Close
Digital Collections
Statement on Potentially Offensive Materials
Help
Rights and Reproductions
Log In / Sign Up
0
Selected
Invert selection
Deselect all
Deselect all
Click here to refresh results
Click here to refresh results
Go to Login page
Loading details...
You do not have the permission to view Original image
Add to collection
Download
Share PDF
Get link
Transcription
User-Contributed Transcription
Two letters I have received from my brothers at Bangor, for which they have my hearty thanks. - one dated Jan 31st the other Feb 9th. - much obliged for the items respecting Bangor people and news of the place: it is far from being true that such will be uninteresting almost any thing relating to that region I shall be glad to hear about. I see no Eastern papers except N.Y. Evangelist and little eastern news. therefore do not excuse yourselves from writing I beg. As for me, you can take no interest in the people or scenes that surround me, - I have nothing new or striking to relate of myself and all the information I can pick up of the West will soon be exhausted. I can tell how they elect a mayor out west: there were four candidates - two proposed themselves and made great efforts in their own behalf - their friends paraded the streets on election day, in a great cart with a flag containing the name - with men in masks tin trumpet and triangles one took pains to stop at the Seminary door at recess and give cheers to the girls assembled to the door to look. Another a worthless fellow was nominated in sport as the workingmen's candidate, the nomination was carried: he felt himself insulted, vowed he would be elected if money could do it, bought over the grogshops to his interest and reported that he had 150 dolls. to spend if successful: he actually received a large number of votes; but was defeated: was burnt in effigy in during the day. Happily, worth, probity and good principles prevailed and Judge Bryan is mayor, a firm friend of temperance. A party of twenty or thirty have gone from this region to California by land - several teams with cow for oxen conveniences to live by the way, expect to join other parties at Independence on the borders of Ind. Ter. to proceed under the guidance of Kit Carson the Indian woman who was guide to Fremont. There has been quite a flood at Chicago: it is but few feet above the level of the lake in any part the ice was dammed in the river there the water carried a vessel from its place which in its way capsized two more
Title
DeWitt, Elizabeth Anna Rich (half-sister), to Isaac Stevens Metcalf, Isaac Stevens Metcalf family papers, 1842-1851
Creator
Metcalf, Isaac Stevens, 1822-1898
Date
1842-1851
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 15
BibID
821787
Size
3318px × 4249px 80.70 MB
IIIF Resource Type
Canvas
Filename
998217878805867_mms_metcalf_box_01_fl_15_003_001.tif
Unique Identifier
NL11FDNW
Help
Need help finding, searching, sharing, or downloading? Check out our
help page
!
Linked assets