There are many homeless ministers nowadays

In August 1869, while her husband filled the North Lawrence Circuit, Augusta took her four children home to Owego, New York to visit both of their grandmothers, and other family and friends. At the time, John was almost 12, Willie 9, Mary almost 6, and Sarah 3 and a half. A day-by-day calendar of the trip during August can be found at the link above.

We’re behind time at Quincy [Illinois] & had to take the accommodation train & will be after midnight getting into Chicago. [As a consequence, we] may miss the train, which goes out [of Chicago] at nine o’clock. We hope not. I am going to let Brother Smith take the [letter and] also the return tickets & put [them] in the [post] office at Aurora [Illinois]. All are well. We are crowded & go slow. Sister Smith is nearly tired out. I think of you so much and so hope you will keep well. Ever your affectionate wife, -- Augusta

We reached [Owego, New York] all safe & well last night at half past nine o’clock. [We] did not make connections & had to stop one night in Chicago & one in Cleveland which worried me considerably & I either had to travel on Sunday or use up every cent of money. [My brother] Steve is going for my trunk & is waiting [for me to finish this letter.] I will write soon. All well. – Augusta

I hope you have received the letter we have sent you. Stephen is going over to the [post] office soon and I thought I would send a few lines more. Yours written Saturday came last night. I am glad you get along so well. I hope you will not get very lonely or sick. I am having one of those sick spells such as I had before I left – a bad diarrhea & aching &c. I had a few of Dr. Rice’s Pills left & am taking them & a little quinine. Hope I will not get any worse, but do not feel at all well. I suspect it was best for me that I had to stop over on the road, as it rested me considerably and I feel pretty well tired out as it is. But my being so near sick makes it worse. They all say, “How thin you are,” and my eyes are so sunken now I am not well. [As far as the children,] John has some cold & his nose & ear keep very sore. They were sore before we started. Will & Maty are well. Sadie has a very large boil on her forehead. It commenced just before we started & has been increasing ever since & makes her somewhat fretful. Mr. Griffith, Anna & Lucy called here Monday & insisted on our coming over the next day as Anna & her husband would start for home today. We went – that is, Ma & the girls & myself & [my sister] Mary & [her daughter] Fanny were there – but I felt miserable all day.

And yesterday, [my sister] Sarah & I went to [your sister] Mary Pike’s. Mary has grown old fast. She has two children. The baby George – about 15 months old – is very fretful & Mary has to carry him about a great deal. Your mother is well for her but she has failed a good deal [and] is very forgetful. [She] does not talk very much & talks very low. She does not look very much older in her face, but stoops more & her ankle is sore & makes her lame. But she is smart for one her age. She can sew a great deal better than my mother can but does not like to leave home to ride anywhere. And still she feels as if they had no home now as they live in a rented house. It is a very comfortable one. She was quite pleased with her dress and said, “Why, I don’t know what to say.” She had received your letter written on her birthday & said she would try to write. [Mary’s husband,] Grove is at home. He goes around & engages apple trees & this fall will deliver them.

[Your brother Samuel’s wife] Malvina came over and called yesterday morning. David[1] [Taylor], her brother, brought her over. Her father is very feeble. Samuel is not very well but keeps at work. He is clerk in a hardware store. [Malvina’s son] David[2] is clerk in a bookstore and like it well. They all say he is a fine boy. Malvina seems quite proud of him. Ella[3] & her husband are in DeKalb, Illinois. He is working for Mr. William Tappan – went this spring. Aunt Fanny & Frank called yesterday & [my sister] Mary & [her husband] Gurd were up Monday.

