John Samuel Prescott, Last Years

John Samuel Prescott History CHAPTER SIX In the process of being rewritten–rough draft–please read introduction first. THE FINAL YEARS The history of John Prescott and most of his family after they left Dickinson County, Iowa was originally very difficult to trace. Land records in Dickinson County indicate that he lived in Winnebago County, Illinois in 1865. Illinois took a state census that year, and I could not find John and his family in Winnebago Co., but the record was in poor condition and almost illegible in many places. The last of John's children, Harriet Edith was born at Gillette's Grove, Iowa the 17 day of November 1866.1 The Civil War pension papers of John's son, William, show that John performed the marriage of William T. Prescott and Emiline Moore on Oct. 9, 1867 at Gillette Grove, Clay Co., Iowa. This county is directly below Dickinson County. Emiline's parents had lived in Point Bluff, Wisconsin and she had met William there. The marriage certificate indicates that John was an Elder in the Methodist church, but I have not been able to find any record of his ordination. In 1869, John’s daughter, Alice was attending school in Iowa City, Iowa. John wrote many letters to her that were preserved by her descendants who graciously allowed me to read and scan them and they have given us a very detailed glimpse of the last years of John’s life. The first of these letters was addressed to Miss Alice Prescott, Iowa City, Iowa and reads: Louisville Kentucky Jany 29 1869 My Dear Daughter I left a letter for you at Cincinnati to be mailed to day by Mr. Knight with draft for $50. If you would like the Melodeon you had better pay $40 down & I will pay the balance as I return. If you do not like it you can keep it on hire until I come back . Do as you think best. I expect to go down the river to night on the Louisiana came down from Cincinnati last night. The weather is warm & beautiful yesterday but rainy this morning but promising to clear. It is very beautiful on the river & if I could have you two girls & your mother & Edith along I think I should enjoy the trip much. As it is, it is business, hope & fear & that is all or nearly so. Love to both Good Bye Your Father J. S. Prescott2 The next letter appears to have been written to Alice and Helen and implies that Helen met her future husband at school in Iowa City: 1 Delayed Birth Record of Jessie Edwards Dodge, daughter of Harriet Edith Prescott, #1516, Oregon Statewide Delayed Filings of Births, Microfilm 2,229,22 3, Family History Library (FHL), Salt Lake City, Utah. 2

J.S. Prescott to daughter, January 29, 1869, Prescott Papers, privately held, Suzanne Adsit, Barre, Vermont, 200 8.

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Flora, Illinois, May 5, 1869 My Dear Daughters, I wrote a few lines this morning (dated the 6th) merely to say that I would write tomorrow & send you some money which I now do enclosing fifty dollars. I have been to Greene County & visited first the cemetery where it seemed as if all my friends of former years had found a resting place. I called however on a few living ones & stopped at Cedarville on one of my earliest friends there. Jacob & Peggy Miller, the former once a bound boy to old Mr. Thos Townsley, Wm’s great grandfather, now one of the wealthy men of the land & living in the most easy comfortable manner of any family I ever knew. They neither have any education nor have their children, have always prospered in everything, as do their two children & live in good style & their grandchildren are nice & apparently happy. Surely, we walk in a vain show & disquiet ourselves in vain, in seeking after a knowledge that seems ony to make us the more dissatisfied with our lot. Ignorance has some show of proof in claiming to have as much of bliss as learning. I also spent most of one day at Springfield with Mr. Stone & Mrs. S., once Marie Whiteman, whom I had not seen for thirty years (Mrs. S I mean) but as you know nothing of those times I will not write further of my visit. I am on my way South, hope to secure a home & return the latter part of the month for my family. Write to me here care of Wm. Townsley as before. Good Bye. Remember me to Nannie & Mr. Cowgill. Your Father J. S. Prescott3 John and his son William moved their families to Mississippi some time in 1869 after this leter was written. William had been in Mississippi while a soldier in the Civil War. On Sept. 12, 1869, John's daughter, Helen, married Elias Branson Cowgill in Clarke Co., Mississippi.4 A Kansas history states: Elias B. Cowgill was mainly reared and entirely educated in the State of Iowa, whee he completed his preliminary studies and then entered the State University of Iowa, where he was graduated in 1869. His beginning in the newspaper work was as editor of the university paper, and his second effort was at Enterprise, Mississippi, where he also became interested in cotton raising. he was later made superintendent of the schools of Clarke County, Mississippi.5 John continued writing to Alice at school. Only one more letter from 1869 survived. Xenia, O., Sept. 28, 1869

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J S Pre scott to daughters, May 5, 1869 , Prescott Papers. Marriage of E B Cowgill/Helen P resco tt, Clarke County, M ississippi Marriage Records, C:25 8, M icrofilm 890,133 , Family History Library (FHL), Salt Lake City, Utah. 5 Extra ct from James L. K ing, History of Shawnee County, Kansas and Representative Citizens (Chicago, Illinois: Richmon & Arnold, 190 5) as found USG enweb archives ofr Shanween County, Kansas, accessed October, 2008. 4

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My Dear Daughter, Your two letters, last dated 24th have been recd & afforded me more pleasure than any thing I have had for a long time. I do not generally attach much importance to uttered thanks & it has always been an awkward matter for me to express them or to hear them but yet it is well once in a while to have some evidence of an appreciation of one’s efforts to benefit our children. You had probably better take the laboratory course next term. I heard from home last week when they were well. I expect to start for home next week Monday & get home Thursday morning. Lone? from here will probably go with me. If your Mother was along it would be quite pleasant here with so many friends & fruit so plenty. I do not know whether I shall continue in the employment of the RR. or not but expect to hear tomorrow or next day. If not I have probably secured a matter that will pay better. Remember me to Ada & write me at home. Good Bye Your Father J. S. Prescott I have bought a pattern (1 3/4 yds double width) of very heavy double cloth prepared especially for ladies sacques needing no trimmings but buttons & very warm. If you want it you can have it. Write & let me know, perhaps your mother may like & want it, if so you will have to surrender your claim, but write J. S. P.6 The next letter was written of stationary from the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee and contains the first reference to the Randolph case which was to occupy most of John’s time until his death. Jany 5, 1870 My Dear Daughter I commenced a letter to you some two or three weeks ago but suspended operations thereon in expectations of considerable changes taking place in our affairs in a short time & of your probably absence during vacation. Mr & Mrs Nesbitt & J. Lauman of Xenia were down & were with us some days & we came near buying 25000 A of land chiefly in Clarke & Wayne Counties in which we case we were to have a general overturn & move about 30 miles on to an 8000 A plantation & load a steamboat at Cine? With stock & supplies & carry on matters on a wholesale plan generally But just as we thought we had all things settled, the heirs of the Home estate backed down from their own written proposition in true Southern fashion & the whole thing was knocked into Pi as printers say. Then Mr. Olt? & Brother from Chicago to Whom Mr. Cowgill supposed he had sold our Magnolia Plantation came down & professed himself to be well satisfied with terms & went down with Mr. C to Mobile to see the City & folks generally & to return on Monday Decr 20th but hearing nothing from him to the 30th ult? We attended Musgrove’s sale & bought Mules, cows, pigs, farming implements, produce, furniture & c to something over $2700 & on Friday & Saturday moved over & took possession & were congratulating ourselves all round on the prospect of speedily living at

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J. S. Presco tt to daughter, Sep t. 18, 186 9, Presco tt Papers.

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ease & comfort in our own house with none to molest or make us afraid, ie as soon as should get rid of Mr. Jones & Mr. & Mrs Musgrove who were to be quartered upon us for a few days, the latter being afflicted with as many evils real & imaginary as ever belonged to Job & his whole family, when on Sunday morning came a letter from Mr. Ott sent by special messenger by Mr Cowgill to tell us that Mr Ott’s Brother had fallen from the top of a steamboat at Mobile between the wharf & boat while viewing the hands unload raid road Iron on Sunday Decr 19 & broke his thigh & therefore he had to preceed directly home with him without stopping but that his partner would be down this week & close up the matter of the purchase as agreed upon & then was confusion worse confounded. Willie denounced Ott & insisted that we should stay where we were and your Mother had a throughly good cry at the probably change coming over the Spirit of our dreams. All of which ended by my leaving written authority with Mr. C. To close up with Mr. Ott on conditon that he should take my sale bill with the farm & on Tuesday morning Mr. Weymouth & myself left for Arkansas in search of the Randolph negroes arriving here last night with a prospect of waiting until friday evening for a boat for White River But as we have the accomodations of a first class Hotel & the Negroes must foot the bills & 10 a day beside we have concluded we can stand it. We expect to be back about the 24th but as I shall be at home probably about one day & then start for Alabama, you must write immediately on recpt of this & let me know how you are off for funds. Mr. Musgrove started with us but left his wife & Mr. Jones to be taken care of for an indefinite time, thus shutting us out of the room we were to occupy for our own particular family & crowding us in with William & Emiline which is not agreeable to any of us & in fact some what of an imposition on the part of Musgrove. In more especial answer to your last letters, We are all far more than pleased & much rejoiced in the words you wrote, more especially where indicating a desire soon to join an evangelical church having but a single objection to the Baptists is that by its close communion article of creed, shutting out all other churches & leaving them for Salvation; to the uncovenanted mercies of Christ, it stands parallel in bigotry with the Roman Catholics yet regarding this as a result chiefly of a creed & not really believed by the great body of its adherents we would gladly waive this point & should have rejoiced to have heard of the consummation of your purpose & hope soon to do so. Your mother & folks at home will doubtless inform you of all the lesser matters of our situation there. I will close by admonishing reminding you that you are sadly neglecting your handwriting which is much inferior to what it was before you attended the commercial college & is becoming worse with every letter. A good handwriting is a very important matter & I urge you to attend carefully to this thing & not leet any hurry in writing become a lasting injury to you in this respect. Your Father J. S. Prescott7 Several other letters shortly followed this one: Enterprise Miss. Jany 24, 1870 My Dear Daughter Yours of Jany 1870 I find here. Also learn there is a note that came yesterday saying that

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J.S. Presco tt to daughter, Jan. 5, 18 70, Prescott Pap ers.

