| Title: | [Letter] 1856 Dec[ember] 16, Washington [to] Charles Kennedy, Waterford, Pa. / Asa Packer. |
| Personal Author: | Packer, Asa, 1805-1879. |
| Date: | 1856 December 16. |
| Extent: | [1] leaf. |
| Dimensions: | 26 X 20 cm. folded to 13 X 20 cm. |
| General Note: | For more information on the Packer family and their involvement with the Lehigh Valley Railroad and Lehigh University, see also the Asa Packer Mansion Museum (http://asapackermansionmuseum.homestead.com/). See also additional letters and ephemera in the collection from Packer. |
| Abstract: | Packer thanks Kennedy for his letter and says he has received his petition. He mentions having filed something "with my endorsement upon it." Packer ends the letter by saying that though he does not know what will be decided, he thinks does "not believe that they will decide against you." Asa Packer was a captain of industry who built the Lehigh Valley Railroad and controlled a coal-mining empire in the mountains of eastern Pennsylvania. He also founded Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA in 1865. Born from humble beginnings, Packer became the third-wealthiest man in the United States, beginning his career in the canal industry and then branching out to railroads. He was a member of the Pennsylvania State legislature and a served two terms in Congress; he vied unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency as well as for the governorship of Pennsylvania. He died in 1879 after a fall in his Philadelphia office. |
| Personal Subject: | Packer, Asa, 1805-1879--Correspondence. |
| Geographical Subject: | Lehigh River Valley (Pa.). |
| Recipient: | Kennedy, Charles. |
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