We were too late into Chicago for any train & so had to wait until morning. Brother Hume took me to an omnibus & was very kind. And so was Brother Smith. Hope they will reach home safely. I had to go to a Hotel besides paying omnibus fare. Then we traveled Saturday all day but when we reached Cleveland, the Salamanca train had gone out. They do not always make connections there. Several told me it was the worst route I could take from Chicago because there were many changes. We had [to] change at Cleveland & then in Pennsylvania somewhere – at Leavenburg I think – but I had no trouble. Always found somebody to wait on me. The children were asleep at Cleveland & the conductor says, “Are these all yours?” I said, “Yes” and he replied, “You have your hands full.” But he was kind & helped me out. I had to go to a Hotel & pay two dollars for an omnibus that night and next morning. And my bills for stopping ran up to between eight & nine dollars. I feel terribly as I was trying to travel so cheap but could not help it and my provisions ran out & I had to buy bread & crackers &c. Steve sold my whole ticket for five dollars but the other is not saleable.

One man told me he thought I ought to have gone by Buffalo, as there would have been less changing. But if I had come by way of St. Louis, then come by way of Salamanca, there would not have been much changing. Steve is about sick today. How do things move on? Give regards to all enquirers. Ever yours, -- Augusta

Your letter written last Monday reached me Saturday… Am glad you keep well and that you had received the few trembling lines I sent by Brother Smith, and I hope the tickets reached Sister Kirkpatrick in time for her to use. Please write me about them. I wrote in my last that [my brother] Steve had sold my [tickets through] to New York for five dollars. I wish you had come. You will never come cheaper than you could this time, notwithstanding Hotel bills. George Stroup[4] lives in Aurora. Francis [or “Frank” as she is called], his wife, is very feeble and her friends there think she will not live long. And some of the Sherman’s live there too.

You speak in your letter about it being so warm. It was very warm that afternoon after we started. We suffered very much, but in the night it cooled off & rained Friday and was cool & comfortable all the way home. After we left Chicago, we had plenty of room [on the railroad cars]. I found my old shawl & cloak very handy for the children to sleep on and by stopping over night, I rested well and was not so tired when I reached here. But I have been almost sick ever since I came. [Actually] it was not so much tired as agueish & bilious. I feel better now. Have taken those pills of Dr. Rice’s & quinine. The rest have said it was warm but I have not been uncomfortably warm since I came until today. It has been quite warm. It rained this morning & is now raining just at night.

Stephen has got through haying and harvesting. The corn looks much better here than in Ohio, Illinois, or Missouri. They have very nice large potatoes. And cabbage is larger than ours was a great deal. Apples are not very plenty & they have none ripe now. We have had some blackberries.

Sadie has had a very hard time with that boil on her forehead. It has broken at last, but her eyes were almost swelled shut. She has been & is very fretful. Mary & Willie are well, but John has not felt well. His ear was sore before we left home & has been sorer and is discharging & very sore making him somewhat deaf. The measles do not leave him or Sadie, but I hope this is the last of it. Our folks are about as usual – only Steve [is not well]. He took a bad cold Thursday & has been about sick. But they all went down to Sunday school this afternoon. They are going to have a picnic this week for the Sunday school.

Aunt Mary & Lee’s wife were up one day last week. Aunt Mary cannot do anything – or very little. She spake like one with palsy. Rhoda does not grow old much. Louisa cannot use one arm.

You say it was cloudy with you eclipse day. We were in and going from Toledo [Ohio] at the time [of the solar eclipse]. A gentleman in the [railroad] car had a smoked glass and we all looked through it. The sun looked like a new moon and the darkness was quite observative.

Mr. Griffith said the Rev. Mr. Ellis, who was to preach in Lawrence, was a fine preacher. Saturday, the day I ought to have been here, a freight train ran off the track right here near our house & when the passenger [train] came along, it had to stop. [My brother] Steve was at the Depot [in Owego at the time] looking for me. When the train stopped, Gurd who with Mary were here ran over & came out of one of the cars with a lady & they supposed it was me. But it happened to be Fanny Wallace. I wrote to you the middle of the week. Your folks were well then. How are the neighbors & how do you get along? Do you get lonely? How are Mr. & Mrs. Morgan? Can you make butter? If you begin to feel bad, go to Dr. Rice & get medicines. Write often. Ever your affectionate, -- Augusta.