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you had recd the $20 from Memphis. Your accounts of the past do not agree with mine which are as follows. Cash at La Salle $65Sent to you I forget from where 50(But think from Boston) Sent by your Mother 10Goods sold by you 15- = $140. Sent from Memphis 20I send now 20- = 40 $180.00 & not you will want at least $50 more to get through this quarter. But I do not in the least regret the money but am thankful that I have it for you. I came home this morning, have been busy all day writing at Helen’s & leave for Alabama tonight. Please acknowledge the receipt of this at once to me at Enterprise. I think I shall be back in two weeks & go to Ohio but as I have no passes this year it is not probably that I shall see you before next summer nor do I think it well for you to go to Blake’s for the short spring vacation. All well at home & we have not sold & do not expect to. William & all well pleased with our situation & hope to succeed. Have not time now for more now but will say Good Bye Your Father J. S. Prescott8 Montgomery, A. Jany 29, 1870 My Dear Daughter I wrote to you from home last Tuesday sending $20. & from Selma informing you of the former & giving a brief statement of my monied engagements for the year before us. I have so far succeeded in my business here as will in all probability enable me to raise sufficient funds within the next six weeks to carry me safely through. I expect to leave here on Monday & hope to reach home about Sunday Morning Feb. 6th but shall not probably remain over two days & reach Ohio about the 20th I wish you to write to me at Enterprise immediately on receipt of this & let me know whether you can conveniently get along without more money until the last of Febry. & if not, state how much you need to pay board & expenses until March lst. Read this &write according thereto. Good Bye. Your Father. J. S. Prescott9

Marion Junction A. Jany 31, 1870 My Dear Daughter, From your late letters I have thought you were somewhat homesick & therefore as I cannot

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J. S. Presco tt to daughter, January 24, 1870, Prescott Pap ers. J. S. Presco tt to daughter, January 29, 1870, Prescott Pap ers.

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visit you personally & having an hour or two of compulsory waiting, doing nothing I thought have taken my pencil to send my thoughts to you. When I left home last fall on my eastern trip, it seemed as if my life almost depended on the success of the plan I had formed by which to meet the obligation I had incurred depending on the continuance of my engagement with the M & O. R. R. & which had then terminated. I had to meet the large expenses of my family in cash & Wm’s was to be added to it & I had undertaken to pay $1000 to Musgrove on my farm the 1st day of Jany Inst. & it was equally necessary to purchase stock & make provision to carry on the place for the coming year & which would involve an expenditure of at least $2000 & I had not money enough to keep my family three months. On what small & unforeseen events our life seemingly depends & yet I am not willing to believe what that would seem to indicate. Last summer, standing on the sidewalk in Xenia talking with some friends, Mr. Howard Admr of the Randolph Estate came along & joining in the conversation casually enquired about the Randolph Negroes in Alabama & with that small hint I worked up the matter until securing the appointment from the court over several competitors to hunt up the legatees. I have brought it so far towards a successful issue as to pay several hundred dollars of expenses & $500 cash to Musgrove & place the matter in so promising a light before him as to induce him to add the other $500 due to a purchase of $2000 of stock & wait until I can make another step in advance in this business. Our trip to Arkansas amounted to but little & the man I had sent to Alabama had made an utter failure & thus again I had to start out on a life & death expedition at any rate involving bankruptcy or success. Well, I have succeeded & for a few moments the weight of anxiety was lifted & I breathed freely. And yet it is only as in former years when teaming across the prairies when the sloughs were deep & soft. As we gathered upon the edge of some one more especially dreaded & after careful exploration & selecting the most promising part & with double teams pushing through until all were over, we went on our way rejoicing. And yet how soon was it all to be repeated, & the relief brought by success was like the fitful sunshine of an April day whose cheerful warmth is hardly felt before it has fled again. So now I have conquered at Montgomery but only to hasten on to fight another battle at Greensboro & when that is won another must be fought at Xenia & another will follow that & so in all probability there awaits in the future battle to succeed to battle until life’s fitful scene is oer & the poor old worn out body shall rest in grave. Do not think however that I have written the above in melancholy mood or that I would throw off the weighty responsibilities of my life. I sometimes think for a moment how it might have been, but it is only for a moment. My life is what I have made it & if indeed there has been aught of a Providence controlling its events, it has been a very merciful & Loving One that has very often covered me & mine when strict justice might have crushed me. I do not ask for rest or respite from labor of body of mind, I only ask for such successful enterprise & toil & lengthening out of life as shall enable me to provide some better shelter for my children & secure from loss those who have trusted their affairs to my management & make such repair as I may of past mistakes & then to meet what God in his great mercy may decree. Good Bye, Your Father J. S. Prescott10 Since the Randolph case occupied most of John S. Prescott’s time until his death, some explanation is called for. On February 5, 1859, the will of Richard Randolph was admitted to court in Greene County, Ohio. The will read as follows: 10

J.S. Presco tt to daughter, Jany 31 , 1870 , Prescott Papers.

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In the name of God amen–I Richard Randolph of the County of Green and State of Ohio I give and bequeath unto my esteemed friend William H. Knott whome I point Executor of this my last will and testament the sole Heir in rust of all my estate Boath Real and personal to have and to hold for the purposes and uses hearin after described first that my Funderal Expenses and all my just debts shall be paid out of the proceeds of my personal property, and that my Real Estate Boath in Greene County and in Fayette County shall as sson as my Execuotr deam nessary for the use and purpose hearin after mention, Be sold and the proceeds applyed to the Amansipation of slaves owned by the Randolph Family and others Nanly one Kesah and her two sons Loyed and Carter and Loyed two sons Burtin and Brooks and Nat Maria and her daughters Iris and her children Sharlotte and her family owned by some person I do not no and all the slaves owned by Carters family Formley owned by the Rondolph famaly the intent and desire of this my last will is so to beunderstood and administered and my estate so administered as to releave from bondage the before named persons with thare ofspring and aplyed to the use and benefit of said Slaves. In testimony where off I have sit my hand and Seal this 22 day of January one thousand eight hundred and fifty nine. Signed and acknowledged by said Richard Randolph as his last will and Testamene in our presence John B. Wade Witnest Arthur Forbes11 The 1850 census of Green County, Ohio, shows Richard Randolph as age 45, born Virginia, living alone, with real estate valued at $45,000.12 William H. Knott also appears in the 1850 census of Greene County, but is not in the 1860 census of that place. Xenia, O. Feby 17, 1870 My Dear Daughter Yours of last week directed here & two from home have come to hand but I have delayed the answer because I had nothing certain to reply & have not now except to say the (God willing) I will send you some money next week. The loss of the small sum of $20 though somewhat unfortunate as occurring when I could not well replace it is nevertheless not worth fretting over. (Remember the maxim; never fret over what you cannot help; as it can do not good & never fret over what you can help; but help it as quick as you can. My business here progresses slowly but thus far is in a more promising condition than I could have expected. I may leave for home next week but this is not very certain & I may be kept into March. I can say nothing as to next vacation. It is too far ahead. Nor is it certain that I shall send Charles to school at Iowa City but I feel that I ought to do something for him better than I have done or am doing. He would go the Commercial College if he goes to Iowa City. At present he is plowing with the colored hands. Theodore Tilton lectured here last night. He was eloquent & very interesting but not very sound nor very deep, in fact, superficial. Good Bye Your Father 11

Greene County, Ohio, Will Book K: 129-131, FHL Microfilm 535,142. Richard Randolph, 1850 U.S. Census, Greene County, Ohio population schedule, Miami Township, p. 372 (stamped), dwelling 307, family 307. 12

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J. S. Prescott13 Theodore Tilton was an American journalist and a popular lyceum speaker, who supported various social reforms such as woman suffrage.14 Xenia, March 2, 1870 My Dear Daughter, I sent you to day from this office a money order for $50 & expect to start for home to night but shall probably not get home before the latter part or middle of next week as I must lay in supplies of meat, corn & groceries for the summer & shall probably take boat at Cini for Cairo & see that my supplies are shipped on the cars from Columbus. My prospects of making enough this year to pay off my endebtedness on farm & stock are good but I shall be pressed for money at least untill August & perhaps longer I want you therefore to apply all that you possibly can of this sum on your board paying in advance as far as you can spare the money from other necessities & write to me at Enterprise stating how far you have paid your board, how much you have on have on hand & how much more you will need to take you through next term. Do this as explicitly as possible that I may know what to do. I wish also that you would write soon to Louisa & ascertain when she expects to start for Washington or Oregon Ty. & say to her that I have requested you to send her the watch I obtained from her in exchange for your Meoldeon, by express to Fort Dodge in time for her to get it before she goes & let her give directions as to whose address & care it shall be sent. And on her answer I want you to send her the watch as directed. They expect me to help them far beyond what I am able to do this summer & although they joined my enemies & Louisa never mentions my name or in any manner alludes to me in her letters to the children, I wish to do the best I can with them. Answer as soon as possible. (N. B. I want her to have both watch & Melodeon) Your Father J. S. Prescott15

Enterprise Miss. April 8, 1870 My Dear Daughter I have time only this morning to send you a line enclosing five dollars all I can spare now but promise more next week, all well & send love, expect to start for Alabama next week enclose a notice by which you can see where I will be at various times & can write accordingly Your Father J. S. Prescott16 Enterprise April 11, 1870 13

J S Pre scott to daughter, Feby 17 , 1870 , Prescott Papers. “Theodore Tilton”, The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition as found on-line at http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Tilton-T.html 15 J. S. Presco tt to daughter, M arch 2, 18 70, Prescott Pap ers. 16 J. S. Presco tt to daughter, April 8, 1870 , Prescott Papers. 14

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My Dear Daughter, Miss Griffith’s letter of the 6th announcing your sickness came this morning. I wrote you last week sending $5 & am expecting daily word from the North that will enable me to remit further. We all keep well here having had no chills for several weeks, none since I came home from Xenia. I expect to start for Alabama this week but perhaps not until next Monday & hardly expect to be at home again before July although I may return from Montgomery A. For a day or two before going to Xenia. We shall of course be anxious to hear from you again but trust not to have to wait until an answer could be received for this Helen & E.B. will not probably go north this year although H is quite homesick for a colder country. In the organization of all things new down here I think it altogether probable that Mr. C will be called upon to serve his country in some official capacity He is doing well here now & if they will have patience & perseverance can in a few years secure for themselves an independence Thus far he has been able to meet all expenses by his fees as a Magistrate & Surveying, laying up his entire salary as Mayor $700. per annum but paid in city Warrants that are somewhat at a discount, with about 85 prct, Charlie is waiting to take this to the Postoffice & your Mother will probably write tomorrow. I shall not sent Charles to school before next fall & then perhaps to Xenia We look for Julia & family next fall I do not like the idea of your spending your vacation there but will see how matters may turn up. All send love. Having beautiful weather & just beginning to plant our Cotton Good bye Your Father J. S. Prescott17 Montgomery, April 29, 1870 My Dear Daughter, I have just recd from your Mother your letter of the 18th &Ada’s of the 21st. Your mothers of the 26th. It will not do for you to come South at this time of year & with your sickness & I cannot come north now. You must get away from Iowa City at once & go to Julia’s & Mrs Kinyon’s. I will mail to you to day a registered letter with fifty dollars & I suppose your Mother sent you forty last week although she ways nothing about it in her letter to me but that was the agreement & she doubtless has done so. Do not trouble yourself about your bills at Iowa City but ask Ada or Mrs Wilcox to get them together & send them to me at Enterprise & I will send the amount immediately. Do not pay them out of the money sent now or by your Mother but keep this & what you have for the contingencies of the way. If you can possibly get up, remove yourself from Iowa City at once & go north to Julia’s. If they are crowded there you had better get Mrs Kinyon to board you & take care of you. I think the best way will be by W Des Moines & then the valley R.R. to Fort Dodge and then hire a carriage to take you out, but take your time on the way & do not fatigue yourself by riding nights & should you have to, then take a sleeping car. Have Ada or Mrs. W. Acknowledge receipt of this to Enterprise & write as you get along & remember that I expect to be at Xenia on the 24th of May. Your Father J. S. Prescott Do just as I have written above if possible & especially in the money & your bills J. S. P. 17

