken. She was said to have heard-incorrectly-that
he had married. She left a letter for Joseph Gusman and one night
drowned herself in the pool below the mill dam."
see also
related GUSMAN family information
Cassandra
was burried in the Cheuvront graveyard.
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