Ma says she wants that money for the land put out to interest & not put into land. So you had better let some safe person have it. Steve went to the Depot six times for me – twice in the night. He sends that Redemption Certificate. He says you ought to give him a note. The estate has to pay him. He sent fifty-two dollars instead of fifty and you used the other two. If you get the money for the Redemption, send it back to Steve for he is hard run this summer. His trip west cost him three hundred dollars & has put him on short allowance. People inquire about you and why you did not come [with us].

Your letter written or mailed last Saturday came yesterday. It found us all well. I did not reach here as you have heard before this I presume, until Sunday night. But I sent a few lines to you Monday morning hoping you would get it Thursday or Friday, and I do not see why you did not get it certainly by Saturday. Ma wrote Wednesday too. I have written several letters and hope you will get them.

Mr. & Mrs. [Asa] Brooks came here yesterday. They live about 14 miles from Owego up Appalachian or Little Meadows. We were all ready to start to the Sunday school picnic, which was in a grove near where Mr. David Taylor used to live. Lucy was over here, and she & Sarah & Mary went down and Sadie & I staid with Ma. We got dinner for Mr. Brooks & then he took Permelia & Sadie & I down to the picnic just to see them. But we got there just before they ate dinner so we had the good things too & saw some old acquaintance – Brother Wheeler, the Methodist Minister was there & made a speech before we arrived. After staying there awhile, we rode down to see Permelia’s oldest daughter, Permelia [or “Milly”], who married Theodore Horton. They have built a new house below the old Swartwood place. His father, Sederich, let him have land there that old Mr. Horton gave him & it will make them a nice home. Theodore & Milly are both members of the church. [Your sister] Permelia & her family are well. They are living close by where he owns land and they like it very well indeed. They wanted to take me [to their] home with them but I could not go. Steve & Sarah will take me over to Sarah Pitcher Young’s on Saturday. [On] Sunday, Brother [Asa] Brooks preaches near there & then I will go home with him [to Little Meadows] if nothing happens to prevent. They live between three & four miles apart. Sarah Young has written for me to be sure & come & see her. I have not done any visiting yet.

I have been to see about my teeth & intended to go today & have them out but was not well enough. Dr. Walker says he can save two or three of the teeth & they will do to fasten [dentures] on to. He will charge $15 for the teeth & then I will have to get some of the lower ones filled to save them. If I can stand it, I want it done but I will have to have more money. Our folks have it about as hard as we do. Steve has very little money so I cannot get any of him, but it will come good some other time.

I want to get some clothes for myself & children for winter. Have you ever received anything for our Chicago [return] tickets? If they had not been promised [to someone else], Bro. Hume would have paid me ten dollars for them.

Am glad you get along as well with the cow & housework and hope you will keep well. How about Mr. Reed? That was too bad. Am sorry you lost the corn. Do you get any plums? I want to make some grape jelly when I get back. Word has come that Frances [called “Frank”] Stroup is failing fast. Lee thinks of going there next week. They live at Aurora, Illinois.

[Your sister] Permelia would be so glad to see you. I wish you had come. What do you say about coming for me when I get ready to go back?

How are the neighbors getting along? And how are things moving on? Is that little Eddie at Sister Akers well yet? John & Willie have gone fishing this morning. John’s ear is bad yet – running still, and his nose is very sore too. Good bye, -- Augusta

You will see by the top of my letter that I am at Little Meadows at sister Permelia’s. Stephen & Sarah brought [our girls] Matie, Sadie, and myself over to Sarah Young’s Saturday. And Sunday morning [we] went to the Methodist Church where Bro. Brooks preaches nearly every Sunday & he took us with him to his afternoon appointment & after that, brought us to his home at the parsonage at Little Meadows. And I look for Sarah Young [to come] after us this afternoon & expect she will take us to Owego tomorrow. All are well here and making preparations for the camp meeting at Spencer, which is to commence Wednesday. Brother Brooks and Frankie, his oldest daughter at home (I should think she was about fifteen years old) and Charlie, his oldest boy about 12, are going with him. And Permelia and her youngest, Willie and Myrtie, are going to stay at home. He and Theodore Horton, his son-in-law, own a tent on the ground and they are there too.

