Autograph Letter Signed, Brooklyn, New York, July 19, 1845 to her friend, Mary Cushing, Phipsburg, Maine

quarto, 4 pages, plus stamp-less address leaf, written in ink in a clear, readable hand.

Nancy Lee, describes her journey from Maine to New York and the Great New York City Fire of 1845, which occurred the day she arrived:

"My Dear Friend,

… we arrived at New York about 8 Oclock this morning and the first thing we saw when coming up the harbor was a tremendous great smoke and fire flames flying so high in the City but we hear they have got it put out now, but its thought there is more than half the property and many more lives lost than there was in that great fire when we were here before … Holland was very buissy [sic] over to the fire this morning for one of his imployers Store got burnt down and another one caught fire but Holland went and barilled up all the papers and sent them over to Brooklyn and he has been home since and dined with me, and William took breakfast with me and he went over to see to the store he belongs to but I believe there not much damage done there only got some of the medison wet Poor souls they have had a hard days work done over to the City to day for all the open ground that belongs to the City is piled up with goods of all description and furniture of all kinds and poor people turned out of there buildings all looking so discouraged …" [sic]

The Great New York City Fire of 1845 broke out on July 19, 1845. The fire started in a whale oil and candle manufacturing establishment and quickly spread to other wooden structures in the neighborhood. It reached a warehouse on Broad Street where combustible saltpeter was stored and caused a massive explosion that spread the fire even farther. During the ten and a half hours that it burned, the fire destroyed buildings from Broad Street below Wall Street to Stone Street, up Whitehall Street to Bowling Green, and up Broadway to Exchange Place. Four firefighters and 26 civilians died. The fire destroyed some 345 buildings in the southern part of what is now the Financial District, resulting in property damage estimated at the time between 5 and 10 million dollars.