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Milo April 16....45My Dear Son We reciev'd a great large bundle from you last mail and a good feast it was because I feel gratified & I hope thankful that you are so good about writing letters home. Joseph is not quite so dutiful in that respect but I trust it is not from any want of affection - he is not very bad about it - I dont know what Eliab will be I feel a great deal of anxiety about him. Mr. Walter Brown wrote a letter to Charles expressing a wish to employ him in his store & if they both like stay as he express it till he could get a thorough Mercantile education Ann was very much pleas'd with the idea Charles thought it might be a good chance and E. seem'd inclin'd to go I said not much against it tho' I had & have some misgivings. He hurried right away for fear he should lose the chance has been there now a fortnight - he wrote a hasty line home saying only that he guess'd it was a good place - that he would give him 30 or 40 dollars this year & 20 or 25 dollars a month next yr I wrote to him not to conclude any bargain till C. goes down. I have felt rather a new sensation of loneliness since E. went away to have you young ones all gone baby and all you have all been absent occasionally but when I reflect that perhaps he nor you nor Joseph will be at home as you us'd to except now and then a while it makes me feel sad and lonely. O let us all pray and strive that we may be a whole family transplanted in due time to that better home and endless life where we may increase in virtue holiness and happiness no more to be seperated forever I want you should write to Eliab he is a good clever boy but he has been flatter'd and had his own & has "sorter,, slid out from under the restraint salutary and perhaps absolutely necessary for boys of his age - he is in danger of being a light superficial character if nothing worse - he want be more easily led away than Joseph at his age - Jo went to Foxcroft the next week after he had done his school and I have hardly heard from him since I suppose he cant spare time. I never saw but one person do parsimonious of time that was your father & I dont know as he was. C has not done much on the house, expects Gelman in 2 or 3 weeks he could not come before because his family were not well C. has hir'd a man for six months begins next week Hay is very scarce about here hardly any body got any to sell I guess. C's and J's will sell for $10 a ton - you say you wont pay the the last year term Bill take care and ascertain what is best to do before you act rashly you must not be guided much by our opinion because[written in between lines of above upside down] 22nd have had a letter from Eliab yesterday he likes very well says Mr. B. will give him $75 dollars to stay one year we have had 2 or 3 since this month come in the feild are only partially have now ice is not gone out of the river but it has been very warm yesterday and today one of C. oxen is very lame has been for six or 7 weeks (old swan), he think, he wont do to work any more but will do for Beef in the fall. The Mill folks have got in quite a fuss about roads and ferrys they have built a new boat at Jackson Ferry Niles Carver is continuing to buy the Boat and Monopolize the ferry (Mr. Cutts was talking here today, he says that to prevent it they mean to prevent this ferry being discontinued and push through the diagonal road now Charles & uncle Henry can crow Mr. Kittredge ? has become very unpopular cheifly in consequence of building this inner road says he's very sorry. Would rather give twice as much to build the other. Mrs. Kitredge has got a pair of twin boys 6 weeks old. Aron Hill a pr of twins too neither of them living Daniel Holman will be here today on his way to Bangor to seek his fortune says he thinks of trying to get an education I am afraid he is not aware of the difficulties that are in his way not having early advantages etc. however if he cant get along with it he can stop you know. Surely if he can get a liberal education by his own exertions you need despair. I rather think that Joseph has come to the conclusion that he shall not get his living by the labor of his hands, exactly. The newspapers you sent come safe to hand try it again. write a good long letter to Eliab soon as you can.Our village is increasing very fast in business and the number of its inhabitant but it is a dreadful profane and wicked place. I am very sorry I made such coarse homely shirts for you do save them for winter and if I can get some cloth I mean to make some fine ones and have them ready to send to you if I have a chance if not they'll be ready when you come do write often and very particularly all you do and say and think and feel. Pray for me think often how short this life is how vast the souls affairs and above all live near to God. I have sometimes had had a little doubt whether it was best for you to go to B. but certainly you have every inducement to persevere much and difficulties are not without their use if they are met manfully be strong if you find you cant get along any other way couldn't you leave at commencement and earn money till spring.
Title
Metcalf, Anna Mayo Stevens Rich (mother) (also from siblings), to Isaac Stevens Metcalf, Isaac Stevens Metcalf family papers, 1844-1851
Creator
Metcalf, Isaac Stevens, 1822-1898
Date
1844-1851
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 76
BibID
821787
Size
3241px × 3919px 72.71 MB
IIIF Resource Type
Canvas
Filename
998217878805867_mms_metcalf_box_03_fl_76_003_001.tif
Unique Identifier
NL11FFEA
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