The parsonage here is very pleasant. It has a nice hall and parlor, sitting room, bedroom & pantry & cook room below & several sleeping rooms above all nicely finished. And they are all carpeted & furnished & there is a nice yard & garden. Bro. Brooks has bought a few acres close by here and intends to build here in a year or two & make a permanent home here. His two oldest daughters are well married & have good homes, and also Permelia’s oldest, who married Theo. Horton. And now they have two girls & two boys at home. Permelia is just the same as ever – has grown old some. And Bro. Brooks is quite grey. She would have been so glad to have had you come too. I wish you could have come. He has a nice patch of blackberries on his land & has gone out to pick some for me, if others have not been in ahead of him. I have not received any letter from you since I wrote last, but hope to when I go back to Mothers. Sadie keeps having boils & styes on her eyes. I do not know what to do for her. They make her fretful & pain her so & makes her look bad too.

Your father used to preach in this part of the country and is venerated. He founded the first class of the church at South Owego and many there remember him. Our folks were usually well when I came away. The boys were well too. John’s ear & nose do not get well yet. Our folks think he is not strong and he is now narrow across the chest & stoops so. They all say I ought to put shoulder braces on him or he will have the consumption or weak lungs. He has no strength to do work like the other boys of his age.

It is a beautiful morning. Hope this will find you well. I often think of you & wonder how you are doing. Have not had my teeth out yet. Write often. Ever your affectionate, -- Augusta

I have not written before so I thought I would write this afternoon. Willie and I went after blackberries this forenoon and got a little over 5 quarts. There are a great many here but it is so far to go after them. Day after tomorrow is my birthday. Last week there was a picnic for the Sunday school in Mr. Truman’s grove a little over a mile from here. I go to the Sunday school and Uncle Stephen is the Superintendent. Ma got back about noon from Aunt Permelia’s. She had been gone three days. Ma says I had better write some more but I cannot think of any thing else so I will have to stop. Please write as soon as you can. From your affectionate son. – John S. Griffing

John has written a few lines to you and I will put in a few more. I sent you a letter yesterday from Little Meadows & I hope you will get it. Your letter written the 16th with Ralph’s enclosed Stephen took from the [post] office yesterday. I am so sorry you did not get those first letters. I know you must have been very anxious to hear from us and I have written twice a week so you could hear often. Mrs. Young went over to Little Meadows about five miles for me yesterday & this forenoon brought me home [to Owego]. I had a good visit over there at [your sister] Permelia’s. Found all well at home. I have the teethache some. Have taken some cold.

If you have not yet received my first letters you do not know when we arrived here. Well it was Sunday night at half past nine o’clock. Steve & Sarah were there [at the depot] & Steve had been there six times [previously looking for us] and they were getting badly worried. Your letter saying I was not to start until Thursday [did not] reach them Sunday noon. I had to stop over night in Chicago & also in Cleveland. That and the omnibus fare took about nine dollars of my $20. I shall have to ask for more money. Steve is too hard pushed to get any of him. Sarah is not feeling well at all.

Am glad you like your housekeeper so well. Hope you will continue to do so. Have you heard from Mr. Curtis’ people? Good-bye. Ever your affectionate Augusta.

Permelia said she would try and write to you while the rest had gone to camp meeting.

Wed. morn. In town. Have just had out a lot of teeth. Took gas. Felt it some but nothing bad. Face badly swollen from teeth ache. It will cost $15 to have my teeth & two or three more for filling.

I was right glad upon my return home last night from Manhattan [Kansas] to get a letter from you written the 19th. I also found one returned from Washington which you had written to Sister Connell at Rogers Mills. Can it be that they have moved from there? The letter enclosing the Redemption Certificate I received the morning before I started and took it along with me to Topeka and managed to get the parties together at the Treasurer’s Office and had the tax payment corrected without the necessity of action on the part of the County Board which Bro. Bonebrake thought would be necessary. The taxes on James’s half had been paid up until last year, which was $14.03, which they deducted out & paid me back the rest. So I will send back to [your brother] Stephen by P.O. order forty dollars & the remainder due him for taxes when I send you some money. The estate should pay its own taxes as it has the means to do it. You can tell our folks the reason of the mistake was that the Assessor had placed James name “against” the wrong half of the quarter. James owned the east half and had sold the west half to Freeman Cobb, a young man once clerking in Mr. Hamilton’s store. Stephen I think was with me when we first went to see about the taxes & probably remembers what the treasurer told us & saw.

