(Livingston Manor, April 19, 1721)

My Dear Husband,

I have received your letters and [noted] what is being done at the plantation. It pleases me to hear that you are so well that you can report everything in that manner. I hope your good health may continue. I am suffering from a very hard congestion of the chest and a severe cough.
Uncle Arent has already been here for so long as I have, and is having a lot of trouble with shipping his ore down. And [he] invites me to go with him this Friday and will [take] everything [down] in writing, including the soil and how the ore is [embedded] in the rock. You write for reed; I have no money to buy [it]. There are 5 tons [and] 6 kegs left to be sold; we owe your son Van Hoorn 50 lb. of that, which he procured in order to pay the Governor. And [I] have got the debenture with the receipt for it from Mr. Askel, and will pay Van Hoorn and Salsberrie’s1) sister as soon as it is sold. I have not a [single] stuiver in money with me to buy reed. Nor do I know anything about the Governor. [He] cannot come to an agreement with the Assembly. They wanted to extend the customs for 3 years; the Governor was not willing to accept it. It is said he will not get it now. The Quakers do not care whether he is angry.
One does not doubt that he will marry Abraham van Hoorn’s daughter. Maris2) and Dr Syanse3) are against it and have often told him so; but [he] swears he wants to have her [and] is sorry for all [the people] who are against it. It grieves me that Robbert4) has written something about that, and that she did not stay with you to keep you company.
Do not have the napkins cut, for I want to be present, God willing. With Pieter Winne I am sending you as much palm again. I hope that some fish will be caught and [that] the wheat of Taghkan. And the peas will be picked up.
There is no news here. At....there has been such a drought that the sugar-case has dried up and that they had to drive their horses 20 miles before they were able to give them water – 20 sh. for a bucket of water! – so that we cannot thank God enough that we still have enough of everything.
We cannot sell the other flour for 12 sh. in money. It is a mad trade here. I am sending you a chair [and] ground-endive. [That] has to be planted out; it is for me to drink tea. I am suffering from a very hard congestion of the chest. I send you 2 shillings’ worth of cotton. [It] is too expensive; [I] cannot get a bale.
Your Beloved Wife, till death,
Alieda5) Livinghston.
April 19, 1721
In the Manor of Livinghston

Notes:
1) = Salisbury.
2) = possibly: Morris.
3) = Johnson
4) More commonly spelled: “Robert”
5) Alida spells even her own name inconsistently.