Letter 1 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
[Addressed to:] Mr. Ebenezer Burr
Norfolk
Litchfield Co.
Conn. [Connecticut]
Folio post.
[Post stamp: Prairieville, Wis. [Wisconsin] Feb 25 1844]
Dear Parents,
I have just returned from the office with the sad news of sister M’s [Mary Burr Hill] sickness. I wonder we have not heard it before. Fear much the next we get will be more melancholy, but we wish to hear <all> particulars.
I hardly know what to write, but think as I have neither time nor room to say much I will confine myself mostly to some particulars which C. [Caroline Burr Grant] has noticed. You wish to hear more about our land & I will make you as well acquainted as I can with the limited time and room which I have. It is as you know 3/4 of a mile long from east to west, & 1/4 wide, containing as nearly as I can guess about as much marsh or wet prairie as dry land, the wet, pretty wet, and the dry, very dry. Many people think the marsh will be the most valuable land in a few years & I think there is some reason for such a supposition but our upland is not as good as I wish it was, it being white sand or gravel, that is, considerable of it. There is however from 20 to 30 acres good land and perhaps a little more, but that is but little for such a farm. The object I wish to accomplish is to sell 40 or 80 acres here and buy forty on sec. 11, the E. line of which is <a> due S. line from the W. end of this farm. the S.W. corner of this 1/2 mile worth of the N.E. corner of that. Besides preserving all the advantages of this, it has a good many in addition some of which C [Caroline] has mentioned. The tract contains 80 acres, 40 of which Joel owns. We cannot sell this at present for money, but presume we can in a few months. have two opportunities in view not room to tell about them. If we buy where we wish to at the price C [Caroline] named we <have> must decide soon, for others stand ready to take it as quick as it is to be had. It is land under a mortgage & not likely to be payed & the mortgagee has made the mortgager an offer for it in lieu of foreclosing & he says as we have one half of it he will let us have the other half for what he pays. The land I bought for J [Joel Grant] sold for $8 per acre last spring J [Joel] paid but little more than half that & suppose that I can get the rest for $4 If you can furnish the money, we can use the avails of this land if we should sell part of it, to build a house, if not we must let the opportunity go. I feel that if such an arrangement could be made our condition and prospects will be much improved, at least, I believe I shall be contented. wish father would advise as much as he can in all my affairs
We wish to know what you will do as quick as possible, lest we lose the chance. we get the mail only once a week and the delay of one day may put us back a week, write if possible within one day after receiving this. If you pay Capt. Thayer be sure to get it indorced on the receipt which I gave him.
My time is all occupied with work but I dont work very hard think it not best. much love to all
Your affectionate son,
Dan'l [Daniel] Grant
During the latter part of Dec. & Jan. there were meetings here days & night for 4 weeks — the methodist, Baptist & Congregation churches united — quite a number of conversions — I was down to the village 11 days — attended meetings most of the time — Hope I rec'd [received] a few mercy drops — Kind friends invited me to their houses & so freely too that I sometimes scarce knew wh. [which] way to turn We have presented our letters to the C. [Congregational] church & have been rec'd [received] — We feel distressed to hear of Martha's illness — feel anxious to hear often as is consistent — have rec'd [received] no letters this winter from Father Grant's people at home or from our brothers at New Haven [Connecticut] — We sent Joel a letter — think in Dec.
My love to all our relatives & friends,
very aff. [affectionate] Your own Carrie — [Caroline Burr Grant]
[Written across side] D. [Daniel] says that the price of men's labor depends altogether upon the number of laborers — sometimes it is high & sometimes low — the price now is about $12 now for good hands — when navigation opens & laborers come <in it will> wages will doubtless be less —, pork is $5. per. hund. [hundred] wh. [which] is very high for this region it usually being $2 or 3 — potatoes in the fall were 25 cts. [cents] bushel we engaged 5 bushels for that & paid mostly with oxens work — they are now 37.
Letter 2 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
[Addressed to:] Mr. Ebenezer Burr
Norfolk
Conn. [Connecticut]
Mr. I. Mills
Prairieville [Wisconsin], May 7, 1844.
