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My Dear Son We had a good long letter from you a day or two since expressing some of your wants. I know & feel them as sensibly as you do perhaps, & am doing what I can to relieve them and make you comfortable. Meanwhile I hope and mean to often very often engag'd in earnest prayer that you may be sensible of your wont of grace and that you may speedily obtain that mercy and grace from God that will give you joy peace and true happiness such a trust and confidence in the Giver of all good that you can rise above these little vexations & perplexities which for the present to be ? and not joyous.But after all they are transient and received in the light of eternity appear very very trivial. I know that small things (like the wants of some of comforts of life) may and do sometimes accation pretty severe trials. But they must of necessity be short and therefore unimportant. O what nothings in comparison with the welfare of the immortal soul - now my Dear in order that these trifles may not bear to much upon our mind let us write in this one great objects. Let us seek and strive in earnest prayer for the salvation of your soul. Will you my Son devote a little time to the deep consideration of this all important subject about 10 o'clock every night. You do mean to be a Christian - there is no consideration whatever that would for a moment willing to be call'd from this world without - then why not put in exercise every faculty - use every mean now to obtain the inerimable blessing - when will there be a better time - are you sure there ever will be another as good. Ellen Lee has you know been very sick so that she thought she should not live but little whole - she was alarm & distress'd almost to distraction because her peace was not made with God. She has now obtain'd a hope and continues to view the subject as all important she said her distress was not because she was soon to die but because she had not submited to and accepted of Christ. Is not that another proof that religion is indeed the one thing needful
Title
Metcalf, Anna Mayo Stevens Rich (mother) (also from siblings), to Isaac Stevens Metcalf, Isaac Stevens Metcalf family papers, 1838-1840
Creator
Metcalf, Isaac Stevens, 1822-1898
Date
1838-1840
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 74
BibID
821787
Size
3118px × 3932px 70.19 MB
IIIF Resource Type
Canvas
Filename
998217878805867_mms_metcalf_box_03_fl_74_007_004.tif
Unique Identifier
NL11FF8N
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