Scope and Contents

This collection includes letters written by David Woodman to his wife Jane while he was in California in 1852-1853. His early letters describe the trip from Paw Paw, Michigan to the Sacramento area by riverboat and wagon train. Later letters tell of living conditions, social life and gold mining. Woodman became very disillusioned with California and especially with the prospects of becoming rich through gold mining. The collection also includes home remedies for diphtheria and catarrh.

Scope and Contents This collection contains scattered correspondence from members of the Wickim, Briggs, Sanford, and Mudgett families. A letter from H. G. Wickim to his family (1854) describes preparations for an overland trip to California. Two letters from H. F. Briggs (1857, 1860) discuss land prices and agriculture in Illinois. In two letters to his father (1860, 1861), E. P. Sanford describes life in the California mines. Another California pioneer, C. N. Mudgett, writing to her sister, declares that she...

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of Gordon Johnson's diary, which recorded his journey from Missouri to California in 1850. The journal includes descriptions of the country he passed through, the difficulties of travel and his expenses after reaching his destination. Johnson's route took him through Fort Leavenworth, Fort Kearney, Fort Laramie, and the Sierra Nevadas. A handwritten transcription of the diary is included in the collection.

Scope and Contents The Hackley and Hume papers contain the business records of several inter-related Michigan-based business firms and some of the private papers of the families of Charles Henry Hackley and Thomas Hume. The papers span the years 1859-1955. The papers document lumbering and lumber investments in Michigan and other states. The papers also document Charles Henry Hackley and Thomas Hume, both prominent timbermen and philanthropists, as well as other family members. Hackley and Hume were active...

Scope and Contents The majority of the Kirkland family papers consist of letters between family members who migrated to the United States and relatives who remained in England. The American branch eventually settled in Livingston County, Michigan. Letters discuss family matters, prices, and English farming.One letter (December 1, 1880) describes in detail a trip from Chicago to California by train. A letter dated November 4, 1898 discusses the outcome of the Spanish-American War, the acquisition of...

Scope and Contents

This collection contains correspondence for the most part addressed to John Strange of Oneida, Eaton County, Michigan, and to his spouse Orinda (nee Sprague), from members of their families in Massachusetts and New York.

The letters are concerned with family matters -- births, deaths, and marriages -- and flavored with pious comments. Beginning in 1849, the correspondence includes much discussion of California and the Gold Rush, and of travel to the West.

Scope and Contents The Warden family papers include correspondence (1832-1831), personal diaries (1876-1886), poetry, a teaching certificate (1874), and a brief family tree.The earliest correspondence in the collection includes a number of letters (1832-1835) to Warden from friends in Scotland. The remainder of the letters are mostly from family members living in various places in Michigan. Civil War period correspondence includes letters to Warden from Major Dean, a family friend serving with the...