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26thMy Dear Son Isaac & Nettie I feel & have felt a great deal of anxiety about your health tho' Charles writes me that you are both improving in health I perceive by the ill looking Dags you sent that you are making large drafts on your constitution you think you cannot leave there, till that road is done what if your health should be entirely broken down & lost before that time what good would your road or the pay for it do you in lieu of it I rejoice to know that Antoinette is coming away I think it an excellent plan for her to come away early in the season and stop with Ann till she comes (the first of June) Why cant you come there during the hottest of weather, what if the road should be a year longer in building & save the health of all the Laborers on it - which of all the Engineers would be willing to give his life for the whole road. Do try your influence to stop the whole proceeding for a while in the hot weather We have all been almost sick with Colds. I had a very severe cold in the first of the winter. But had got over it & went to Bangor thinking to stay thro' the coldest of the weather. But came home because when Josie was sick he and baby have been sick enough to be very troublesome and require a great deal of care & attention but Charles need not be anxious about them we are being very careful and nursing them up nicely probably they'll be all well long before he'll know they have been unwell. I dont know but I shall get to dislike this Climate in the winter as bad as that in the summer - there are 4 sick at Mr. Livermore - young David has been confin'd all winter with lame knee. Mr. H. Sargent is very sick yet. I spent a week very pleasantly at Bangor with Lucy Eliab & Maria - every is so nice & comfortable there I've had a cold & cough ever since I came home but it doesn't make me sick.
Title
Metcalf, Anna Mayo Stevens Rich (mother), to Isaac and Antoinette B.P. Metcalf (wife), 1852-1860, Isaac Stevens Metcalf family papers
Creator
Metcalf, Isaac Stevens, 1822-1898
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 4 Folder 83
BibID
821787
Size
3388px × 4414px 85.61 MB
IIIF Resource Type
Canvas
Filename
998217878805867_mms_metcalf_box_04_fl_83_002_003.tif
Unique Identifier
NL11FG83
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