Getting close to the end of the material I'm going to decipher (much of it I've decided isn't worth the effort--this is 1500 pages, remember), and I found one paragraph of slight interest.
One of the Keith cousins from Silesia, granddaughter of one of Peter's siblings, named Amalie, has written to Karl Ernst's heir (one of the Knyphausen cousins) immediately after Karl Ernst's death. One paragraph is easy to sight-read, and she's talking about how she was orphaned and entered the world as a child of 13, father-less and mother-less, without guidance or support, until she thought to turn to her uncle* Karl Ernst in Berlin. "I found a loving welcome and more than a heart used to hardship and deprivation could have imagined."
* First cousin once removed, but she says "thus legally my uncle."
So while this guy who donated to charity annually while living in a rundown house might have given her a warm welcome regardless, I have to wonder if the guy who lost his father at 13 felt an especial sympathy for his orphaned-at-13 niece. Just like Selena thinks Caroline of Ansbach, who had to teach herself to read, felt an especial sympathy for Peter, who had to hide his reading late at night.
The rest of the letter is much harder to read, and I have no immediate plans to decipher it, as not being relevant to my essay, but my guess, based on context, is it includes: "Hey, Mr. Heir of My Uncle Karl Ernst, who was a lovely person who gave me money, can you make sure the money doesn't dry up?" But that's a total guess based on context, as I haven't read any actual words to that effect.
Onwards!
ETA: Ah, there we are! Two months later, she's thanking him humbly and effusively for a gift of 100 Reichsthaler. Called it.
Karl Ernst
One of the Keith cousins from Silesia, granddaughter of one of Peter's siblings, named Amalie, has written to Karl Ernst's heir (one of the Knyphausen cousins) immediately after Karl Ernst's death. One paragraph is easy to sight-read, and she's talking about how she was orphaned and entered the world as a child of 13, father-less and mother-less, without guidance or support, until she thought to turn to her uncle* Karl Ernst in Berlin. "I found a loving welcome and more than a heart used to hardship and deprivation could have imagined."
* First cousin once removed, but she says "thus legally my uncle."
So while this guy who donated to charity annually while living in a rundown house might have given her a warm welcome regardless, I have to wonder if the guy who lost his father at 13 felt an especial sympathy for his orphaned-at-13 niece. Just like Selena thinks Caroline of Ansbach, who had to teach herself to read, felt an especial sympathy for Peter, who had to hide his reading late at night.
The rest of the letter is much harder to read, and I have no immediate plans to decipher it, as not being relevant to my essay, but my guess, based on context, is it includes: "Hey, Mr. Heir of My Uncle Karl Ernst, who was a lovely person who gave me money, can you make sure the money doesn't dry up?" But that's a total guess based on context, as I haven't read any actual words to that effect.
Onwards!
ETA: Ah, there we are! Two months later, she's thanking him humbly and effusively for a gift of 100 Reichsthaler. Called it.