September 7 and 8 Tuesday – Sam had fallen in love with Olivia Louise Langdon and evidently had expressed this openly to her, asking for marriage. The “rules” of Victorian society required her to refuse such a sudden and precipitous proposal, but Olivia allowed Sam to write her “as a brother to a sister,” which he did before leaving Elmira. In the early hours of this day Sam wrote her the first of many love letters. Olivia numbered each of Sam’s letters until their marriage in Feb. 1870 (when the total reached 184) [MTL 3: 473]. Powers claims “an estimated 189” [MT A Life 280].

Later in the morning, Sam and Charles Langdon left Elmira for Cleveland to visit Mary Mason Fairbanks and family.