Adams, Laurence H.,
141 letters, 467 manuscript pages, all but 4 with their retained mailing envelopes, dated 15 August 1917 to 14 December 1919. Of the 141 letters, 139 of the letters were written by Laurence H. Adams to his future wife Hazel Schramm. Of these 139 letters, 91 of them were written by him while in military service during WWI, both state side as well as in France, with the remaining 48 letters written by him after his release from military service and while he lived and worked in the Scranton, Pennsylvania area. Within the collection are also 2 letters not written by Adams; one written by Hazel Schramm to Adams, the other a printed form letter from the King of England sent to Hazel Schramm. This printed form letter was apparently sent to all the American soldiers thanking them for their service. The collection also includes 14 pieces of related ephemera: 8 postcards dated 1917-1918, 2 newspaper clippings dated circa 1918, 1 greeting card, 1 war risk insurance form (1919), 1 YMCA Dedicatory Program (1917), and 1 used envelope. One of the newspaper clippings is an Adams letter written to his father at Christmas 1918 and printed by the local Scranton newspaper. It details Adams WWI experiences and his getting wounded and winding up in the hospital. Laurence “Laudy” H. Adams (1899-1960) Laurence H. “Laudy” Adams was born 3 Sept 1899, the son of Oscar F. Adams and his wife Lurline Hopewell. His mother died when he was young, his father remarried. He had siblings and the family lived in Scranton, his father working various white-collar jobs in shops, or companies. Adams enlisted with the Army on 19 July 1917 and by the 15th of August he had arrived at Camp Mount, Georgia for assignment. This is when the correspondence starts; the first letter is dated August 15th, 1917. Adams appears to have already been in a relationship with Hazel “Dutch” Schramm before his military service started. After a week at Camp Mount, he moves on to Camp Hancock, also in Georgia, presumably for basic training. In Oct of 1917 he was appointed bugler, having been a private. By 16 May 1918, Adams is ready to ship overseas and moves to the embarkation point at Camp Merritt, New Jersey and by May 30th he is at sea. In June of 1918 they land in England and are issued English rifles. By June 9th he is “somewhere in France.” On 4 July 1918 he is appointed as a motorcycle dispatch rider when he is not needed as a bugler. By August he is in war and is constantly being shelled by the Germans as he moves to the front. He observes Germans from a hill with his Colonel, Colonel Duffy, who later would be killed. Adams is sleeping in the woods, in the rain, and has not bathed in six weeks. He fights in various battles: Chateau-Thierry Sector (29 June – 13 July 1918); 5th German Offensive (14-27 July, 1918); Advance on Ourco and Vesle (29 July – 9 Sept, 1918) and Meuse-Argonne Offensive (26 Sept – 2 Oct, 1918). Adams was wounded in the right shoulder by German machine gun fire on October 2 1918, at Varennes during the During the Battle of Meuse-Argonne Offence, the largest battle in World War One for the Americans. Two days later he is in Hospital #17, having the bullet surgically removed, and a week later he was sitting up, being spoon fed by an American nurse. Adams spent October to December of 1918 recuperating in the hospital, it was a slow recovery. While in the hospital, on 11 November 1918, the “Armistice” took effect; the war was over. On 12 January 1919 he is sent back to his unit, which is at Uruffe, France, as bugler. By 9 April 1919 he is on the coast at Le Mans waiting to be shipped back home to the United States. He arrives in Philadelphia on 7 May 1919 and moves on to Camp Dix, New Jersey where he is discharged from military service on 19 May 1919. By August 1919 he is working for the Gaylord International Engineering and Construction Company, at Hopbottom, Pennsylvania, but the next year (1920 Census) finds him working as a bo
Mitchell, S. A.,
Philadelphia: S. Augustus Mitchell, 1847, folding lithographed pocket map, original full coloring of Mexico and vivid rose outline coloring of Texas. Measures 46 x 66.8 cm. Inset street map and environs of Monterrey at top right on tinted pink ground: The Late Battlefield. Folds into the original embossed green roan case, stamped in gilt Mexico, with printed statistical broadside: Extent and Population of Mexico, affixed to front pastedown. Some archival tissue reinforcements along folds, small separations at several fold joints, small piece missing near the second “I” in Pacific Ocean, some rubbing to covers, else very good, with strong coloring. An early issue of this oft-reworked Mexican-American War map. The earliest issue is thought to have the inset battle plan at the top uncolored, and identified only as the Late Battlefield, this issue has the battlefield of Buena Vista noted which means that it was issued sometime after late February when news of the United States victory at Buena Vista would have been known. This map was part of the series of popular maps published by Mitchell to provide constantly evolving news to satisfy the public’s riveted focus on the course of the Mexican War and “Manifest Destiny.” What began as a rather modest affair changed over the course of the war, with Mitchell revising his original map until it had grown far larger than this early issue. Later in 1847 he added a large inset Map of the Principal Roads, but with the same title to the upper inset. In yet another version of the larger map, the inset at upper right is renamed The Battlefield of Monterey. See Streeter Sale 3868, Taliaferro 284, and Wheat, 548, Maps of the California Gold Region, 35. In this map Texas is outlined in bright rose in the Emory configuration, with its extended Panhandle extending north into Wyoming. This map is an example of Manifest Destiny expressed cartographically. As the Mexican-American War progressed, Mitchell reissued this map, each time slightly altering the plate to reflect American progress towards Mexico City and marking battle grounds with a flag. Older battles shown include the Alamo, and San Jacinto. Battles in the present war include Resaca de la Palma, Palo Alto, Monterrey, which is shown in the inset, and Buena Vista. Texas is shown as an independent entity with its border at the Rio Grande River and its Panhandle extending all the way to the 42nd parallel. If the map itself is not blunt enough, the text of the “Extent and Population of Mexico” makes the point of view clear: “in the above statement Mexico is represented as entire, with the exception of Texas; but at the present time (1846) New California, New Mexico, and Yucatan, comprising about two-fifths of her territory, can hardly be considered as belonging to her. New California was taken possession of by Commodore Sloat, July 7th, 1846, and New Mexico by General Kearney, August, 1846. Yucatan has declared her independence, yet it is not positively hostile to the Mexican government: and but a little reliance can be placed on the permanency of her present position.”
