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Mr. George Peters, Summerfield, Mich.
Placerville Sept. 26th 1853

Dear Brother:

I received your letter dated Aug 8th [on] September 24th and was pleased to hear that you was well and also all the balance of our friends[.] as for my self my health has been verry good the past summer. I have not lost but one week by sickness since the first of April[.] the weather has been verry hot this summer. the thermomiter has stood at a hundred and twelve all through June July and Aug and it now stands at one hundred. After the sun goes down a man wants his coat on. We have had several frosts this month. You said the man you have on the farm is of no acount and wanted to know wat you should do with it[.] I hardly know what to say to you. I cannot give any answer[.] as to when I will return, I cannot tel[.] this county has a great many ups and downs to it[.] I have thought of coming home in the Spring but now think it very doubt ful. If I can do as well the next six months as I have the past six I think it is mutch better than I can do thare and I intend to say a year or so if my health keeps good[.] as for the farm I want you to do the best you can with it[.] let as you think best[.] get as mutch of it seeded as you can and put on sutch stock as you think will be best. If you think it advisable to sell of the horses that are on the place and get larger ones do it. I would like to have it kept in as good order as possible and if thare is any thing over and above expences pay dad[.] as for other speculations I cannot say[.] but if I have any kind of luck this fall and winter and you can see a good (shows for a California File)[.] I will try to see if I can raise a little - mind the wheel of Fortune turns as often backwards as forwards here[.] a man may have a claim that he can sell for a thousand dollars and he is shure of a fortune and works it out and will not make a hundred out of it. When a man is sick or out of imploy it costs him about three dollars a day to live and if he calls on a Docter and he gives him a dose of pills he will charge an ounce - that is sixteen dollars. If a man has five or six hundred dollars and get sick it will not last him more than a month, then he must live on charity. Poor living.

I have been buying some claims for this winter, and if they turn out as well as they prospect, I think I can clear six or eight hundred dollars this fall and winter[.] as you know nothing about the manner of prospecting I will not try to tell you[.] all I will say a bout it is it is what I call verry hard work[.] it is a good deal like working on the railroad between Tromley's and the sand hill in the fall of the year when the mud is knee deep.

As for the smart young man you would like to have take hold of the farm and do sutch saavy buisness, I think he is ready[.] all but the Gold give him[.] a little more time and I think he will have that if he dard – he will try to have it.

Do the best you can with the farm and I will com back as soon as I can and fetch all the Gold I can get[.] Write soon and oblige yours.

John

Dear Mary

Your few lines were verry exceptible. also the thriving condition of the Rising Generation of Petersburgh[.] you did not give any names - you did not say whether Elizabeth Rose and Tuty Bartlett belonged to that fraternity or not. I feel a little intrest in the young people of Petersburgh[.] you must tel me next time you write[.] tel me how the cousin Jerushe are. Imagine get along Dick and James and Aunt Dick and dad. Your wanted to know how I spent the fourth of July. You say you think I spent it in singing sweet home - I did not[.] the fourth I came out of my claim and washed the mud off from my self and set down on a bench for thare is no chairs in this country and dryed my self in the sun and then I tel you I felt like a larke the rest of the day. That is abot all the news of the that I can remember. I am not certan but I now and then give home a passing thought. You wanted me to send you a Herald. I woud have sent one long before this time but they put in such big hopes that I was a frade to send them[.] I will send you one this week dont let the story excite you and bring you to Calafornia. Tel Frank that I am well and kicking and will make my appearance one of thes day and if she want to keep good friend with me to write a line or two. I would like to know how her pots beats since she has become a merchants wife[.] now I will tel you what kind of a writing desk I have got[.] I have a thing that was once a trunk when it was new - with my Gold pan turned on top of it forms the desk but I cannot read[.] Excuse the bad writing - if I could do it any better I would write it over again[.]

