Manuscripts
This collection of letters were written by James T. Colby and his daughters Sarah and Rebecca, to John M. Anderson and Rebecca Anderson of Salem, Massachusetts, whom Sarah and Rebecca address as "Uncle" and "Aunt." The letters are largely concerned with details of the Colby family's life in San Francisco during the years 1859 to 1861. In the first four letters, HMs 4214, 4216, 4218, and 4219, written between January and April, 1859, James Colby is alone in San Francisco, but has encountered such success working in a Navy yard that he wishes his family to join him. Starting with HM 4220, dated June 3, 1859, letters from his daughters begin to appear. HM 4220 also contains lithographs depicting the city of Sonora as well as the town of Springfield in Tuolumne County. In HM 4224 (July 19, 1859), Rebecca Colby, who appears to be the younger Colby sister, reports that she is to have a tooth extracted that afternoon. There is no correspondence from Mrs. Colby directly, though she is mentioned in several letters (HM 4225, dated August 19, 1859). In HM 4226, written 1859, August 19, Colby addresses his son John A. Colby, who has been left at home, to study hard. It can be inferred that John is staying with the Andersons. It appears, to, that Mrs. Colby gave birth in San Francisco, for in HM 4227 and HM 4228 (dated 1859, September 4 and 19), Sarah and Rebecca both refer to "the baby" for the first time. In HM 4231 (1859, November 29), Colby writes that he has been quite sick, and the doctor has recommended that he return home to Massachusetts, but he is reluctant to give up the money he makes at his job. He reports that Rebecca is learning dress-making. HM 4236, written by Sarah on 1860, January 4, is addressed "Dear Brothers" and is directed to John and William, implying that William Colby is also still in Massachusetts. By February (HM 4237), James Colby is still sick, and writes that "I can't eat anything to speak of and I am getting to be Nothing but a skeleton." James Colby writes of the discovery of a silver mine (HM 4236, 1890, March 4), which has caused great excitement. He reports that he is the foreman on a naval steamer, in charge of seventy-five men, and he is feeling better, after his weight dropped from 155 pounds to 127 pounds in six months. By April 1860, Sarah is working in a sewing factory (HM 4241) and her father has fallen sick again. In HM 4247 (1861, May), James Colby writes of the secession of the South, and the "great Union procession" in the streets of the city, where, Colby writes, there were "16,000 American Flags flying in San Francisco." In the final letter of this group (HM 4254, dated 1862, January 26), James Colby writes of a tremendous flood in Sacramento, and how it has devastated business, but he hopes it will pick up soon.
