Transcribed Letter from Noyes Latham Avery1 - Geni
Transcribed Letter from Noyes Latham Avery1 (1815-1901) to his son John Morgan Avery2 (1847-1873) Postmarked Grand Rapids MI, March 30, 1865 Mr. John M Avery East Hampton Mass Grand Rapids Mar 30/65 My Dear Boy Your letter of March 20th has been received. It was a very welcome letter. I am highly gratified with the improvement you have made in penmanship. [There] is not much of news to write you – you will have received the paper giving the sad news of Mr. Chamberlain’s3 death – we have no doubt he died for the want of propper care. It will kill his mother. Freddie4 has not been to school this week on account of a bad cold – we hope he will soon get over it. Mother5 is doing her own work now. Mary6 has gone home on a visit of two or three weeks – we had a letter from aunt annie7 yesterday – they are all well. I have not made any change in the office yet – cannot tell yet whether whether Mr. Lyon8 will leave permanently or not. One thing is very certain I cant get anyone to fill his place. You say you are willing to leave your school and come home and help me – that part of your letter gave me a great deal of satisfaction – not that I want you now – but your willingness to do – at present I do not want you to leave your school. I wish you to remain where you are for the present. Our state R.R. has not yet got to running – I understand they expect soon to have it. I think I told you that the Morgans9 and I had sold our interest in the Plaster Mill10 to Amos Rathbone11. He says Alfred12 is to have ¼ int in the property. Now that I have sold my interest in the Old Mill – I shall see if I have not got Plaster on my land Lying East of this property13 – when I bought it I supposed there was plaster on it. Now I shall find out for a certainty. If I should find it the purchase will prove to have been a good one. If I should not find any the land is worth more than I paid for it. How I wish Mother and I could come down and see you in June or July. The most pleasant part of Mothers visit or journey was from Albany to East Hampton Springfield and N York. In the summer we should enjoy it so much more. I hope some time we can visit Mass & come out in a pleasant season of the year I had a letter from Farmer last week – they were all well there We all send love to you -please remember me to your [ ] & [ ] – when you need much more money to pay Board & Tuition you must let me know what amount. You know I always look for one letter a week. How did you pass the examination Truly From Father N. L. Avery
Footnotes: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.
[Noyes Latham Avery (1815-1901)] [John Morgan Avery (1847-1873)] [unknown / researching] [Noyes Frederick Avery (1885-1925)] [Elizabeth Dougherty (1820-1875)] [Mary: unknown / researching] [Aunt Annie: unknown / researching] [Mr. Lyon: unknown / researching] [Morgans: probably a reference to Edwin Barber Morgan and his brothers associated though the enterprise E. B. Morgan & Co.] [Plaster Mill: see source below] [Amos Rathbone III (1808-1882) who was born in Scipio, Cayuga Co. NY and moved to Grand Rapids. He was a prominent citizen of the city. He is buried at Oakhill Cemetery in Grand Rapdis, MI] [Alfred: unknown / researching] [Property: researching]
Sources for Footnote 10 1841, the first mill was erected for working the gypsum deposits, by Warren Granger and Daniel Ball near the place where Plaster creek crosses the Grandville road. The land was owned by Mr. Degarmo Jones of Detroit, who had secured 80 acres of this land before 1838, and these men paid Jones rent in plaster delivered by water at Detroit. The mill was equipped with crude grinding apparatus and one run of stone operated by water power from the creek, and with a two barrel cauldron kettle with thick bottom. Under Mr. Rumsey's management, the next year, three cauldron kettles were set in an arch and fired with dry wood. The plaster was stirred by means of a stick with a spud at one end and was removed by shovelling out to one side after the first settling. The manufacture of calcined plaster was a very small part of the work, as most of the rock was ground for land plaster. For this purpose the stone was broken with a hammer and passed through an Indian mill or crusher and ground between mill stones. The land plaster was shipped down the river and around the lakes to Detroit, and from there sold to the neighboring territory. In order to call attention of the farmers of the vicinity to their work. Granger and Kail had posted, in conspicuous places, the following advertisement: PLASTER! PLASTER! The subscribers have now completed their Plaster Mill on Plaster Creek, two miles south of this place which is now in operation. They respectfully inform the public that they have on hand at the mill or at either of their stores at Ionia or this place a constant supply. As the quality of the Grand Rapids Plaster is not equalled by any in the United States, they hope to receive a share of peonage as the price is less than it can be obtained for at any place in Michigan. Wheat. Pork, and most kinds of produce received in payment. Granger & Ball Grand Rapids, December 21, 1841. The first week after the posting of this notice, 40 tons of plaster were sold at the mill at $4.00 per ton. In 1843, Ball sold his interest in the lease to Henry R. Williams, who was the first mayor of Grand Rapids. Mr. Williams started out in the winter with loads of plaster in a sleigh and traded it to the farmers for corn, and kept up this work until the farmers became familiar with use of plaster and soon the demand was beyond the supply and the price reached $5.50 a ton at the mill. In the winter of 1848-9 the mill was running night and day without equalling the demand, so that some teams coming 100 miles were forced to return without a load. In 1852, 60 tons of plaster were hauled every day south by teams, and that year the property passed into the hands of E. B. Morgan & Co., and later was bought by N. L. Avery & Co., the company including Sarell Wood and Benj. B. Church. They changed the water course and moved the mill across the road. This firm dissolved partnership in December, 1857, and was succeeded by Sarell Wood & Co., the company now including Barney Burton, who soon withdrew, and Chas. A. Todd and Abel Thompson took his place. Source: Geological Survey of Michigan: pt. 1. The delta of the St. Clair River By William Hittell Sherzer, Alfred Church Lane, Leon J. Cole, Charles Henry Gordon, p. 44-45 Sources for Footnote 11 AMOS RATHBONE (1808-1882), the third brother, caught "western fever" in 1834 and set off for Fountain County, Ind., where he opened a general store in Covington, the county seat. He also used the Rathbone spelling.
Amos operated his store in Indiana for several years, but visited Alfred in Grand Rapids and bought several lots there as an investment. In the spring of 1839, a letter from Alfred informed him that a shipload of groceries bound for Grand Rapids had been water-soaked and virtually ruined in a storm on Lake Michigan. The town's residents were desperately short of food, Seeing an opportunity for profit, Amos hired some young men, loaded a wagon with groceries and hauled it to Grand Rapids with teams of oxen, driving 50 head of cattle with them. He sold the entire lot, and returned to Indiana for more. He continued in this profitable trade until fall when he decided to make Grand Rapids his home. Amos went on to make a fortune and a successful political career in Grand Rapids. After he and his nephew, Gouverneur Rathbun, sold their general store, Amos turned to the lumbering business. Amos bought two sawmills north of Grand Rapids, and built a ship to carry his lumber to Chicago and other Great Lakes ports. A few years later, as the area's plentiful limestone deposits began to challenge wood as a building material, Amos returned to the grocery trade for a time, but then formed a company to enter the limestone business. In 1864, with several partners, he purchased an old "plaster mill" just south of the city, on 425 acres which covered gypsum beds some 12 feet thick, lying under 10 to 15 feet of soil. Amos invested profits from his limestone operation in Grand Rapids real estate, which escalated sharply in value. He bought property and built nine brick stores on Monroe Street, the city's main commercial thoroughfare. He was an early promoter of the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, which was to run directly through his plaster mill property and simplify his transportation problems. He was a large and early stockholder in the railroad. Amos was also one of the founders, and on the first board of directors, of the First National Bank, whose original capital of $50,000 rose to $500,000 within a few years. In civic affairs, Amos was equally active. In 1844, he helped organize the Grand Rapids Academy, the city's first institution of higher learning, and served on the board of trustees. He was elected city treasurer in 1847 and alderman in 1857. He also represented Grand Rapids on the Kent County Board of Supervisors. Amos died in 1882, aged 74, after spending his final years in retirement and living off the income of his many investments. He and his wife, Amanda Carver, had no children, and his $135,000 estate was left to nephews and nieces. Amos Rathbone's obituary described him as "a man of quick and keen perception ... not a perfect man, we haven't had any since Christ died, (but) ... there is left among us but very few of better stuff than Amos Rathbone." Unfortunately, brothers Amos Rathbone and Charles Rathbun became estranged in middle age. The two brothers did not speak to one another for the last decades of their lives. Family tradition says they quarreled over the spelling of their last name, but surviving letters indicate a more logical reason ---- Amos borrowed money from Charles to finance his early operations and apparently failed to repay it in full. The three brothers who played such important parts in the early history of Grand Rapids have only a few descendants in the area today and none with the Rathbun or Rathbone name. A bronze plaque marking the site of the Rathbun House was torn down a few years ago when a new building ---- the fourth ---- was erected on the property.