John

 
Letter generously contributed & transcribed by Pat Belanger
Original letter located at Archives Room,
Monroe County Historical Museum
126 South Monroe Street Monroe, Michigan 48161

Note: Bracketed [ ] items indicate a change added for clarity. Please note also that some portions of the transciption which were confusing or were seemingly missing portions of the text, are accurate to the original letters and brackets have not been used as the correct interpretation was either obvious, or converse. In places where the original text was too ambiguous, no changes were made.

Letter Index

 

- EXPLANATORY NOTES -
Compiled by P. Davidson-Peters (2005)
(Any errors are therefore the result of my own deficiencies and interpretations).

JOHN PETERS - author of the letter, John was born in Harpersfield, Delaware Co., New York on 16 Dec 1823, the son of Richard & Polly (Wilcox). He caught the gold fever and went to California in 1852 but returned to Petersburg in 1862. He married Ellen Burnham in 1864, and after her death in 1876, he and his daughters Mary and Ellen moved to Toledo where the girls attended Oberlin College. John died in Toledo, Ohio on 02 Oct 1920 but was buried in the Old Petersburg Cemetery.
GEORGE PETERS - oldest child of Richard & Polly (Wilcox) and brother of John, George was born 21 Sep 1822 in Hapersfield, Delaware Co., New York. In 1845 he married to Mary Jane (Holmes) who is also mentioned in these letters. George died 11 Jan 1912 in Petersburg, Monroe Co., Michigan.
PLACERVILLE - Located in west-central El Dorado County, gold was discovered in the Placerville area in July of 1848. First known as Dry Diggings (and nicknamed Old Hangtown because three robbers were hanged there in 1849), Placerville district estimated to have yeilded at least $25 million in gold.
TROMBLEY'S - This family came to Monroe County, Michigan in 1833 from Chazy, Clinton Co., New York. They had come on the first steamer, Walk-in-the-Water, to land at Toledo, then into the territory of Michigan in the area that would become known as Summerfield Township. Frances Amelia Trombley, granddaughter of Lewis and Sophia (Gregory) Trombley married Richard G. Peters (1865-1934) in Petersburg in 1885.
MARY - Sister-in-law, and wife of George, she was born in Genesee Co., New York in 1827 and was the daughter of Benjamin and Minerva (Howe). At the time this letter was written, George and Mary had had three children, the first two dying in infancy, and baby Helen Frances who was born 14 Nov 1851.
ELIZABETH ROSE - Nothing known of her. The only known Elizabeth Rose associated with the Peters family and/or Summerfield Township, was the daughter of Oliver T. (1799-1873) and Eliza (Mumford) Rose. This Elizabeth having been born in Rhode Island in about 1829.
TUTY BARTLETT - Nothing is known of her. The only Bartlett family assoicated with the Peters was John P. Bartlett born in Ohio in 1841, married to Adelia McLean (1846-1884). This family resided in Penfield, Lorain Co., Ohio and Adelia was the daughter of Archibald McLean and Cornelia Peters. Cornelia, the daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (Jerome) of Harpersfield, Delaware Co., New York.
JERUSHA - as suspected the name to be, could be John's Aunt Jerusha (Peters), wife of Moses Tallman whom she married in Tully, Onondaga Co., New York in 1835. The name Jerusha is common in the Peters family, dating back to Jerusha Sutton, wife of Richard Peters.
DICK AND JAMES AND AUNT DICK AND DAD - Many of the Peters men were named Richard and James; but it is possible dick and James is in reference to his sister Frances' children. John's dad was Richard Peters, born in Stamford, Delaware Co., NY in 1797 and died in Petersburg, Monroe Co., Michigan in 1862. He was the son of Richard Peters of Halfmoon (Clifton Park), Saratoga Co., New York and Susannah (Halstead) who were married in 1791 and the parents of nine children.
FRANK - Appears to be his older sister, Frances who married William Russell in 1844. By 1852 Frances was the mother of George Isom, Ellen, Richard & James.
 

- OUTSIDE LINKS -
Historical accounts & places relative to John's journey to Placerville, California

 
Stories in El Dorado County History

Sacramento History Online

Monroe County Historical Museum

 
 


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Updated 23 Jun 2008
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