Letter by John Rittenhouse, July 17, 1867

Abstract

A letter written by John R. Rittenhouse, Jordan, to his cousin. The envelope is addressed to Polly Weiss, Hobbie, Luzerne County, PA and is postmarked Jordan JY 22 1867. The letter is 2 ½ pages and concerns the harvest and family news. He writes that “I am well and I hope that you are the same. I received your kind letter and I was glad to hear from you and I got your picture to. I will take good care of it…but I wish that you was here to and then you could see where I work. It is about 1.5 miles from Lake Ontario and it is about 50 rods from the railroad so I can see the cars every day and it is about 2.5 miles to the first station. We have our own hay all made and the man that I work for got thirty loads of hay and we commenced our harvest now and the fall wheat looks good and I think it is loaded pretty good. The cherries are ripe now and there are a great many cherries on this place. My father and mother were down here last Sunday they came down on Saturday evening and stayed until Monday and then they went home and they were all well then. It is about thirty miles up hill to where my father and mother lives…”. A reply by Elizabeth Rittenhouse is written on the last page. She writes to her cousin and states that “it is with pleasure that I sit down to let you know that I am well and hope that you are the same. I don’t know any news to write, I wish that you was here to help pick the cherries they had some that was almost as large as a plum. I have no time to write much for it is time to go to meeting so no more for the present. I send my best respect to you answer soon”. A related letter by John R. Rittenhouse to Polly Weiss of Luzerne County, PA, dated June 17, 1867 is in RG 628, Brock University Archives.