J. S. Presco tt to daughter, April 11, 187 0, Presco tt Papers.

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I send this by express & will write also18 On May 21, 1870, John mortgaged his crops to Nathan Nesbitt for $1500. The mortgage reads in part: In consideration of th sum of fifteen hundred dollars heartofore advanced to me by Nathan Nesbitt at different times since the first day of February last for the purpose of buying provisions paying hands and furnishng supplies necessary to carry on my plantature situate near and adjoining the village of Enterprise in the county of Clarke and State of Mississippi being the plantation lately owned by Hon Henry Musgrave and by him sold to me by contract of the 15th May 1869. I do hereby sell and convey unto the said Nesbitt all the growing crop of cotton on said plantation...as also the growing crop of corn hereby binding myself to cultivate & take proper care of said crops during the present season of their growth...also four mules now on said plantation...also ten cows one yoke of oxen one wagon & one cart..also all my interest in two mules & one home now in the hands of my tenatns on such plantation...Provided nevertheless that if at anytime before the first day of January next I shall pay to said Nesbitt said sum of fifteen hundred dollars together with all such furth sums as he may advance from time to time as may be necessary to furnish provision & labor for the cultivation gathering & delivery of said crops as aforesaid then this conveyance to be void....19 Beginning in June of 1870, John became embroiled in a lawsuit in Xenia, Ohio concerning a land transaction that took place back in 1859 in Iowa. No mention of this lawsuit appears in any of John’s letters to Alice and it is possible his family had no knowledge of it prior to his death. The Superior Court of Greene County, Ohio gave details of the case in the October term of 1871. William Simmons, the plaintiff, stated, on the day of March 1857, the defendant, John S. Prescott, P. S. Lauman, L. H. Beall, G. H. Harris, William Simmons (the plaintiff) and others entered mutually with each other....into a certain contrac or agreement by which the defendant, the said John S. prescott, was to enter certain lands in the State of Iowa for the benefit of said Prescott, Simmons, ...and others, in consideration whereof the plaintiff then paid for his interest...the sum of $450.00....on the 4th day of March 1859, the defendant being desirous of purchasing form the plaintiff his said interest in said agreement or contract proposed to plaintiff to purchase the same of him and to pay him therefor the som of $450.00 on or before the 30 day of June 1859, with interest thereon at ten per cent per annum from June lst 1857, to which proposition the plaintiff then asserted and agreed ant thus accepted said proposition. The deposition gives the wording of the note that was signed then states that the note was never paid. William Simmons sues for the money plus interest from June 1st 1857. It mentions that John was a non-resident of Greene County, Because John was working on the Randolph case at the time, a garnishment on the money owed to him from that case was requested.

The 1870 census of Clarke County, Mississippi, taken on July 30 shows the following: John was 18

J. S. Presco tt to daughter, April 29, 187 0, Presco tt Papers. Clarke County, Mississippi, Deeds L:53-54, FHL Microfilm 890,102.

19

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age 61, Farmer, birthplace N.Y.; Mary, age 45, birthplace Del.; Allice, age 18, born Wis.; Charles, age 17, born Wis.; Clarence, age 13, born Wis.; John P., age 11, born Iowa; Fedrick, age 10, born Iowa; Jessie, age 9, born Iowa; Harriett, age 3, born Iowa. Also listed with him were son Wm T., age 25, born Ohio; his wife, Emiline, age 26, born Ohio; and their daughter, Lou, age 1, born Iowa.20 Apparently Charles joined Alice at school in Iowa in the fall of 1870. The following letter appears to be written to both of them: Xenia, O. Nov. 19, 1870 My Dear Children I recd your (Alice’s) letter a day or two ago & do not know that I should have answered it just now but for two points to which I want your attention. First, when you write, be careful to write what you mean & so as to be understood–You When I read in your letter, “Charles is not acting well’, I was alarmed seriously, but in continuing on you seem to refer to the state of his health rather than his conduct. You know I have had cause to be somewhat doubtful of him & this I want him to know & remember that it is the inevitable penalty of irregular conduct to be changed to confidence by a continued course of well doing & that confidence I have been gaining & cherishing of late & should be very unwilling to be compelled to throw away. Therefore I want you to be explicit in every thing of this nature. Second, I am unwilling to have him continue the use of Hostletters or any other bitters containing alcohol, lest he should acquire an appetite that has lead thousands to ruin. Stop their use at once & get a bottle of cholagogue & use until thoroughly cured. And I may as well add one point more. I have observed that he is somewhat in the habit of speaking unbecomingly (both in a Chistian [sic] & gentlemany sense) to those whom he thinks beneath him, to the little girl of Mrs. W.’s kitchen for instance. I hope he will mark & change for the better. When I am less hurried I will write more My respects to Mr Heizen & Mrs W’s family. Good Bye Your Father J S Prescott21 Xenia, O. Decr 7/70 My Dear Children, Enclosed find $40. Will send more as soon as I get home . Start in an hour. Your father, J. S. Prescott22

Enterprise Miss. Decr 19, 1870

20 Jno. S. Pre scott ho useho ld, 18 70 U .S. Census, Clarke C ounty, M ississippi pop ulation sched ule, 2 D istrict, p. 135, dwelling 890, family 846. 21 J. S. Presco tt to children, Nov . 19, 187 0, Presco tt Papers. 22 J. S. Presco tt to children, Dec. 7, 1870 , Prescott Papers.

© 2009, Beth Davies AG®. Permission is granted 54to copy for personal, non-commerical use.

My Dear Children Jesse & Fred wrote to Charles this morning but I am inclined to think that the letter went to the fire with some of my waste paper & I have but brief time to supply the deficiency. I have sold out to a portion of the Randolph Negroes, the farm for $10,000 & they also want the personal property & probably to some $3000 more all of which I am to collect in Ohio. I enclosed $40 to you on the 7th in a letter as I was leaving Xenia & Mr. Weymouth was to Register & forward. I expect to start to night for Montgomery to settle with the Randolph legatees there & hope to get back about the lst of 1871. & as I am to get $5000 from Ohio to be sent to Montgomery I will send you some more money from there. My own opinion & advice to Mr. Heiser & youself would be to start, at the close of your present year, in some active business outside of college & finish your studies as you go along through life. I hope to go out to Kansas in the spring & get some lands there & find some good place in a pleasant & growing town where I could make a living But of this we will see. We shall not get away from here for some months yet. We are all in first rate health. Jesse & Edith fat, fresh & hearty &were I not quite so old or had my life insured for some $10,000, I am not sure but I would stay here a few years longer but as it is I suppose we will have to launch out again in search of a harbor, but we have not money enough after paying debts to afford to buy Mr. Wilcox. We have just heard form Louisa with Photograph of the baby which looks well. Helen’s has grown finely & is perfectly healthy. Love to All that want it & Good Bye Your Father J S Prescott I expect to go to Iowa in the Spring & may see you there.23

Home Jany 4/71 My Dear Daughter I sent yeserday $60. Registered letter to your address. Have written to W.W. Weymouth Cedarville, Green Cy, Ohio, where he was to mail & register the letter on the 8th of Decr. I do not think he would neglect it as he saw me put the money in the letter but you need not write to him as if the letter is lost he might feel unpleasantly about it & he is the best friend I have in Ohio. I write this as a duplicate of yesterdays. Answer promptly as I expect to go to Ohio in about ten days. All You Father Charles must not J S Prescott24 change his boarding place. Enterprise, Miss. Jany 7, 1871 My Dear Daughter, Yours & Mr. Heiser’s of the fourth are just recd. I am too lazy to write two letters where one will do & so you can take this first to yourself & what you leave you can hand to him. I have some 23

J. S. Presco tt to children, Decr 1 7, 187 0, Presco tt Papers. J.S. Presco tt to daughter, January 4, 1871, Presco tt papers.

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twenty or thirty (cant tell exactly) men, women & children on my hands to settle as I can & feed & furnish & sell my stock & furniture etc to, sold so much furniture yesterday that the children all had to sleep on the floor & we had to make three bed ticks & fill with husks yesterday afternoon, more coming soon & mules cows pigs & plows etc to be retailed out to about forty I think, therefore you two must put up with one letter. I sent you $60 on Tuesday & wrote to Mr. Weymouth. I do not think he neglected it but we will see. I expect to start north within two weeks & probably go to Kansas & look for lands in March with Mr. Weymouth. Mr Cowgill proposes to go on a stock farm & I propose to help him start & unless matters should take some very unexpected change, I shall probably be able to help you then better than any other time. I would advise Mr. Heiser to neglect no good offer of profitable business & yet I do not think much of any one working for a salary & especially if the business would require him to be absent much of his time from home. Congress will probably pass a law this session to enable soldiers to homestead 160 A within R.R. limits without living on it & Mr H might preempt 160 A & take an additional 160 A as a homestead at a cost of $425. For the whole & the increase in value of the land would amount to a very good salary. Mr. Cowgill wants Charlie to go into partnership with him & I think they would do well together & I think Mr. H. & myself might do a good business in the stock raising & my boys are delighted with the idea. Now suppose you take this idea into consideration & should it so turn out that I can buy land enough adjoining a good half section to be secured as above by Mr H & build upon & stock it, can he do better than to try this plan long enough to get his farm improved & stocked I do not see why I might not as well let you have the cost of your next two years at school to be invested in stock & in a short time you could be entirely independent. I have a very important point to secure for the future of my family. I am getting old & know not when I may be called upon to leave them. I had thought that if I could leave your Mother this plantation & stock clear of debt, she might be able to make a living for herself & the younger children but the trial of last fall proved my mistake & I therefore sold & must now start again. If you are willing to help me in this by joining with me in procuring & carrying on a stock farm long enough to get things so well going that she might be able with the boys to manage her part alone, I think we could be of mutual advantage to each other in the start & for two or three years. I do not mean that you should live in the same house but each build on separate but adjoining tracts & the business managed by Mr. H. & the boys help until we could go separately. Now if after full consideration you & Mr. H think well of the plan, I do not say that I will carry it out but I do say that I will devote my best energies to make it an accomplished fact within the next six months & God willing I think I can succeed. In such case you may have more to do with butter & cheese than with a piano but nevertheless you had better do as you propose about your music lessons and make the best use of your time for the rest of the year. Write to me here & soon or I may not get your letter before leaving home. Charles must board where you do & must not be out nights. I will send you more money shortly & as soon as I hear from you & Weymoth. All Well Good Bye Your Father J. S. Prescott25

Enterprise Jany 9/71 25

J. S. Presco tt to daughter, January 7, 1871, Presco tt papers.

© 2009, Beth Davies AG®. Permission is granted 56to copy for personal, non-commerical use.

