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
I lately had a letter from Samuel he and his wife are pretty well now Mary was very sick last Summer but is now teaching their winter school young Sammy was at home 2 or 3 weeks in august quite out of health and discouraged he has lived with his uncle White a good while learned the track has had some wages but Mr W has a great many ups and down he has been doing well sometime but I guess he is now pretty low S is there now but if he is able to work I dont no as he will ever get his pay his father is afraid he will get unsteady and go off to the west he is now twenty years old Samuel says his farm ran out fast while he was gone from it but says the crops were good last year and this except potatoes I hope he will be more contented I think if anyone has a farm and something in the house and barn to eat they ought to be thankful. he says one of his cows will make a pound of butter a day through the summer Esthers health is very good and Mr W says he is well but he looks old and very poor Henry begins to look old has a good many Sick turns I think they all have a good deal of patience with each other and get along very well Mrs. Chamberlain has been there made a long visit She gave E a dress and some other things and Mrs Childs sent her a dress and ten dollars money which pleased her very much Mrs. Russell has not got though with her law suit I am sorry for what she has done it will break friendship all round - the law of love is better I think than the love of law I am sorry Sister H has got to go I am fraid She wont tell a Straight story they live in Northfield yet I dont expect they will ever live on the farm I guess it will be Sold. I thought you was in Milo till you wrote was expecting you along every day I hope if you come back while I live you will come this way and make a long visit but do write often Is Almeda left with a good home and her children with her I wish I could see them it dont seem as if I could live through such a long Sudden journey as you did last Summer I have wrote a long letter and now you must guess it out if you can give my love to all friends. from your affectionate Sister B Conant[left-hand side] I did not feel approved? at what you wrote but thought you was 70 years old & perhaps began to fail
Title
Various, to Anna Mayo Stevens Rich Metcalf (mother), Isaac Stevens Metcalf family papers, 1841-1857
Creator
Metcalf, Isaac Stevens, 1822-1898
Date
1841-1857
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 95
BibID
821787
Size
2730px × 3445px 53.85 MB
IIIF Resource Type
Canvas
Filename
998217878805867_mms_metcalf_box_04_fl_95_006_002.tif
Unique Identifier
NL11FGLL
Help
Need help finding, searching, sharing, or downloading? Check out our
help page
!
Linked assets