My dear Parents,
Mr. I. Mills called here unexpectedly last Thurs. P.M. and we were very glad to see him — He observed things pretty closely for he said he supposed our Parents would "quiz" him —
Daniel has been so busy this spring that he has not got the house & yard &c. in as good condition as we should like to have them — in fact we are rather ashamed of the looks of things but hope for better times —
We have not yet got <that> a mirror plate as they would ask for putting it in $1. in Mil. [Milwaukee, Wisconsin] & we have had other uses for our money. I have had considerable leisure this Spring for reading — half or more of the time I take is consumed in reading news papers & Miss Heralds [The Missionary Herald, monthly publication of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions] — for the last 6 weeks we have had no milk of our own so that I have had less to do than usual — but the cow has calved to day — & we rejoice — we have had milk occasionally of our neighbors. as our appetites are not all the time very keen we find it rather hard to be deprived of <milk> it —
I am glad that you have got a pr. [pair] stockings footed for me, for I dont seem to get along with knitting as I do with sewing — I wish to knit Daniel a pr. [pair] suspenders, but cannot tell how to get it right — I have commenced two or three times & tried <till> long as I thought 'twould be of any use — no one here knows, at least that I have asked perhaps Matilda can tell you so that you can write — does She take off the first stitch & then put over the thread. & then narrow as we generally do? or does she narrow backwards — I suppose you will think I ought not to have forgotten. I think so too, & had no idea I had, till I tried —
<The heels of the> The stockings that I heeled for Levi [Levi Grant] had apparently rec'd [received] but little attention & new heels were needed I thought — Mrs. G. [Grant] wished them — I knit them to accommodate & I know dried apples & peaches will not come amiss —
I saw recently in one No. of our Cultivators a cure for Corns. — An individual pared off what he could with a sharp knife & then bathed it freely in sprits of turpentine & put on it a linen cloth wh. [which] he wet with turpentine — in a few days the corns came out root & branch. Daniel has just said that one of our neighbors recently applied some turpentine to a corn & it made him very lame & pained him so much that he was obliged to discontinue the use of it. I presume it does not affect persons alike —
We last fall bought some corn & have & expect to feed it to the hogs & oxen, except enough for our own use, as the<y> oxen are old & need something beside this marsh hay
Daniel has written a letter to Uncle Pettibone [Amos Pettibone] & given some description of land wh. [which] would probably interest you though I do not know but Mr. Mills will tell as well. Dan'l [Daniel] helped me make nearly half a barrel nice soap a few weeks since —
[Written across second page:] My health is pretty good though I dont believe it is perfect.
[2 maps drawn on third page: one of the plot of land, one of the house]
Daniel drew this map of our farm & was expecting to describe it to you, but I think he will not have time — there are 40 acres in each square — that crooked line is nearly a dividing line between the marsh & dry land — most of the upland rises rather abruptly from the marsh — the land fr. [from] the E. boundary rises slightly as far as the barn — there is quite a pitch between the house & barn there is a plain west of the house extending about 50 rods & from 10 to 30 rods in width — the remainder westward is broken — the 10 ft. 35 ft &c. on the map means that distance above the marsh. as we guess at it.
I think you will understand the house d. means door — w. window — if we stay here intend to have a closet partitioned off at the east end of the bedroom & perhaps move the partition between the bedroom & pantry so as to have the <pantry smaller> bedroom larger
we yet go up chamber with ladder. intend to have the settee stand extending from the S.W. corner of the kitchen to the library shelves. there are three rows of shelves on the N. & W. sides of pantry — the lowest one not quite three ft. from floor — on each end of the upper shelf on the west end stands a pile dishes not often in use, on the north end of the shelf large platters &c. between them are the canisters sugar boxes, &c. — on the second shelf at the S. end of the shelf first is an old tin platter with knives & forks daily used on it — next are the common earthen dishes tumblers &c & then blue cups & saucers plates &c. on the lower shelf at the S. end stands the soap dish the remainder of the shelf is used for milk at the farther end & between that & soap I put dirty dishes — the lower shelf on the N. side is used for milk & tin dishes, the second one for food & the third for candlestick & many "notions."
