| Show Old Century-Old Letters Rate Jobs Homes First I History His hasa way of fading romance the passing of a cen cen- century century century tury even even though the facts are kept meticulously aligned So it is that when one thinks of the development of Michigan l Ohio and the rest of the he Northwest Territory he is apt to o think In terms of gold braided gold braided boundary jugglers coonskin caps long ong rules rifles and buttered rum Alvin Hamer Detroit bookseller has las discovered a collection of let- let leters letters letters ers written by the five sons of Josiah Colburn a dour Yankee of the early Nineteenth century to let letus letus letus us know the first of the was not altogether a time tune of ot the grand gesture and political pow powwow These were men whose letters re re- reveal reveal re- re reveal veal that they were working hard-working journeymen and laborers and sea- sea seafarers seafarers farers whose main concern was not with the dangers of frontier life We but with the ordinary business of get get- getting ting ing jobs and founding homes bomes Out of New York state these boys came to spread as far north as On On- Onario taro ario tarIo as far west as St St. Louis and south to New Orleans with the reading Bible Bible reading father always in the background giving good Scriptural counsel There Ther was Thomas ThC as a roistering wanderer in sail whose whose papers papers- show that he sailed in 1816 from Kingston Ont with a cargo of 40 barrels of beer and pounds of cheese at a time when memories of the war with Britain were still fresh It was Jeremiah who wrote of the boom which followed the war In Buffalo only to complain three years later that jobs were hard to find He had just finished his ap ap- apprenticeship apprenticeship ap- ap apprenticeship as a carpenter and was starting out on his own I am this day pretty good look- look lookIng looking Ing half halt white and 21 years of age halt hall Indian perhaps I pm am now square with the world world world-I I owe no no- nobody nobody nobody body and nobody owes me Jerry wrote to his sailor brother Thomas had evidently cautioned him on the folly of wandering for he contin contin- continued continued continued Free and independent you have advised me to refrain from ram ram- rambling rambling bling bUng and be steady I should be glad If you would take a little to yourself for I believe you stand in need of becoming more steady than what you have been for these six years past For you have traveled thousands of miles and I have not nr traveled half halt of one |
