Manuscripts

Mary Jane Brooks letter to Priscilla Marsh and family

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Description: In this letter to her sister and her sister's family, Mary Jane Brooks asks for news of home, such as if their father has paid off his house yet, and any other family news. Brooks is currently living in a house and has several boarders. Her brother, Aaron, has "gone to the mines" and as a result, Brooks has much more to do without him there to help. Incomplete, as letter is first two pages only.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1855, March 27.
Call number: mssHM 19796
Creator: Brooks, Mary Jane(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Purchased from Mrs. John C. Franks, 1953, December 10.

Mary Jane Brooks letters to Thomas and Priscilla Marsh

Manuscripts

In this first letter (HM 19797, dated 1853, September 14), Mary Jane Brooks describes her journey to California "according to agreement" to her sister Priscilla and her husband Thomas Marsh. Much of this letter contains Brooks' description of Kingston, Jamaica, where she stopped en route to California. She laments that she has not yet found a man to run away with her. HM 19798, written August 12, 1886, and includes an envelope. Brooks is still in San Francisco, and writes of people she is seeing and letters written and received. The last letter in this sequence was written 1886, September 2. Brooks writes that she has reached her sixtieth birthday, but feels "old beyond my years." She discusses the possibility of getting her share of the farmstead left by her father, and hopes her sister will cooperate.

mssHM 19797-19799

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Mary Jane Brooks letters to Thomas and Priscilla Marsh

Manuscripts

These manuscripts are a series of letters from Mary Jane Brooks to her sister Priscilla Marsh and brother Thomas Marsh. HM 19790 is dated 1853, December 14 and 15, and lists the current price of goods in San Francisco. Mary Jane Brooks also writes of her family and friends. In the next letter (HM 19791, dated 1854, February 28), Mary Jane Brooks writes further of family and friends. HM 19792, dated 1854, July 14, tells of a fire in San Francisco, but the Brooks home was undamaged. Mary Jane Brooks writes in the next letter (HM 19793, dated 1855, July 28) that her father is not doing well. He has quit working, and "thinks he is not long for this world." HM 19794, the final letter in this sequence, is dated 1856, March 4. Father is still alive, but is ailing, and Mary Jane Brooks urges Priscilla to prepare their mother for his passing. The letters are written from San Francisco, and all are signed "Aaron and Mary Jane Brooks" but letters are in the handwriting of Mary Jane Brooks. With one-page typescript of an additional letter, dated 1856, July 5.

mssHM 19790-19794

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Mary Jane Brooks letter to Fanny Davis

Manuscripts

In this letter to her sister Fanny Davis, Mary Jane Brooks writes that as she is now sixty years of age, she is unable to work as in her youth. She asks for back payment on rent for Fanny's house, where she lived for twenty-five years without payment, or suggests Fanny buy the property outright. She also writes of details of mutual friends in San Francisco.

mssHM 19795

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William E. Brooks letter to Anna P. Brooks

Manuscripts

Letter from William E. Brooks to his mother Anna P. Brooks in Worcester, Massachusetts, written from the Standard Mines in Graham County, Arizona. In the letter Brooks writes of a flood in the area of Clifton and Metcalf which had temporarily washed away the railway line and partially shut down mining operations. He also writes of his walks, local scenery, and other aspects of his daily activities.

mssHM 74519

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Stephen Brooks letter to Henry Brooks

Manuscripts

In this letter to his brother Henry, Stephen Brooks writes of debts incurred while opening a store in San Francisco. He misses the comforts of life and the life of society, and plans to stay in California for one year. Letterhead is an image of "View of San Francisco, February 1850."

mssHM 16539

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Noah Brooks letter to "My dear lad,"

Manuscripts

In this letter to an unidentified recipient, Noah Brooks apologizes for not answering earlier on account of illness. On letterhead for The Aldine, Newark, New Jersey.

mssHM 29223

Mary Jane Brooks letter to Priscilla Marsh and family

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