1842 MILFORD INDIANA Letter To West Kill NY GREAT CONTENT Mailed at MONGOQUINONG

Description

1-1/2 folio pg. letter, approx. 8" x 12-3/4", dated at
Milford, Indiana, June 1842
, from D. Dryer, to his friend, A. Bushnell, at West Kill, Lexington, Greene County, NY.
The stampless folded letter was mailed at Mongoquinong, Indiana, (now called Mongo), and has a June 20 dated MONGOQUINONG/Ind. cds postmark and manuscript "free", (A. Bushnell was the Postmaster of West Kill, NY, so mail to him could go free of postage).
Great content.
The letter reads:
"Dear friends,
I have delayed answering yours of April last until the present time in hopes to have had something more interesting to communicate than I find myself in possession of at this time, but in order to keep my promise something like god as admonished by Father Bushnell, I shall write a few lines in accordance with my own feelings. I have the satisfaction of informing you that we are all enjoying good health, though we have the most singular weather this season so far that I recollect since I have been on the stage of action. It was extremely cold & dry through the month of May & within a few days we have had an abundance of rain & cold. Yesterday morning the ground & vegetables were white with frost, & in some places ice as thick as window glass. The corn crop is extremely doubtful as yet and the wheat crop will be comparatively light to what was anticipated six weeks ago, but of wild fruit such as Plums, Black & Whortleberries &c., there is a fine prospect. The swamp Huckleberry is a choice fruit. They grow on bushes as high as from 5 to 10 ft. and as large as the English Cherry & in the oldest settlements there is oceans of peaches & a good many apples.
I was at Mr. Green's last week. Carried Clarissa Ann & Mary Ann came home last evening. Clarissa & Mary are to stay till Tuesday. We had a good visit. They are doing first rate. There is a printing office established at the village of Ontario in this County & Welcome is employed at the business. I will send you the first No., in which you will find a description of the place & surrounding country.
I had got almost discouraged before I got your last letter, thinking perhaps I had become wearisome & you had abandoned us to our fate. It is but little trouble for you to write, turn round & drop the letter in the box to what it is for me, who have not got a cent to buy a sheet of paper with, & when I get one wrote, have to go 10 miles to put it in the mail, & when I get one, go or send 10 times & be disappointed nine, but I am always thankful at that when I do get one, it does us so much good & the anxiety of the children, even those who know nothing of their Aunt Anna & Elizabeth, only as they learn it from the rest, is truly interesting.
I feel anxious to hear from you often & more especially as you inform us of yours & sister E's declining & bad health. Surely we have all of us passed the meridian of our days & our sun is setting fast behind the western horizon, but I trust to rise in all the darling splendor of the son of righteousness. When a few more days are past & few more sands are run, we shall hear the welcome news, child, your father calls, come home.
Give my love to all the friends, & especially to Grandfather Bushnell. I little expected he would have remembered my promise to write once a month. I think he must retain his faculties in a wonderful manner. I sometimes think I shall see you all again & if I had the means & we all live a year or two, I certainly shall. I presume a journey from here there does not look to me as it does to you, having moved a large family the same distance. My limits are narrowed down & I must close by subscribing myself yours in the best of bonds,
D. Dryer"
Fine.
COMBINED SHIPPING FOR MULTIPLE ITEMS.
[JK]
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