Raynors HCA 2018-03
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/15/2018
A great early Kentucky frontier letter, written by Connecticut born Noah S. Pond (1815-1875) whose brothers were Gideon Hollister and Samuel William Pond both of whom were early Minnesota settlers and missionaries among the region's Dakota Sioux Tribes, 3pp. folio, New Design, [Trigg Co.], Kentucky, Nov. 20, 1836, to his brother-in-law Jonathan N. Hine, reading, in part: "…I am still in the land of Old Kentucky…the folks here are very different…from…Connecticut. The man that board[s] with me is an old Virginian. He has sixteen negroes, nine of them full grown and the rest about ten years old. His house stands about half a mile from the road…he has a large brick house. It stands in a large yard with trees set out very thick…his Niggers have their houses built on either side of the yard. Each one chooses his own wife and builds his house…when he gets tired of her he goes off to some other and picks out another…he can go [on] Sundays and see her. They have no wedding…just turn in Dutch fashion, separate from the rest…there is no cooking done in the house…this country is settled by all sorts of folks from Virginia, Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, Dutch, Irish and English…now and then a Spaniard. The farmers here…sow a few oats…the balance is tobacco…they raise about twenty hogsheads…the wagons they have here are about as big as a seventy from your ship. They work from four to ten horses on them. The driver always rides the near sides wheel horse…the folks are generally very clever…but…an old Dutchman…damned off the Yankees…swore that I should not come in, but I kept laughing and talking to him till he wanted to have me fix his clock…I begun to show my goods and the old woman…wanted a dress…till the bill amounted to above sixty…a good profit too…I asked the old man if he would keep me over night. He said no…swore that he never should keep another Yankee over night, but…seeing I had fixed his clock…I might stay…I am always sure of getting my pockets full of money before I leave…the election has gone in favor of Van Buren in this county, but I don't know how it will go with the state. They have three day of election here…they all…go…to the Court House to do all their town business…have to go fifteen or twenty miles to vote…if my wife comes home…tell her that I shall [come] along with a Dutch Gal smoking…eating ham and apple dumplings and…butter milk to wash it down…N. S. Pond…". Attached is the original transmittal panel with an unrecorded postal postmark of "New Design, Ky. Nov. 28th, [1836.]" This cover and the other Noah Pond letters in this catalog all have transmittal covers with "New Design" post marks and are perhaps the only ones in existence! Expected soiling and wear, else VG.
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