These letters were sold on eBay about a month ago. I copied them from the scans. A couple of them are not complete, they didn't scan the bottom couple of lines. There were about fifteen of these letters from the family, but I only, so far, have transcribed the ones that actually pertained to Fulton Co. Todd in Maquon..................Enjoy! From: Sands N. Breed Stonington, Connecticut To: Jedediah Breed Blooming Grove, New York April 20, 1833 Dear Uncle We all feel ashamed of ourselves for not writing before, it was not the intention but time flies unmarked - we all enjoy the blessing of health at present at least so that we are all able to do some business. Mother I think is better than she has been for a year past. Edmund has had the Plueresy this spring and I had a slight attack of it. Jonas has a swelling on his hand which is rather painful. Uncle Peabody and family are all well. You doubtless recollect that I told you I intend to come and make you a visit. it was my intention but Father was not willing. we all or at least some of us calculated to make you a visit this spring but as our business is we think we cannot - We expect to take our departure for the west next wednesday or Friday. we have sold all of our landed estate and all the stock but one horse and two hogs. the hogs we shall kill and sell a part - we shall carry our beds & bedding and wearing apparel and some cloth not made up - we shall have between thr! ee and four thousand dollars to start with. we shall have no misfortune occur when we get at our journeys end about three thousand and about 200 dollars worth of new cloth. Father has abandoned the idea of settling in Ohio but thinks of going to Illinois - Springfield is the place which he has selected as the end of the journey. it is as near as we can learn about 2 thousand miles the way we go - yet we may not go so far - I now beg your pardon for the rest of the family and myself for not writing before. our family send their love to you and family and are very sorry we cannot see you before we go so far- I shall look in the Post Office at Utica for a letter from you or at Newburg. I shall write you as soon as our journey is completed let it be where it may- And now Uncle do not follow our example but write soon. Give my love to Aunt Breed and all the cousins. In great haste I remain your friend Sands N Breed P.S. Father says that if the boat will stop at Newburg he will come and see you if it is but a few hours S.N.B. ***************************************************************************************************************************** From: Betsey Breed Near Albany, New York To: Jedediah Breed Blooming Grove, New York Dear Brother and Sister We are not (missing word) to pass you without writing a few lines believing it will be a satisfaction to you to hear that we are all well and likewise where we are. Wednesday the 24th we sailed from Stonington had a pleasant passage arrived at New York the 26th. At three o'clock in the afternoon we went aboard of a tow boat for Albany. We passed Newburg a little before sunrise the 27th we thought much of you but it was not in our power to stop and visit you, perhaps it is all for the best, it would have been hard parting. When we parted with our neighbors it was really a solemn time; Brother Peobody and wife was at our house a little before we left, she seemed to feel very disagreeable realizing that she was the only one of her Fathers family that would be left in Connecticut. I will attempt to describe the feelings that I have had on so great an undertaking but before I left my native land I believe I was made willing to resign myself and my Dear F! amily into the hands of that God who has said he will never foresake those that put their trust in him. I have felt calm and composed in my mind ever since I first set sail Thanks be to God for his mercies to me one of the most unworthy of his creatures. Our motive in moving to the west is hoping to better our children not that we lack a comfortable living - We cannot tell exactly now where we are going but if we live to get settled we shall write to you and let you know where we are- We are now on the boat sixteen miles from Albany we have not been sea sick nor home sick yet have not met with no loss nor accident and now Dear Friends Farewell and when it is well with thee Remember me - Betsey Breed P.S. Your Brother is in good health and spirits; Remembers his love to you and family We all send love to you all April the 27th 1833 I had forgot to mention I see Cyrus Wheeler in New York yesterday he says our friends in Chenango were well when he left a week ago *********************************************************************************************************************************************************** From: Sands N. Breed Canton, Illinois To: Jedediah Breed Blooming Grove, New York Canton Fulton County Illinois 26 July 1836 Dear Uncle & Aunt Imediately after the receipt of your letter of August 5 Mother wrote an answer describing our situation and the situation of the country in general which I think must have been lost in the mail as we have not heard from you since- - or your answers /if you recieved it/ must have shared the same fate- - we have been at the post office every week for letters but could find none and this has caused the long delay on our part we were continnually hoping for one the next week but have been thus far disappointed and probably you have experienced the same disappointment we all hope that the communications between us will be more frequent for the future, as this is the only way that we can converse - we have been very much concerned about you all and hope you will imediately write on the receipt of this- we are all enjoying the blessing of health in a good degree much better than when in Stonington. None of us have had any serious sickness since we came in to Ill but Mary, she too! k some calomite after she had the whooping cough and it opperated as a poison she was bloated almost to twice her common size but with due care she recovered in a good degree but she is not now able to be about home(?) We have a very good society a school and meeting within one fourth of a mile we have harvested or wheat (30 acres) it is good, we have between 50 & 60 acres of corn on the ground it looks well 18 acres of oats &c. Wheat is now worth 60 cts per bushell oats and corn 2(?)