In this day and age, newspapers rarely print fiction. Of course, there is the occasional magical story written by a third grade class that appears every once a week in the Arts and Entertainment section of the paper, but for the most part, fictional stories of real substance are not published in newspapers anymore. This was not the case in the 1800's. Appearing in The Valley Star each week was...
Shermariah Church, the Presbyterian Church of Augusta County, Virginia lost a valuable member of their congregation when Mr. Adam Grove died suddenly and unexpectedly on February 24, 1842. Mr. Grove's spirituality transcended Shermariah into the educational realm in that he served as a professor of religion for 20 years. His religious beliefs manifested themselves in his charitable nature. He...
In 1842, The Signal of Liberty, a small newspaper associated with the Liberty Party of Michigan, published an article detailing the current state of agriculture in Michigan and the uncertainty surrounding its future. Tariffs and duties threatened the economic security of the wheat-producing states, and many feared that unless the farmers organized and acted their interests would be neglected...
B.F. Porter was an important individual around Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. Not only was he a practicing lawyer, but he owned a large crop of cotton and produced valuable gin. However, someone apparently had a problem with his extracurricular activities. On February 21, 1842, the Mobile Commercial Register reported that Mr. Porter's gin house, along with his entire cotton crop, went up in flames...
The Newbern Spectator published several articles about the new temperance movements starting up in New York, in Ireland, and in the Newbern area. It was a crusade for self-improvement and the industrial work ethic. One man from nearby Washington, N.C., only identified as 'A Free Drinker,' felt he had to speak up. In a letter to the editor, the writer reminded the reading public...
Virginia Senator William C. Rives did not agree with a measure recommended by the Virginia Legislature. At the time it was common understanding that federal senators should comply with instructions from legislatures because they were chosen by legislatures. Senator Rives stance against the legislature brought him criticism from the people of Virginia, most notably those of the Republican Party,...
When Natalie Delage fell ill in 1841, she found support in the community around her. The wife of Thomas Sumter Jr. kept a diary detailing the last year of her life on the plantation in Sumter District, South Carolina. She visited doctors in town, and doctors came to visit her. They prescribed all sorts of medicines: Castor oil salts, elixirs, chocolates, chicken broth, snake root, and creamor...
On January 7, 1842, Bennet Barrow went to town to get supplies in his Cab. When he left the cab, two friends, Amanda and Miss Crab of Tennessee, jumped in it and went off without Bonnets only to return one hour later from a nearby swamp. Amused, Barrow got in, turned the cab around, driving his friends to visit a Mrs. Wade. There he met up with six other friends. After piling his friends into two...
Officially, Gopher John was Major General McCall's interpreter, but during those long and informal nights on the Florida frontier, John was also his cook and friend. He was someone to talk to, and he cooked a yellow perch dish that really would have done honor to your cuisine at home. McCall and John were deep in the Florida wilderness, surrounding a fire in Wahoo Swamp, and the Major General...
"The times here are very hard" wrote James Henry Edmonds to his mother-in-law, Elizabeth Blackwell, in April 1842. James and his wife, Betsey Blackwell, had moved to Cooper County, Missouri in the late 1830s from Virginia, with Octavia, Betsey's sister, and her husband. James' letter in 1842 was one of several written by him, Betsey, and Octavia to the rest of the Blackwell family, who remained...