Dear brother Erastus,
We would like your help & company & I will write for Daniel something that you might expect D. [Daniel] says. people get from 12 to 50 bushels per. acre according to the quality of the land, the time of sowing & the manner of plowing & getting in seed to the ground — 50 bushels per acre is a very extraordinary yield — many say 25 " [bushels per acre] is an average yield but D. [Daniel] thinks 20 is — our land was not plowed well & some of it was sown rather late & D. [Daniel] thinks we shall do pretty well if we get 15 bushels per. acre this year — it now looks as well as <some> almost any other<s> about — The price of wheat is generally 50 cts. [cents] per. bushel, many times more & not often less. he does not know how much it will cost to prepare the land & gather crops, or at least cant very well tell now, but perhaps will sometime, but he says you could probably earn from $10 to 11 per month the year around — I think of you a great deal & love you much I want you should form right principles & opinions now & pious ones too — be kind to all — if you do sometimes feel that it is hard to be, Your affectionate sister, Caroline. [Caroline Burr Grant]
[Written across last page:] We have got our crickets partly made
Letter 3 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
Frenches Hotel. Wed morn, Sunrise
Dear all of you
Have just washed myself all over, counted my money & put on my California suit. I have $14<2>4,20 cts. [cents] have to pay my bill for room & get some Quinine & Ipicac yet think I shall be able to get off with a little over $140 which I think will be enough. I left the Flemington [New Jersey] people well Monday morning. had as pleasant a time as I could have expected under the circumstances coming up here. came up on the river from Elizabethtown [New Jersey]. sent the trunk here. paid .25 cts. [cents] went right to D.B. Allus office to see if the tickets were all right. found they were, & that we must pay 15 cts [cents] pound for trasporting luggage across isthmus. I asked them if we had to pay here. They said no at the Isthmus. & we are to board ourselves on the isthmus. The boat is to sail this afternoon at 3 oclock. we shall be sure to get on in season. From Allus office I came here & in a few minutes found Levi [Levi Grant] soon as our trunks came we took a room & had our three brought to it. locked it up & went to Gasts store & got my tin trunk & in the evening went to the museum. Yesterday morning got some breakfast at an eating saloon for 18 cts [cents] & have lived from then till now on 10 cents & walked as far too as I ever did in one day in the forenoon we went round with Gast & Luth Roser to buy what we wanted Levi got his money changed to gold. bought a blanket for 1,25 & money belt for 1,00 & we bought each of us a rifle. Levi bought a Stub & twist barrell for $28,00 I got a steel barrell for 32 the […] was 35 I think there is more than that difference in the guns John Stevens says so too. They warrentee mine to shoot 40 rods & gave us permission to try them & if we did not like them to bring them back we went over to Hoboken in the afternoon to tried them. Levi thinks mine is a good one says he would not try to do any better. he got so fierce loading his that he rammed in a ball without any powder & could not get it out. so he did not shoot it but 3 or 4 times did not shoot as well as I did then. he is going to get the ball out this morning. They gave a large cannister of Rifle powder each of us a flask bullet molds & 50 dolls & a large box of caps 250 in each & a sheath for Rifles. I wanted to see about Russen but where to do it or how to do it I dont know, after we got back from Hoboken we went up to Belleuwe hospital & found John had come down here, we called on Dr Cockey. & Dr Philo Rockwell when we got back here found John waiting for me he gave me some blue pills said they cost him nothing he is coming down to day to see us off so is Philo Rockwell & M the rest I suppose I sent home that black coat because it looked so bad I did not want to wear it. Kate put a pocket in each side of my broadcloth & put a pretty little testament in one of them. She made me a lot of good ginger crackers more than I brought from home & they are all in my trunk & every think else sleek & nice. I am perfectly well for all I know without a pain or ache
[Written across first page] & am glad I am going never have been sorry the first minute The small powder flask is Levis & says he has but $136,00 now he appears to want to go. Dr Rockwell is coming to introduce us to a Dr Pollard a friend of his who is going out with us & he says he is a good fellow & will take good care of us if we were sick
John is going to give me a letter to Dr Raison Physician on the S. S. Lewis
So I guess we shall be taken care of I shall send a line to Will & Mary am going to send the trunk by express shall leave the key with Gast I guess Goodbye
R.E. Burr. [Ralph E Burr]
Letter 4 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
[Addressed to:] Ebenezer Burr
Norfolk Ct. [Connecticut]
East Haddam [Connecticut] Jan 31, 1847
Mr Ebenezer Burr
Dear Sir. I yesterday read a letter from Madison Ill. [Illinios] stating that the lawyer, with whom I left those claims had gone as a volunteer to the Mexican war in June last. His father states that according to his books he had collected $327. dollars on the Stapp Judgment. & nothing against Sheets & Grower. He had charged to me in May 1845 $100 cash & exchange $2. which I read & distributed. In Feb 1846 $177.78 which I never received although [although] his books say it was remitted. For costs paid $72..50 For his fee $25.. making it all $377..28 leaving me indebted to him $57..28 If the $177..78 was put in the mail it must have been taken out it never reached me. The Pinchot affair may be 2 or three years in collecting if collected at all. The Circuit Court sits but 2 times a year in Oct & April & the Supreme Court but once at Washington. Pinchot was sued last July. I have collected but little since I saw you $20 from F. Smith &c I wish I could meet you, Philo, & Frederick & have those old claims disposed of at auction sometime next March, though I would not wish to do so unless we could dispose of them. They are in my estimation growing worse & worse every year, I would in 1843 have given much more for the uncollected claims than I would be willing to give now. But still I am willing to give a fair price or to sell very low indeed.