My Dear Daughter I sent you $60 Registered letter from this office on the 3rd mailed 4th I send now $50. Wrote Saturday & yesterday All Well. Sold everything to over $13000 but no money until I get north which I propose to do in a few days. All well. Your Father J. S. Prescott Just recd yours about changing boarding–All right May start north this week. J S P26 Xenia, Jany 17, 1871 My Dear Daughter I wrote you from home & left on the morning of the 11th coming through Alabama & closing up my business there satisfactorily & safely although I heard that Webb threatened to shoot me & various things but as I did not go to him nor he to me I came off victorious & unharmed. I have ascertained that Weymouth sent the letter with the $40 pr express & I have the co’s Recpt as follows: American Merchants Union Express Company: Cedarville, O 12/8 1870 Received of Wm Weymouth Pa said to contain money valued at Forty dollars, Marked Miss Alice Prescott Iowa City, Iowa For the company H. D. Gibney Agent The agent says he Billed it to Ottumeva Iowa as this company had no line to Iowa City. If you have not recd it & it is not at the Express office I wish you would go before a Magistrate & make affidavit that you have made diligent enquiry at the Express Office (naming the office & if more than one) naming all) & that you have not been able to hear of any such letter or package having been received & that you yourself have not received none the letter or package described in said recd as herein abovet set, nor any package or letter by Express or otherwise from Xenia or Cedarville Ohio & that the money therein referred to has never been recd by you. Also a similar certificate made out & sworn to by the express agent or agents if more than one company & forward both to me here immediately. If you need more money (as you will if this is not found) I will sent it. I sent you from home Jany 3. $60 & Jany 9 $50 from which I had not heard as yet. Do not know how long I shall remain here, probaby from two to six weeks. Love to All Good Bye Your Father J. S. Prescott Mrs. Weymouth wrote you several days ago but has not heard from you yet. All well at home & most beautiful weather there. Cold here now.27

Xenia, O., March 1, 1871 26

J. S. Presco tt to daughter, January 9, 1871, Presco tt papers. J. S. Presco tt to daughter, January 17, 1871, Prescott papers.

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© 2009, Beth Davies AG®. Permission is granted 57to copy for personal, non-commerical use.

My Dear Children, Enclosed find Draft for $100. Will write again as soon as I get home. Start tonight. Your Father J. S. Prescott28 St. Louis, March 3, 1871 My Dear Daughter, I sent letter registered with draft for $100–to you from Xenia yesterday & today a dress from here by Express. I will send another hundred in a few days. Use that I sent you as you and Charles may need. Your Father J. S. Prescott Bough Helen a black silk & would have bought you a more expensive one but thought you would rather have the money & buy for your self & so only bought this to let you know that I had not forgotten you. Bought Jessie one like yours.29

Xenia, O. June 10, 1871 My Dear Daughter. Enclosed I send you a communication from Dr. Bates which please attend to & explain to him our former action in the case. His former letter I think was addressed to Charles & not to me. I am afraid of (rather for) Charles but hope he may do better on the plains. I send you a copy of a letter I have just written home as you may have some interest in the matters therein discussed. His in reply to one from Mr Cowgill which I also will enclose. I copy because it save the labor of thought & I cannot make matters more plain. So you may pass your judgement with the rest. Your Father, J. S. P. To E. B. Cowgill, Helen & Mary, Your (E B Cg) was recd yesterday & I was & am glad o hear of your well doing & would only refresh your pure minds by way of remembrance by the word of the Apostle, Be not weary in well doing for in due season you shall reap if you faint not. To illustrate the small by the great, in all the history of the great late rebellion there is not a more striking example of great wisdom & courage combined than that of Genl Thomas in his campaign against Hood & his refusal to give decisive battle and he was fully ready notwithstanding the urgent command of so called technical 28

J. S. Presco tt to children, Ma rch 1, 1871, Prescott papers. J. S. Presco tt to daughter, M arch 3, 18 71, Prescott papers.

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© 2009, Beth Davies AG®. Permission is granted 58to copy for personal, non-commerical use.

superiors at Washington. The hardest lesson of my life to learn has been “to wait”. Had I have learned it earlier I might probably at this time have been in very different & better circumstances in all my relations of life present & future. For the last few years I have learned the lesson & practiced it, not patiently, I admit, yet with steady purpose not to run until I at least seemed to be ready & in not instance have I seemed failed to see the wisdom of waiting demonstrated by the results (Only act promptly when ready). With this preamble I will proceed to lay before you all, the general principles that must govern all the smaller details of our plans. About 18 months since I undertook the Randolph business & a very kind & good Providence I believe, threw it in my way. Some of my friends joined me & acted with their funds & credit, relying on me personally to carry out the enterprise to its end. That business seems to stand now like a balance evenly weighted & which a small effort may turn either way. It requires watching here & constant attention to keep the wheels moving, lest once stopping, it should be hard to start again. The hearing on the merits of their amended bill was to have been had today but is postponed until next Friday when we hope for a final decision but may only get such decree as will provide for another to be had next fall. On the other end in Alabama & Mississippi, definite arrangements for the settlement of about 25 or 30 men, women & minor children are yet to be made & I must make them. The business cannot be concluded before next January or thereabouts & God willing I must conclude it. These are the general principles which must overrule all minor points & whatever action these require or in my best judgement seem to require I must perform. To carry out successfully our plan with those whom we have not yet settled it seems indispensably necessary that we should succeed with those whom we have already in Mississippi, so that next fall when we ask the former to come over, they may so see the condition of their friends near Enterprise as to willingly accept our invitation & receive their portion as we may assign. I think you do not fully appreciate the importance of this point. We must if by any means we may, make the Musgrove plantation purchase by the Beverly Co a s success. Either you or I must be there & no other minor matter must be permitted to interfere or prevent constant, close, unintermitting attention to every point leading to or that may prevent success. The next two weeks will determine probably what can be done here at least for the present & then I hope we can in joint council determine what immediate further action ought to be taken in regard to our removal to Kansas. I have fully settled it in my own mind that, God willing( this is no unmeaning phrase with me) we will go there & that at the earliest possible period consistent with good faith & the necessity of attending attention to all the preliminaries necessary for success according to a judgement to be guided or influenced by no matters of personal convenience or feeling. I think I have fully tested the strength of my own purpose & resolution when I say that in this matter I count not my life dear unto me so that I may place my wife & children in such condition as would seem with God’s blessing to afford probable assurance of continued welfare & of being conducive to their well doing before God & men, & to that extent, what ever may seem necessary I am ready to do. Of you And Helen I have not right to require the same sacrifice nor do I wish it. I want you to do what may be for your best interests as a family, independent & separate & joining with me only so far as by united action we can best promote the good of each. When things are settled here I propose that we four shall hold a council & with all the facts of our condition before us determine the specific action of each. I do not think it would be well for Alice to pass the summer at Enterprise as she seems disposed to bilious attacks & probably would be more healthy at Buena Vista or elsewhere north. This also may be considered & I think I shall send her a copy of this letter with Dr. Bates bill © 2009, Beth Davies AG®. Permission is granted 59to copy for personal, non-commerical use.

that she may give her advise. Although not knowing all the circumstances she cannot be prepared to advise so confidently. Lay this before the joint “Regency”, I. E. Mary, Helen & yourself, & the boys opinions may also be heard & be ready to decide when I come or write (at all events,) what you conclude, in a preliminary way, inasmuch as if I get no money here it will probably not be best in my judgement for me to return to Enterprise before going again to Kansas. It is indispensably necessary for a wise decision that every one lay aside all mere personal considerations & preferences & consider what each may rightly be required to do to bring our general plans to a successful issue not forgetting those items that must form the basis & indispensable conditons of my individual action To wit, lst Musgrove to be paid off & title obtained 2d Beverly & Co. settled with & title made to them 3 The remaining Beneficiaries settled with To the above I add to you personally, should it be deemed best for Cowgill & Helen to go to Kansas soon, I should have to remain in Mississippi personally until next fall December or Jany & probably your Mother & the girls & Paul would stay with me & in that case I think it would be right for you to stay with your Mother at least until you would want either to return to school at Iowa City or go elsewhere should you conclude to go on with your studies, but this you need not mention in your letters home. We will see further about it hereafter. Write me here. Good Bye Your Father30 John’s visit to Kansas, prior to writing the above letter, was chronicled many years later by one of his fellow settlers, David N. Heizer, then of Colorado Springs, Colorado. RECOLLECTIONS OF EARLY DAYS By David N. Heizer of Colorado Springs, Col. I CAME to Barton County in May, 1871, in company with J. H. Prescott of Enterprise, Miss., W. W. Weymouth of Springfield, O., and Wm. Finn and Albert Griffin of Sedgwick, Kansas. We were looking for a location to engage in stock raising. We arrived at old Fort Zarah about the 18th of May, 1871. On the night before our arrival we camped with the officers and directors of the A., T. & S. F. railroad, who were returning from a prospecting trip up the Arkansas Valley, over the proposed line of their road. They assured us they would build their road as far west as Fort Zarah within two years. With this information, upon seeing the magnificent body of land on the Big Bend, as it was then called, we concluded that here would be a favorable place to commence and build up a settlement. Accordingly we spent several days in surveying and tracing out section lines in township 19, range 13, and after concluding to locate a town on section 26, and making a survey and plat of the same, we organized a town company with J. H. Prescott as president, and authorized him to go to Salina and file on said land, under the Town Site Preemption Act — which he did. I 30