Wallace, Henry E., Attorney at Law
octavo, 2 pages, formerly folded, in very good, clean, and legible condition. “After reading the Statement of Mr. Ware and Mr. Leaming with care I do not find any thing to satisfy me in legal point of view, that Mr. Townsend Sharpless is not the party against whom Mr. Budd’s action must be brought. The Mayor has furnished a copy of his Record upon which Mr. Sharpless’s liability is clear. If he can explain that away on the trial, we may be compelled to proceed against all the parties for a Conspiracy. But the injury done to Mr. Budd must be vindicated in some way. The conduct of Mess Ware & Leaming appears to me exceedingly reprehensible and I shall take great pleasure in exposing to the world their tergiversations in this matter. I am sorry for Mr. Sharpless but the gross wrong done my client was certainly done in his name and under the sanctions of this affirmation. Indeed the explanation of the Mayor, seem to add insult to injury as he gives it as his opinion that there was cause to suspect the goods would be found in Budd’s possession.” Established in 1843, the Legal Intelligencer was the oldest law journal in the United States. Wallce, its founder, and editor for nearly fifty years, was also a practicing attorney. Townsend Sharpless was a prominent Quaker merchant who was accused by Maryland slave-owners of “enticing” their slaves to escape to freedom in Pennsylvania.
16mo, xii, [13] – 149, 37 pp., catalog of Colton’s publications, large folding colored map, measuring 53.5 x 72 cm, entitled: Guide Through Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska & Kansas. Showing the Township lines of the United States Surveys, Locations of Cities, Towns, Villages, Post Hamlets, Canals, Rail and Stage Roads. By J. Calvin Smith. Published by J. H. Colton & Co., 1857, bound in original red cloth, binding somewhat worn, head of spine chipped with loss, contemporary ownership signatures, former owner’s bookplate, map is in good condition with some separations at fold joints, right hand edge of map slightly ruffled, else very good. The detailed map shows the territory from the extreme western edge of Pennsylvania across the mid-west to Kansas, portions of Nebraska and Minnesota Territory.
Gratz, Edw.[ard] and D.[avid],
quarto, one page, plus stamp less address leaf, in very good, clean, and legible condition. 1841 Young Lincoln’s Law Clients and the Jewish Gratz Family of Philadelphia. “ We received a letter from S. M. Tinsley & Co. of Springfield, Ill. In the early part of the month, advising us of a Deposit having been made at your Bank with instructions that the same shall be forthwith remitted to our address. As we have not had the pleasure of hearing from you relative thereto and fearing that this remittance might have been made, without having reached us, shall we ask the favor of you to inform us what has been done in this matter ” [With handwritten note by recipient at bottom]: “No deposit made yet. So soon as a certain deed from Kiedy of Illinois to Lohman of this State is executed the deposit will be made and forwarded to you.” An interesting association between Illinois legal clients of 32-year-old Abraham Lincoln and the famous Jewish Gratz family of Philadelphia. Edward Gratz and his son David had offices in Philadelphia but most of their business was conducted in the Lykens Valley, where they owned and operated Anthracite Coal mines, Edward was the son of Simon Gratz and the grandson of Michael Gratz. The revered Rebecca Gratz, who founded the Jewish Sunday School movement and was an inspiration of Sir. Walter Scott’s novel Ivanhoe was Edward’s aunt. Edward and David had a falling out with their relatives and were parties, from 1839 onward, to an acrimonious inheritance lawsuit which eventually made its way to the US Supreme Court in 1850. Seth M. Tinsley (1808-1868) a Virginian who had settled in Illinois in 1830, was one of the wealthiest merchants in Springfield – and the landlord of Lincoln’s law offices, located in the same building as Tinsley’s dry-goods store, (now a National Historical Monument.) Before purchasing his own home, Lincoln also rented a house from Tinsley. Apart from his store, Tinsley also owned a mill and a distillery and over $ 40,000 in real estate, plus being a director of the Turnpike Company and a local bank and a Springfield city Alderman. This letter was written weeks before Tinsley first retained Lincoln as his lawyer in July 1841. Lincoln continued to represent Tinsley in various matters until 1846. “Kiedy” probably refers to John A. Keedy, one of Tinsley’s business partners and another Lincoln client. (His name is also misspelled “Keidy” and “Kidey” in different historical documents). Keedy retained Lincoln on various legal matters from 1840 to 1851. All the historical accounts of Abraham Lincoln’s sympathy for the Jewish people date from the early years of his Presidency. While there is no evidence that Lincoln ever had direct contact with the Gratz family while they were doing business with Tinsley and Keedy in Springfield, this letter may represent the very first association between significant figures in Lincoln’s early life and the most celebrated Jewish family of Philadelphia.
