1851 Letters

Sonora, CA -

Enos Christman journal entry... An extraordinary excitement is now raging in our town. Three persons have been killed and four wounded.

West Chester, PA - 13 January 1851

Ellen Apple letter to Enos Christman... -Your last letter speaks of prolonging your stay another year. That was not cheering news.

St. Louis, MO - 14 January 1851

W.T. Sherman letter to brother John Sherman...am still expecting to be sent away in the spring, but where to is hard to tell

San Francisco, CA - 15 January 1851

Alonzo Delano letter... ONE year ago this day I was hard at work in the Feather River mountains, in building a fireplace and finishing off a comfortable cabin on a claim which I had taken up, with the bright anticipation that at the present writing I

unknown - 17 January 1851

I wrote Owen last week that if he had not the means on hand to buy a little sugar, to write Mr. Cutting

Springfield, MA - 17 January 1851

I have improved my leisure hours quite busily with colored people here, in advising them how to act, and in giving them all the encouragement in my power.

West Chester, PA - 19 January 1851

Peebles Prizer letter to Enos Christman... Some six West Chester boys have returned within a few days. The most of these are much worse off than they were before they started and are now in rather bad health.

San Jose, CA - 26 January 1851

Benjamin Lippincott letter to his sister Amelia... Your affectionate letter of the 10th November is before me and how to employ the morning better than writing home I know not

, MA - 27 January 1851

Sumner comes out, as usual, to pass Sunday with us, and we have delightful literary and philanthropic talks into which politics will occasionally creep.

San Jose, CA - 28 January 1851

Benjamin Lippincott letter to John. L. Stephens... You will observe by the papers the disturbance with the Indians. I fear a protracted war.

Sonora, CA - 5 March 1851

Enos Christman journal entry... In a few minutes I looked around again and saw this same burly, stern-looking man, who looked as hard as adamant, in tears. He had heard from loved ones at home and memory carried him back to happier scenes.

Sonora, CA - 6 March 1851

Enos Christman letter to Ellen Apple... Your highly prized letter of January 13th reached me last evening in fifty-one days after it was written, having made the quickest passage of any I have received since residing in the mining district.

Schooner Columbia - 10 March 1851

Franklin A. Buck letter to sister... In seventeen days from the coast we made Hood's Island and the same afternoon anchored in one of the bays in the island of Wooahooya, one of the Marquesas group

Schooner Columbia - 11 March 1851

Franklin A. Buck letter to sister... At twelve o'clock we were off the town of Papeetee

Schooner Columbia - 13 March 1851

Franklin A. Buck letter to sister... I wish I could send you a basket of fruit. Bananas are my favorite. Fried bananas are our standing dish for breakfast...

West Chester, PA - 16 March 1851

Ellen Apple letter to Enos Christman... You speak the truth when you say I love you for yourself, and not for wealth. I would love you as devotedly without a dollar as if you had thousands.

West Chester, PA - 17 March 1851

Peebles Prizer letter to Enos Christman... The last mail from California brought me a letter from you, and the Herald announcing your connection with its publication. I hope it may eventually be of advantage to you.

Vernon, NY - 24 March 1851

I hope to get through here so as to be on our way again to Ohio before the week closes, but want you and Jason both to hold on and take the best possible care of the flock

San Francisco, CA - 1 April 1851

Alonzo Delano letter to the Free Trader... Don't you want to come to California? Don't you want to get rich? Do not the piles which we are taking out excite your acquisitiveness?

Elmwood, MA - 20 April 1851

We lost five trees by the gale last Wednesday, all firs and fifty feet high. I saw one of them snap like a pipestem as I sat at breakfast. It is some consolation to think that they were upset by the heaviest blow ever known in these parts.

, MA - 21 April 1851

I have been dipping into Mrs. Browning . . . lately, and am more than ever amazed at her prodigious genius, so strong and yet so purely feminine and tender, so holy with the deepest reverence.

, MA - 4 May 1851

It rather helped Sumner's election, which I fear will not give you much pleasure, but you can feel sure that whatever he does as senator will be dictated by a sincere conviction

Sonora, CA - 11 May 1851

Enos Christman letter to Ellen Apple... I could not bear the idea of taking a wife where the chances would be against my supporting her, and where one lives just upon what he earns and that just sufficient

Steubenville, OH - 15 May 1851

We have now no prospect of any trial until fall, except with Henry Warren...

Hudson, OH - 20 May 1851

I learn by brother Jeremiah, who has just returned, that you have engaged yourself to buy wool.

Sonora, CA - 25 May 1851

Enos Christman journal entry... One who has not been in California can hardly credit the changes that take place here in a very short period of time.

West Chester, PA - 4 June 1851

Ellen Apple letter to Enos Christman... When I am expecting a letter and do not receive one, I feel disappointed, and how much worse must you feel when you are disappointed in a strange land, and among strangers.

