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Elyria Feb. 10 1855Elyria Feb, 10th/55My Dear MotherAs you say to me in your letter I feel inclined to write a little though not much to say, and I can very properly add "not much faculty to say it" for I am stupid & dull enough to day from the effect of a real old fashioned cold which keeps me coughing and using my handkerchief most of the time; it is fast getting better however. I shall be well again in a day or two. I believe I am making myself too tender by so little exposure to cold sleeping in a warm room and frequently I do not go out of doors for several days together. I mean to go out every day without fail when I get well of my cold. Not withstanding the general mildness of the winters here, there are frequent sudden snaps of cold which coming unawares, our needs to be still more grounded than in steady weather, extremely cold, There is quite a respectable quantity of snow on the ground & it is again gently falling this morning. Our winter for the past two or three weeks has been just such as I like, brisk clean weather yet mild, only two or three days lower than zero generally from 10 to twenty above. it is fine sleighing, well improved. I think you would enjoy our mild winter climate wish you were here with us trust another year will find you enjoying yourself in this. We shall be [up left side] he would do well to come to this region perhaps take a farm, for a year or two till he could find a chance to buy to quiet him somewhere perhaps within half a dozen miles of this village; here the farms are held high; facilities for farming are doubtless good in places but newly settled in this region but how it might be with privileges society &c. I do not know. Every thing goes on as usual with us; I miss Susan: we have a young lady boarder for the winter. I have been making and filling a feather bed, at which time I should have been glad of your experience and counsel; I have prepared sausage meat & 'brown' too for the first time; we had a pig just after Susan left us. I am by no means out of sewing yet not so hurried as at some times. Do write more frequently to your distant but affectionate daughter Anne D,W,
Title
DeWitt, Elizabeth Anna Rich (half-sister), to Anna Mayo Stevens Rich Metcalf (mother) (also to Lucy M. Furber and Almeida ..., Isaac Stevens Metcalf family papers, 1850-1859
Creator
Metcalf, Isaac Stevens, 1822-1898
Date
1850-1859
Place
United States
Subjects
Bowdoin College
,
Brothers and sisters
,
DuQuoin Coal Company
,
Illinois Central Railroad Company
Description
Use the link to the finding aid for a fuller description of collection contents that explains the use of the name and subject terms appearing in this catalog record.
Summary
Correspondence, writings, diaries, and journals documenting family and rural life, as well as early business correspondence and records, and a few photographs, all pertaining to Isaac Stevens Metcalf and the Metcalf, Furber, and Putnam families. Family correspondence was used to keep all of the branches of the family in touch with each other when family members moved away. There are many instances where multiple family members wrote on one letter to one or more other family members, and some people even wrote "family letters" that were intended to be shared amongst parents, siblings, and the like. Topics of family correspondence tend to be related to religion, daily activities on the farm, weather, and the news of friends and relatives (births, deaths, sicknesses, etc.) Business records of Metcalf's pertain to land ownership, railroad engineering and construction, and running a coal mining business. The mid-19th century business records also document tax payments and some reports including labor and payroll expenses. There are a few drawings and sketches from Metcalf's tenure as division engineer of the Illinois Central Railroad. The first accession of these family papers was a donation of the letters between Charles W. and Albina Rich, given by Grace Leadingham, Charles Rich's granddaughter. This gift was facilitated by Keyes D. Metcalf, 17th child of Isaac Stevens Metcalf.
Biographical/Historical Note
Railroad engineer, farmer, and businessman of Maine, Ohio, and Illinois during the second half of the 19th century. Isaac Stevens Metcalf was born in Royalston, Massachusetts, on Jan. 29, 1822. His father, Isaac Metcalf, had married Lucy Heywood in 1810; she died childless in 1820. In March 1821 he married Anna Mayo Stevens Rich, the widow of Charles Rich, by whom she had had three children (named Charles, Elizabeth Anna, and Almeida). Isaac was born to Metcalf and Rich, followed by Joseph, Lucy, and Eliab. Isaac Metcalf (father) died in Boston in 1830, and the family relocated to Milo, Maine, where half-brother Charles had purchased a farm. Isaac Stevens Metcalf lived there with his mother and siblings, preparing for college and working on the farm until he entered Bowdoin College as a sophomore in 1844. He graduated there in 1847, having taught school while studying engineering. He surveyed and built railroads in New England until the spring of 1850, when he became a division engineer on the southern section (near Centralia, IL) of the Illinois Central Railroad. Metcalf worked closely with the Chief Engineer, Roswell B. Mason. Metcalf remained on the job until the line was completed to Cairo, IL, in 1855. While in central Illinois, Metcalf purchased land and with his partner Chester A. Keyes laid out the railroad town of Du Quoin, which was officially dedicated on Sept. 20, 1853. On Jul. 5, 1852, he married Antoinette ("Nettie") Brigham Putnam, the daughter of prominent New Hampshire minister John Milton Putnam. The couple had twelve children, three of whom died young. They settled in Elyria, Ohio, in Nov. 1856, to be near Metcalf's half sister, Elizabeth Ann (also known as Ann Elizabeth), and more family joined them within the next ten years. Metcalf and family lived in Elyria for over 41 years, farming and running a flour mill while Isaac Stevens Metcalf maintained business interests in Du Quoin, Illinois (real estate and coal mining). Antoinette died Aug. 14, 1875, and three years later Metcalf married Harriet Howes. That couple had six boys. Harriet Howes died of pneumonia Dec. 7, 1894, and Isaac Stevens Metcalf died Feb. 19, 1898, age 76. A more complete Metcalf genealogy family, focusing on the children of Isaac Stevens Metcalf, is available in the Special Collections Department information files. The genealogy was compiled by Keyes DeWitt Metcalf, 17th child of Isaac Stevens Metcalf.
Extent
10.8 linear feet (20 boxes and 1 oversize folder)
Format
Business records
,
Correspondence
,
Diaries
,
Genealogy
,
Invoices
,
Manuscripts, American
,
Personal narratives
,
Records and correspondence
,
Sources
Archival Collection Title
Isaac Stevens Metcalf papers
,
Midwest Manuscript Collection
Rights Status
No Copyright - United States
Newberry Open Access Policy
The Newberry makes its collections available for any lawful purpose, commercial or non-commercial, without licensing or permission fees to the library, subject to
these terms and conditions.
Contributing Institution
Newberry Library
Link to Catalog
View finding aid
|
View record
Call Number
midwest ms metcalf Box 1 Folder 8
BibID
821787
Size
3120px × 3939px 70.35 MB
IIIF Resource Type
Canvas
Filename
998217878805867_mms_metcalf_box_01_fl_08_001_001.tif
Unique Identifier
NL11FDI6
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