The Fassett Letters - Letter #9
One
sheet of blue paper 7½ x 9½"
Date: 12/6/1852
Place:
Placerville
From: Ann
To: Mother
Placerville
Dec 6th 1852.
Dear
Mother
When I wrote to you in Sept, I little thought my next
would be dated in Dec, I waited till the last of Oct. without writing
to let you
know what we decided upon doing this winter. Just as I was ready to
write
I was taken with the chill & fever. I took some pills &
bitters & thought I would
get better (quinine was so high I tried to do without only 12
½ cents a grain.)
but kept getting worse till it was a fever. then Parker got some blue
mass,
& quinine, that helped me but my mouth became very sore all at
once. Parker
& Chittenden said I was salivated but it proved to be just a
sore mouth as
Parker had for about 2 months after we came here. It was swelled under
my
jaws in large lumps & one cheek was swelled some time. inside
it was a perfect
canker. my gums were white all around my teeth. I was afraid I would
lose
all my teeth. it hurt me very much to speak and was very painful. I had
no
doctor at all. Parker made a wash of citrate of silver for me. It took
off chunks
of flesh every time I used it. It is not quite well yet but I am well
enough
to do the cooking & help P. wash. I wrote to you that we talked
of buying
here. They bought a frame, finished it off for a dwelling house
& shop &
were going to have a grocery or provision store connected with the meat
shop.
I was to bake & we would keep bread, pies, & cakes for
sale (a very profitable
business here. by buying at the city the materials only cost about 12
½ cents a pie & they sell at 50 & sell 20
& 50 per day.) Chit went down to Brown’s
the day after I was taken sick, got 400 dollars for a yoke of oxen
& our
waggon, came back to Sacramento, bought 300 dollars worth of groceries
& a very nice cooking stove for me to bake pies in for 65
dollars. This
was Saturday he knew I was sick. Guy was quite sick & Parker to
tend the shop,
make about 50 lbs of sausage every day, take care of us & do
the work, so
he came home Sunday. We are 50 miles from the city & everything
must be
hauled from there. he wanted to send Monday but waited till Tuesday for
a
man that owed them to go, & Tuesday night Sacramento burnt up
& with it all
our little fortune. If the team had started Monday it would have got
there and
got loaded Tuesday afternoon and the goods would have doubled the money
in 2 weeks. Their beef was brought to them every night (half a beef.)
but
it would not pay a for spending all their time so when the grocery
business
failed they gave up the shop, & last week they commenced mining
for
a living. They did not make their board, but to day they have gone to a
new
claim in hopes to do better. they stay all day & Dwight carries
their dinner.
they are now 2 mile from here, last week they were 1 ½. in a
grocery here
they keep all kinds of family supplies including flour, meat, pork, all
kinds
of vegetables &c. The season so far has been very wet the rains
set in the
first of Nov. & the roads are very bad. hauling is 10 cents per
pound, flour 30
cts per lb, salt pork 40, fresh 50, beef a 5 £ 30, potatoes
14 cts per pound, meal
17, &c. milk 2 dollars per gallon and so on. As I sit here
facing my window
I can look up to the top pane of glass & see the top of a hill
or mountain
with green grass springing up all over it. Parker has seen 2 or 3
gardens
lately with vegetables just up out of the ground. Parker & Chit
are very
healthy. P. weighs 142, & C. 146. the children are very well.
Clara has grown
so much Parker says you would not know her. They talk about you all
every
day, & Dwight says if he would go to Grandpa’s now
Grandma would give
him some bread and milk (a very great rarity here) and some apples. (do
run
in with a big bellflower for me, I dont see an apple here.) We are
looking for
a letter all the time, have had only 2 July & August. Chit
thinks you dont write
so he is spunky & wont write to you. I have scolded him
& said all I could
but I cant make him write. You may depend on my writing all I can
whether
I hear from you or not as I know you will & do write. I should
be glad
to write many things about our trip here but cannot get time. I think
our present
prospects will interest you most now & that is why I write so
many little
particulars. I live about as near Mary Ann as you do to Mr. Britell but
have
not been well enough to go there since Oct. she comes here often as she
can, the last time, came in the morning with the children &
stayed all day.
She treats me like a sister, says she knows she never was so glad in
her life
as she was to see me come. they are all well. I take lots of comfort
visiting with
her. many thanks to Miss Sarah for her long letter. would be glad to
answer
it but pressing business demands my attention. Mother dont
scold because
I dont fill a sheet, I am very tired writing this much. You must not be
uneasy
if you dont hear often for Parker & Chit will write if there is
anything serious
the matter. write often & long all of you. Much love to Father,
Mother,
& all.
In
haste. Ann,
[The
following is written upside down at the top of the first page.]
Jane
wished her letter would find me in the wash tub but it found me in bed
with a high fever, but I would and did read it though my head as if it
would split. Chit brought it when he was down Oct 31st. Direct your
letters here this winter at least.
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