Rochester, NY - 4 June 1851

The paper must appear as early as the first of July. It should come forth with all the marks of strength, which can be given it. Your own highly valued name must not be wanting on the first sheet.

Grass Valley, CA - 11 June 1851

Alonzo Delano letter... At Grass Valley, five miles below Nevada City, are probably the most extensive quartz mining operations that exist at this moment in California.

San Francisco, CA - 13 June 1851

Alonzo Delano letter... Night before last a man was caught with a safe which he had stolen. He was seized, tried by the citizens fairly and impartially, found guilty, and hung before daylight

West Chester, PA - 15 June 1851

Peebles Prizer letter to Enos Christman... The Spring Exhibition of the Horticultural Society came off. We also had a company of Oregon Indians to amuse and initiate us into the customs and habits of the Indian

Sonora, CA - 28 June 1851

Enos Christman journal entry... A short time ago, Jim Hill, a man with a scar on his neck, went into a store at Camp Seco in the night and held pistols over the heads of the proprietors, while others of his gang stole the iron safe.

Grass Valley, CA - 29 June 1851

Alonzo Delano letter... Sensible that such felons will take refuge in the mines when an asylum is no longer afforded them in the cities, the miners are associating for the purpose of punishing crime, and Vigilance Committees are organizing.

Sonora, CA - 29 June 1851

Enos Christman journal entry... In almost every camp and city in the country, the most respectable portion of the community have formed what are called "Vigilance Committees"

Sonora, CA - 5 July 1851

Enos Christman journal entry... About ten days ago it was announced in all the San Francisco papers that Mr. Gunn, editor of the Sonora Herald, and myself and several other persons had been killed in a fracas with gamblers

Brunswick, ME - 9 July 1851

In the course of my story the scene will fall upon a cotton plantation. I am very desirous, therefore, to gain information from one who has been an actual laborer on one...

San Francisco, CA - 1 August 1851

Alonzo Delano letter... The Vigilance Committee were looked upon as the true purifiers of society, instead of the courts; yet in no case did the former impede the acts of the latter in its administration of justice; its only aim was to punish speedil

Sacramento City, CA - 6 August 1851

Alonzo Delano letter... Since the fire of the 4th of May, I have been, like thousands of others, a gentleman loafer, living on the glories which were left after the fire had done its worst and thinking what I would do if I was a respectable man--that

Sonora, CA - 9 August 1851

Enos Christman letter to Peebles Prizer... I should like to go home now, but I came here for pecuniary benefit. I shall remain here another year or so if all goes well as at present.

Sonora, CA - 9 August 1851

Enos Christman journal entry... On Sunday, July 13, the Sonora Vigilance Committee hung another horse thief. The following Sunday three Mexicans were tied to the whipping post, and each received twenty-five lashes well laid on.

Sonora, CA - 10 August 1851

Enos Christman letter to Ellen Apple... Nearly every steamer that arrives now brings a great many ladies. We are having beautiful moonlight evenings and were we together who could tell the pleasures of one evening walk?

Grass Valley, CA - 30 August 1851

Alonzo Delano letter... I am again a mountaineer, my castle a cabin, my frills a red shirt, my hope in the mines, and my heart with my family beyond the Missouri. But gracious heaven! what a change two years has produced.

West Chester, PA - 31 August 1851

Ellen Apple letter to Enos Christman... When I saw by the Ledger that Mr. Gunn had been dragged from his bed and murdered, and that several others employed in the office had been shot, I felt dreadfully distressed

, MA - 3 September 1851

I see by the papers Julia Howe has returned I hear she was much admired in Rome and her soirees much courted.

Sonora, CA - 11 September 1851

Enos Christman journal entry... On Sunday last I attended a grand bullfight. The place in which the exhibition took place was a large circular pen, surrounded by a high fence...

Rich Bar, East Branch Of The North Fork Of Feather, CA - 13 September 1851

Louise Clappe letter to her sister... How did such a shivering, frail, home-loving little thistle ever float safely to that far-away spot, and take root so kindly, as it evidently has, in that barbarous soil?

Rich Bar, East Branch Of The North Fork Of Feather, CA - 13 September 1851

Louise Clappe letter to her sister Mary... It seemed to me so funny that we two people should be riding on mules, all by ourselves, in these glorious latitudes, night smiling down so kindly upon us, and, funniest of all, that we were going to live in

Rich Bar, East Branch Of The North Fork Of Feather, CA - 15 September 1851

Louise Clappe letter to her sister Mary... nothing was ever more awkward and unworkmanlike than the whole tenement. It is just such a piece of carpentering as a child two years old, gifted with the strength of a man, would produce, if it wanted to pl

Rich Bar, East Branch Of The North Fork Of Feather, CA - 20 September 1851

Louise Clappe letter to her sister Mary... I shall give you a full, true, and particular account of the discovery, rise, and progress of this place, with a religious adherence to dates which will rather astonish your unmathematical mind.