We are all well & have just written Philo Frederick & Emeline
Most Respectfully
John S. Wallis
Letter 5 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
[Addressed to:] Mr. Ebenezer Burr
Norfolk
Litchfield Co.
Conn. [Connecticut]
Waukesha (Prairieville) [Wisconsin] Aug. 15 Sab. [Sabbath] eve / 47.
My dear Parents, Brothers & Sisters.
I do not recollect the date of your last letter to us. but I remember that we received it soon after Joel [Joel Grant] left us. You wished us to write often as consistent — I did not write immediately on the reception of your letter, thinking that Joel seeing you would remove the necessity of it — & I can give no other reason for delaying thus long only that I have been so busily engaged through the week that I have not taken the time.
We have been usually well until last Monday when Daniel had a violent attack of chill fever — he went to work <at a> in the morning about half a mile cutting wheat — at noon came home sick I gave him an emetic, soaked his feet put drafts upon them. & he took some cathartic pills — but as the violence of the symptoms did not seem to abate we called a physician Tues. eve of the homopathic order — his medicine seemed to have a very good effect — he has had no chill to day & has set up most of the time — we think if he is careful he will be able to be around in a few days — at work a little —
It has been exceedingly dry here this summer & considerable sickness prevails now, fevers of various kinds, mostly bilious & chill & some ague — I take medicine occasionally <to prevent sickness> when I have bad feelings — have felt much better this summer than I did last.
Abby [Abigail E. Grant Burr] is now getting some of her teeth — the eye teeth have just come through — has had bowel complaint some, but not very bad. she grows tall, does not lose flesh — has been quite lonesome since we moved into our new house — wh. [which] by the way was two weeks ago — it is still unfinished as you will suppose — Abby sometimes gets her bonnet & says
I must go home. where is home. I want go meeting — want go walk Chandlers (one of our new neighbors before we moved) want to see Anny (Anty).
Mamma call Libby — call Annette — Papa you get pussy — she will sometimes get a little pail & hang on her arm & say I must go milk cow. Papa you eat medicine?
I mention so many of her expressions because some of you wish to know what she says. — she seems passionately fond of a cat & dog — we have neither but are going to get a kitten for her —
Aug. 21. Sat. eve. When I commenced this sheet nearly a week ago I intended it should be on the way to you before this. but I have been partly sick two or three days this week but have taken medicine & am now well. I have <I have> also been trying to finish a fine shirt wh. [which] I am making for the dentist who filled my teeth I had three cavities filled with gold, six with tin & four teeth extracted for wh. [which] the charge is $6.75. I have made two coarse shirts & the most of three fine ones for which I shall charge $3. I expect to sew more still for him —
Daniel's health continues to improve a little — he has gone to Milwaukie [Milwaukee, Wisconsin] to day for a man who has drawn some lumber for us this summer D [Daniel]. thinks perhaps he may teach again this winter — we do not expect to have more than one room in our house plastered this winter —
We still have the use of the garden that we planted — wh. [which] we find quite a help — Our cow does tolerably well this summer — we had it pastured — Mr. Caufield who has boarded with us this summer expects to go east next week, so that we shall be alone again for the present wh. [which] I expect to enjoy — though we have not found it unpleasant to have him with us — he pays us $1.50 per week in flour, store pay & work on the house — I do his washing for 50 cts. [cents] doz. — do not know exactly how much his board costs us, but we lose nothing — he does not drink tea or coffee nor eat meat — prefers graham bread. we have got into the habit of eating it & Daniel thinks it is much better for him than fine flour —
The dried apples that I brought from home are are almost gone — they have been of great use to us — we have bought a few berries this summer strawberries & raspberries sold for 5 & 10 cts. [cents] qt. blueberries 6 cts. [cents] & gooseberries 4 — last spring we set out about 100 currant & smooth gooseberry <plan> sprouts — but the season has been so extremely dry that a good many of them will die —
Have had no letter from Mary since June — I do not know where she spent this summers vacation, conclude not at home.
