Letters written by Horatio N. Gere Family
Extracts of Letters written by
Members of Horatio Nelson Gere Family
These letters are on file in the Nebraska State Historical Society in Lincoln,
Nebraska
The first few
letters were written by members of the Gere family to relatives in 1856, while
the Gere’s rented a farm from Rev. Charles W. Giddings in the village of
Greene, New York.
February 1, 1856
Juliana Gere to daughter:
We
are trying to sell the farm. Mr. Giddings wants it sold before March as
he then expects to go to the West (Kansas likely) to get him a place. Wants Pa
to join with their company they are about to form…
Horatio Gere to
daughter (same letter):
…we
have talked much about coming to see you this winter, but the farm is advertised
for sale and those who wish to examine or purchase are referred to me and I
cannot consistently be absent long at a time. Besides that we have to raise a
sufficient amount of money to pay the interest on Mr. Hatch’s mortgage in
about two weeks if possible.
April 15th
1856
Juliana Gere to
her sister:
We
suppose Br. Giddings has sold out his share of the old printing press for
2800 acres of land in Wisconsin and 1700 dollars worth of property.
August 10, 1856
Juliana Gere to her sister:
I
was in Binghamton the 4th of July and day part of the [Methodist]
conference which was in session there. I
went on 3rd of July in company of Br. Giddings who had been
visiting at our house and came back the 7th.
The last couple of letters were written after the
Gere’s had relocated to Table Rock, Nebraska Territory.
January 12, 1858
Horatio Gere to his son Charles:
Mr. Giddings will
remove his family from Kingston, Pa. where they now reside, to Nebraska,
immediately after the sitting of the next Wyoming Conference.
He will not come probably before the last of March or first of June. He has paid $1250 for a claim here, lying immediately east of
and adjoining the town site. It is a valuable farm. He had previously preempted another 160 acres adjoining that
so that makes 320 acres in a body, one mile in length and a half mile in width.
October 24, 1858
Juliana Gere to
her son Charles:
Mr.
Giddings had a fire
on his place which kept him and all his hands busy all day and part of the night
in keeping from his corn and hay stacks…
January 22, 1860
Writing from Brownsville, John Gere to his mother:
Is
Osmyn Griffing at Table Rock this winter and what sort of a time did the
girls have when their mother went to her brother’s in Kansas?
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