Washington 13th June 1813 My dear Niece, I am exceedingly grieved by the distressing intelligence curtained in your letter of the 9th; being wholly unprepared for the unexpected, the melancholy [illegible]. I had addressed by the last post aline & your dear mama, and which anticipating without a doubt the delight which would result from her answer; Was, I am left to maim with his family, the [illegible] lot of unmutual & [illegible] friend. That we are creatures, feeble creatures indispenssiable [duty] it is & [illegible] without a manner, to the sovereign will of our Great Creator. True it is my dear, [struck] it is impossible under with circumstances & mother grief, that luxury (of distress) the indulgence which can alone affords with least temporary relief; but we must still endeavour [sic] to recor [sic] to reason, which on all Occasion is the best guide this teaches us to moderate our passions, I never [illegible] then I have too much the ascendancy. You will do well to consider that without [illegible] without the society of the best of Parents, your dear mama & her children were devoted to his happiness, did everything in their power to promote it, & would have prolonged his valuable life, had the measure been possible; but to this [illegible] of Heaven having been averse, we may truly say "Good when He gives, supremely good, " Nor less, when he denies; " Even cropes sum God sovereign hand " Are blessing in disguise." Four letter [sic] to your brother I have requested the secretary of War to forward, & he had memorized to do it under the hand of the War office, which will ensure its delivery. Accept my dear Niece, with my beloved sister & her family the sympathy & affectionate regard of your unsigned friend & uncle Miss Catherine Coles E. Gerry