Cornelia Guignon letter (repayment of debt)

After the death of his first wife, Rebecca, Peter Guignon married Cornelia Ray sometime in the mid to late 1840s. For years Peter had been struggling to find steady work, trying his hand in "cigars" as well as in hairdressing. This note, in which Cornelia apologizes for not being able to repay a loan from Albro Lyons, Peter's former brother-in-law, underscores the couple's financial insecurity. A few years later, Cornelia's brother, Peter Williams Ray, brought Peter in to run his drugstore.