J. S. Presco tt to daughter, June 1 0, 187 1, Presco tt papers.

© 2009, Beth Davies AG®. Permission is granted 60to copy for personal, non-commerical use.

must here recount the scenes of our first buffalo hunt. OUR FIRST BUFFALO HUNT. On our arrival there were myriads of these noble animals on the south of the Arkansas. J. H. Prescott, Al. Griffin, and myself mounted three horses and set out. Griffin had a Henry rifle and a pair of revolvers, I had a needle gun and a pair of dragoon revolvers, and Mr. Prescott not being a marksman, but very fond of adventure, went along to enjoy the fun. We crossed the Walnut just opposite the old fort, and came to the river. It was high, the sand-bars being covered; we knew nothing about it, and felt very doubtful about being able to cross, as it looked very angry and deep. After debating some time as to whether we would venture, we concluded not to give up unless we were obliged to, and that one of the party should doff his apparel and investigate. As I was the only swimmer it fell on me to explore. I prepared myself after the manner of a theater actress — only more so. The water seemed to be deepest near the bank; I expected to be thoroughly baptized at the first jump. I made a tremendous jump, and lo and behold, the water, mud, sand and all was not knee deep. The spectators encored me, and the rest of the performances consisted in my running and skipping along in water from six inches ta five feet deep. We then crossed, and within a mile of the river came to where a small herd of buffalo bulls were grazing in the sand hills. Griffin and I dismounted and taking our rifles 2rept to the crest of a ridge about 300 yards of them. I had formerly thought buffalo were about the size of ordinary cattle, but as I looked at ono through the sights of my gun, thinking what a terrible beast a wounded buffalo was reported t3 be, he looked to be as large as an elephant or a common sized barn. I concluded ihorc must be telescopic sights on my gun, and drew it back to look it over; the gun also seemed to have the ague. We finally concluded to both fire at the same bull, and becoming brave, we did so, but without any great damage to the bull, as he went galloping off with the res.. He was hurt, however, as he limped badly. This was encouraging; and getting very brave, we mounted our horses, left our rifles with Dr. Prescott, and pursued with our revolvers. THE CHASE. The flight of the bulls had started a large herd just beyond another hill, which we had not seen; we, taking a southeasterly and they a southerly course, we flanked them about the middle of the herd. We then went wild, and dashed right into the midst of the herd, determined to have a buffalo. I could, with the fast horse I had, ride onto any of them, and finally succeeded in shooting a pat cow through the loins, so that she fell out of the herd, disabled. I was so close onto her when I fired that I could have kicked her. The rest of the herd passed on, and Griffin came to the rescue. After about a dozen shots, made in circling around the enraged beast, we brought her down. We were not yet satisfied, and seeing a small herd of cows and calves off to the northeast, concluded we must have a calf, as they would be better meat. We dashed for them, and after a two mile chase, got one, which we dressed, threw across my horse, and rhea set out for camp, leaving the old cow for tho coyotes and wolves, which were then here by the thousands. It was some time before we could find the dcctor, whom we had left behind, and almost night before we reached camp, tired and hungry. Never did meat taste better than uid steaks from that young buffalo. We ate and were satisfied, for we had possessed the land and proven ourselves worthy hunter* of the chase. But to business. At about this time there were several prospecting parties camped near us on the Walnut, among whom was M. W. Hasley, now of Lakin township. 1 made up my mind to stay, as did Win. Finn, of Sedgwick City. Messrs. Weyniouth and Prescott went with me to Kllswnrth, where they took the train east for Ohio, © 2009, Beth Davies AG®. Permission is granted 61to copy for personal, non-commerical use.

to return in July or August.31 Mr. Heizer gave another account of the settlement of Zarah further on in the same Barton County History:

EARLY BARTON COUNTY HISTORY By D. N. Heizer, of Colorado Springs, Colo. ....Upon request of the editors of the History of Barton County to contribute some account of myself and my experiences in the early settlementof the county which I became a citizen of nearly forty-two years ago and lived in for twenty-two years, I know of no better way than by contributing extracts from letters written in those days now in m> possession,and extracts from a Diary, kept somewhat irregularly, giving an idea of the early life on what was then considered and called, " The Plains of Kansas," a somewhat modified term of the "Great American Desert," as oxplored and named by Major Long in 1819...... In May, 1871, within two days after our arrival at Ft. Zarah, Dr. John Prescott, W. W. Weymouth, Wm. Finn, Captain Griffin and myself, organized the Zarah Town Company. Dr. John Prescott was elected president, D. N. Heizer secretary and W. W. Weymouth treasurer. We were all directors. We at once proceeded to select a location for our town and decided on the west fractional half ot section 26, township 19, range 13. William Finn, who had a transit and surveyor's chain with him, directed the survey and we staked out a street running north and south, as I remember, for about two blocks, a row of blocks on either side of the street. This was not intended to be a complete survey, but only such a survey as would enable us to make filing on this land under the TownsitePreemption Act, as in force at that time. Mr. W. W. Weymouth and Dr. John Prescott were supposed to be the heavy capitalists in this enterprise and the next day after the survey were taken by me to Ellsworth where they took train for their respective homes. Mr. Weymouth to Springfield, Ohio, and Dr. Prescott to Meridan, Miss., both with the avowed determination of arranging their business as speedily as possible, to return with their families for settlement and to develop the new town. As mentioned before, they were to furnish the capital and Finn and I, especially, were expected to do the heavy hustling. Dr. Prescott was a man of culture and of wonderful energy and had had much experience in frontier life in Northern Iowa in the Ockebogee Lake county, when the Sioux were making their last stand in that portion of Iowa. Mr. Weymouth was a cattle dealer of Springfield, Ohio. He was a man of means; Protestant Irish blood; of fine appearance; a good talker, goood natured and Jolly; thoroughly companionable and always ready with his Irish wit and blarney. Wm. Finn was a young man of about 28; lived at the then starting town of Sedgwick, where he joined us to make the trip to Ft. Zarah. He was a quiet young man of good education, thoroughly good principle and a good all-round reliable young man. Captain Griffin was also a young man less than 30, had been in the war and lost a leg; was a small man, but he possessed enough spirit and energy to fully make up for his size. He could cover as much territory with his one good and wooden leg, as many men with two good ones. He was full of dash and afraid of nothing, and when later in that season, the Indians brought him to bay in a buffalo wallow in the Medicine Lodge country, seventy empty needle gun shells were found with his body, showing he had made a game defense. These 31

Biographical History o f Barton Cou nty, Kan sas (Great Bend, Kansas: Great Bend Tribune, 1912):20-21.

© 2009, Beth Davies AG®. Permission is granted 62to copy for personal, non-commerical use.

gentlemen, rwith myself, laid off the first town in Barton County — the town which was destined never to be a town — but no matter, we had done what seemed to be a new Kansan's first and highest duty, i. e., to lay off a town. No man ever amounted to much in Kansas, unless somewhere at some time in his experience in the state, he laid out a town, or at least, helped to do so or got laid out by some town. Many prominent Kansans can point with pride to the latter experience.32 Xenia, O. June 24, 1871 My Dear Daughter Yours of the 19th is just recd & I write briefly tonight because I supposed it was settled that you were to stay at Iowa City for this summer & ensuing year but you do not seem so to have understood me. I do not like your plan of being entirely alone or boarding yourself & I cannot consent to it. The saving will amount to but little & I think it will be decidedly worse for your health. You had better stay where you are & have a room by yourself & you must also remember that without health you cannot succeed & therefore I strictly charge you to take care of your health. Do not apply too closely to study & take sufficient exercise & relaxation of mind & body. Do not think you can work all the time & give the mind no play. Arrange for a lifetime & take all prudential means to secure the continuance of that life. Mens sana in corpore sarco? Is the true maxim. All right at home & remaining there for the present & until relieved by me Mr. C. cannot go West in my place before fall. Hope to start myself in about ten days. Am buying some fine blooded stock here to take out. Write me here. Remember me to Mrs. ? Family. You can board where you choose but not keep house for yourself. Good Bye Your Father J S Prescott33

Xenia, July 1, 1871 My Dear Daughter I bought yesterday the July number of ‘Old & New’, a Boston magazine of a literary character giving special attention I think to educational interests & which I will send you when I have finished it. It has reminded me to make a few suggestions to you as to your future educational course. First, your mercantile course in attempting to teach you a quick business hand writing spoiled the beauty & plainness of your former writing. I wish you would endeaver to recover both. Second. One of the most important branches of a good practical education is history. No well educated person can be ignorant of general History, Ancient & Modern. Therefore, begin a course of Historical reading, taking notes carefully marking date & resolutely reframing from all novels. Get your facts first & fiction will come of itself, but remember that all history is not fact, therefore learn to discriminate truth from falsehood, in your reading more particularly where the historian gives his own conclusions from historical facts. Learn to try the truth of his conclusion by the facts he has given. Also his facts & conclusions by such other evidence as may be within your reach. For instance Abbots Life of Napoleon, 1st A sickening eulogy of one of the most thoroughly selfish & 32

Ibid. p. 255. J.S. Presco tt to daughter, June 24, 187 1, Presco tt papers.

