[1]    Hon. Orville Jennings (born 14 January 1825,  died 2 October 1866) was a U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of Arkansas.

[2]    Dr. Lorenzo Gibson (born 27 March 1804, died 28 September 1866) was raised in Clarksville, Tennessee and came to Arkansas by 1833. He married Caroline Louisa Thomas (1812-1878) of Nashville and they had ten children. Gibson read law in Clarksville and entered the legal profession at an early age. With his arrival in Arkansas, he either joined or was accompanied by several of his siblings, including William R. Gibson, Jr. Together they established a mercantile and drug business in Little Rock and Pine Bluff, and possibly one in Rockport. Gibson, in his position as a Doctor of medicine, eventually attained several positions of trust. With concurrent residences in Little Rock and Rockport during the 1840s and early 1850s, Gibson served as postmaster for Rockport and was elected to the Arkansas legislature three separate times. He represented Pulaski County on two separate occasions and once for Hot Springs County. A loyal Whig, Gibson was appointed Surveyor General of Arkansas (1850-1853) in 1849 by President Taylor.  

[3]    On this date, Goodrich’s sister Augusta wrote him the following letter from Seneca, Kansas:

October 29, 1866    Lincoln [Seneca County, Kansas]

My dear brother Ralph. Our folks have not heard from you in some time when they wrote last. I hope you are well and doing well. I was glad to hear you had as good a place as you wrote about. I should think it would be easy if not as profitable as some other employment. Are you still there and how do you get along? Have you been well and does your head still trouble you? You had a very narrow escape. Did you ever get any clue as to who did it? That affair of Dr. Webb was awful. Did they prove it on anyone?  

We all keep usually well. The boys are at home yet as school has not commenced. Willie went the summer term for the first [time] and will probably go this winter as it is but a short distance. We are having for us quite a treat – that is apples. [My husband] James went some over fifty miles last week to Atchison on the Missouri River and brought us twelve bushels. He had to pay $1.00 and $1.20 a basket for them. We never have had any since we came to Kansas [over ten years ago], but if we have good success will have on the farm [near Topeka] after awhile. Some of the [apple] trees [we planted in 1856] blossomed some this year and one apple staid on but somebody picked it before [it was] ripe. There were no peaches on our place this year [either]. Do you have apples and peaches plenty there? I’ll bet you have one thing that I love and which grows better there than here, and that is sweet potatoes. They do very well here some years.  

We were visited the 1st of September by a great swarm of grasshoppers – or as some call them, locusts. They filled the air and covered the ground for over two weeks and ate all the garden and considerable corn. And some think they will destroy everything next year as the ground is full of eggs. They are a great nuisance. I heard from [our brother] James Goodrich a few weeks ago. He was at Junction City [Kansas] and was still teaming [and] had been across the plains this summer. That Mr. Storms you spoke of used to live at Topeka. I never saw him but my husband and James Goodrich were acquainted with him. I think James Goodrich either worked for him or boarded with him some time. Is he married? I suppose Aunt Mary is either on her way or already at Cincinnati. They have had the cholera there lately. Have there been any cases at Little Rock? None with us and none for anywhere in Kansas.  

Sarah, Mary, Steve & myself talk of getting Ma a pair of gold spectacles and don’t let her know anything about it until they are presented to her. They will probably cost about 15 dollars. I have written to see if James Goodrich will help toward them and will also ask, as I am writing, [and] give you the same privilege. If not convenient, do not do so as I know your losses have been great. But if you would put in a couple of dollars – or a dollar, no matter which, you can send it to [our sister] Mary so as not to have Ma know anything about it. She opens [our sister] Sarah’s letters… Winter weather is almost here. We have a fire some days now, although we have had no frost to kill the rines until last week.

Your affectionate sister, -- Augusta [Goodrich] Griffing