Gold Rush Letters of Henry A. Parker

say that after working a month for Shipley living during the time on nothing at all scarcely. I came across an acquaintance of mine from Boston who owned this Meat Stall & as he was in want of a Bookkeeper he proposed to me to work for him a few days which I agreed to do & after working three days I bought in with him & we do the business in this way. He does all the buying & selling & I take all the charge of the Books pay & collect all bills &c & I have a very comfortable & easy time of it & I now live first rate but whether I shall make money out of the operation or not time must decide.. at any rate I mean to keep enough by me to get me home at any time & so long as I have enough for that & continue to enjoy good health, I shall not borrow trouble, certainly not as long as I continue to hear good news from you all.

Last night it commenced raining for the first time for nearly six months & it has continued to rain throughout the day today & as it came unexpectedly but few had made preparation for it cosequently [consequently] it came down through some of the houses in torrents. It will now rain here probably most of the time for four or five months during which time it will be muddy & sloppy enough. Mud & water in winter & Fleas, dust, sand & Fog in Summer. This forms the delightful & beautiful climate of San Francisco or California.

Dear Mother it is now getting late & I will now bid you Good Night & retire to bed & finish my letter between now & Monday next when the mail leaves for the Atlantic States.

Saturday Eve. Oct 301th

Am well as usual & in good spirits. Have just returned from my days labor & thought I could improve a few

moments before retiring to bed no better than writing you

I wish when you write me again after receipt of this letter that you would write me a little about the situation of my property, the amounts & any information you can give me about it, I shall most thankfully recieve [receive]. You need not however make any inquiries about the matter but merely write me what you know about it yourself, as I do not wish to have some of the Pepperell folks know about my business. If they know I am agoing to have $7000. & am obliged to get married & cant back out of it no how &c? If they know all this (as they pretend to) they know enough, at least as much as I intend they shall know Anything you wish to know about my business or habits I should be happy & willing to write you about, but wish it to be kept in the family.

As I may not have time to write to Esq. Jewette [Esq. C. Jewett] I wish you would say to him that I recieved [received] a draft from him through H. A. Walton of N.Y. on Miss Turnbull & Walton & shall draw the money & send him a draft payable to H. A. Walton on the 20th Dec or 90 days after date of his last letter.

I see Samuel Tucker every day & I think he is gaining health & strength quite rapidly & I think if he is careful he will get quite smart again but I think he will never enjoy so good health here as he did at home & I should not think it strange if he returned to Pepperell next Spring. As I have nearly filled my sheet will close after wishing you to remember me to all my friends & to give my love to Chas. & Hattie to whom I shall write if I have time

[written vertically in the left margin] "That I may yet be a comfort & blessing to you all" is the sincere wish of [written vertically across the horizontal text of the letter] Your affct [affectionate] Son H. A. Parker [Henry A. Parker]

[written upside down on top edge:] P.S. Monday Evening Nov 15 Am well. Mail closes soon. Good Night.

Your Son H. A. Parker [Henry A. Parker]

Saturday Eve Nov 13th 1852, San Francisco

My Dear Mother

Your kind letter dated at Pepperell Sept 31st was received last Sunday morning & I was happy to hear that you were all well at the time you wrote & I hope you still continue to enjoy health and happiness. I have thus far received from you five letters since my arrival in California, dated at Pepperell May 18th Aug 18th Aug 31st Sept 12th & Sept 31st, all of which I have read & reread with great pleasure, & I hope I shall continue to recieve letters from you by every mail from the Atlantic States.

I still continue to enjoy the best of health as usual & hope I shall do so as long as I remain in this country, for to be sick at home among friends is bad enough but to be sick in a strange land among Strangers is doubly worse & as you say if I lose my health I lose everything therefore I shall endeavor to retain it. Since I last wrote you I have been pretty busy my business requiring me to be on hand from about 5. O'clock A.M. until 6 Oclock P.M. but as my work is light & I live well &C [etc.] I think I ought not to complain so long as I remain away from home & friends which I hope will not always be. It is now nearly nine months since I left home & a longer time than I was ever away before & I can hardly realize that I have been through what I have since I left the good old town of Pepperell but should I be allowed the privelege [privilege] of again meeting you all & finding you all the same as when I left I shall be

satisfied & I think contented to remain at home, as had I done as I ought I should probably have been there at the present time but I hope everything will yet turn out for the best. Since I commenced writing this letter I have received a call from Sam Tucker [Samuel P. Tucker]. He is quite smart this evening much more so than any time before since he returned from the mines. He is at work for Wm Shipley [William Shipley] having been with him nearly a fortnight but how long he will stay I do not know.

He intends writing his mother & Augustus tomorrow.

He was sorry to hear of the illness of his mother but we hope she is now better. Sam was anxious to receive a letter from Augustus or some of his folks but failed to do so but now thinks he shall do so by next mail which will probably arrive here in the course of a week. As I am growing sleepy & was thinking about going to bed I happened to think of the pair of blankets you gave me just befor [before] I left home & which I value very highly as they have done me a great deal of good.

While doubling Cape Horn I found them very serviceable as the weather was very cold. & the ship was but scantily supplied with extra bedding. Then when I went into the country I used them for both bed & bedding as I had nothing else then when Fisk & I fitted up our store we partitioned off a little corner of it for a sleeping room & put up three berths one above the other. Got some palm leaf mattresses & I then made the blankets again answer for bed clothes. After we sold out the store I went and stopped with Mr John Keep a fortnight as he kindly invited me to do so & as Sam T. [Samuel P. Tucker] & his brother Wm Keep [William Keep] were stopping with him too we enjoyed ourselves very well & when they left for the mines he refused to take

a single cent for my board & lodging for the whole fortnight but said he would board it out with one when he meets me in Pepperell. For a few days after they left I missed them very much & felt rather lonely, still I was better satisfied to remain behind as I did not think I should be able to do any thig [thing] at the mines. & since Sam has returned I feel thankful that I did not go for no doubt had I gone I should have been sick.

But to come again to the blankets my best friend After they left for the mines I went to the store that I sold out and made arrangements to sleep there the same as I used to do as I sold my bed reserving nothing but my blankets which I would not part with on any consideration whatever. Since that time the last of Sept. they have again served me for bedding & probably will continue to do so for the present & as it is now gitting [getting] late I will once more crawl into them hoping that you & I Brother & Sister will enjoy a good nights repose have pleasant dreams & rise tomorrow morning in good health. Good Night HAP.

14th Sunday 1/2 first 2 Oclock [O'clock] P.M. A dull rainy day. Am well & have just returned to my lodgings from my work at the market, where I have been through the day

How much pleasanter would it be to be at home with you & to help you eat your Sunday dinner which I know is nice & which to me would be a feast. Would it not be pleasant to seat ourselves once more around the table & partake of those dainties which it was your pleasure to serve up to us children? How often do I think of the comforts of home while now denied them. The value of which I never appreciated while enjoying them, but I must now content myself with letters which I hope to recieve [receive] from you often