Whilst at Manhattan, I saw a Swede who is engaged about the college in quarrying stone & engaged him to quarry out enough for me this coming winter to build with in the spring. I also found two quarter sections of pretty good rolling prairie which I think I may buy of the National Land Company which will require me to pay yearly $175 and interest on the remainder at six percent for five years, or a deduction of ten percent for all if I pay down. The land is quite handy to Manhattan. The evening that I was there, the Methodists had a moonlight picnic festival in the grove near Judge Pipher’s house. [Your brother] Stephen will remember the Judge. Balloon lanterns were hung all about in the trees and a stage was erected by one of the windows on the outside where several tableaux were exhibited. Taking it altogether, we had a very pleasant time.

It would be pleasant indeed were it so that I could come out there & come back with you. But it would hardly seem right to do it at present. We shall need every penny if we build in the spring & this thing of going in debt you know I don’t like, although I do it sometimes. I am glad you are getting your teeth fixed. Now if it will only improve your looks there won’t be such a tremendous contrast when we are together. I hope it won’t be so long a time before we can all go home together should life be spared. The tickets you sent to Sister Kirkpatrick came together all right reaching there Saturday evening & they got here Tuesday & the next morning I got the ten dollars. Love to all. Kiss for the children from Papa. Yours, -- James

Dear Brother James,

I suppose you are feeling quite lonely in the absence of your wife and children from home. I thought perhaps a few lines from sister Milla might entertain you for a short time and make you feel that you are not quite forgotten in these parts.

I was very sorry that it was so that you could not accompany your family for we all want to see you very much. Augusta seemed to think that you might possibly come out so as to go back with her. I hope it may be so. That is, if you can without sacrificing too much of time and means. I wish it was so we could help you. But you have no doubt learned that if a Methodist Preacher has anything to live on, he has got to run in debt for it the first of the year and then run the risk of getting his pay so as to meet his debts when the year expires. I do not think that Mr. Brooks has ever laid up a cent of his salary since he has been a preacher. He has had most of the time what you might call a good salary, but we have raised quite a large family of children – seven in all – and have had to squeeze sometimes to get along. If we could get our pay just when we needed it, we might economize and get along with less. I presume it is the same in your case.

Mr. Brooks had laid up about sixteen hundred dollars in six years in the rise of property. He bought him a house-barn & fourteen acres of land in Laceyville, Pa. for $800. Paid $200 down in western land, rented it so as to make annual payments for the remainder in six years. He then sold it for $1400 and bought a farm of 39 acres in this village, with house and double barn for $1700. [He then] sold the house and half of the barn, including ¾ acres for $500, which enabled him to pay for the whole nearly. We want now to put us up a house as soon as we can sell village lots to help us to do so. There are many homeless ministers nowadays. We begin to feel quite anxious about securing us a home before it is too late.

We had a short visit from Augusta and the two girls. I presume she has written to you all about it. I fear she did not enjoy her visit much being so fatigued for she had to ride the circuit before she got here over these hills. To one that is unused [to such travel, it] is very hard. She was here the day before our folks started for camp meeting and I had so much baking and fixing to get them ready that I did not feel satisfied with my visit. She wrote to you in the forenoon and in the afternoon she and Mr. Brooks went out in our pasture lot and picked 14 quarts of blackberries, which she took home. I shall expect to see her again before she goes west. We live only 14 miles from Owego and a good smooth road.

Mr. Brooks has got the two oldest children at home [and] have gone to camp meeting. I stay at home with the two youngest and do the chores, milk the cow, feed two pigs, and have about 40 chickens to keep from devouring the garden. Find enough to do to keep me from being lonesome. I told Augusta I would write to you but forgot to take your address. I will forward it to her to direct. I shall hope to hear from you soon. Affectionately, -- Sister Permelia.

