Gold Rush Era Letters

Pepperell Mar 1852

Dear Henry.

I receivd your letter of 29th. Feb. was happy to hear the prospect of your having a comfortable & pleasant voyage. Concerning your money think your plan of obtaining it from Mr. Walton a very good one I have called on Esq. Jewett immediately after I receivd he has a very favorable opinion of the matter says he will write Mr. H. Walton soon Mr. Tucker [Joseph A. Tucker] & I answered your first letters we receivd [received]; they did not reach N. Y. in time for you to get them & were returned sent back to us. You wished to know what was said about you

At first some of the Blakes imagind [imagined] you lived up in Mr. T's house. When they found out how the matter was Martha Ann was in a terrible stew -- She had enough to say -- She says "If Henry Parker had been of age & could have had the handling of his money he would not gone off he would have staid [stayed] home & married Lizza -- and he is not coming until he can have his money & do as he pleases & go where he pleases with Lizza & not be dictated he will have 7000 dollars when he is of age. His mother is not fit to be a woman" all of this the little nasty son gets off & much more

All they think of is money they care nothing about your person even that little dwarf of a Ferd. "Says he hopes Henry Parker will have Lizza for he he has got a lot of money & then he shall have some

Martha Ann says she is sure of you You have engaged to have Lizza & you cannot get away from it. Therefore if you are going to maintain the whole of that good for nothing extravagant tribe you must not return until you have draind [drained] California of gold & then if you should live a few years you will be an occupant of Mr Peacocks sky marlon

[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

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

Charles is right in saying "that if I had done as Mother wished -- conducted myself in a proper & becoming manner & staid [stayed] at home it would have been much better for me" but I did not choose to do so & "a thing once done cannot easily be undone" & now the only way I see to do is to "mend my ways" & do right for the time to come - & obey" Mothers wishes, & endeavor to atone for past conduct

I know of nothing to write you that will prove interesting although if I could only see you I suppose I could tell you "lots of news"

A young man from Nashua by the name of Barr, returns home by this Steamer having as I suppose "made his pile" but I begin to think that if I wait until I make "my pile" that I shall not see the good old town of Pepperell for a long time yet, still fortune may favor me when I least expect it this is my only hope

I should be very happy to return to P. & all you & all my friends & no doubt you would like to see me there again even if I had met with but "poor success" in the country, but I should be much better satisfied if I could return with the means to provide for myself instead of being dependent upon my friends for support -- so I shall keep up good spirits & remain here for the present & do my best to lay up something for the time of need, & I hope the time will come sooner or later when we shall all be permitted to meet again &

a good mining claim & what is still better 112 hens & chickens & five turkies [turkeys] which they intend to eat between now & spring. After relating the above I will leave you to guess whether or no they will not have a nice Thanksgiving dinner but after all I am afraid that I shall be unable to accept of their kind "invite" as it is quite a journey from here to Columbia "but I" hope they may have a nice dinner & enjoy it too, although I fear they will not enjoy themselves quite as well as they would do in P. were they there ---

You wrote that you should like to know if Henry Shipley was married in answer to which I can only say that last spring while on a visit here from Sacramento he said that he was to be married soon to a young lady & was then going across the plains to the States. A few weeks afterward I saw him again when he told me that soon after starting on his proposed trip his wife died & that he concluded to return back again -----

He exhibited no signs of grief, & did not wear mourning for here, which is all I can say of him.

Judging from his stories, he has made many quantity of money in this country & is in a fair way of making still more. Now you can judge for yourself, I understand that Pepperell folks think that Wm. E. Shipley has made himself rich out here & that now they want him to come home right away.

I rather think that if the truth were known that