_________ It is much more easy to get a living here than in Conn. the same labor will produec 5 times as much for subsistance. I comptemplate a visit to the East this fall and should it not fail you may expect not to be neglected- Sister Bathsheba was married the 5th of May last to Joseph Geyer- tailor from Germany-they live in Canton- the climate here is delightsome a pure breeze from the Prairie abounds in the hotest weather. not unlike the sea breeze of my native home with such a climate soil and natural prospect it is easy to account for our not being home sick- for we all love our Native place for the friends we have left-But love our adopted better for its extensive fields and general health No person who is not home sick will ever be contented to live in another country if he has once seen this--No part of the state has advantages over the Canton prairie I have been in almost every part of the state and have not found a situation which pleases me so well as Father. I hope you! will write soon after the receipt of this and in answer I will give or try to give you some farther description of the country in general. Give my love to every member of the family-you must excuse Father for not writing you know he does not love to write he says that you have his love and best wishes and request you to write the local situation of all your children. Mother sends her love to you all and request you to write. all the family join in love to you all--I remain your friend and nephew Sands N. Breed ************************************************************************************************************************* Part 1- From: Sands N. Breed Canton, Illinois To: Henry A. Breed Blooming Grove, New York Canton Fulton County Ill. June 4 1836 Dear Cousin I returned home to day after an absence of two months and was much gratified to find your kind communicas of Apr. 9th(?) with you I can cheerfully say that I am anxious to continue the correspondence between ________ families altho for as _________ never had the satisfaction of a personal acquaintance yet I fancy that the feeling of amity(family?) is as strong as can be between persons similarly situated and sincerly hope that the correspondence may be continued on both sides. Our family are enjoying a good degree of health- we have had a very cold winter in Illinois and the spring was very wet for the first six weeks but since the middle of April we have had good weather vegetation was very late this season but when it did commence it was astonishing to see the change produced(?) in one week the Prairies were changed from the black color produced by the burning of the old grass to the most beautiful green- ______ the trees (bottom part of page not scanned) I am very sorry to hear that you had so severe a winter it was not so bad here but just about an average northern New England winter- _______ ____________ _____ wished almost that you was settled in our country My beautiful Illinois the wish is ______ just start and the business is done-you cannot come too soon for land is rising very fast- our land which cost two or three dollars an acre could not be bot for ten- the farm joining ours was sold last fall for that price which we could have but three years _____ _______ _______ _______ there are good situations to be bot for the minimun price _____ _____ _____ without improvement- you must hurry and find that fair one and you _______ _______ _______ for her if you please _______ ______ may prove(?) my generosity Give my love to your Father and Mother and all the family (cant read rest) yours sincerely S. N. Breed Part 2- From: Betsey Breed To: Jedediah(?) Included with the above Canton Prairie June 11th 1836 Dear Brother and Sister We were all exceeding glad to hear from you it was a long time since we received a letter from you and we began to wonder what was the matter, It was a great satisfaction to recieve a letter from our Nephew also we never saw him, and we wish him to continue to visit us. But you must not entirely give up writing, it is such a comfort and satisfaction to my husband to see and read the well known hand writing of brother(?) which he often says seems nearer to him than any relation he has left _____ ______ _____; you are the only brother that has ever wrote him except brother Peabody we received a letter from him this spring he wrote he had received a letter from you and that you were all well, which we was very glad to hear. It is a general time(?) of health in this region except the measles and whooping cough. We have been sorely afflicted with the inflamation in the eyes about the middle of Feby. Sands, Nancy, Lydia(?), Lucy(?) and myself was taken si! ck, it began with the eyes until they were closed with it came pain, a coldness and shivering; our youngest child lost her senses for a while she was totally blind one week ______ _______ expected she would lose her eyesight, But God always dealt better with me ____ ________, _______ got better before Mary and Edmund was taken sick. ____ several ____ ____ they began to mend, and I am in hopes it will _______ ______ the family; mine dont(?) mend as fast as the rest they are quite sore and weak while makes it some difficult to read and write. My husband has enjoyed better health the last _______ months than he has for twenty years; in the latter part of winter he and Jonas put 100 barrels of