An astronomer's wife | The biography of Angeline Hall by her son
“On the latter part of December, Asaph Hall returned to Goshen, Conn. Hence the following letter:
Goshen, Jan. 17th, 1856.
Dearest Angie: .... I think of you a great deal, Angie, and sometimes when I feel how much better and holier you are than I am, I think that I ought to go through with much trial and affliction before I shall be fitted for your companion. In this way I presume that my letters have been shaded by my occasional sad thoughts. But Angie, you must not let them affect you any more, or cherish gloomy thoughts about me. I would not drive the color from your cheek or give you one bad thought concerning me for the world. I want, very much, to see you look healthy and strong when I meet you. . . . Every time I go away from home, among strangers, I feel my need of you. My friends here, even my sisters, seem cold and distant when compared with you. O there is no one like the dear one who nestles in our hearts and loves us always. My mother loves me, and is very dear to me, and my sisters too, but then they have so many other things to think about that their sympathies are drawn towards other objects. I must have you, Angie, to love me, and we will find a good happy home somewhere, never fear. And now you must be cheerful and hopeful, try to get rid of your headaches, and healthy as fast as you can. You must remember that I love you very much, and that with you life looks bright and hopeful, while if I should lose you, I fear that I should become sour and disheartened, a hater of my kind. May God bless you, Angie.
Yours Truly, A. Hall.
The next month Mr. Hall was in Milford, Wisconsin, whence he wrote to Angeline's mother as follows :
Milford, Wisconsin, Feb. 28th.
Dear Mrs. Woodward: .... I find Angeline with her health much improved. . . . We expect to be married sometime this spring. I fear that I shall fail to fulfil the old rule, which says that a man should build his house before he gets his wife and shall commence a new life rather poor in worldly goods. But then we know how, and are not ashamed to work, and feel trustful of the future. At least, I am sure that we shall feel stronger, and better fitted to act an honorable part in life, when we are living together, and encouraging each other, than we could otherwise. I know that this will be the case with myself and shall try to make it so with Angeline.
Yours Sincerely, Asaph Hall.
This hardly sounds like the epistle of a reluctant lover; and yet tradition says the young carpenter hesitated to marry; and for a brief season Angeline Stickney remembered tearfully that other McGrawville suitor who loved her well, but whose bashful love was too tardy to forestall the straightforward Mr. Hall. " The course of true love never did run smooth." In this case, the trouble seems to have been the lady's feeble health. When they were married, she was very weak, and it looked as if she could not live more than two or three years. But her mental powers were exceptionally strong, and she remembered tenaciously for many a year the seeming wrong. However, under date of April 2, 1856, Angeline wrote to her sister Mary, from Ann Arbor, Michigan:
Mr. Hall and I went to Elder Bright's and staid over Sunday. We were married Monday morning and started for this place in the afternoon. Mr. Hall came here for the purpose of pursuing his studies. We have just got nicely settled. Shall remain here during the summer term, and perhaps three or four years. “
And so, Asaph Hall studied astronomy under the famous Briinnow, and French under Fasquelle. And he used to carry his frail wife on his back across the fields to hunt wildflowers.
Excepted from An astronomer's wife; the biography of Angeline Hall by Hall, Angelo, b. 1868
Chloe Angeline Stickney Hall (November 1, 1830 – July 3, 1892) was an American academic, suffragist, and mathematician. She was a teacher and later the wife of astronomer Asaph Hall. She did not use her first name and so was known as Angeline Stickney Hall. Stickney, the largest crater on Phobos, is named after her in recognition of her support for the satellite's discovery.
Via Wikipedia