Feb 18, 1864--Great Salt Lake City

The blog is ahead of the story.  Ever since the Articles of Agreement were discovered,  December 17, 2012, I have been blogging about them instead of posting the next Stephen Sherwood letter.  "An Early Christmas Gift," "Name Dropping," and "From Rags to Riches," have been posted about finding the Articles of Agreement and summarizing their contents.  But from the last published letter (April 6, 1863) to when the Articles of Agreement were signed (October 26, 1867) over 4 1/2 years need to be covered.  Stephen was far from claiming any reward from his mining ventures in February of 1864 when this letter was sent to his son, Henry, in Illinois from Salt Lake City.  I should have posted this letter yesterday, to celebrate 149 years since it was written.  I did the best I could to "translate" it, but you will get an idea of what is happening in Stephen's life at that time.

Salt Lake City

This letter was possibly written at the home of Thomas Box on the corner of 1st North and 1st West* 
in Salt Lake City.  Thomas Box had purchased land there in 1860.  Stephen Sherwood
 was boarding at the Box home in February of 1864. (see note below)

Great Salt Lake Citty, Utah Territory

February 18, 1864

Dear Henry i have not received a letter from you since th 17th of last June  i was glad to here you was all a live and still willing to hope  an i rote you  I sent from?? the Dalles by Express to be Delivered to you at Wakegan one hundred Dollars in gold coin and I paid Express charges and i have a receipt for the obey Dated June 8, 1863   i want you to rite me whether you got it or not  as for my self i am well and my hopes and prospets are better than has ever been since i came __ the East??  i have a  ___hundred ___ in 3 Diferent silver bar ___ and _bar? Essay 247 in silver and 16 in gold to the ton which is very good  the other we have sent some rock to San francisco to get Essayed  we ___have re turns the last of this month  it is selling from 10 Dollar___ foot but i want bigger licks than that an ___the fact is if it is worth any thing it is a fortune and a grate many 

sell fortunes for nothing  I am a going to start out in a Day or two a prospecting and shall be gon a month  when i return i will rit you all about it  i have not heard from William Oren and Hiram ___Walker they with Drawen??  from me when there was nothing more for them to get and thank god for it and i intend to keep clene?? and if i am successful a nuff to make a fortune  i intend the Dat ___ ____will st____ a small share? of it as they have done?  Do the best you can and hope and i will make claims for  you all  thare is beter Days a coming, yet the bread that is cast upon the wather shall be gathered through many Days after a night __ a full letter all particulars in full   Direct as a bove???

give my love to Sarah and your little ones  i miss your ___circumstances??   and feel sufficient?  that we will realize a g___competance yet.

from your affectionate Father S. Sherwood

H.S. & S. M.

Notes:

H.S. = Henry Sherwood
S.M.= Sarah Sherwood

Note:

In February of 1864 Stephen Sherwood was boarding at the home of Thomas Box in Salt Lake City, Utah.  At this time he encountered an old mining friend, Jacob N. Vandermark.  Stephen said in the letter:  "I am a going to start out in a Day or two a prospecting."  He must have left about February 20, 1864.  Stephen travelled  with Thomas Box, Thomas Box Jr., Peter Shirts, and Jacob Vandermark.  They arrived in Southern Utah in March.  Source:  Making Space on the Western Frontier, Page 23-24,  by W. Paul Reeve.

According to the blog, "clmroots," The "Salt Lake City Directory" lists Thomas Box living on the corner of 1st North and 1st West in 1869.  He had purchased the property in 1860, and could have been living there in 1864 as well when Stephen Sherwood was boarding with him. 

 In 1860, Thomas Box was in the 13th Ward, but by 1861, he was in the 17th Ward in Salt Lake City.  He probably moved to 1st North and 1st West during that time period.

For more on Thomas Box go to the blog "clmroots"  The information on where he lived was obtained there.  Click here to go there.

An Early Christmas Gift

My great grandfather Stephen Sherwood got even with me the day after my "Carpuss" (see below) post made light of his spelling and grammar.    That post was to be my last for the year until I received an early Christmas present.