Rich Bar, East Branch Of The North Fork Of Feather, CA - 22 September 1851

Louise Clappe letter to her sister Mary... THERE has been quite an excitement here for the last week, on account of a successful amputation having been performed upon the person of a young man by the name of W

Rich Bar, East Branch Of The North Fork Of Feather, CA - 22 September 1851

Louise Clappe letter to her sister Mary... IT SEEMS indeed awful, dear M., to be compelled to announce to you the death of one of the four women forming the female population of this Bar

Sonora, CA - 26 September 1851

Enos Christman journal entry... A few days since, a deer, chased by a pack of dogs, becoming bewildered, ran through the principal street of the city and entered a drinking saloon kept by a Frenchman.

West Chester, PA - 28 September 1851

Peebles Prizer letter to Enos Christman... I have been participating in exciting times, in the midst of a political campaign in Pennsylvania. I have been electioneering, more or less, for the last two months.

Grass Valley, CA - 29 September 1851

Alonzo Delano letter... SCIENCE is progressive. The wonderful development of the power of steam by Fulton was only the prelude to vast and material improvement, until it has at length reached the perfection exhibited at the present day.

Rich Bar, East Branch Of The North Fork Of Feather, CA - 30 September 1851

Louise Clappe letter to her sister Mary... I THINK that I have never spoken to you of the mournful extent to which profanity prevails in California.

North Hudson, NY - 6 October 1851

I have drawn an order on you, payable in board of Mail-carrier, horse-feed, or oats, in favor of Mr. Judd for $7.09, which you will oblige me by paying in oats at forty cents per bushel...

Troy, NY - 6 October 1851

I wish you to say to Mr. Epps l that if Mr. Hall does not soon take care of the boards that are fallen down about the house he built, I wish he and Mr. Dickson would go and take them away...

Indian Bar, From Our Log Cabin, CA - 7 October 1851

Louise Clappe letter to her sister Mary... YOU WILL perchance be surprised, dear M., to receive a letter from me dated Indian instead of Rich Bar, but...

Sonora, CA - 7 October 1851

Enos Christman journal entry... I see, by late intelligence from home, that the Atlantic papers, with few exceptions, have taken grounds against the Vigilance Committees in California and denounce them...

Indian Bar, From Our Log Cabin, CA - 20 October 1851

Louise Clappe letter to her sister Mary... HAVING seen me, dear M., safely enthroned in my beautiful log palace with its outer walls all tapestried with moss, perhaps you would like a description of the coronation-dinner!

Shasta City, CA - 20 October 1851

Alonzo Delano letter... THE AIR was bracing but not cold when at sunrise on the morning of the 4th, I took a seat with the driver on the box of the stage for Shasta City

West Chester, PA - 26 October 1851

Peebles Prizer letter to Enos Christman... Here in the Record office, we have hardly recovered from the late political campaign. It made us a great deal of extra work.

West Chester, PA - 28 October 1851

Ellen Apple letter to Enos Christman... I think you had better make up your mind to come home. Let the hills of gold stay where they are if you cannot get them without risking your life or health.

Indian Bar, From Our Log Cabin, CA - 29 October 1851

Louise Clappe letter to her sister Mary... WELL, my dear M., our grand Squire, whom I sketched for you in my last letter, has at length had an opportunity to exercise (or rather to try to do so) his judicial power upon a criminal case.

Cleveland, OH - 30 October 1851

...Warren's attorneys feel pretty well cornered up...

Shelbyville, KY - 4 November 1851

abraham lincoln -- Letter to John D. Johnston. Shelbyville. November 4, 1851

Indian Bar, From Our Log Cabin, CA - 25 November 1851

Louise Clappe letter to her sister Mary... Apropos of lady gold-washers in general, it is a common habit with people residing in towns in the vicinity of the diggings to make up pleasure-parties to those places.

Akron, OH - 1 December 1851

One serious difficulty has been with Frederick, who has been very wild again.

West Chester, PA - 7 December 1851

Peebles Prizer letter to Enos Christman... You express some desire to return and state that you are tired of California. You want to know my opinion of business.

West Chester, PA - 8 December 1851

Ellen Apple letter to Enos Christman... Although it was such a great pleasure to receive it, it made me feel rather sad to see how much thinner you are. But, oh, that awful California is enough to wear flesh and bones both away.

Indian Bar, From Our Log Cabin, CA - 15 December 1851

Louise Clappe letter to her sister Mary... God help them when that fatal post shall arrive, for, no doubt, he also, although a criminal, was fondly garnered in many a loving heart.

Boston, MA - 22 December 1851

The great excitement produced by the coining of Kossuth, and the last news of a new revolution in France, with the prospect that all Europe will soon again be in a blaze, seems to have taken all by surprise.

Cambridge, MA - 25 December 1851

A merry Christmas again to you, my little friend!