C., J., Jr.
quarto, three pages, plus stamp less address leaf, formerly folded, some light damp staining, else in good, legible condition. The letter describes a journey from Burlington, Vermont to Montreal via Lake Champlain on an early steamboat. The letter writer then gives his impressions of Montreal, its people and its architecture as well as its future prospects: “Montreal Augt. 3, 1816 My dear friend, I wrote you a few lines from Burlington and the next morning by 5 o’clock we were embar’ct on board the steam boat which was in every respect calculated for the navigation of lake Champlain the passengers were about seventy in number from various states and destined to various places – many of them were persons of information and being conversable the time pass’d pleasantly – the lake is a fine sheet of water ornamented with many islands and has lofty and romantic mountains in view – its banks are generally cover’d with wood, and in many situations exhibit cultivation and improvement – our passage was rapid – we sail’d near Isle aux noir which is strongly fortified and commands the entrance into Canada in this direction – it is a very important situation – we arrived at St. Johns a small town an hour before sunset and procur’d tolerable accommodations – there is here a British custom House but met with no trouble – we yesterday procur’d carriages and rode to la prairie, a distance of 18 miles – we here procur’d a boat in which we cross’d the St. Lawrence to this city passing a considerable rapid – the view as you approach the city is very fine and on entering it you are for the moment confus’d with noise and variety of the strange sounds which you hear – the lower class of people are mostly French, and talk with all the variety and vivacity of those of Europe – the houses are built of stone , having iron doors, window shutters and tin’d roofs – they are very strong, and perfectly secure against fire the streets are narrow and at present dusty – the weather is uncomfortably warm – the Cathedral, some of the convents, the government buildings and many of the private houses in appearance very much surpass’d my expectation – the population has increas’d some thousands within a few years, and there is every prospect of the city from its advantageous situation becoming a place of great business – we have engaged passages for Quebec and shall go on board the steam boat this evening – our friends will accompany us – having examined the curiosities of the city and neighborhood, we shall immediately return here, part if not the whole of the way by land – it is our intention to devote a short time to visit the nunneries, take a little rest and then commence our journey towards home – my father, mother and Elizabeth are well – they all desire particular remembrance to you and all other friends in which I sincerely unite. I am writing in a small and warm chamber with a bad pen and must omit saying many things to you till another opportunity offers – the air is growing more cool, and the mountain and scenery back of the city looks very beautifully . I must prepare to send my portmanteau on board J. C. Jr. ”
Printed pictorial card, measuring 5 ½ x 3 ¼ inches, printed on both sides, in very good, clean condition. This card advertises a public novena for poor souls in purgatory at the St. Joseph's Colored Catholic Church. The church, organized by Bishop John J. Keane, was the first Catholic congregation for African Americans in Virginia. John Joseph Keane (1839 –1918) was an Irish-born American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Richmond in Virginia from 1878 to 1888. Despite opposition, Keane founded schools and churches for Catholic African Americans in the diocese. The original congregation began in the basement of the all-white (predominantly Irish American) Saint Peter's Church in 1879. The 13-member congregation included Emily Mitchell (born into slavery in 1824, brought from Baltimore and later serving Bishop James Gibbons), Julia Grandison (baptized in Georgia and brought to Richmond at age 9), Moses Marx (who began driving Bishop John Keane's buggy at age 12), Liza Marx (who learned to read and reminded the judge reading her mistress' will that he forgot the lines bequeathing money to Elizabeth Thompson and her next child of issue), and Julia Flippen as well as her children. In 1884, when the congregation had increased to about 50 including children, Bishop Keane signed a deed for a property on Shockoe Hill for what became St. Joseph's Church, the first Catholic congregation organized in Virgina for African Americans and invited the Josephites for help in furthering the Black apostolate. In 1884, Keane attended the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. The Council appointed him in May 1885 to the committee for the founding of a Catholic university in the United States. He was appointed as the first rector of the Catholic University of America in 1886. He continued to serve as bishop of Richmond until August 12, 1888, when he resigned that post. His democratic and liberal policies made him enemies with conservatives in the hierarchy and at the Vatican. In 1896, Keane was forced to resign as rector of the university.
(Anon.)
octavo, 4 pages, unsigned, possible incomplete, in very good condition. The writer describes his travels in Pittsburg and other western Pennsylvania towns, he provides an epistolary tour of Pittsburg’s industries of the day, an oil refinery, comments on the pollution “earth and air are impregnated with the aroma of petroleum”, lumber raftsmen and iron mills, before continuing on to New Brighton, New Castle, and Franklin, in Venango County: “My dear Theora, My letter from Pittsburg was written on Thursday morning and mailed then and there so I suppose you have read it before this time and I shall start from the point where I left off . After taking my breakfast at the St. Nicholas (which, by the way was an excellent one and at the moderate charge of 25 cents) I turned out to view the city, went to P. Office with your letter and thence across the Allegheny river and through the city of Allegheny to the heights beyond, from which a fine [view] of the rivers and surrounding country could be obtained – rambled over a German Catholic cemetery, on one of the highest hills and then descended towards the river and found myself, on plunging down into a deep ravine, in what I supposed by the stables and shanties around to be the Irish town, or suburb but the steep hill sides were terraced and laid out in rude gardens or graperies indicating a German population in part if not in whole. I threaded my way out towards the shore where a number of oil refineries are located. I entered one of them and discoursed the proprietor upon the subject of coal oil and he very politely showed me through his refinery and described the various processes and operations to which the crude material is subjected reserving only to himself the final chemical mystery which of course no “outsider” has a right to enquire into. He made me a present of a vial filled with the purified oil – transparent, warranted to be non-explosive, and to burn without smoke, or odor, in any properly constructed lamp; of which oil he offered to sell me one hundred barrels (more or less) at 20 cents per gallon! Cheap and brilliant light indeed. After parting from him I wandered among the oil boats, rafts and bins lying along shore all so saturated with oil, and the barrels which cover the landings and surrounding commons leak so profusely that earth and air are impregnated with aroma of petroleum and even the beautifully transparent waters of the Allegheny are glazed with a coating of the same material borne on the current towards the gulf of Mexico. I crossed, by a different bridge, to the Pittsburg side and got among the lumber raftsmen who tried to sell me shingles at $ 1.25 per bunch of 500 and boards proportionately low but I was not ready to purchase and left them for a peep at some of the large iron mills close at hand. These mills abound along the margin of both the Allegheny and Monongahela but more particularly in Manchester, which is across the latter river from Pittsburg. You may wonder how I had so much leisure time and I may state that a gentleman with whom I had conversation upon the subject of reaching the oil region, informed me that he had wells and property here and that he preferred to travel by the New Castle rout, when the Allegheny was not full enough for Steamboats to run. By this rout passengers take the cars (as I did) by the accommodation train of the Pittsburg and Chicago R. R. at 4.45 in the afternoon. As that hour approached I recrossed to Allegheny City, where the depot is, paid 55 cents for a ticket to New Brighton on the Beaver river, a distance of 28 miles, where we arrived about 6 ½ o’clock after a very pleasant run along the margin of the Ohio, among gardens and truck patches villas and towns so numerous that I cannot name near all of them, but there was Industry, Economy, and Freedom, - very good and suggestive titles; besides Rochester at the mouth of Beaver and but a short distance below New Brighto
