After
graduating from Wesleyan University, James S. Griffing was nearly $200 in debt. To pay off
his loans, he took a job as a map agent for Ensign & Thayer's Map
Company of New York City. Traveling throughout the Midwest, he sold maps to the
residents of these states as well as to those who were traveling westward on the
canals and railroads. At the same time, he used the opportunity to scout out
opportunities for employment as either a teacher or a preacher.
This
set of letters were written from small towns throughout Pennsylvania, New York,
Ohio, Illinois and Indiana. They provide an early glimpse of life in these small
river and crossroad towns that reveal far more than we can learn from many
history books.