Give my love to sister Nancy & Erastus tell them we should be very happy to have them write to us — I did intend to write to them long before this time but it has not seemed to be consistent — hope they will excuse us. — I was very glad to hear from my friend Sarah Sibly Alling — have rec’d [received] & read with great interest the Memorandum Catalogue — also the Annual — [from Mount Holyoke Female Seminary?]
Give my love to all relatives & friends — Rec'd [received] letter from Mother Grant soon after Joel left us — have heard nothing from any of them since — feel very anxious — expected Joel would write soon after his arrival there — but we shall not wait much longer before writing to them — am anxious to know how the [...] Ma gets along with her work — is the <old> house comfortable? — hope Ralph is not at Mr John Shepherd — I do not think a tavern is <the right> a good place for him to be. I fear he will acquire bad habits —
Yours very aff. [affectionately] Caroline [Caroline Burr Grant] —
Letter 6 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
[Fragment cut from top of sheet]
Philadelphia, Feb. 13. 1847.
My dear parents & brothers
I received a joint letter from Ma & Ralph [Ralph E. Burr] to day — am very sorry indeed to hear of Ma's illness — but her promise to observe careful diet comforted me not a little — I wish it might not be necessary for Ma to be so much alone — with none of her children at home
Wish I could be there to assist in moving. Love to uncles, aunts & cousins — & every one who enquires —
Aff. [affectionate] your daughter & sis --
Mary Burr
Tell Carrie [Caroline Burr Grant] I will write soon —
"There is about 30 scholars." That is a rather harder knock on Priscian's scull than my brother Ralph [Ralph E. Burr] ought to give — especially after studying Brown all winter. Priscian was an eminent grammarian of the 6th century — Hence the proverbial phrase of "breaking Prescian's head" applies to a violation of grammar. How I do wish Ralph could continue at school a long
Letter 7 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
[Addressed to:] Mr. Ebenezer Burr
Norfolk
Litchfield Co.
Ct. [Connecticut]
Prairieville [Wisconisn], March 30. /47.
My dear Parents & Brothers,
We were very glad to receive your letter last Sat March 27 — I wondered why we did not hear before but did not allow myself to feel greatly troubled about it. I did not hear much worse news than I expected to for I concluded she was sick, or at least I feared it. O how it makes me feel but I cant help it. I am very glad to hear Ma [Pamela Benton Burr] say she intends to be careful about her diet, for I think it will be a great preventive to sickness — I shall not exhort her as Mary did to be picking up things &c. but rather to do as little as possible & not get overdone. Am glad you have got a good girl for a while
Brother John wrote us a letter about a week before the removal of his tumors wh. [which] he did not send until after the operation when Martha Woodward who accompanied him to N. Haven [New Haven, Connecticut] enclosed another giving an account of the operation. his state &c. he became very much exhausted & was for a time considered in a very precarious condition — The physicians thought before the operation that the tumors were the cause of the paralysis, but on removing the tumors discovered that the back bone is diseased. so that there is no hope of his ever being well — this fact John was not aware of when the letter was sent — but frequently spoke of being able in a few weeks to walk — what must be his feelings when he learns his situation I cannot bear to think of it — <I do not> it is enough to depress all our spirits. but there is comfort in thinking that God knows what is best & will do all things right —
It is comparatively healthy here at present although there are a few cases of typhus fever — quite a number are again having the ague as the Spring is opening Daniel did for two or three weeks feel quite aguish but has taken medicine & hopes to escape it — he is better now — he has been in school a little more than three months & expects to close soon. he gives good satisfaction for aught we know & <does> is not so tired of teaching as to feel that he will never again engage in it.
We have lived much more comfortably & pleasantly in this little room this cold winter than I expected to. we have had an excellent family to live with.
We expect soon to remove to a very pleasant place in the village about a quarter of a mile from here, have room enough, as there are in the lower part of the house two rooms a pantry & large recess for a bed, beside a shed. in wh. [which] is the well there is one plastered room in the chamber. beside the # house,
# This house has rented this winter for $12.25 cash per week
we are to have & garden, & another small piece of land & the use of a cow or its equivalent, & in exchange we are to board the owner of the property & do his washing he furnishes his own bed. — this gentleman is a goldsmith & besides employs persons to make tin ware. he will wish to employ Daniel some in <p>selling tin & doing various other jobs for wh. [which] he will pay in cash & otherwise as we need. Daniel does not think it best to try to go to farming at present but expects to work out, or teach school or both or do something else & get what he can & live comfortably as we go along Mr. Pennington in whose house we are to live is going to put a plate in our looking glass frame. we also hope to have a bureau or something of the kind before long but can not tell whether we shall be able to.