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satanic characters known in history & where the conclusions of the author are directly contradicted by the facts he himself furnishes. So on the other side Macauly’s, ‘slanders’ as I believe them to be, of Wm Penn, should not be adopted hastily, for the world cannot afford to loose the benefit the faith in goodness derived from the received facts of Penn’s life. Thirdly, Learn ‘practical drawing’ of Surveyors maps handsomely executed and of buildings, bridges, & machinery. I do not know when I shall leave here but hope to go west next week but will write again next week. Do not think your mother will move before fall & perhaps not before next spring. Your Father J S Prescott34

20 Enterprise Aug. 19, 1871 My Dear Daughter–Yours of the 13th is recd & my present purpose is to answer it at such length that you shall mark me as an exception; in our family; In the beginning & by the way of preface, I wish to call your attention to a principle which I have lately adopted in part & which I [crossed out letters] intend hereafter more fully to practice upon in writing to you. I regard you as having entered upon a system of education to be carried out more perfectly than we had formerly contemplated [crossed out words unreadable] in which even the smaller part that will contribute to the whole must not be neglected. I shall therefore (provided I meet with suitable encouragement) criticise your letters & point out mistakes in grammar, rhetoric & logic in order that you may acquire a habit of correct composition & make your home letters valuable means of education. At the same time I do not want you to write a formal composition. Write naturally & as you think, but look over your letters after they are written & correct inaccurate sentences, print then, so that your meaning may be clear & when you give a reason, see that you vgive it in such language as will convey to your reader the precise ideas conveyed found in your own mind. Write quick rapidly as you think, as ideas present themselves & afterwards correct inaccurate expressions. In yours of the 13th you complete your first sentence with ; Kane [?]’ & commence a new one with, ‘it surprised ‘ , & similar inaccuracies occur more than once . You say, ‘he is never fluent even when delivering an oration but I supposed that might be overcome,’ Will you tell me what is the anticedent of, ‘that’, in other words what it is that might be overcome. You follow this sentence thus, ‘and in a profession as necessary as that of law I cannot understand why it can not be made an honorable one though if the leading lawyers give themselves up to all this meanness it would be impossible for an honest one to be successful for a long time at least’. What connection has this sentence with the preceding that you commence it with the conjunction ,’and’, What is the antecedent of it; not profession; in your construction of the sentence but something ‘in a profession’ but what, does not appear. And here I may as well remark, that not only the Lawyers great & small practice adopt these contemptible tricks & sell themselves without shame to defeat the ends of Justice & secure impunity to crime but Judges & courts countenance & aid these tricks & a lawyer who should correctly characterise them in his speech oral pleading would be frowned out of countenance as deficient in gentleman ly courtesy. The rights of clients are nothing, the convenience & interest of the bar 34

J. S. Presco tt to daughter, July 1, 1871, Prescott Pap ers.

© 2009, Beth Davies AG®. Permission is granted 64to copy for personal, non-commerical use.

everything. But to return to my task of criticism Do you mean in the above that an honest lawyer could not be long successful or that it would require a long time for him to succeed. Your next sentence is st yet worse, but I have concluded to return it to you & ask you to rewrite the same letter in good English, correctly printed & accurately expressing the exact meaning you intended to convey & sent it to me in answer to this, adding such sequel as you may find occassion for. Ordinanry land surveying is a very simple thing & the drawing of handsome maps delineating surveys is a mechanical art not requiring a knowledge of the higher mathematics. I did not intend to advise the study of civil engineering & yet I am by no means certain, that the mathematical course you speak of would not be much more advisable than the greek. At Harward, in my time, both were required . Were you a boy, I should advise the mathematics. As you are a girl, I shall leave the matter open, to be decided by yourself, remarking that for a Writer or public speaker, language is an indispensable qualification, & for the latter, I think fluency of speech should be a natural gift. Grammar & Rhetoric are the correct & beautiful expression of our ideas, accurately & in appropriate language, & logic is the power of drawing correct conclusions from proved or admitted permises. It also enables us to detect error in premise or conclusions in all reasoning And yet, you will find logic often in fault & to be corrected by the actual facts of our existence. Josephus is engage in lumbering ie (making) changing timber into lumber lumber in a sawmill. We have just recd a letter from Julia dated 6th inst. Blake had gone to Chicago to buy machinery for his gristmill; had sold sold a half interest in the premises for $2500. cash, three good horses & one years work to be put in free of charge so they are getting along ‘splendidly’ She says the merchant has been selling $70 worth of flour dailly, so expects the mill will pay. Your mother has sore eyes & does not feel able to write, today. will soon & so will Helen but her general health is better than for the last four years & she has gained considerably in the flesh Edith & Jessie are very well & so is the baby, who has been improving ever since I came home & stop its daily doses of medicine. The women will attend to the doll part of your letter. We read a letter from Mr. Cowgill of the 13th saying that the boys all had chills & Clarence quite sick. He was at Ellsworth, last Sunday morning 13th inst. Charles has just come from Zarah & brought word & Mr. C. would start back at once with medicine. Mr. C. writes that Mr. H. talks some of accepting an offer from a corps of civil engineers. I should be very sorry to loose him & have not yet given up hopes of keeping him but should he determine to go he should defer until Decr lst when he can enter his preemption & thus secure some sufficient return for his summers work. I do not like the term ‘take’ as applied to a course of study. It is academical slang & in bad taste but lest my dose of criticsm should exceed your moral power of digestion I will close & should the patient show signs of excited circulation I will hereafter exhibit in divided doses. Write soon & often. Your mother & all but me expect to start for Kansas in about six week. I only send the first half sheet of your letter to be rewritten as containing those parts to which may remarks apply except the word ‘take’. Your Father J. S. Prescott You have not said anything about your music or whether you were giving any attention to its practise. Will it be best to buy a piano, should my affairs warrant. Write all about these matters. © 2009, Beth Davies AG®. Permission is granted 65to copy for personal, non-commerical use.

There has been but one day in the three weeks that I have been at home that the mercury has not reached 90 in the ? Hall & not more that two or three when it has not been from 92 -94. On the porch well sheltered from the sun it has been from 94 to 98 every day but two, gets down to 78 about daylight in the morning. From 118 to 120 in the sun.35 Enterprise Septr 23, 1871 My Dear Daughter Yours of the 17th recd this morning. Enclosed find ten, dollars. I had not wanted nor expected to have had to send you more money until I had sold my cotton which will probably be in about two weeks. I supposed the $100 sent July 18th would have lasted three months but I will send you more as soon as I sell, say about 16 or 18th Octr. I wish you would send me your account of items of expenditure of the last $100, as I can form from that a better idea of the amount necessary for you, so that I can supply you when I have money on hands & not be caught as I am now & be under the necessity of borrowing. Wrote yesterday, Jessie still unwell & Anna, has the chills. The probably shall not leave before the 16th pwx(?). If you want Greek Lexicon or Greek Testament with Dictionary annexed write & I will send but if you do not go East mathematics are worth more than Greek. Your Father J. S. Prescott36 Enterprise, Miss. Octr 9, 1871 My Dear Daughter, Yours about instruments & books came this morning. My box of instruments is in Kansas & you may better buy than wait. My large Greek Lexicon was packed by mistake & started for Kansas yesterday. I will have it sent as soon as possible. Will mail my testament tomorrow. Will send you draft for $50 next week either from St. Louis or Xenia (God willing) Hope to leave here the morning of the 17th. All well Good bye Your Father J. S. Prescott37

Xenia, O. Oct. 29, 1871 My Dear Daughter: I wrote last Tuesday (24) inst I think sending a draft of $50, with a very short letter which perhaps you may have thought as short in its terms as in the rits longitude, but I did not intend it to be so, I was weary of writing previous letters which had been written under frequent 35

J. S. Presco tt to daughter, Aug. 20, 187 1, Presco tt Papers. J. S. Presco tt to daughter, Sep t. 23, 187 1, Presco tt Papers. 37 J. S. Presco tt to daughter, Oc t. 9, 1871 , Prescott Papers. 36

© 2009, Beth Davies AG®. Permission is granted 66to copy for personal, non-commerical use.

interruptions & as I know that I must as a business man write again soon to inform you of the sending of the draft (I wish you to note this point) I concluded to defer explanation to the subsequent letter, which letter I now write. You could not well help being surprised at the very different tone of that short letter from that of former communications & the explanation of that difference is as follows. Last Spring I supposed we had reached the end of our Randolph difficulties & situs & drew from the admr $10,000 for the purpose of settling all our engagements South with the arrangement that I should return about April lst & have full & final settlement. Soon after I reached home I heard of the new suit just in time to save about $3500 for our own individual uses & leaving about $1000 with Mr C for summer supplies. With this $3500 I supposed I should have enough to meet all expenses outside of Enterprise, in Kansas & have at least $1000 left for the purchase of stock for our Kansas farms. But when I started Mr. C. & the boys from Enterprise I gave them $400 being the last of the $3500 excepting about $40. It is not necessary to give you an account of items, I still had in reserve the cotton crop from which I suppose I could realize at least $2000 & Mr. Glenn owed me about $600 for which I held a mortgage on his crops & to pay which he professed to have an ample amount of cotton & other articles of produce. The final result was that, the day before I left I sold seven bales of cotton, the entire amount gathered at that date on our place & Mr. Glenn was $150 in my debt which he could not pay without taking all he had so nearly as to render him utterly unable to get away or leave anything to live on there. The final result at St. Louis was that after buying the few things necessary for your mothers & Mary’s Helen’s personal comfort & paying all expenses to Ellsworth, Mary had $456–At Ellsworth she paid out before leaving $317 out for debts incurred by the boys & left I suppose about $100 unpaid & would have to pay about $50 when arriving at Zarah. Besides these debts I suppose she would have to buy windows & doors & buy about $50 more of lumber to finish the house & pay freight on our boxes. I sent the tarred building paper for the roof from St. Louis & reached here with $8 dollars & last week sent them clothing for the boys $32 & building papered for lining the house ordered form St. Louis $31 & your draft $50. In addition to the above, Mr. Glenn permitted his pocket book to be stolen with all his money about $40 & the R.R. ticket for both our families between Lawrence & Ellsworth & then had not manhood enough to resist the importunities of the conductor near Ellsworth but gave his watch in pledge for the remainder of his passage or until the genl ticket agent at Kansas City shall order its release. Thus arriving at Ellsworth without a dollar to pay his freight or buy provisions & I suppose we must help him. You will thus see that should the Randolphs appeal the case to Supreme Court at Washington thus preventing any collections there for over a year longer, I shall have my hands full to meet the demands of my family & the inevitable expenses attendant upon my life & I might well say that I did not know when I could send you more money. Nevertheless I do not wish you to understand that I have settled or shall settle, even if the Randolphs appeal settle down to the conclusion that I can help you no further, neither do I wish you to suppose that I am in the least despondent or cast down with lest fear lest my family should suffer or our affairs result in failure. They may come to this but I think & hope not & have only written to you thus that you may be on the lookout & prepared for contingencies. In the course of the coming week I shall probably know better what I am to do & within the next three or four weeks at farthest be able to send you more certain word. I am truly thankful to Almighty God that we have escaped alive from Mississippi & that I can probably settle them comfortably in their new home & if they have to earn their own living I suppose they can do so. I want you to pursue your studies uninterruptedly for at least the current © 2009, Beth Davies AG®. Permission is granted 67to copy for personal, non-commerical use.

