Manuscripts
Jacob W. Waldsmith letter to John Waldsmith
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John Jacob Astor letter to Ogden Hoffman
Manuscripts
Astor writes of the removal of John Charles Frémont from his post in the California. He also tells Hoffman: "Since we parted on the steamboat dock a year ago last July, what strange times have come upon us, it sometimes seems to me like a dream," and gives updates on friends and family.
mssHM 19012
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Edgar Jacob letters to family
Manuscripts
Four of these letters are written by Edgar Jacob (1883) to his family back in England. His letters were written from Rimouski, Québec, Iowa, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Tejon Ranch and Bakersfield, California. In his letters from Salt Lake City Edgar describes the city, talks about the Mormons and the building of their Tabernacle. Edgar also discusses Americans, their customs and religion. His last letter was written while visiting his brother Augustus at Bakersfield and the Tejon Ranch region (after he had taken up ranching). Edgar talks about ranch life, the sheep, the Indians living near the ranch and General Edward Beale. The three letters by Augustus Jacob (1873-1874) were written to his father and sister Edith from San Francisco and Laguna Ranch, California. He talks about the people he meets, life in California and the sights he sees. He also writes in great detail about ranch life and sheep raising in California and his trip from Jamaica to San Francisco.
mssHM 70984-70990
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Anonymous travel diary
Manuscripts
This pocket diary documents the travels of an anonymous New Englander traveling throughout the Old Northwest and the Great Plains regions, possibly seeking investment opportunities. He visits Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas, offering frequent comments upon communities from Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Leavenworth, Kansas, including comments upon religious practices, as well as encounters with different Indigenous peoples and Mormons leaving Utah. The author also comments on Mr. Chase, the owner of the Virginia Hotel in Jefferson City, Missouri, stating: "...owns quite a number of slaves -- quite a slave breeder." Along the way he meets William H. Russell (one of the founders of the Pony Express).
mssHM 83443
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Jacob Primer Leese letter to David Waldo
Manuscripts
In this letter, Leese tells Waldo that he has heard of Waldo's intent to visit California, and if he does, he should visit Leese at "San Francisco, Sonoma Town."
mssHM 16379
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Jacob Sturn memoir and related material
Manuscripts
The memoir, which was written in 1945, covers Jacob Sturn's life from his childhood in Austria to his death in California. Joseph M. Sturn discusses in detail his father's experiences as an immigrant in New York City; a coal miner in Davenport, Iowa; a miner in Colorado and Virginia City, Montana (where he joined a vigilance committee); on the Oregon Trail with Russell, Majors & Waddell; in Kansas during the dispute over its statehood; and wheat farming in Rice County, Kansas. Included with the memoir are Jacob Sturn's naturalization records from Iowa and Kansas, which were issued to him in 1856, 1858, and 1860, as well as letters by Joseph M. Sturn, Jr., requesting copies of those records
mssHM 68336-68341
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William H. Anderson letter to Frances Anderson
Manuscripts
Letter from William H. Anderson to his daughter Frances, written from the "southern part" of New Mexico near Rincon. In the letter Anderson describes his travels from Boston to New Mexico by railroad. The letter was intended as a geography lesson for his daughter and Anderson carefully traces his progress through Buffalo, Detroit, down the Mississippi River to St. Louis, through Missouri and Kansas, and finally through Colorado to New Mexico. Anderson includes a slightly more detailed description of Kansas City, Missouri, where he rode in a cable street car. In addition to tracking his geographical progress Anderson writes of difficulties encountered with cattle on the railroad tracks.
mssHM 74757