1 Two of these sketches have been identified (4 and 5 Jan 71 to Bliss, nn. 1, 3; 4 Mar 71 to OC, n. 1).

2 Rachel Brooks Gleason (1820–1905) had come from Elmira, most likely in mid-February, to temporarily supplant Andrew Wright as Olivia’s physician. A teacher until her marriage in 1844 to Dr. Silas O. Gleason (1818–99), she was one of the first women admitted to the Central Medical College in Rochester, where, studying under her husband, she received her degree in 1851. The Gleasons opened the Elmira Water Cure on East Hill in 1852, where Rachel thereafter treated several Langdon family members and friends. Her 1870 book, Talks to My Patients: Hints on Getting Well and Keeping Well, which dispensed medical and practical advice for women from childhood through menopause, was currently enjoying great success, having gone through five printings in its first year (Cotton, 20–21; Willard and Livermore, 322; Kirk, 1:677; 14 Mar 71 to Fairbanks). The Water Cure was temporarily closed by the Gleasons “for a few months, to afford them rest,” and reopened on 1 May 1871 (“Elmira Water Cure,” Elmira Advertiser, 29 Apr 71, 4). Rachel Gleason probably remained in Buffalo until early March, when Olivia’s condition began to improve.