Strong, Caleb, (1745-1819)
quarto, two pages, plus stamp less address leaf, in very good, clean, and legible condition. Strong writes: Dear Sir, There has not been a Word of Objection to the Claime of Mr. Cotton but it was professed that a number of these cases should be provided for in the Bill some of which were very doubtful and have occasioned as lengthy Debates in the Senate as any Subject during the present Session, the Consideration of the Bill has been put off several times that Evidence might be obtained concerning those cases, but I hope it will pass in some form or other in a few days. It is agreed on all hands that the Indian War is a very unfortunate Business, the Sentiments concerning it in Congress are almost as variant as among the People at large. So then there is to be no Theatre in Boston I am afraid the newly acquired fortunes can’t now be spent in Massachusetts and that the Possessors will be obliged from that Consideration to leave the State – but there is one considering Circumstance the old Police of the Town is to be preserved and that will afford considerable relief to the married men. I am much obliged to Miss B. for her Complaisance in postponing the Ceremony until the Beginning of March but as it is uncertain whether I can return before the latter part of that month and it would be extreme Cruelty to Suggest a further Postponement I must request you to present my compliments to her and in my name at the wedding to wish her according to the ancient form, much Comfort in her new Boundings. I am dear Sir with Much Regard your friend & Servt Caleb Strong I have just had a Letter from Sedgwick which says that he proposed setting off from Stockbridge for this place today – “ Caleb Strong (1745-1819) was a lawyer, Federalist Statesman, Massachusetts legislator and official. He graduated from Harvard in 1764; studied law under Joseph Hawley; was admitted to Massachusetts bar, 1772. Served on committee for drafting the Massachusetts constitution, 1779. He represented Massachusetts in the Federal Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, 1787, advocating annual elections of representatives and choice of a president by Congress, also making the successful motion that the House alone should originate spending bills although the Senate might amend them. He served as U. S. Senator from Massachusetts, 1789-1796, he formed, with Oliver Ellsworth and Rufus King the bulwark of the administration in the Senate. He contributed to the drafting of the Judiciary Act of 1789, espoused the Hamiltonian financial plan, and introduced the bill for the chartering of the first Bank of the United States. At the beginning of the two-party system he associated himself with the Washington administration and the Federalists, supported the ratification of the Jay Treaty, and deplored the excesses of the French revolutionary government. As Federalist governor of Massachusetts, 1800-1807, he was an able administrator; during his second period as governor, 1812-1816, he was in continuous opposition to the national administration and the War of 1812. He approved both the calling of the Hartford Convention in December 1814 and its subsequent report. American National Biography, vol. 21 pp., 39-41
Jacobs, Louis T.
quarto, one page, somewhat tanned, old tape repairs, mounted on separate stiff quarto sheet, good. 1888 Black immigrant 'stumps' California for Democrats. “Can you please forward me at your earliest opportunity a copy of President Cleveland Message to Congress wherein he recommends the payment of the Freedmen’s Bank Depositors sent sometime in Dec .86. I am a Colored man and as I am going to stump the State in interest of Democracy I would like to have it as it would enable me in my argument.” Jacobs was a British “Mulatto”, possibly born in Sierra Leone, Africa in the 1840s, who had immigrated to the US as a young man, in the 1870s. He had worked as a janitor at Los Angeles City Hall – where he probably acquired a taste for politics – before moving to northern California to become agent of an Oakland insurance company. Most African-Americans were Republicans in the post-Civil War era, so Jacobs undoubtedly saw an opportunity to advance his career by “stumping” California for the Democrats, who decried the “lawful robbery” of freed slaves, after the War, their deposits in a “Freedman’s Bank” squandered by “Republican thieves”. The Bank had collapsed in 1875, forcing depositors to wait a decade to recover their money until President Cleveland declared that the hapless “colored” should be reimbursed for their losses by Government funds.
Quarto, one page, with another related letter on verso, (two pages, total), formerly folded, otherwise in very good, clean, and legible condition. Britney writes from Mississippi asking his brother’s help in finding him 15 slaves from neighboring Kentucky that he could import to Mississippi, now that he was “getting some property around me.” Between 1780 and 1861 entrepreneurial enslavers moved more than 1 million enslaved people by force from coastal and borderland communities to the deep south and west as the cotton economy expanded. Birney seeks to import slaves from Kentucky directly, himself, rather than purchase them in Mississippi, at potentially higher costs at auction. “The domestic slave trade rapidly transformed the southern states into the dominant force in the global cotton market, and cotton was the world’s most widely traded commodity at the time, as it was the key raw material during the first century of the industrial revolution. The returns from cotton monopoly powered the modernization of the rest of the American economy, and by the time of the Civil War, the United States had become the second nation to undergo large-scale industrialization. In fact, slavery’s expansion shaped every crucial aspect of the economy and politics of the new nation – not only increasing its power and size, but also, eventually, dividing US politics, differentiating regional identities and interests, and helping to make civil war possible.” – Baptist, Edward E., The Half Has Never Been Told Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism. (New York: Basic Books, 2014). “Dear Brother, It has now been 7 years since I have heard any thing from any of our family. None have written to me & I have written to none of them so things have gone on. I have been traveling part of the time & part of the time stationary. I have gotten through with A. O. Haris’ security debts & am now getting some property around me & will in a few years, if prudent be independent. I am about making a traid [sic] – but before I do it I want to learn what negroes from 14 to 35 years old can be bought at along the Ohio in Kentucky – If they can be procured for from 4 to 5 hundred dollars anywhere in that portion of country. I may spend several months there in the spring. Will you be kind enough to enquire about the prices at which such negroes can be had in that section of Kentucky & write me all the facts in relation to them – should it not give you too much trouble I would like to hear from you by March. I wish to get hands to cary [sic] on a farm. I want 15 good likely boys. Mississippi “has booted her foot” & come out triumphantly states right - .”
