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Francis Phelps letter to Almon Phelps

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Description
Letter from Francis Phelps in Waterford, Erie County, Pennsylvania, to his cousin Almon Phelps in East Granby, Hartford County, Connecticut. In the letter, Phelps writes that although "money is somewhat scarce," it is "a general time of health here." He responds to Almon's intimations that he might soon travel to the "Great West," noting that "people here have the same notion" but that he does not know whether "the country is good." Phelps predicts that Chicago is "to be the great theatre of the far West" and observes that "steam boats are daily conveying hundreds and thousands to the Promised Land." He notes that not many residents of Waterford have decided to emigrate, but that there has been a rush on purchasing local property by "emigrants" from Erie County, New York. Phelps writes of the effects emigration has had on the prices of local goods, and also notes that agriculture in the area is particularly promising.
Type
Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Production date
1835, June 28.
Call number
mssHM 78057
Creator
Phelps, Francis(Opens in new tab)
Provenance
Purchased from Richard M. Ford LTD, Antiquarian Bookseller, September 6, 2012.
Find out more
View in the Library catalog(Opens in new tab)

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