Concordia ? A plastic envelope lying in a file full of long-neglected papers at a small central Kansas museum has yielded a letter that apparently was written by the wife of George Washington.

The letter, dated Jan. 27, 1793, with a return postmark of Philadelphia, Pa., is from Martha Washington to her niece, Fanny Bassett Washington. It was uncovered in November at the Cloud County Historical Society Museum in Concordia.

Marilyn Johnston and Aline Luecke, co-administrators of the museum, say the letter was in a plastic sleeve in the midst of yellowed, brittle newspaper clippings when Johnston discovered it, The Concordia Blade-Empire reported Wednesday.

“She almost broke my eardrums,” said museum worker, Jim Whitesell, describing the shriek from Johnston when she realized what she had found.

“I don’t know how it ever got dumped (in the file),” Johnston said. “But, no one ever looked in the files unless they needed something specific. I still can’t believe it.”

In the letter, Martha Washington discusses mostly family matters, particularly her concern for the health of Fanny’s husband, Maj. George Augustine Washington, who was George Washington’s nephew. She also wrote of how much she wanted to return from Washington D.C. to Mount Vernon, the Washingtons’ home.

The major took care of Mount Vernon while George Washington served as the country’s first president. Johnston said the major had tuberculosis and died Feb. 5, 1793, at Eltham, the family’s house in Virginia.

Johnston said the letter was given to the museum by the estate of Mrs. Park Pulsifer, who before she died in 1948 asked a friend to keep it until a museum was started in Cloud County. It was one of the first items acquired by the museum when it opened in November, 1959.

“The note had been passed down through (Pulsifer’s) family, the Howards,” Johnston told The Salina Journal. “We are trying to find a connection when the Howards joined the Bassett family.”

At one time the letter was displayed at the Women’s Community Club in Concordia. A June 4, 1920, edition of the Concordia Blade-Empire mentioned the letter, saying an employee in the manuscript division of the New York Public Library had determined it was written by Mrs. Washington. The letter currently is being appraised by Christie’s auction house in New York for insurance purposes.

The museum will hold an open house Feb. 19 to display the letter. At the same time, the museum is hosting a private reception for people who can trace their family history back to the Washingtons.

“There are, surprisingly, a lot of members of the family around here,” Johnston said. “I don’t know if they settled around here, but we have people coming from around the area.”

Here is the text of a letter from George Washington’s wife, Martha, to a niece. The letter, written in 1793, was discovered in November at the Cloud County Historical Society Museum in Concordia.

My Dear Fanny,

Your letter of the 7th instant has given me a great deal of concern. I feared the consequences and was prepared to hear the worst. I hope and trust it is for a wise purpose that you are so afflicted and trust you will bear your affliction as well as you can. I am truly sorry that the Major has still so many complaints. Ere this you can give some guess how the breast milk will agree with him, that it may prove favorable is the constant wish of your friends dear.

I hope your Aunt Syons will come and stay with you and your brothers and sisters will do everything they can to make your stay at Eltham-as it is impossible for you to move with the Major at this time-as agreeable as they can be with you. I every hour lament my being obliged to be absent from Mount Vernon. Congress will rise in March. The president goes home as soon as he can after, but the roads will be so bad that it will be impossible for the family to move at that time. As soon as the season will permit we shall go to Virginia where I hope I shall see you and the dear children.

It has indeed my dear Fanny given me a great deal of pain to be so far from you, and that I could not get down to you the distance is so great.

Remember me to all friends with you in which the president joins. Kiss your dear little babes for me.

I hope you take care of your health. Nelly and Washington send their love to the Major and yourself and children. Mr. Dandridge wishes to be remembered to all friends.

I am my dear Fanny your most affectionate

M. Washington