Brad Layton
October 31, 2016
1. A letter from a man to his wife and baby about a new house with three rooms and the improvement on 160 acres for $600.00 through a man that will homestead the land. He has selected 160 acres 1/2 south east of the Giles cornering on turkey creek, which 80 acres have been Homesteaded. He has selected another piece of land 2 miles west and south from Giles in case he can't obtain the first. He speaks about what their house will be made of and how the country is as pretty as he has ever seen. He states how a man can come there with $500.00 and can start a whole new life in a few years. He ends his letter with the sadness that he is experiencing without his wife and baby.
In his second letter, the man states that both pieces of land that he wanted had been taken so he must go back and look again. I has also bought a plot of the town where Giles and Sam will try to find one in the same town. He is upset about having to travel so far to look for land that might be taken. He only has $20 left and his long trip will use much of that but he believes he must make the trip for his family.
2. The fact that the man was willing to pay $600.00 in 1872 for a man to homestead the land truly surprised me because of the expense at this time in history.
3. The act of letter writing was a true skill and was cherished by the ones that could write back to their loved ones. Writing letters allowed for someones loved ones to know what they were doing and how they were doing. Migrating was a long process and was a life changing experience especially for someone to leave their loved ones in order to build them a new life in the West.
http://webpages.uidaho.edu/special-collections/papers/ssr.htm