Your letter written the 19th came Wednesday. I sent you two letters the past week, one from Little Meadows, and one partly written by [our son] John from here. In the last I wrote you I had my teeth out. One had been aching & my face was swollen but I did not take cold after having out the teeth, eight in number. Dr. Walker said he always saves the good teeth when he could and three of mine with some filling would do to save. I took gas – he did not have much gas but did not tell me fearing it would make me more nervous, but I did not feel any hurting of seven. But [by] the eighth one the effects of the gas was gone and I had the full benefit of that one & it made me so nervous I could scarcely sleep that night. There are still two on the lower jaw that ought to come out, besides several cavities to fill. I am so glad they are out, but I look & talk so funny & cannot eat only soft food. Two double teeth & one eyetooth are saved. They ought to be out several weeks before others can be made. I shall not have them made until just before I [am ready to] go [back to Kansas]. I expect filling and all will cost not far from $20. But if the teeth fit, I shall not regret it. And I need money for other things too. I must have a winter sacque. I do not know how much it will cost to go back. I did not have to pay for Willie & I hope not to going back. And I shall only get one & a half ticket. [Our daughter] Mary has not been very well for a few days, but seems better today. I think it is worms perhaps. I hope she is not going to be sick. I will write if she does not get better. The rest are well. Ma, Sarah & I went to the Congregational Church today. It is camp meeting time & no preaching at the Methodist. Mr. Beecher [5] preached. He is a little old. The church is nice.

Willie went over with Mary Brink to their Sabbath school. He enjoyed. The children all go to the Sabbath school at the schoolhouse. It was John’s & Mary’s birthday the past week & Grandmother let them invite a few to spend the afternoon & have supper out under the trees. They enjoyed it. Yesterday Aunt Lucy & Lucy spent the day here. And the day before Ma, [my sister] Sarah & myself & all the children spent the day at [my sister] Mary Horton’s. Sadie says she is sorry papa is home all alone. They often talk about you & say they are going to tell papa this or that.

We have been having plenty of blackberries, which we have enjoyed. Some of the children are getting satisfied with blackberry pie. I have dried some to take back [with us to Kansas].

Owego has improved. It is a pretty place. The people too improve. I feel as if I had been in the back woods for a long time.

You ask what to do with the tomatoes. Would Mrs. Marble’s daughter put me up some in cans [in exchange] for some for herself? I hate to have them all go to waste. They will be good in winter. Our folks have the largest tomatoes I ever saw. They buy the plants. And their early cabbage will weigh ten or twelve pounds. They bought the plants. They have a nice garden. Peaches are $3.50 a bushel. The key to the bureau is in the upper drawer right in front of that tin can where you keep your papers. Do you know whether you can rent the house any longer or not? I want to go to Newfield [New York] after awhile [to visit but] cannot tell when. Hope you will keep well. Ever yours, -- Augusta

An Almanac for Augusta & September 1869
showing Augusta Goodrich's handwritten notes in the margins

[1] David C. Taylor was born April 15, 1841.

[2] David Taylor Griffing was born March 31, 1853.

[3] “Ella” or Helena A. Griffing was born July 9, 1849.

[4] George O. Stroup was married to Francis Goodrich (born September 1830). She was the daughter of Alanson Goodrich and Mary Ann Pixley. Francis and Augusta were first cousins. George was born in November 1828. He was a carpenter. He moved to Illinois in the 1850's, returned to New York during the Civil War, and then moved back to Illinois, settling in Aurora in 1869. In 1870, he lived in Ward 10 of Chicago, Cook County, and then by 1880 had moved to Sterling, Whiteside County, Illinois. Illinois death records suggest that he did not die until December 1945???

[5] Rev. James Chaplin Beecher, half-brother of Henry Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Rev. Beecher was a Colonel of the 35th Regiment Colored Infantry, a Black regiment, during the Civil War.