Stephen Mallory White letter to Lawrence F. Bower

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  Thomas R. Bard letter to Rev. Lawrence F. Bower

  Manuscripts

  Letter from Thomas R. Bard on United States Senate letterhead to the Reverend Lawrence F. Bower answering a query as to when he took his seat in the Senate. Included is a contemporary newspaper clipping about the Senator and a mounted photograph.

  mssHM 21326

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  George C. (George Clement) Perkins letter to Lawrence F. Bower

  Manuscripts

  Perkins apologizes for the delay in addressing Mr. Bower's request, but he has been "greatly pressed with business by reason of the long sessions of the Senate." He hopes that Mr. Bower will accept the enclosed photograph. No photograph is included.

  mssHM 21316

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  George C. Pardee letter to the Reverend Lawrence F. Bower

  Manuscripts

  Letter is a response to a request for an autographed card and photograph. The governor enclosed an autographed card, but had no photograph on hand. Letter is signed in manuscript on Executive Department, State of California, Sacramento letterhead.

  mssHM 74617

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  Elijah White letter to Medorem Crawford

  Manuscripts

  Mr. White informs Mr. Crawford that the "Panama or Masset land route" is open and relatively safe, and speaks of other personal and family matters.

  mssHM 31277

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  Stephen Woodlin letters to family

  Manuscripts

  Set of 14 letters sent by Stephen Woodin to his family in Genoa, New York, from 1849-1853, while he was traveling to or living in California. The majority of the letters were written to his wife and children, and one to his brother George Woodin (HM 19382). In the first letter, Woodin describes his lodgings in Panama City, including the food available with prices and his observation of religious ceremonies. After arriving in California, Woodin mined for gold near the North Fork of the American river, and in the next four letters (HM 19370-19372, and HM 19382) he describes his travels from Sacramento to the gold fields, working at gold mining (he wrote to his brother that he averaging making $5 a day), his provisions and the costs of goods, and his surroundings and impressions of California. The remaining 9 letters (HM 19373-19381) were written from 1852-1853, beginning when Woodin was on his return journey to California. He writes of traveling from Aspinwall (Colon) to Panama City, where an American flag was displayed for the Fourth of July. He also notes that he encountered "Mr. Booth, a theatrical performer [and his] two sons," probably referring to Junius Brutus Booth and his sons Edwin Booth and Junius Brutus Booth, Jr. (HM 19374). From San Francisco he writes of keeping his hotel, which he liked "very well, all but the selling rum" (HM 19476), of his expenditures, of various steamers that arrived in the city, of duels and executions, including that of "three gamblers...what a pity it...won't be three hundred, for they are the greatest pests there is in this country" (HM 19378), of a Dr. E. White, who was lecturing on spiritual rapping and "making a perfect fool of himself in this business while his wife supports the family by working" (HM 19375), of widespread flooding in January 1853 (HM 19378), and of his favorable impressions of the Chinese in the city, noting that "the Chinese all go by the name of John here, they are a harmless, industrious set of people possessing a great deal of ingenuity and many of them are good businessmen and far more advanced in some of the arts and sciences than our own Americans" (HM 19380). He also writes of his wishes that his family could join him in California, and in April 1853 worries that his partner had left the business and Woodin did not know how to get out of it himself (HM 19379). The final letter was written in June 1853, when Woodin was recovering from a bout of typhoid fever (HM 19381).

  mssHM 19369-19382

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  Melcena White Knauer letters to Authee Ann White Spilman

  Manuscripts

  Set of five letters written by Melcena White Knauer to her sister Authee Ann White Spilman while Melcena was living in Texas and California from the 1850s until 1881. The first letter, sent from Brownsville, Texas, in the late 1850s, describes the Knauers' decision to move to California, where Elias planned to drive cattle. Melcena writes of being reluctant to go, but that she agreed to follow her husband rather than be separated from him. She also believes the climate might improve the health of her sons, as a doctor had advised that "he would [as] soon risk his life on the plains than in Brownsville." Three subsequent letters, one dated 1861 and the other two before 1865, describe Melcena's life in Woodland Township, California, and include her views on the Civil War. In the 1862 letter Melcena recalls hearing news of the First Battle of Bull Run, and while she wishes for peace, she fears that "it seems to be that the longer they fight the worse they are on both sides, still I suppose there is no other way of settling the difficulty but to fight it out." The same letter also describes harvest time and notes that "every thing that can be done with machinery is done with it which shortens the labor." Other letters describe Melcena's happiness that Kentucky was for the Union, how she has often heard "persons say how easy it would be for [foreign] power to take California so far is she from help," and her fears over her family's safety in Kentucky, of which she writes that "I often feel very uneasy about you all...I so much dread the idea of the war trouble getting among you that I am some times as nervous as an old tobacco smoker." She also writes of many local illnesses, noting that "I never lived any place where there was so many deaths among grown people." Many of the letters focus on family news, and Melcena lamented in the mid-1860s that "I have many thoughts about my native home every day I live, I sometimes wish I was there, but oftener wish you all were here." In the final letter, sent from Woodland in 1881, Melcena writes that her son Harvey is "running an Engine" and that he "has his Father's love for Machinery." She also writes that since the death of her husband "I live a great deal of my time in the past."

  mssHM 78097-78101