30
make a difference. How it may turn out writes poor
Mary Anne I don t know, but I feel very much troubled in mind
They have not thrashed their wheat yet, the boys have twenty
acres of corn to pick which they planted on shores with another
person, Fred is away at Odell, to get a job if possible, so
as to make a few dollars, to buy some groceries, and with thanks
for my kind offer the letter closes. George Bolton s affords
particulars as to the expectations and intentions with which he
came to Canada. With the concurrence of his parents he consul-
ted a lawyer as to the practicality of raising 300 or 400
by mortgaging his share of the estate. This he found he could
do if his father would covenant to pay the interest on it, supposing
George should die before him, or omit to pay the same. This
they the Neithrop folks in general professed themselves willing
to do, provided George could find a good investment. All
this took place just on the eve of his quitting home. In his
last letter he informed them that land was coming down in
price and that in twelve months he might find a good bargain.
Upon which (he writes) I am told that William ignored, at once,
Father s doing anything by way of giving security, that
Mother stormed, and Father concluded, very logically, that if
he did it for me the others might claim the same favor there-
fore he would do it for neither. George comments bitterly on
this and with justice their love not being worth risking
the bare possibility of having to pay 15 a year. William,
he thinks, has his eye on the farm, means to stay at home
and grow rich, while we go abroad and grow poor, and
thus, someday, be compelled to sell what he will be happy to
buy. Furthermore George declares he will not return
Page |
Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Nine: page thirty-nine |
Description: | Describes letters received from George Bolton and his half-sister Mary Anne Greatbatch. |
Date: | 1857-12-15 |
Subject: | Bolton, George; Bolton, Henry; Bolton, Mary; Bolton, William; Greatbatch, Edward (Bristol); Greatbatch, Fred (Bristol); Greatbatch, Mary Anne; Gunn, Thomas Butler |
Coverage (City/State): | [New York, New York] |
Scan Date: | 2011-02-02 |
Volume |
Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Nine |
Description: | Includes descriptions of boardinghouse living, a picnic at Hoboken with other New York artists and journalists, his drawing and writing work in New York, attending a lecture by Lola Montez, visits to James Parton and Fanny Fern and the Edwards family, a controversy over Fitz James O'Brien's story ''The Diamond Lens,'' artist Sol Eytinge's relationship with writer Allie Vernon, the suicide of writer Henry William Herbert, antics of the New York Bohemians, the interest of people living in his boarding house in spiritualism, a visit to his friend George Bolton's farm in Canada, a visit to Niagara Falls, and a scandal involving Harbormaster Willis Patten, who lives in his boarding house. |
Subject: | Boardinghouses; Bohemians; Farms; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Publishers and publishing; Suicide; Travel; Women |
Coverage (City/State): | New York, New York; Rochester, New York; Elmira, New York; Paris, Ontario, Canada |
Note: | Thomas Butler Gunn was born February 15, 1826, in Banbury, England, and came to New York in 1849. During the Civil War he worked as a correspondent for the New York Tribune and the New York Evening Post. He returned to England in 1863, and died in Birmingham in April 1903. The collection includes twenty-one volumes of his diaries, including newspaper clippings, letters, photographs, sketches, and various other items inserted by Gunn. Diary entries date from July 7, 1849, to April 7, 1863, and include his experiences with the New York publishing and literary world, his descriptions of boarding houses, his travels throughout the United States, and his experiences traveling with the Federal army as a Civil War correspondent. |
Publisher: | Missouri History Museum |
Rights: | Copyright 2011 Missouri History Museum. |
Source: | Page images, transcriptions, and metadata of the Thomas Butler Gunn diaries have been provided by the Missouri History Museum. |