quarto, 26 manuscript pages, with two inserted slips with additions, plus blanks, in very good, clean, and legible condition. A manuscript note on the last page states: “This oration was written for July 4, 1844 & for which I received the second prize, a silver medal from the Young Men’s Association of the City of Utica – It was not delivered – M. M. Jones. Delivered with the amendments in red ink at Hampton July 4, 1845” Fourth of July Oration written by Jones a young man from the Utica New York area is fairly typical in its patriotic effusions of similar productions of this genre a staple of Fourth of July Celebrations during the 19th century. Many of them were printed in pamphlet form, this one was apparently never printed or published. Below is a quote from Jones’ address which resonates today: “It is not in a splendid government, supported by powerful monopolies and aristocratical establishments that the people will find happiness or their liberties protection, but in a plain system void of pomp, protecting all and granting favors to none” ”
folio, one page, formerly folded, docketed on verso: “Inventory of Geo. Morris Estate 1794”. Some splits along folds, and separations at fold joints, else in good, clean legible condition. Manuscript estate inventory for little known pioneer American seedsman and gardener George Morris dated 1794. There is almost no documentation for Morris and thus he is little known today, but he sold seeds to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. The inventory lists Morris’s surviving stock including” 31 Lots of Poplar Trees” “28 of Peach trees”, as well as other types of peaches, Weeping Willows, Apple trees, currant bushes, raspberries, Peach Rose, Lombard Poplars, Roses, cherries, “1 Passion flower”, a “pomegranate shrub”, “1 artichoak”, as well as boxes, barrels and kegs of seeds. There are also a variety of garden tools, pots, “flower glasses”, frames, baskets, et cetera, as well as 2 signs, and “5 books of gardening.” As well as the lot on which his garden sat. George Morris sold seeds in Philadelphia “at his garden between Market and Arch-streets, in Twelfth-street, or on Wednesdays and Saturdays opposite the Presbyterian meeting-house, South Market-street” (Philadelphia Dunlap’s Am. Daily Advertiser, 26 Mar. 1791). Morris died two years before Bernard M’Mahon arrived in Philadelphia from Ireland in 1796 and began his celebrated career as seedsman and nurseryman. His death occurred five years before the arrival of Frederick Pursh in America, and Morris’s role in the development of American botany and horticulture is at the present a matter of conjecture only. However, two significant clients, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison purchased seeds from Morris for their estates of Monticello and Montpelier respectively attests to his stature and reputation at the time. He must have known Bartram Humphrey Marshall, and Benjamin Smith Barton. Morris does not appear in Philadelphia Directories 1785-1794. Morris does not appear in several important studies of early American botany and gardening, including Ann Leighton’s American Gardens in the Eighteenth Century, and Joseph Ewan’s article Frederick Pursh 1774-1820, and his Botanical Associates, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Oct. 15, 1952, Vol. 96, No. 5.
Quarto, two pages, plus address leaf, formerly folded, short tear into letter, repaired with archival tissue, portions missing from address leaf, docketing on address leaf in Smith’s hand, else in good, legible condition. Gerrit Smith was a reformer who devoted his large fortune to what he considered the good of mankind. Smith’s wealth was derived in large part from vast tracts of land throughout America, but primarily in New York State. Smith was in essence a land baron. Clark, in his letter, is likely discussing payment for land purchased from Smith. Smith advocated a wide array of causes, strict Sunday observance, vegetarianism, temperance, dress reform, prison reform and woman’s suffrage. Joining the anti-slavery movement in 1835, after a brief interest in colonization efforts, he became one of the best-known abolitionists in the United States. He was the Liberty Party candidate for President of the United States in 1848, 1856, and 1860. He was an intimate of practically every leading abolitionist in America, but was especially close to Frederick Douglass, James McCune Smith, and he is forever linked in history to John Brown. Smith was a backer of the aid societies for Kansas and a supporter of the use of force against pro-slavery adherents in Kansas, he backed John Brown, and was one his so-called “Secret Six”. Smith later denied complicity in Brown’s plot but suffered from guilt the rest of his life as a result of its unsuccessful outcome. During the Civil War he wrote and spoke in support of the Union cause, and in the Reconstruction period advocated moderation toward southern whites and Black suffrage. Clark writes: “Dear Sir, I have made every effort in my power to meet your generous offer in regard to the payment of one half of my indebtedness to you, but it has proved unavailing . The best I have been able to do is to pay the one half with the interest on the whole in 90 days. This can be relied on, as well as the $ 250 in one year. If you accept this please make a computation of the whole & send the note with the statement to any one here authorized to receive it. A line from you through the P.O. will direct me where to call & attend to it. I regret exceedingly my inability to meet this payment, especially at this time when you have so generously pledged to do so much for suffering, bleeding Kansas, & other good causes. Losses last fall embarrassed me so that I was compelled to submit to a sacrifice of my office, & I am now almost entirely destitute with impaired health and out of business. I have been urged to go to Pennsylvania and assist with my personal effort to bring about a better state of things in that benighted state. I suppose you are aware of the slavery nominations here today. Amasa J. Parker of Albany for Governor. John Vanderbilt of Brooklyn for Lieut. Gov. Russell of St. Lawrence for Canal Commissioner, some rowdy from the 6th Ward of N.Y. City for State prison inspector & a gentleman from Monroe for clerk of court of Appeals. S. H. Clark” American National Biography, vol. 20, pp., 187-188. Smith’s papers are located at Syracuse University.