Daniel now expects to put up a house in the upper end of the village on the road leading by Joels 40 acre lot. as I have before said we shall be able to make the house very comfortable to live in without going much if any into debt though he will now be obliged to take this winter's wages as he was disappointed in selling sand last fall — he now expects to purchase the lot on wh.[which] he intends to build there is about 1/3 of an acre — price $50. we do not think there will be any risk in getting this property as there is little doubt but that it will sell or rent should we wish to dispose of it — should we have a house of our own where we think of we shall not pay rent & shall be conveniently situated to obtain work. attend meetings &c. It is a great privilege in many respects to reside in a village. I dont see but Daniel is just as busy as when we were on the farm — has earned several dollars this winter beside teaching — when not at work there are meetings to attend & his relations to some of them are such that he feels obliged to attend being Secretary of a Young Ladies & Gentleman's Temperance Society & President of a Phonographic Association — these meet once a week & there is also a stated Thursday evening prayer meeting, beside other meetings occasionally — We like our minister better than I expected to like one after hearing Mr. Curtis.
Little Abby is well most of the time, several weeks ago she came very near having the croup. she was suddenly taken about bed time with a very hoarse dry cough & oppressive breathing so we gave her some lard & molasses & put a little oil upon her throat she seemed a little relieved but continued so bad that we rose twice before morning & bathed her in cold water pouring it most freely about the neck & chest. we then rubbd her off briskly, wrapped her in flannel & laid her in bed — for sometime we kept a cloth wet with cold water upon her throat & chest over this we put a flannel one — we think this method of treatment vey good indeed — it is said to perform wonderful cures in cases of croup — Mrs. Curtis cured her baby by the application of water — I should mention that Abby had some croupy symptoms remaining in the morning but they seemed much abated Abby does not seem much more fleshy than she was last summer, but grows tall is 2 ft. 7 1/2 in. in height. she will attempt to say almost any think that she is told to, & speaks very plain for one of her age, so all say, she puts words together considerable she will say "Papa gone spool", "here comes Mama". Yesterday Mrs. Root put her rag baby on a little cup — Abby says (after being told I suppose) "here 'tis baby on cup." you cannot know how pretty all this sounds, as you do not hear the peculiar emphasis with which she speaks. here Papa comes, she accents the first word half sings & half laughs — Mrs. Root she calls Anny for Anty & Antoinette she very distinctly speaks Annette. she sometimes hops & dances. when things do not go to suit her, but she is usually a very good little girl to mind. I take her to meetig week days, but Sundays one of us stay with her — when she goes out she wears that scarlet flannel dress & pantalets & white apron — I have made her that little black hood wh. [which] she wears common & have got most of her summer clothes in readiness making them shorter with pantalets &c. . In answer to your inquiries I will say that I did not pay any thing for extra baggage when coming. I did not materially injure my new delaiu on the journey through I got it some soiled. but cleaned it — it makes me a very pretty dress, but is not going to wear well my velvet hat was repaired in Milwauk [Milwaukee, Wisconsin]. I gave a dollar for it — was glad I did not have it done before I left as the style was not such as is worn this winter — I lost on my journey [...] scissors, a little [...] of sweet oil & that calico loose dress that was Mary's — think I left the scissors at Aunt Emeline but am not positive I intended to have mentioned them before — none of our things that we left were injured of any importance —
A few days since I had four decayed teeth taken out — I am going to sew to pay for it — am glad Ralph takes so good care of his —
Our heifer has been dry two weeks but we expect to have new milk within a week or two —
We had rather live here than in Milwaukie [Milwaukee, Wisconsin].
The name of this town is changed to Wankesha. I do not like the new name half as well as I did the old one hope it will be changed back again next winter —
I was grieved to hear of the death of Aunt Jane's little Edwin. I know they will feel his loss deeply — am daily looking for a letter from May I have rec'd [received] no letter from Father Grants since we wrote to them a long time ago — but know they cannot write often — I would like you to send them this & then we shall not need write them at present — hope they will write soon telling particularly about Martha [Martha Woodward] & John [John Grant] Give our love to all our relatives & friends It is our prayer that you may bell all of our dear friends
Yours very aff. [affectionate]
Caroline [Caroline Burr Grant]
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