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Letter signed Jno. A. Richey, Sacramento City, to Friend Emmons. We arrived here Sept. 26. I presume there were near 5,000 emigrants who died of cholera and diarrhea between St. Joseph, Mo., and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Most of the sickness was between St. Joseph and the South Pass. We took the North side of Platt as far as Fort Laramie and avoided the sickness until we got here. Up to the time we passed the junction of the Orrigon [Oregon] Road, near 1,000 persons changed their course. I have no curiosity about seeing the Plains again. I saw snow nearly every day from July 15-September 25. Hundreds of emigrants are shipping for home as soon as they get here. I intend to give it a fair trial. I will write you next after I have been to the mines. Mentions numerous people from Missouri who are in Sacramento. I presume you have heard of the death of S. Overall from inflammation of the lungs. Mentions several other deaths on the trip. Sacramento City has about as many buildings as St. Charles. Mentions numerous churches. The gambling houses are in full blast on Sundays, persons betting hundreds on a single card. Nearly all these houses have a band of music and a piano. You will see Spanish and American women dealing Monte and Faro in all of them at all hours. I won’t go into more particulars. I had hoped to hear from you by now. Give my compliments to various women. We feasted on the fruitcake on July 4th; it was delicious with brandy. Tell Miss Caroline Chauvin I dreamed she was married and woke with a throbbing heart. Mentions Redman and Beddo, both well. Beddo looks like he was undergoing the change from human being to a smoked or dried herring. Individuals mentioned: John Shaw, Alex. and Aug. Chauvin, Doug Patterson, McCausland Glendy, Ben Wardlan, Ben Orrick, Fulkerson, Moses Malearson, Garriot White, Cal Cunningham, Hilbert’s Company, Gliger’s Company, Dr. Dieffendorfer, Wm. Saveck, Andrews, Richard Overall, and Sam Machatt., 1850 Oct 30

 Item — Box: 2

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

This collection consists of materials related to the history of St. Charles, Missouri, and spans the lives of three generations of the Benjamin Emmons family. Persons involved in the early transactions include Edward Bates, Frederick Bates, Charles Dehault Delassus, John C. Edwards, Archibald Gamble, Hamilton Gamble, J. Mackay, William G. Pettus, Amos Stoddard, and Zenon Trudeau. Manuscripts include St. Charles land documents from the French and Spanish periods, including Zenon Trudeau's decree to the inhabitants of St. Charles (1796), materials relating to the Louisiana Purchase, and documents relating to the St. Charles Commons. Also includes a diary of a trip from Virginia to Missouri, and from Dardenne Prairie to Jefferson City by William M. Campbell (1830); correspondence and legal documents of Benjamin L. Emmons, attorney; tax assessments in St. Charles County for 1843; lists of lands and town lots and taxes thereon for 1842 (filed May 3, 1844); list of citizenship papers (1859); a muster roll of the St. Charles Home Guards (filed 1862); emancipation certificates for slaves released by Radical Emancipationist owners in St. Charles (filed September 29, 1863); an annual report of the St. Charles Library Catholic Association (January 7, 1868); and a scrapbook. Some typescript translations.

Dates

  • 1850 Oct 30

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

Extent

From the Collection: 1.17 Cubic Feet ( (2 boxes, 1 oversize folder (AMD)))

Language of Materials

English

Creator

Repository Details

Part of the Missouri Historical Society Library and Research Center Repository

Contact:
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St. Louis MO 63105 United States
314-746-4510