Quarto, 3 pages, plus stamp less address leaf, hole from seal opening, no loss of text, else in very good, clean, and legible condition. 1840 An enthusiast for the presidential candidacy of William Henry Harrison, recording a “chat” with “Old Tip” on the campaign trail. “My Dear and Worthy Harrisonian, It gave me great pleasure to hear that my old friends in Somerset appear to be Wide Awake and not found napping at so important a crisis as this is – or these Van Ruinous times which we at present are obliged to labour under. However I trust and hope that we shall be able to throw off the yoke which has been a Burthen to this County for several year, I say do your duty in Old Pennsylvania. Don’t be disgraced by giving or rather suffering the vote to go for Van. If you exert yourselves I know you have the power. I say then pick your flint and never give up till the enemy is Conquered – and the Country restored to What it was in Good old Democratic times. You say times are very dull in your place and that you have nothing to do in the way of selling goods – and that you feel like Shutting up Shop and using all your Humble Efforts for Old Tip – in other words for the Salvation and Redemption of the once Beloved but now distressed Country. I hope you may have Double Strength granted and persevere and not look Back in the Glorious Cause. Old Tip was in this place a few weeks ago. When he was on his way to the Celebration at Fort Meigs in the morning he left his place I had a little chat with him. He appeared to me to be in better health and his appearance, stronger then it was four years ago when I saw him in Philadelphia. Indeed he told me he was much stronger and his health greatly improved to what it was several years ago (the old fellow is Electioneering) ” An interesting letter, for several reasons. First is the very early use of the political phrase “Wide Awake”, adopted by a shadowy group of collegiate Lincoln enthusiasts in the presidential election of 1860, becoming synonymous with supporters of the new Republican Party in the decade before the Civil War. The other point of interest is the writer’s reference to “Old Tip” (i.e. Tippecanoe) General William Henry Harrison’s health, a frequent subject of discussion in his two presidential campaigns, which proved to be foreboding as he died just weeks after his Inauguration as President.
The collection includes twenty-one letters, 115 pages, including sixteen letters from Abraham Paul Leech to his son, and five from friends of John Leech to him, with one pencil sketch and fifteen watercolors by Abraham Paul Leech, circa 1859-1870. These letters were mainly written by Leech from his home in Jamaica, Long Island, New York, to his son, John while he and his mother were away during the summer months, in Connecticut and New Jersey. Leech relates the happenings and incidents that occurred in Jamaica during their absence. Abraham Paul Leech is remembered as an early friend and correspondent of Walt Whitman. A group of 9 letters from Whitman to Leech and with drafts of Leech’s letters to Whitman were discovered in 1985 and sold at Sotheby’s in New York (May 22, 1985, item 385) and are currently held by the Library of Congress. These letters dated 1840-41 are the earliest surviving letters of Whitman. Leech was a bookkeeper and member of the Presbyterian Church who lived out his life in Jamaica, Long Island. Their friendship appears to have been short lived, whether Leech was aware of Whitman’s subsequent literary career no documents or record survives. Leech was from a young age an avid draughtsman and both he and his brother Benjamin also wrote poetry, some of which was published locally. In the 1840’s Abraham prepared an amateur newspaper entitled: Jamaica Journal & Reporter, which contained an assortment of notices and observations, including his poetry and comic illustrations, (two of which pertaining to the Mexican War and other topical matters are now in the collections of the Huntington Library). Leech’s style of drawing was naïve, and it remained so into adulthood. Some years ago, this firm sold an illustrated correspondence of Leech written while traveling through the American south during the winter of 1873-1874, in the company of his eldest son, and namesake, Abraham Duryea Leech, who was dying, the son died shortly after their return to Long Island. That correspondence, like the one offered here, was written to his younger son John. “Jamaica July 26th, 1877 Dear Johny, Mr. Lampman preached in his own pulpit last Sunday morning and lectured on Tuesday evening on the Sunday School lesson. The lecture was good: the evening hot; and the audience small. Tal a mas preached on Sunday evening in our church. There was a good turn out. I think every body was pleased. I wish you could have been here to hear him & also to attend his lecture on Monday evening. Mr. Lampman in giving out the notice of the lecture urged it upon his people to attend the lecture as a matter of duty: inasmuch as the proceeds from the price of admittance were for the purpose of preparing two of the sons of Tal a mas as Missionaries. The people turned out tolerably well considering it cost them 25 cts each. I think about as many as usually come to Sunday evening service. I am glad I did not stay home as the lecture was very interesting and instructive. His name in the Indian tongue is Tal-a-mas-meo, in our language the Revd John Bemo. He appeared on Sunday in Black Broadcloth, and on Monday evening in the costume of the tribe to which he belongs viz the Seminole, tell Duryea & Carrie that he is the nephew of the celebrated Florida chief Osceola. I suppose they have formed some acquaintance with him in historical romance. Tal a mas is a sixfooter and broad in proportion. Lampman looked a dwarf by his side in the pulpit. He commenced his lecture however by saying that the audience had a real live Indian to address them; not a wooden one such as they had seen so often in front of the tobacco shops. He said he knew tobacco was an Indian weed but he didn’t approve of it. At the close of his lecture he gave an Indian whoop (by request). But before doing it, he advised all the little girls to hold fast of their hats and all the little boys to hold ion to their heads. H
