Written on the face of an envelope addressed to Hill Carter Esqr. ...

Mrs Dobyns is the daughter of the late Hon Josiah Simpson who married Ann Hill Stannard

 daughter of William Stannard of Fredricksburg Va. She is the widow of the late Hon Thomas L Dobyns,

 her father was appointed Judge of the Territory by Mr Nadison of Mississippi

Written on the other side same envelope:

Edward Carter of Blenheim had 13 children; his 8th, "Eliza" married Stannard of "Roxbury" Spotslyvania Co. 

After the death of her husband, Columbia Dobyns sent a letter to her cousin Robert E. Lee

 to ask presumably for help, Lee in turn asked his cousin  Hill Carter .

  The letter establishes the connection of Columbia Dobyns to the Carter, and Lee families.

 The important parts of the letter are described as he wrote to his cousin Hill Carter.

  Robert Lee could not figure out the connection Mrs. Dobyns had to his family nor that of Hill Carter.

 The letters are excerpts as follows from the " Shirley Collection."

 May 18, 1868

Lexington Va.

 Robert E Lee, Lexington to Hill Carter with envelope

My dear Cousin Hill,

           Upon my turn to Richmond I found your letter the Ulto: enclosing $100 for Mrs. Columbia E. Dobyns,

which I would have acknowledged before, but I have been endeavoring to recover her address.

I hope you have the memorandum you took of it & will send it to me, for after replying to her letter as I had informed you I had done,

 I destroyed it, as my letters accumulate so rapidly that I cannot preserve all that I receive.

I have written a letter to he enclosing your generous donation to her, but when I came to the address I had to pause.

 Her name is as stated above, and she dates at Buena Vista, but I do nt know her P. O. Is it Rodney, Missi.?

 If I cannot learn her P.O. I shall have to return your $100.

May 29, 1868

 Robert E Lee, Lexington to Hill Carter

My dear Cousin Hill,

                  I rec'd this morn'g your letter of the 25th & have sent to the address of Mrs. Columbia E Dobyns,

 which you gave me, your draft for the $100 enclosed in your former letter.

 I hope it will reach her safely and relieve some pressing necessity.

                  I told her that though the war had left you as it had done her,

 "nothing but rubbish on the land." stil you could not bear that she should suffer any distress that you could relieve.

                  You will never go wrong while you have such good sons,

 As hard as they work with their hands, I think you can accomplish more with your brains,

May 29, 1868

 Robert E Lee, Lexington to Hill Carter

My dear Cousin Hill,

                  I rec'd this morn'g your letter of the 25th & have sent to the address of Mrs. Columbia E Dobyns,

 which you gave me, your draft for the $100 enclosed in your former letter.

I hope it will reach her safely and relieve some pressing necessity.

                  I told her that though the war had left you as it had done her, "nothing but rubbish on the land."

stil you could not bear that she should suffer any distress that you could relieve.

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