This  gift wasn't one I asked for or ever expected, and yet  a more timely or appreciated gift couldn't  have come my way.  I'm up to 1863 in the letters and The Articles of Agreement were written in 1867.  It was as if Stephen wanted The Articles  to tie into the letters that would be posted shortly.  Allow me to explain.

I entered the phrase "Stephen Sherwood mining" in google books (try it by clicking google books, put in the phrase Stephen Sherwood mining, and then go down the page) and a book I hadn't seen before was on the screen,  Articles of Agreement of the Sherwood Silver Mining Company of Nevada. This fifteen page booklet had twenty-three articles of agreement, and the names of the officers, directors, trustees, and attorney of the Sherwood Silver Mining Company. Twenty-four investors were mentioned. Names are worth  more than silver to a  genealogist, and this certainly is a treasure I will be mining for a long time.  These  individuals  had put trust in Stephen Sherwood and his company.  A quick search through google books of  the investors revealed  some were men of influence in Chicago. Carter H Harrison became the Mayor of Chicago.  Yes, there are names to be mined.

So I must say that in his case spelling and grammar didn't mean much in the scheme of things.  It didn't really matter how he spelled Corpus.  Carpuss was just fine.  Everybody knew what he meant.  Stephen would get the final word.  He could say:  "You don't have to be a good speller to have your own company."

The recipient of a gift should always give sincere thanks to the giver.  It isn't exactly clear who I should thank, but let me start with three.  Without the google books search engine which found the document, and I might add the digitizing technology which copied it,  this document would never have been found. The John Crerar Library  had stored the book for nearly 150 years, and last but not least, I should thank John Crerar,  who left 2.6 million in his estate as an endowment for a free public library.

www.flickr.com

The bibliographic information said the book was digitized on February 24, 2012.    It was as if

Articles of Agreement of the Sherwood Silver Mining Company of Nevada
(click above to open)

was gift wrapped and placed under the tree in February to find and open just before Christmas.

http://www.wpclipart.com

When we do family history, we all have something that somebody else needs.  This post would not be complete if I did not SHOW my thanks.  I've started by posting the book on my blog.  I already recognize names in the Articles of Agreement.  The name Walker  was in a letter I posted, and Coe will be in a future one.  The Articles of Agreement will help build more history around the names in The Sherwood Letters.  Perhaps, even some of their descendants will find their names here.

I'm grateful  I can keep this gift and give it away at the same time.  It's a gift that keeps on giving.  Family history can do that.  This blog has been an attempt to start the process.

Thanks for allowing me to show you what I got for Christmas.

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google books

December 14, 1862--Stephen to His Children (Page 2 of 4)

Day(?) thay ware all well   i Expect to get them up here in the spring  mr Walker is in the mines and is well when we left the mines 3 weeks a go it is a bout the same winter weather that it in Illinois  i want you to rite me all the news (?) in general  it is Different with your riting from what it is with us  u are (?) acquainted with the country and people and you ___and you never rite us but very little news  rite a grate long letter and rite me the full perticulars of Wellingtons bone  ___ i have had (?) it only he was____  i never heard (?) whether you (?) got my letters (?) ___ or not

Notes: 

Wellington (born 1846) was a brother of Oren and William Sherwood and son of Stephen and Sophia.

December 14, 1862--Stephen to His Children (Page 3 of 4)

we heard of Mother Parker Death by the way of mr walker's letter   tell Hirams folks that he is well and a doing the best he can and will remember them as soon as possible   he is in company with us in packing  it takes some time to get a _____here  if we have good luck this winter  i think we can make a ___lot of money next summer   i Expect you have had very hard times and my hart has bled for you a many a time but that cant help you   i hope you have not had to under go the real hard ships that we have   i have not had my close of for 7 months to sleepe   slep on the ground roled up in a blanket

 Notes: 
 Mother Parker was probably Lavina Farnsworth Parker, the wife of Oren Parker (died 1852).  She would have been Hiram's mother as well as the mother of Stephen's 2nd wife, Sophia Parker Sherwood.  Stephen says "Hirams folks" but both his parents would have been deceased.  Is this another Hiram?or is Stephen talking about other family members and referring to them as folks?  (see more on Hiram on page 1 of this letter).