New York: Published by Humphrey Phelps, 1847, 16mo, 70 pages, with large folding colored map, entitled: “Phelps’s National Map of the United States. A Travellers Guide, Embracing the Principal Rail Roads, Canals, Steam Boat & Stage Routes Throughout the Union”. New York: Published by Humphrey Phelps, 1847, measuring 53.6 cm x 62.4 cm, folds into the original gilt and embossed roan case. The map is in very good, clean condition with only minor separations at several fold intersections, some minor rubbing to case, contemporary bookseller’s label of Leary’s Bookstore, Philadelphia, on front free endpaper. The map stretches from the Atlantic coast to the eastern portions of the Great Plains and includes part of Texas with two large unnamed regions extending northward, presumably the Indian territories and western Wisconsin Territory (Iowa had just become a state in December 1846). The map is filled with details including roads, towns, villages, railroads, rivers, and more. The map delineates the Trader’s Route to Santa Fe in Missouri and through the territory to the west. The locations of numerous Indian tribes, Burial Grounds and trading depots are noted. The map is bordered with portraits of famous Americans and the seals of states. There are inset maps of Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis. The southern tip of Florida and the northernmost part of Maine are shown in insets as well. This early edition does not have the large inset “Map of Oregon, California & Texas” that would later appear at lower right. The last page of text contains the route from St. Louis to Oregon. Howes P-291
Quarto, three pages, plus stamp less address leaf, in very good, clean, and legible condition. Dixon writes to a constituent concerning the disposition of various political posts, patronage, and appointments, before turning to discussion of affairs in Congress: “ I had the pleasure of receiving several communications from you since my return to Congress, - and have not been inattentive to your suggestions, but from the doubts that have over cast most of the subjects alluded to, I have not been able to reply in expressions sufficiently positive to be acceptable to a man of your decision. I may venter [sic] to speak now with more confident assurance – your friend Newton will be appointed to the office of Collector at New-Port. – Tillinghast will be appointed surveyor at E. Greenwich, and the office at your village will remain vacant for a few days, so that you may settled the point of succession. In relationship to the surveyorship at Wickford, the conflicting claims of candidates, the ample testimonials produced by each, together with the divided public opinion in no small degree perplexed those of us here who are anxious for a judicious result. And somewhat excited interest which the candidates have brought to bear upon the subject, have in no small degree perplexed those of us here who are anxious for a judicious result. Mr. Brown is on the spot urging his claims, Mr. Burge has active and ardent Friends and who make out for him a string case – while the interest you take for Mr. Chudsey with his other claims – commend him I assure you very imposingly to our favorable consideration. Many of our respectable friends in Washington County and who are friends of all three candidates, - by the way of avoiding the difficulty of deciding between the three, have suggested the idea of dropping the three, and have recommended Sylvester G. Sherman for the office – which of course brings a fourth man. This it is said will mitigate the disappointment of the friends of the other defeated candidates, if not of the candidates themselves, and meet the most general approval of the county, as well as of the business men in, and about Wickford. – After all I do not consider the Delegation in any way committed for either candidate – For myself I consider each well qualified, and deserving of the place, and would cheerfully recommend either. – At the same time Sir be assured that my confidence in your superior knowledge of all the bearings and merits of this matter will have great influence in what I may do in connection with it. You name Cranston Sweet of North Kingston for Light house keeper – But if Chudsey should be appointed surveyor I think it likely that either Reynolds or Shell & most probably the latter will get that light house at Wickford. The early proceedings in the house of Representatives, which you speak of – I admit seemed somewhat inauspicious, but after all if the pot must boil over it is better to have it in the early stage of the process, that the froth and foam may be cast off – in order that the cooks may see better what they are preparing for the table of their masters the sovereign people. But things have assumed a better aspect, and hope of a useful session is now more confidently understood. The Bill for the Fiscal Bak of the U.S. – was the special order for today – but goes over till tomorrow. I have already forwarded to you the report of the Committee on that subject. – The troops are marshaled for a general action – But the real tug of war will be on the power to establish branches independent of the will of the states. We do not intend to resign that Constitutional power 0 and yet we shall have hard work to retain it in the bill – We shall try however & I hope and rather believe with success – If the Bill passes retaining that power – I believe – notwithstanding opinions of many to the contrary the President will sign it - The
Quarto, one page, written neatly in ink, in very good, clean, and legible condition. Palfrey, clergyman, author, politician, and abolitionist, here writes Brooks to enlist his support in protesting the Annexation of Texas, which abolitionists vehemently opposed because it meant the extension of slavery into the vastness of Texas and beyond. “My dear Sir, I take the liberty to mail to your address some papers which will acquaint you with what we are doing in Massachusetts in the matter of the Annexation of Texas. Can you not get up a public meeting in your town, with the cooperation of others, able, like yourself, to give an impulse to the movement? We wish to pile mountains of remonstrances on the tables of Congress. Whatever is to be done must be done at once. ” John Gorham Palfrey (May 2, 1796 – April 26, 1881) was an American clergyman and historian who served as a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts. A Unitarian minister, he played a leading role in the early history of Harvard Divinity School, and he later became involved in politics as a State Representative and U.S. Congressman. Palfrey’s father was an unsuccessful merchant and shipmaster, after his mother’s death in 1802, his father left him (the eldest) and his four brothers with relatives. Two years later his father moved permanently to New Orleans, taking only his four youngest sons with him, and became a plantation owner and slaveholder. John was left behind and left to essentially fend for himself. He attended the Berry Street Academy in Boston and Phillips Exeter Academy and attended Harvard as a scholarship student. He graduated from Harvard College in 1815, received the degree of D.D. in 1834, L.L.D., in 1838. He was professor of Sacred Literature in Harvard College from 1830 to 1839. He was Editor of the North American Review some years. Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Member of Congress from Massachusetts; Postmaster of Boston and Author of “History of New England” A dramatic event made Palfrey an active, even heroic abolitionist. He had long opposed slavery theoretically, but in 1843 his father’s death in Louisiana left him and his pro-slavery brothers’ inheritors of slaves. John Gorham inherited twenty slaves as his portion of his father’s estate. Three of the slaves were legally freed at once because of old age. After much difficulty and expense, he transported the remaining seventeen to freedom in Boston. A ceremonial welcome was held at King’s Chapel celebrating their emancipation, before being located at placements arranged by abolitionists. In 1846 he and two friends bought the Boston Whig. He wrote frequently for it and gathered some two dozen of his contributions, into his Papers on the Slave Power (1846). He was elected to Congress but served only one term (1847-1849) because he offended his Whig party supporters by associating with Free Soilers and other radicals. Defeated for reelection as a Free-Soil candidate, and then as a Free oil candidate for governor in 1851, he tried to remain a behind-the -scenes political force but devoted his energies successfully thereafter only to renewed research and publication. His monograph, The Inter-State Slave Trade (1855) castigates the Old South – Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina – for breeding and selling slaves to planters in the New South – Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas – and thus encouraging the spread of slavery. Palfrey was appointed postmaster of Boston from 1861-1867. American National Biography, vol. 16, pp., 932-934
New York: J. L. Webster, 1834, folding folio broadside within decorative border, with letter press text giving the steamboat routes, roads, distances, statistics, etc., copyrighted by Webster in 1834, with folding colored map, entitled: Phelps & Squires’ Travellers’ Guide, and Map of the United States Containing the Roads, Distances, Steam Boat and Canal Routes. New York: Published by Phelps & Squire, 1837. The map was engraved by J. Wells of Brooklyn. Map measures 42.5 x 57.5 cm. Map repaired on verso along folds with archival tissue, separations at fold joints, with some minor loss, paper somewhat browned, folds into the original 12mo printed paper board case, lettering on covers somewhat faded, else in good condition. The map extends west from the Atlantic coast to portions of Texas, Kansas, Iowa, and Minnesota. Roads, rivers, towns, villages and cities, and locations of Indian tribes. Inset maps of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, District of Columbia, New Orleans, Mobile, Cincinnati, St. Louis, the vicinity of Niagara Falls, and Detroit. Southern Florida and the northern part of Maine are also shown in inset maps. Rare early travelers guide to the United States. Webster issued several such guides with printed text and with maps usually borrowed from those of his competitors, mainly Phelps and Mitchell, and this guide is no different, employing a map published by Phelps and Squire. Eberstadt 138:724
Quarto, 10-pages, approximately 3000 words, old fold line with several separations along folds, but in very good, clean, and legible condition. Dramatic eyewitness account of Confederate General Earl Van Dorn’s early morning surprise attack on Holly Springs, Mississippi, the resulting capture by the narrator, a cotton buyer from Rhode Island, and the destruction at the Union supply hub. An expansive autograph letter signed “Christopher”, to his father Simon H. Greene who owned a mill in Richmond, Rhode Island (operating as Wm. R. Greene & Co., which became S. H. Greene & Sons in 1865). Christopher had been sent south to purchase cotton for the family business, and was quickly taken prisoner by Confederate cavalry, early in the morning of Saturday, December 20th, [mistakenly noted as the 19th in the letter], the day Confederate General Earl Van Dorn and his lightning cavalry, 3500 strong, surprised the Union troops in Holly Springs, capturing most of the 1500 Union soldiers stationed there and destroying at least a million and a half dollars’ worth of U.S. supplies. U.S. post commander Col. Robert C. Murphy was captured. Grant had twice warned Murphy that Van Dorn was headed his way but Murphy did nothing. On a cotton buying trip to the South in late 1862, Greene met a colleague, Mr. Northrop, in St. Louis, traveling with him through Kentucky and Tennessee to Holly Springs – “over 120 miles through a heavy wooded country and just the kind of country for guerilla warfare”. Holly Springs was then an important supply depot for Union troops in the area south of Memphis. “We arrived without any interruption [with] some $ 17,000 in money which we divided between us, I having one belt in and Mr. N. [ who quickly departed Holly Springs with 80 bales of cotton to ship] another.” After describing their boarding house and some of its lodgers, Greene fell prey to Gen. Earl Van Dorn’s surprise attack on Holly Springs: “ I was awakened by the rapid discharge of musketry about day break, I immediately jumped out of bed and dressed, went to the window of my room and I saw our Cavalry not more than 30 feet off firing at the secesh Cavalry, the secesh were too strong for them and they were obliged to beat a retreat, and soon after the whole town was filled with the enemy. I soon learned that we were captured. My first thought was to take care of my valuables I found the landlady and told her that she must take care of my money I sat quietly by the fire Hardly seating myself before in walked two men with revolvers in their hands inquiring if we were Yankees they ordered us to fall into line with other citizens & soldiers when we were marched some two miles into a piece of wood where we were obliged to sign a parole, finally were released after a detention of some 5 ½ hours the cotton which was in town amount to 12 or 1500 bales was all set fire to and burned by the enemy. We had some 56 bales burnt among it, some of the finest cotton I ever saw the Rail Road buildings were destroyed as also a very extensive armory all the stores which the army had consisting of subsistence and ordinance stores were all burnt. The explosions arising from the powder & the shells was terrific, the pieces of shell flying in every direction a piece struck within six feet of me. I ran pretty much all the way. The town was badly injured by the explosions, hardly a pane of glass left in any house the damage to confederate property far exceeded that of U.S. property.” Following the account of the attack, Greene described the general demeanor of the Confederates – “Van Dorn was very gentlemanly, it being early in the morning he was not drunk” – and the disaster that befell the Union forces – “I think the surrender of Holly Springs a very disgraceful affair no attempt was made to defend the place the officer in command, Col. Murphy, I do not think is the right man some of his op
