On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
that they are members of the Society of Friends . T . H . JANSON . " English Prairie , Illinois , July IS , 1819-"MydearAdnt , " I feel much pleasure in addressingthee for the first time from this far distant laud , or wilderness , as some of our friends doubtless imagine this place to be , but which , even at this early period , does not seem its proper appellation : we are , indeed , living in a log cabin , but nevertheless we are surrounded by agreeable and intelligent neighbours , who are situated
like ourselves , and we have a much more agreeable society than when we lived at Banstead . This is a delightful country ! displaying rather the mild beauties of nature than any bold and romantic features . Accustomed as we are to see timbered land , we have not yet lost our taste for woodland scenery , and the prairies exhibit a fine space of open country , diversified with clumps of fine trees and deJightful slopes : we have no river within view , which we do not much regret , as the neighbourhood of large rivers is almost invariably unhealthy , and
which we understand is the case at present in many places on the banks of the Ohio . It seems a matter of regret that so great a barrier should hinder settlers from choosing
residences on the shores of that grand and delightful river , which , though not nearly so large as the Mississippi , I much prefer , from the superior beauty of its banks . Tins place is considered remarkably
salubriousthere has been very little illness here , and we have all enjoyed excellent health since we arrived , considering the long journey we had gone through —my dear mother ' s health is , upon the whole , improved since she left England .
" You have , doubtless , heard many accounts of tfofe progress we have made towards settling ; it is not quite decided where our final abode will be fix « d , It is most probable that rny father and mother will reside at this place , where we have a cabin of our own and another rented one , but hope before winter arrives we shall have erected a convenient frame-house . This kind of building seems generally
Untitled Article
preferred on account of the great facility-of erecting them , though brick is easily procured for chimnies , &u \ Morris Birkbeck has nearly finished a large and commodious mansion of this kind , and we hope it will be completed in a few weeks , fit to
receive his daughters , who have been absent almost ever since we arrived here 9 on a visit to their friends in Kentucky and Cincinnati . We shall be glad to see them return , as they arc very amiable and interesting girls , and we promise ourselves much pleasure from their society . Their father
appears to feel their Joss very much ; he has only his youngest son Charles at home with him , a very clever and ingenuous lad : we see a good deal of him and his father , as they live only about the third of a mile from us . and
we much value the privilege of conversing frequently with so superior a man as M . 15 . Such energy of niiu <] , depth of understanding , and elegance of manners , 1 should think were seldom united .
** I he summer is certainly hotter here than in England , and we sometimes experience a day or two of very sultry weather , but in general the heat is not at all oppressive , for the warmth occasioned bva more fervid mJ
sun is alleviated by a refreshing breeze , which is particularly delightful on the prairies . All kinds of melons ripen here without any other care than just digging the ground and sowing the seed ; we have a great many of different kinds , which are growing most luxuriantly , and expect to gather
some in a few days . Grape vines spring up in the woods spontaneously , but the fruit is small and acid , yet might , doubtless , be much improved by cultivation—we mean to cultivate all that spring up in our garden , with some care . It is thought that this would be a fine country for vineyards . At that celebrated little town
Harmonie , they have planted European vines , and already make excellent wine . It is a great advantage to this settlement to have such industrious neighbours , from whom to procure
many of the luxuries of life ; but we shall principally be indebted to them for their skill in gardening , » s from them we shall procure all the fruits that we were accustomed to in our native land * Mv father has paid them
Untitled Article
690 Extracts of Letters from the Illinois .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1819, page 690, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1778/page/38/
-