Beschreibung:

Lot of 12 items. Most are to Henrietta Ginn from her brother John M. Ginn. The earliest is from November 1860, Missouri City, Kansas Territory. Although usually referred to as the Pike's Peak Gold Rush, the migration to what today is eastern Colorado in 1858-1860 did not really go anywhere near Pike's Peak, but rather to places like Cherry Creek in Denver then spread out into the mountains, but not in the direction of Pike's Peak. The earliest letter is Nov. 16, 1860, Missouri City, Rocky Mountains, Kansas Territory. John tells his sister: "...I suppose that you very often wonder what kind of a looking place I am in. Well, it is a very wild, and dreary place. Indeed it would take me a very long time to tell you everything which I have seen up here in the Rocky Mountains! I will not tell you how we undertake to get the gold from the ground at this time, but promise to tell all about what I have seen and how we get the gold, too, if I live to come home again." He goes on to describe his cabin, comparing it to their milk house back home. He notes that instead of a clapboard roof, such as the milk house has, the cabin roof consists of "...a large number of poles...thrown across the top upon which are laid pine limbs, and lastly the roof is completed by a layer of dirt and sod about a foot in thickness, which covering is very fashionable up on these wilds!" The next letter is addressed to Henrietta and Elizabeth, April 6, 1862, Missouri City, Colorado Ter. On patriotic stationery. He notes that he has not written because: "I have been engaged in working, most of this winter, under the ground among the rocks. There are some pits in the quartz lodes over 200 feet in depth from which there is quartz being taken which pays from $500 to $1000 per cord. You can tell Joe that a cord of well selected quartz taken from the "Bob tail" of which he will remember, yielded $1800.00!" May 27, 1864, Central City Colorado. John to Henrietta. He acknowledges his sister's worries that if he comes back home to Ohio he will be drafted for the war. He tells her that he views himself a citizen of Colorado now, rather than Ohio, and he will bring a letter from the territorial governor to that effect if he comes home. But if for some reason he is drafter, he will go into service and clear the rebels out! In his letter of June 22, 1864, Central City, CO, he goes to great length to explain to her that they do have telegraph out in the mountains, and this means that newspapers with the latest information get published, as well as books and other forms of communications. He emphasizes that they are aware of what is going on not only in America, but in much of Europe, as well. His letter of 11 July 1864, Central City, CO, focuses mainly on anticipating a visit home soon. He is waiting for his business partner to return from his trip home before he leaves. The letter dated 17 Aug. 1864, Central City, CO, has a section in the lower right corner cut away. In the portion remaining, he tells his sister that he does not know whether to reply to her letter or not, "...for it may be possible that my letters will not cross the plains for some time, as our communications with the States have been cut off in consequence of the hostility of the indians on the plains. A general Indian war is upon us. They have massacred at least one hundred men, women and children already." By Dec. 24, 1864, (Central City, CO) John writes mostly of getting back to Ohio to visit. There is a gap of over 3 1/2 years. The next letter is to Henrietta, but from John's wife, Parthenia Ginn. Unfortunately most of the letter is about the death of their infant son, barely 1 month old. She also wants to get to Ohio to meet the family. The next letter dated 26 July 1868, Salem, Oregon is to Henrietta from brother Geo. A lot of the letter is about Henrietta's music studies and the universality of music to communicate. He also goes into a discourse on matrimonial bliss, apparently telling his sister to f