wheat on a steam boat and _______ it to Peoria he did not want to wait there till the boat returned ___ he walked home 26 miles, to the astonishment of his family, he did ____ complain of being much tired; He has followed the plow all this spring, he says he is so busily engaged I must write for! him that his last years crop turned out extraordinary well, and he has 80 acres of crop on the ground 36 of corn, and the rest spring wheat, oats and potatoes; we had very little snow last winter and the wheat was most all killed in this part of the country. Now(?) Sister Nancy ____ you was here we would treat you with strawberries ____ children has just brought in fifteen quarts all picked in bunches and there is a great _____ _______ of plants. It is astonishing to see the emigration to this country last fall and this spring almost every day we see 4,5 and 6 waggons passing loaded with women and children and some with large droves of stock; and we see but a small part of what comes to this state. This is a beautiful country and I should be exceeding glad to see my friends but I shall never (Bottom not scanned) ************************************************************************************************************************* Part 1- From: Sands N. Breed Canton, Ill To: Samuel Breed Stonington, New York Canton Ill April 7 1840 Dear Cousin We have not had a letter from any of your folks for two years and had not heard from you until the other day - we received a letter from Uncle Peabody and he states that he received a letter from your Father in July last. I feel as though we had much neglected each other about not writing often and I hope we may hear from you all often. Father & Mother have generally enjoyed good health since we have been in this county. Father is some what lame in his hip so that he does but little work that requires much walking, all the family has generally been healthy Ames(?) had a fever last fall and that is all. The sickness that might be attributed to the climate since we wrote last- Please say to Uncle and Aunt that I remember them with pleasure and would be very much pleased to see them but dont know as I shall ever go East. in case I should you may be ________ of a good old fassioned(not sure?) _____ ______ _______. We have got our place improved some and are getting along well for hard times - I live with Father yet Jonas lives about one mile west. We have ___ hard times since Illinois Money is much scarce than I ____ knew- the confidence between Man and Man is almost destroyed and business of all kinds sure to be parylized In fact we call it Real Van Buren(?) -times and it has it's effect upon the people - Harrisson is gaining ground very fast the people began to see that they have been humbugged in the superlative degree and Illinois will stand forth redeemed next Nov. I 1836 M. V. B. got a majority of about 4000 and now it is believed that Harrison will cary the state by from 5000 to 7000 votes- I will occasionly send you a _____ paper and I would be pleased to receive from you yours for we are anxious to get all the information we can on the subject for we in this country are all politicians ___ woman and children. Could the women vote Harrison would be elected by acclimation----! Please write as soon as is convenient- My best respects to your parents Brothers & Sister &c I will leave room for Mother to write &c Respectfully your cousin S. N. Breed P.S. I had the Empire State by the last mail please send again Part 2- From Betsey Breed April 12th Dear Friends Having an opportunity I think I will write a few lines with Sands to inform that we are very glad to hear from you all and to knows that you are all in the land of the living as we have reason to believe you are by the reception of the paper . Sands wrote to his cousin Henry two years ago this spring on the reception of his letter but we have not received a letter since It would really cheer the heart of Jonas if he could once more receive a letter and see the hand writing of his Brother Jedediah we have thought strange that you have not wrote to us but perhaps the above mention letter micarried- If you receive this we would all be glad if you would write to us and let us know how you are geting along in this world of trouble. It is two years since we received a letter from our friends in Stonington Ct. We never hear from Ames and Elias only when you write about them Brother Peabody in his letter to us a few days ago informed on what you Betsey and Cousin Calv! in G Breed have just returned from a visit to Brother Peabody He says they are enjoying a good degree of health Except Allens wife her health is not good He says they are doing well and geting a good living Wm Peabody was married while they were there to a girl from Conn. They had a very agreeable visit. Calvin has built him a good framed house is married and lives about 2 miles from us is doing well There was a revival here in this vicinity last fall we have reason to believe some have experienced religion. Since this is the only way that we can converse together I hope you will write oftener and we will do the same for we that are old cannot enjoy the privilege much longer for the young may die and the old must. We heard by the way of Brother Peabody that Uncle Wm Randall had a shock of the Palsy and his sister Nancy is dead Uncle Dudley has buried his oldest daughter and all but the youngest is on the decline(?) Through the goodness of a kind God we are all enjoying a measure! of health and I do hope in the course of 2 months I shall hear that you are all enjoying the same blessing I conclude with my love to Brother and Sister and all the children My family joins me in love to all Betsey Breed ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************* --------------------------------- Yahoo! Mail Use Photomail to share photos without annoying attachments.