year, but if we cannot have what we want we must be satisfied with the inevitable & conclude that it is the best. Oct. 30/71 Wrote thus far on yesterday have just recd a letter from Cowgill who is as mad as a hen when her brood is disturbed, because I complained of being left without any definite information of the state of affairs at Ft. Zarah & with that, a letter from your Mother stating the facts that show that I have ten times cause to complain that I supposed I had. C. threatens to take Helen & the baby & go on to the prairie & camp for the winter, whilst by writing three or four sheets of nonsense home & every wrote & failing to appropriate a few lines to the specific statements of such facts as would inform me of the actual condition of things & what was necessary for the comfort of my family, what he had done & what not, My family find themselves in a house which he wrote was enclosed but which has neither roof, doors, nor windows, & in order to get the roof on, they must wait until the tarred paper arrives from St. Louis, which was however there on the 26th/but which I sent after such information from him as induced me to supposed the roof already on. Your Mother was almost beside herself but I guess the storm will blow over. I also think I pay to much regard to Heizer whilst I was afraid Mr H would think himself neglected. Prepare for the worst, Good Bye Your Father J. S. Prescott38 Xenia, O. Nov. 13 1871 My Dear Daughter, Your of 3d inst (mark this & follow example always) was recd early last week & I have delayed answering, intending to write a long letter, but the confusion of our house where the head of the family is probably dying & half a dozen women about with all those characteristics which very generally belong to the women of the past without mental discipline or established habits of serious thought will prevent my writing but a short letter. The Randolph case is appealed & goes to Washington where I propose (God willing) to follow it leaving here about Decr 6th Under these circumstances I think it will be best for you to take a school for this winter after which I hope to be able to give you such aid as will enable you to finish your course without further interruption. We expect to get a decision in our favor this winter & I can see no reason to doubt the result as we have already had four decisions on the case & no judge has intimated any doubt, therefore let me know how much you will need to square up all accounts to date of beginning of school teaching. I must close as another life is ceasing here & another friend is going to another land. Good By Your father J. S. P.39 Xenia O. Nov. 19, 1871 My Dear Daughter. The enclosed recd yesterday. You can make your own comments but need not send them west as the past cannot be recalled but I might as well have sent a parcel of monkeys to prepare the way before us I left there the last of May & gave Mr Heiser $90. On the 20th of June sent him $100. July 3d another $100– You the 21st another $100. Augst lst Started Cowgill & the boys 38

J. S. Presco tt to daughter, Oc t. 29, 187 1, Presco tt papers. J. S. Presco tt to daughter, No v. 13, 1871, Prescott papers.

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with $400- & your mother reached Ellsworth with over $450. On the 31st ult I sent Mary $100 & on the 10th another $100, but these last two sums had not been recd when the her letter was written. I can &(God willing) will send her what money she needs but it is provoking to have things so mismanaged & a man writing three or four sheets every week & could not find room for three lines of business information & not energy enough in the whole troop to make a black boy chop a stick of wood or foresight enough to provide an axe handle, probably not sense enough to bank up the house before the ground freezes. I do not wish you to write this west. I do not know as I ought to have sent the enclosed but I wanted to lay open my mind to some one & so have sent this to you with full liberty to have as much righteous indignation as you please, to yourself or me. As they had recd the building paper they will undoubtedly have the house covered before this & as this letter was mailed at Fossil (i. e. Russell) on the 15th Clarence probably took back the draft sent on the 31st. Lest in your anger you should overlook it, I will call your attention to two redeeming features, Edy’s singing & Sadie’s eating & as I can well remember how well a man feels when relieved from the an aching tooth so I am trying to comfort myself with the thought that whilst I was reading the letter Mary was rejoicing over the draft & promise of another. Write often & to your mother Good Bye Your Father J. S. P.40

A small news article in the Xenia Torchlight of 1871 indicates John was going to Kansas, though from his letters it appears from the previous and following letters that he did not go there at this time: Prescott, J. S., Rev.: for many years a resident of this county, leaves this week for Fort Zarah, Kansas, on the upper waters of the Arkansas, where he proposes to make his future home. (Nov. 22, 3/1).41

Cincinnati O. Decr 9, 1871 My Dear Daughter, I am on my way to Washington City where I probably should have been this morning but had to come here on account of the clerks in the clerks office of the U.S. Court delaying my transcript & attempting to put me until the last of next week. I expect to leave here tonight & reach Washington tomorrow night. I do not know how long I shall remain there but want you to write me there on recpt of this & let me know how you succeed in getting a school & if you would like some money. The action of the clerks here will cost me near fifty dollars more than if they had sent me a transcript as they should have don’t but the Admr will refund it bye & bye & I suppose I have about three bales of cotton yet to sell & can send you some money during the month if necessary. I have nothing from your Mother or any one there since the letter I sent you nor have I heard of the 40

J. S. Presco tt to daughter, No v. 19, 1871, Prescott papers. Julie M . Ove rton, “A bstracts From the Xenia T orchlight for the Year 18 71" , Leaves of Greene 11 (July/August 1990):36. 41

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drafts since I sent them one on October 31 & one Novr 10th & they had not been presented for payment at New York up to Decr lst/ The terrible storms that have oscurred through Kansas since Mary’s last letter & their unprovided situation render me exceedingly anxious on their accout but I can only hope for the best & attend to the business that compels my absence. Write at once & let me know if you have any word. I will write more at length bye & bye. Your Father J. S. Prescott42

Xenia Ohio Decr 19/71 My Dear Daughter I wrote to you just as I was leaving for Washington asking you to let me know about your school prospects &c but have heard nothing from you since I start for Wash Enterprise tomorrow expect to be gone about two weeks & then return to Washington this place & on to Washington again. Write at once to me at Enterprise. Your father J.S.P. All well at Kansas &house roofed & money recd & hay to sell at from $10 to $20 pr ton &had about 70 tons43 Cedarville, O. March 18, 1872 My Dear Daughter, I shall probably be ready to start West about the 10th (or 15th at farthest) of April & in view of your securing a valuable claim, have concluded to propose that you should if possible, go with me. About sixty miles South west of us in the Pawnee, I learn from Genl Custer’s account of Genl Hancock’s expedition against the Indians in /67, there is a large grove of timber in which a claim secured would be worth at least $10,000. From its value, any doubtful claim would be contested & it will not be worth while to make any thing but a strictly legal claim under the preemption or homestead law which requires an actual settlement in person on the day it is made. I am very confident that no settlers have gone beyond us yet but the first team that starts there will be followed by scores at once & if secured at all, it must be done before grass starts i.e. before May. Now then, write me at once & let me know when your school will be out (the school you are teaching) & whether & what, insuperable obstacles are in the way to prevent your going with me. You need not remain on the land two hours, just long enough to lay your foundation & employ someone to make some improvements for you, then return to my house & pursue your studies until the fall term or, if you prefer return direct to Iowa City in which case you need not be absent over two weeks. Look the matter all over & see if you can by any possibility honorably get away, by having a substitute employed or otherwise for that length of time & let me know all about the matter. 42

J. S. Presco tt to daughter, De cemb er 9, 187 1, Presco tt papers. J. S. Presco tt to daughter, De cemb er 19, 18 71, Prescott papers.

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Love to Julia & Baby if with you. Good Bye

Your Father J. S. Prescott44

Envelope says: Miss Alice Prescott Care of Fletcher Blake Des Moines, Iowa Xenia O. March 23, 1872 My Dear Daughter. I wrote you a few days ago about going out with me to Kansas in April but am inclined to think I wrote hastily & without sufficient consideration, but However, as you are not ap so likely to act hastely, I hope no harm has resulted from my advice. From a letter since received from your Mother I learn that a settlement has been commenced at the mouth of Paunee & before we could get there it is altogether probable that some one or more would discover & take possession of the grove thirty miles up the river. I would not advise you to relinquish any point of value where you are for the uncertainty of a claim in Kansas especially as there will be enough left when your vacation commences. I hope to leave here by the 15th of April. Let me hear from you soon & as I am not in a writing mood this morning I will close, Your Father J S Prescott45 Cedarville O., March 31/72 My dear daughter, Yours of the 26 was recd & would have been answered two days since but I concluded that you would have recd mine of a later date than the one you acknowledged, before you left, & in which I left the matter of your going home with me an open question to be decided according to your convenience. I can probably secure you a claim without your going out personally for some time & until after your school at Sioux Rapids will be over. I am glad you are going there rather than to stay at Iowa City but would have preferred to have you taught with us if you were to teach at all, but I do not know that there would be an opportunity. I do not understand from your letter, whether you intend to say, that you cannot go home & stay at home until next fall or a whether you would say that you cannot go home until next fall but suppose all these matters will reveal themselves in due time. I would like to hear from you as to whether you wish to return to school at the University for the ensuing year although it is a matter so far in the future that it may perhaps be as well left for time to settle excepting that it might have some bearing on the character of your studies this summer. At any rate let me know what you think of doing & also remember that I shall want you to give us a visit at least sometime this summer & Julia promised us one also. I can write with no certainty of my own affairs, but this week will probably determine something as to what I shall be able to do & so I will let you off this time with a brief letter. Give my love to Julia & children & all & that I hope to write to them soon as I know what I shall do. Hope to leave here in about two weeks, so you may answer this to Fort Zarah unless you hear otherwise. Good by 44

J. S. Presco tt to daughter, M arch 18 , 1872 , Prescott papers. J. S. Presco tt to daughter, M arch 23 , 1872 , Prescott papers.

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Your Father J. S. Prescott46 Cedarville, Greene County, Ohio April 14, 1872 My Dear Daughters. When I last wrote I directed you (Alice) to write to me at Fort Zarah, but I am not likely to get there for some weeks yet & I want to hear from you so please write to me here as above as soon as you receive this & let me know all about matters & things at Sioux Rapids, personal & otherwise, yourself, Julia & the children, Mr. Blake & the mill &c. The Randolph business seems fated to delay & I must wait upon it but in the mean time have something to do. The misfortunes & vices of our fellows furnish the food on which we live & so I am & have been very busy & probably shall be for a month to come in settling the affairs of an honest but ignorant farmer, who a year ago was worth about $25,000, but trusting to a sharper & rascal went into business he did not understand & found himself in debt over $20,000 & neither money nor credit nor skill to get out. So he employed me about the middle of Feby last to get the store out of the hands of his partner & aid in settling with & paying his creditors. For a week past & one day over we have been selling his goods at Auction & I have been busy night & day & in the mean time have bought at the sale about $150 of goods which I hope to send this week to your Mother & do not expect to go myself for some five weeks yet. It will be a heavy disappointment to her but it cannot be helped & I can earn something here but there could do but little & nothing without money, so there is nothing for it but submission to the inevitable. I have nothing further to write now but want to hear from you, of your health & about Julia & children & all, so write at once. Love to all good Bye Your Father J.S. P.47 April 28,, 1872 My Dear Daughter Alice. I have just ended (not properly finished) the accompanying letter to Julia & had set down to read this sabbath afternoon, but all alone & so long from home, feeling like a banished man & half fearing sometimes that I may never be permitted to see home again. I cannot easily control my thoughts enough to read or restrain my restless nerves to stilness & a book so with nothing to write about I am following your example & may write nothing sometimes the best letters. I wish you would use your influence & best ability to persuade Blake & Julia to sell & then see if we cannot have our habitations at least within reasonable visiting distance. I care not where I may pass the remainder of my days on earth so that I can have the means to settle & provide for my family comfortably & be within reach of my children. I am tired of living among strangers & most sincerely & continually pray that my affairs may so shape themselves that I may live a little while if God please & die at home. If I can get this Randolph matter settled so as to have sufficient means I care not where I go so that you & Helen & (last not least) Julia are near, so that Mary & the younger ones may have some help & friend at hand when I am gone. Your Mother writes that Mr. 46

J. S. Presco tt to daughter, M arch 31 , 1872 , Prescott papers. J. S. Presco tt to daughters, April 14, 187 2, Presco tt papers.

