Ch. (Chief) Amiss,

Your letter rec'd. Glad to hear from you altho I never knew you. In fact I know very little about my Amiss kin. My father and mother both died in 1851 and my mother's family took her children and as they all lived in lower part upstate we were (grew?) separated from my father's kin and have been ever since. I have lived in this county for 40 years, what you say about the Amiss name is probably (perhaps?) correct. I have heard it was originally Amy and that (?) we lost a fortune (in England) by the change of name. I know my grandfather John Amiss was in the Revolutionary War for he told me this himself. He was at the Battle of Yorktown Oct. 19, 1781 and was in a hospital in Williamsburg the day of the surrender. These are facts I got from him. I was a student at William and Mary College in 1850, 51 etc. (?) and visiting my grandfather in 1852 he told me as much about Yorktown and Williamsburg as I know though he had not been there since Oct. 1781. I always thought he came to this country a few years before the war. Another brother James and this brother being a royalist went back to England and from him we are said to have inherited a fortune, but owing to the change of name we (?) could never get it. I don't often get from home but if I come to Washington will hunt you up and if you come this way give me a call - - note (?) again - kind regards to your family.

My grandfather died in 1853 - a very old man
about 100 years old-

Yer c.
J.B. Amiss
(signed)