This letter is an unfinished letter written by Arthur Tyrrell to his cousin Nathan Tinney. It was unsigned and apparently never sent. It may have been a first draft. It was copied from a typewritten copy of the original. The typewritten copy was received from Sara Leota Mutz, a granddaughter of Arthur Tyrrell.
Stockton Jo Davis Co.
Ill April 5th 1855
Respected Friends
I have taken my pen to Write to let you know that I have not forgotten you but it Would do me more good to see you and converse With you as I did at Salt Lake City than to Write fifty letters one reason that I have not Wrote before I didnt know where to direct a letter to so that you could get it Until your Mother came to my house and fetched a letter that you had wrote to Samuel Gates it was with pleasure that I heard it read and to hear that you was well and prospering in a land of plenty with some Wine for the stomach sake. I have so much to Write I do not know what to Write first I will comence by telling you that I and my family are all well and your mother is here at my house and she is well our conection are all well at present as far as I know and the people throughout the neighborhood are well. In your letter you spoke of your children I and my wife has three, one girl & two boys and if we can learn them to behave themselves as well as they look they will go through the world wellenough and I shall never have occasion to be ashaimed of them As for riches I have not much I owne two hundred and sixteen acers of land one pare of old mares one three year old coalt one two year old coalt and five cows and some young cattle allso a few sheep and hogs and one wagon and am in debt a little over two hundred dollars and have about one hundred due me. I dont know as I have any reason to complain about riches or anything else.
We have had a hard Winter hay & grain is high I have a little of both to sell that makes it better for me than if I had to buy
I now comence again April 15th Our spring is Very cold and backward I have plowed part of my ground to sow with wheat there is considerable frost in the ground yet allthough some are sowing wheat. Wheat is Worth from one dollar to one dollar twenty five cents a bushel oats about thirty cents corn thirty five and forty cents a bushel Horses oxen and cows are high and wages are high and help is hard to get I am living on father Partridges farm I have not moved onto my place at Wards Grove since I came home from California I arrived home a year ago last June I made the trip home in thirty days a little quicker time than I went through in After leaving you at Salt Lake in 1849 I saw the Elephant head trunk tail and all in going to California I will not undertake to discribe the rout to you as I suppose you have traveled the same road since I did I came out near Buckomongo ranch on the 18th day of February 1850 and six more with me. We got some flour at Williams Ranch and some oxen & a wagon at Rolands Ranch and then went back and met the Company at Saleratas Springs in the Great Desert beyond the Mohave River We then got through with the wagons to Williams Ranch on the 18th of March 1850 and all pleased at that we had no deaths in the train but we had one birth I will not undertake to discribe our journey in this letter I left Mr Rice at Rolands Ranch and have not seen him since I went to the mines on North Fork of the American River & went to work the first day of May 1850 and was about at one place and another until I traveled most all over California until the middle of May 1853 I then went to San Francisco and got on a steamboat the first day of June and the last day of June at knight 1853 I was in Wards Grove and Well pleased.
Compliments of:
Ray W. Justus
1331 West Folley Street
Chandler, AZ 85224-7511
(602) 963-4811