A letter from Abigail Peet, wife of Gideon Peet, one of the early settlers of Fairview. The letter was written to her daughter Huldah who had remained in New York when the rest of the Peets moved to Iowa. Submitted by Carol Smead Abigail's 4th-great-granddaughter.
Pameho, (Fairview), Iowa
March 18, 1842
Dear Daughter,
I improve this opportunity to write and inform you that we are all
enjoying very good health at present and hope to hear the same from you.
We have had a light winter in comparison to what we used to have there.
We have not had snow to hinder anyone's going into the woods to draw
rails or timber anywhere they please. It has been all gone as much as
four or five weeks, and is now very warm.
Our folks tapped our
sugar trees last Monday so we could make our own sugar. We have made
eighty-five pounds and they think they shall have syrup enough by night
to make up to one hundred. I think it is as nice as we ever made. Gideon
and Julius are both making for themselves.
The tops of the wheat
is killed considerable but your father was over to it this morning and
he says it is sprouting up thick and the ground is dry enough to go to
plowing. Tell Philip if he was only here to begin his Spring work, he
could not help being highly delighted. I little thought when I left you
that it would be so long before I saw you again, but I begin to fear
that you will wait so long to get a great price there that you will lose
more here by having the best chances taken up that are convenient to
timber and water, etc. It is a great chance for making a little money go
a great way in buying good land.
There is an abundance of
excellent prairie and considerable timber land not taken up yet that can
be got at the land office for one dollar and twenty cents per acre.
Anyone would b very foolish to chop and clear land here when there are
thousands and thousands of acres already cleared: and no stump roots or
stones to molest you. But, there is plenty of excellent stone in the
timber and in ledges along the water courses. Your father often used to
say he would like to have the stone by itself and the land by itself:
now he has his wish.
They say there is a ledge about two or three
miles from here on the bank of the river that rises twenty or thirty
feet high and appears to be in regular layers. Some of the men have dug
out stone to use about buildings which they say is very beautiful stone,
others say that it is a quarry of Turkish marble but how it will turn
out I cannot say.
Julius is pleasantly situated and has a nice
little black-eyed wife, she is young - will be eighteen next August, but
she seems to understand business very well and keeps things snug. Marlin
went to board with them soon after they commenced housekeeping and is
there now. Your father often says that he would rather have Julius'
place than his old farm and I do not think Julius would trade if he
could, to go back there to live. He has one hundred and sixty acres
which cost two hundred and forty five dollars.
I have made fifty
five cheeses this last season and the boys took thirty of them to
Dubuque and sold them for a shilling per pound, then bought three
kettles to make sugar in, also one dish kettle for sixpence per pound,
four pairs of men's high shoes for twelve shillings per pair. Your
father says they are the best shoes he ever had. Pork and grain are very
cheap here now.
Philip, I will write a little to you. If you
cannot sell to get all of your money down, leave it in good hands where
you can depend upon it when promised, get what you can, and sell off
your stock, they will bring cash at some price. If you should leave any
in that way, get the man to deposit the money in some good permanent
bank and get a certificate of deposit and have him send it to you. There
is a farm that lies between Marlin's and ours with some people living on
it who have paid for two eighties and have a claim on considerable more.
I hear they have borrowed most of the money to pay for it, so we think
it might be sold pretty reasonable. There is another one of the same
family that lives the other way between Gideon and us which if you could
get would suit you, but suit yourself. I would not advise you to buy
land of any man there that owns land here, for the chance is as good for
you as it is for others. We have not the money now, but we calculate to
help you all as fast as we can. There are several men owing, of whom we
can get nothing but work, so we thought it best to have a little more
house room: they got out and hewed the timber for it week before last.
We calculate to build a room on the east end of the house for bed rooms
and other conveniences. Gideon got out the timber the same week for his
house, twenty by thirty two, I believe.
If you come, you had
better get a good strong wagon and team that is stout and true, and if
you could, get another good horse and strong light wagon for your family
if Harvey should some with you. It is best to have two in company if
anything should happen, you could assist each other or if any of your
friends with to come tell t hen they had better start, for if they once
get here, they cannot help being suited. You will have to travel through
a great many places that you will not like and many more that you will
like, but if you can get here and buy land as good as the best at ten
shillings per acre it will pay all.
I think there is as little
complaining of sickness here as I ever knew in any place, but I think it
would be a good plan to make a jug of syrup such as I made when I was at
your home, and get some boxes of Persian pills, a box or two of David's
plaster. They are very valuable.
I wish you could get me a patent
wheel head. I cannot hear of any here, but they say they make wheels of
both sorts a few miles from here.
I want you to write immediately
and let us know your calculations.
I remain your affectionate
mother,
Abigail Peet
NOTE: This is a copy of a letter written by Abigail Peet to her daughter Huldah. Huldah had remained in New York with her husband Philip Burlingham when the rest of the Peets migrated to Jones county, Iowa. Abigail was 59 when this letter was written and Huldah was 32. I do not know if they ever made the move to Iowa. The names Julius, Marlin and Gideon that are mentioned in the letter are three of Huldah's ten brothers. Marlin's full name is Daniel Marlin. She had no sisters. Julius's black-eyed wife is Esther Crow. Another brother, Truman Judson, married Esther's sister Nancy. Truman and Nancy were the parents of Chester Harvey Peet, the grandfather of our Nana, Margaret Anne Peet. (cbs)