Footnotes: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.
[Noyes Latham Avery (1815-1901)] [John Morgan Avery (1847-1873)] [unknown / researching] [Noyes Frederick Avery (1885-1925)] [Elizabeth Dougherty (1820-1875)] [Mary: unknown / researching] [Aunt Annie: unknown / researching] [Mr. Lyon: unknown / researching] [Morgans: probably a reference to Edwin Barber Morgan and his brothers associated though the enterprise E. B. Morgan & Co.] [Plaster Mill: see source below] [Amos Rathbone III (1808-1882) who was born in Scipio, Cayuga Co. NY and moved to Grand Rapids. He was a prominent citizen of the city. He is buried at Oakhill Cemetery in Grand Rapdis, MI] [Alfred: unknown / researching] [Property: researching]
Sources for Footnote 10 1841, the first mill was erected for working the gypsum deposits, by Warren Granger and Daniel Ball near the place where Plaster creek crosses the Grandville road. The land was owned by Mr. Degarmo Jones of Detroit, who had secured 80 acres of this land before 1838, and these men paid Jones rent in plaster delivered by water at Detroit. The mill was equipped with crude grinding apparatus and one run of stone operated by water power from the creek, and with a two barrel cauldron kettle with thick bottom. Under Mr. Rumsey's management, the next year, three cauldron kettles were set in an arch and fired with dry wood. The plaster was stirred by means of a stick with a spud at one end and was removed by shovelling out to one side after the first settling. The manufacture of calcined plaster was a very small part of the work, as most of the rock was ground for land plaster. For this purpose the stone was broken with a hammer and passed through an Indian mill or crusher and ground between mill stones. The land plaster was shipped down the river and around the lakes to Detroit, and from there sold to the neighboring territory. In order to call attention of the farmers of the vicinity to their work. Granger and Kail had posted, in conspicuous places, the following advertisement: PLASTER! PLASTER! The subscribers have now completed their Plaster Mill on Plaster Creek, two miles south of this place which is now in operation. They respectfully inform the public that they have on hand at the mill or at either of their stores at Ionia or this place a constant supply. As the quality of the Grand Rapids Plaster is not equalled by any in the United States, they hope to receive a share of peonage as the price is less than it can be obtained for at any place in Michigan. Wheat. Pork, and most kinds of produce received in payment. Granger & Ball Grand Rapids, December 21, 1841. The first week after the posting of this notice, 40 tons of plaster were sold at the mill at $4.00 per ton. In 1843, Ball sold his interest in the lease to Henry R. Williams, who was the first mayor of Grand Rapids. Mr. Williams started out in the winter with loads of plaster in a sleigh and traded it to the farmers for corn, and kept up this work until the farmers became familiar with use of plaster and soon the demand was beyond the supply and the price reached $5.50 a ton at the mill. In the winter of 1848-9 the mill was running night and day without equalling the demand, so that some teams coming 100 miles were forced to return without a load. In 1852, 60 tons of plaster were hauled every day south by teams, and that year the property passed into the hands of E. B. Morgan & Co., and later was bought by N. L. Avery & Co., the company including Sarell Wood and Benj. B. Church. They changed the water course and moved the mill across the road. This firm dissolved partnership in December, 1857, and was succeeded by Sarell Wood & Co., the company now including Barney Burton, who soon withdrew, and Chas. A. Todd and Abel Thompson took his place. Source: Geological Survey of Michigan: pt. 1. The delta of the St. Clair River By William Hittell Sherzer, Alfred Church Lane, Leon J. Cole, Charles Henry Gordon, p. 44-45 Sources for Footnote 11 AMOS RATHBONE (1808-1882), the third brother, caught "western fever" in 1834 and set off for Fountain County, Ind., where he opened a general store in Covington, the county seat. He also used the Rathbone spelling.