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Heiser is about to be married but says nothing about the lady who will be the bride & leaves her news somewhat in doubt before she closes a letter begun on friday & closed on Sunday. I do not know as I can send a more acceptable letter than to enclose her last with this & thus excuse myself from writing more of nothing. I know I ought not to complain or fret about an absence that seems inevitable when Gods good Providence has found me employment here which enables me to provide to some extend for my family though not as well as I could wish & I can do nothing at home unless I can take several hundred dollars with me & that I cannot do as yet but hope I may be able ere long. Your mothers letter is a long one & will well make out mine, so love to all & Goodbye Write often & direct as this is headed until you hear further. I do not know that we ought to find any consolation in the fact that the great mass of the world around us have as much or greater troubles that are ours nevertheless such is human nature, & we do feel a little better when we know we are not alone & our shoulders are not laiden more heavily than others. I doubt not many think my lot a very pleasant one & one rather to be envied than otherwise & even Mary seems so to think, but I never felt the wearyness of bodily labor or hardship as anything but pleasure in comparison to the weary waiting of hope deferred & the utter helplessness to lift the burthen which holds me down. No place nor associations nor earthly thing can yield me much of pleasure in the absence of those I love & but that I can minister to their comfort better in absence than at home I should find my life unendurable. I can yet however control myself to submission & such patience of waiting as will make me abide the moving of the waters & enable me to return home with some what satisfactory results. I therefore probably shall not move from here until I accomplish something in the matter of money to take with me. So again Love to all & good By, Your Father J S Prescott Miss Alice Prescott48 Cedarville O. May 8, 1872 My Dear Daughter, Yours of the 29th [ull?] with your Mother’s enclosed came to hand last evening & I wrote a partial answer before going to bed, but my second is always somewhat different from my first not so much as to the course to be pursued but in feeling & expression so I have burned last nights reply & write again. The sole course of my delay here is the lack of necessary funds to do anything in Kansas & it is only here that I can secure enough to keep my family from actual want & I must stay until I get this Randolph business into better shape. I cannot send you any money nor do I think it advisable for you to go home for the present at least not until it can be known what you can do there to sustain there that independence which you desire. In my family you might relieve your mother greatly & had I the means that would enable me to have you there I would, but we must submit to the inevitable & it is out of the question for me to incur any additional expense. And there are other reasons which I have before alluded to. My own life is exceedingly uncertain and I am daily warned of its approaching close. Should I be taken away my family before I get my affairs into a more settled state, they would be poor indeed. I have depended on you in some measure to take my place when death vacates it & for this I ask you to prepare. For this you would look around &endeavor 48

J. S. Presco tt to Alice, April 28, 18 71, Prescott papers.

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to find some more lucrative situation than a school at thirty dollars a month. I think your present situation was a wise one for the present summer, to recruit your health & prepare for something better next fall. I think you should write to Iowa City & wherever else you have friend & if Blake can help you let him do so & actively seek to secure some position that may not only relieve you from debt but enable you to lay up something for the dark days that may soon come. Should I suceed in securing sufficient funds I think it would be well for you to visit home on the close of your school or before entering on your next years work & secure a quarter section of land, but this must abide the results yet uncertain. The above is your fathers request not command or direction And I think I have not given aught but advice and request to you for the last five years. Love to Julia, Blake and the children Good Bye Your Father J. S. Precott49 Cedarville, O. May 28, 1872 My Dear Children, I sent you yesterday an article from the gazette more especially for Alice. I send on to day for all, but more especially for Mr. & Mrs. F. A. Blake. I think I should much prefer Southern California to Puget’s sound, & the vallies are said to be the healthiest countries in the world. Your Father J. S. Prescott50 Cedarville, O. July 21, 1872 My Dear Children, For although I shall probably address the envelope to Allie I intend writing as much for Julia as Alice & feel somewhat doubtful of writing anything to either or both worth sending. I have been getting ready to return home for the last six months & am still repeating the same round although it now seems as if I might be a little nearer the starting point than hitherto as I have fixed upon next week as the utmost period of my tarrying & have some definite & special work to accomplish in the meantime for which I trust to have made such definite preparation as shall enable me to bring the matter to a close within the time limited for my stay. Such a hopeless wanderer I have become that even while planning how I may return once more to wife & children I am compelled to connect therewith arrangements for almost immediate leaving & a sojourn of some weeks in that dreary, lonesome desolate South whose climate & utter want of any & all pleasant society or even company I dread as the desolation of death. And yet I must go there by the middle of Septr & attend to the cotton picking & its sale for perhaps two months & then return here, if life is spared, for another winters sojourn & weary waiting on the laws delays. Nevertheless I am not child enough to quarrel with the bed I myself have made & only ask of God to spare my life to see this business through & my family somewhat provided for so as to take care of themselves. I do not want to go alone if I can 49

J. S. Presco tt to daughter, M ay 8, 187 2, Presco tt papers. J. S. Presco tt to children, Ma y 28, 1872, Prescott papers.

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help it & have proposed to Mary to go with me but if Alice cannot go to Zarah or cannot remain there a couple of months & while Mary would be with me I doubt whether the latter would consent to leave them her children and I dare[?] to urge her to do it. I do not propose to trouble myself much about events so distant as the middle of next Septr but do my best to get home as speedily as possible so as to make some better preparation for the coming winter than were made for the last. I am getting together a car load of thorough bred Durham Short horns to take out & hope to make profit enough to clear expenses & something over for family expenses & have a cow for our own use. Cowgill is talking about selling out & if he should I think Mary would not like to pass another winter there & I away nor would I like to have. These however are but idle speculations yet & only write them that you & specially Alice may consider them as contingencies that may happen & see if you can suggest some better plan than I can now devise. I forgot at the beginning of my letter to acknowledge the receipt of your & Julia’s of June 26,7th. It will be a great disappointment to all of us & more especially to your Mother if you should fail in your promised visit but I suppose we shall have to submit to the inevitable. Unless I am disappointed in getting await from here I shou could not get an answer here & as your school will close next week write to me & your Mother at Great Bend whether we are to see you or what you are intending to do. Love to the children & all. Write at once & good Bye. Your father J. S. Prescott51

Dayton O. August Sept 1, 1872 My Dear Daughter, I wrote to you briefly this morning but the recollection of its contents is something like the taste left in the mouth after taking quinine & were it not already mailed I would substitute another in its place, but as the word once spoken can never be recalled, so the letter mailed must go on its way & whatever of bitterness there may be must be taken for the lump of sugar that may follow. I neither felt nor intended any either complaint or reproof, for precisely the same plan proposed by you has often presented itself to my mind & sometimes I think I can accomplish it & I am certain I would if I could nor do I intend if I can help it, to leave my wife & girls (or boys either if can do otherwise but I mention them in the order of presedence that belongs to them) to endure another such a winter as the last. I will bring them away from Kansas if I can but cannot see just how to accomplish it, unless I can sell my claim for a good prise & get a good market for my stock. I can only wait the course of events prepared to avail my self of any opportunity that may present itself for doing better. In my advice to you I merely meant to say that your presence in Kansas would necessarily add to my expenses & take away from you the opportunity of earning anything & money is the one indispensable thing without which I can do nothing. I do not want to lay on you or on any of my children, the burdens that belong to my own shoulders, but to have you shape your own course according to your own judgement for the success of your own plans. I know your Mothers life has been a hard one & so is Julia’s but yet better than Marys and so the lot of far the great majority of mankind seems not better than that of beast of burthen, working to live & living to work & yet perhaps happier than most of those who have leisure only to be miserable. Life is a mystery which the God who gave life only can explain & when its brief span is accomplished here, 51

J. S. Presco tt to children, July 21, 1872, Prescott papers.

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we may learn of Him why it has been so. The parents grow old & the love of the child goes onward & returns not backward but I do not want to be estranged from them mine yet & especially do I want to rely upon Julia & you. So Again I send you an old mans love & bid you all goodby. Write to me at Great Bend. I shall try to fix things up there the best I can. Your Father J. S. Prescott52

On Nov. 16, 1872 John S. Prescott died in Greene County, Ohio. On June 11, l873, in Greene County, Ohio, an administrator was appointed in the matter of the Estate of John S. Prescott, but the actual file box for this estate apparently no longer exists (letter from Court of Common Pleas, Greene County, Ohio received May l5, l984). Death records in Ohio begin in about l870 and I have searched those of Greene County and all the surrounding counties, but have been unable to locate the death of any John S. Prescott. Robinson's History of Greene County lists two John Prescotts, "John S., Xenia, 1840; Massachusetts; attorney at law; Oct. 4, 1834, married Nancy Ann Townsley." and "Dr. John H., Xenia, 1840, died in Xenia, Nov. 16, 1872, age 65, buried in Woodland, but research and John’s letters clearly show they are the same individual. I wrote to Woodland cemetery, hoping to find more information. Their records show the following: John S. Prescott, born Massachusetts, late residence Kansas, died 16 Nov. 1872 of disease of stomach, age 65 years. The cemetery indicated that a 1974 tornado broke many of the old gravestones in the cemetery, but if anyone is in the area it would be good to try to find the gravestone.

52

J. S. Presco tt to daughter, Sep tember 1 , 1872 , Prescott papers.

© 2009, Beth Davies AG®. Permission is granted 76to copy for personal, non-commerical use.