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MehitableCottage Grove August 8th 1851Dear Sister LucyWe received a letter from you last week, you don't know how rejoiced we were to hear that you are getting better so fast - You must mind your mother and not be too smart - I wrote to you soon after we got here but it seems you had not received the letter when you wrote = am afraid it is lost - your last letter came in fifteen days. Poor Mr Hartwell is gone - I can hardly realise it - Lucy is truly deeply afflicted - her mother and husband both taken - what will she do with her little children? How much he will be missed in Milo - especially by Charles and Mary - I want very much to hear particularly about his last days - I hope to have a letter from Mary this week, father had one from Mr Hamlen last week He thinks Milo is rather gaining on the whole - I am very glad to hear it - I think I shall always take more interest in that place than in any other. It seems that Waterman has taken his better-half home - how many changes happen in a short time - I suppose we notice them more when we are absent. I am at Theodore's now have been here about ten days - I love to stay here. I think he has the most pleasant situation of any of our people - his house is on the open prairie & like it better than the grove - it is so damp at Warren's seems as though it could not be healthy - my trunk is covered with mold in the sitting room - we have a fine breeze here all the time too which keeps off the musquitos in a measure - Theodore has ten acres of corn in one piece in sight of the house it does look handsome - but is rather backward, the season has been so wet and cold - grain looks finely, is about ready to harvest - The treaty is at last concluded with the Indians so when they are removed they will be far enough from us - they do not trouble us here any now - I have not seen one since I came here - but there are lots of half-breeds -[on side]: I wonder if I have said all you want to know - I suppose there are a thousand questions you would like to ask that I have not anticipated I am sorry to hear that Sammy is so poor - you must take a trip out here and fat up like enough I'll go home with you when you come I almost want to go with Mrs Hale and Emily, I should think Isaac would want to come up here and see the country, now he is so near Well its most time to get dinner, give my love to all the folks - Albina and the little ones write often all the comfort I take is in looking forward to mail day Yours affectionately Mehitabel
Title
Furber Family: Furber, Mehitable ("Bell") (Samuel's sister), Isaac Stevens Metcalf family papers, 1850-1851
Creator
Metcalf, Isaac Stevens, 1822-1898
Date
1850-1851
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 3 Folder 63
BibID
821787
Size
3186px × 4661px 85.01 MB
IIIF Resource Type
Canvas
Filename
998217878805867_mms_metcalf_box_03_fl_63_008_002.tif
Unique Identifier
NL11FEZS
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