Amos operated his store in Indiana for several years, but visited Alfred in Grand Rapids and bought several lots there as an investment. In the spring of 1839, a letter from Alfred informed him that a shipload of groceries bound for Grand Rapids had been water-soaked and virtually ruined in a storm on Lake Michigan. The town's residents were desperately short of food, Seeing an opportunity for profit, Amos hired some young men, loaded a wagon with groceries and hauled it to Grand Rapids with teams of oxen, driving 50 head of cattle with them. He sold the entire lot, and returned to Indiana for more. He continued in this profitable trade until fall when he decided to make Grand Rapids his home. Amos went on to make a fortune and a successful political career in Grand Rapids. After he and his nephew, Gouverneur Rathbun, sold their general store, Amos turned to the lumbering business. Amos bought two sawmills north of Grand Rapids, and built a ship to carry his lumber to Chicago and other Great Lakes ports. A few years later, as the area's plentiful limestone deposits began to challenge wood as a building material, Amos returned to the grocery trade for a time, but then formed a company to enter the limestone business. In 1864, with several partners, he purchased an old "plaster mill" just south of the city, on 425 acres which covered gypsum beds some 12 feet thick, lying under 10 to 15 feet of soil. Amos invested profits from his limestone operation in Grand Rapids real estate, which escalated sharply in value. He bought property and built nine brick stores on Monroe Street, the city's main commercial thoroughfare. He was an early promoter of the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, which was to run directly through his plaster mill property and simplify his transportation problems. He was a large and early stockholder in the railroad. Amos was also one of the founders, and on the first board of directors, of the First National Bank, whose original capital of $50,000 rose to $500,000 within a few years. In civic affairs, Amos was equally active. In 1844, he helped organize the Grand Rapids Academy, the city's first institution of higher learning, and served on the board of trustees. He was elected city treasurer in 1847 and alderman in 1857. He also represented Grand Rapids on the Kent County Board of Supervisors. Amos died in 1882, aged 74, after spending his final years in retirement and living off the income of his many investments. He and his wife, Amanda Carver, had no children, and his $135,000 estate was left to nephews and nieces. Amos Rathbone's obituary described him as "a man of quick and keen perception ... not a perfect man, we haven't had any since Christ died, (but) ... there is left among us but very few of better stuff than Amos Rathbone." Unfortunately, brothers Amos Rathbone and Charles Rathbun became estranged in middle age. The two brothers did not speak to one another for the last decades of their lives. Family tradition says they quarreled over the spelling of their last name, but surviving letters indicate a more logical reason ---- Amos borrowed money from Charles to finance his early operations and apparently failed to repay it in full. The three brothers who played such important parts in the early history of Grand Rapids have only a few descendants in the area today and none with the Rathbun or Rathbone name. A bronze plaque marking the site of the Rathbun House was torn down a few years ago when a new building ---- the fourth ---- was erected on the property.
