Matilda Bartlett and Isaac Bealer Descendants

Reminiscing Through Old Writings (Actually written by Jobe Descendants)

Last modified 28 Oct 2007

Many of our family have left us a legacy of personal writings (Bible entries, diaries, letters, memoirs), which help us to visualize their daily lifes. We have attempted to collect as many of these letters as possible. By strolling downward, you may slowly linger over each one or quickly jump to a particuliar letter. Have a letter to post, please e-mail Freida Wells or myself, Ann Brown.

(In memory of our Jobe ancestors whose writings appear here.)

Writings

Written by Isaac Beeler to son, William Bealer (1869)

Isaac Beeler of Lee Co., Iowa to his son, William Bealer in Kansas Letter provided by Mary Ann Stringer

Mary writes: "This letter was written one year before William died, and three years before Isaac died. Isaac is a widower from his second marriage and raising his young son Abraham alone. This was not good because he clearly was not in good health and his memory was going. He does not remember that one of the twins mentioned in the letter had already died and was buried next to his wives. He also spelled his name Bealer - the only time I ever saw this. Matilda and children are mentioned in the letter along with almost every other Beeler sibling and where they were living in 1869."

Personal Note from Mary Ann Stringer

"This letter is a picture of the events in the life of farmer in Lee Co Iowa in 1869. While most of the topics discussed are not very earth shattering, they are the subjects that farmers would find important - family, land and crops. The gentleman (Mr Isaac Beeler) that wrote the letter was getting older, and even though he clearly was losing ground he kept on doing what he had done all his life - striving daily to do the best he could and praying for the help and grace of God."

(William - husband of Matilda Bartlett, d/o Isaac B. Bartlett and Nancy Jobe, gd/o Caleb Jobe and Sarah Pryor
gt gd/o Samuel Jobe and Dorcas MacKay/McKay)

Primrose Iowa February 1st 1869
"Most Dear and Affectionate Son
Your kind and welcome letter was this day received and read with the greatest of pleasure, it found me well as usual and I hope that this may find you and family the same.
You spoke about having a very warm but wet winter. Shutch has not been the case here. There has been some as cold weather here this winter as ever I felt. There was a snow fall about one foot deep the fare part of December but it nearly all melted off in about two weeks, since then the weather has been mild for this country.
Crops of all kinds was very good here last year, corn is only worth 20 cts per bushel, oats 35 cts per bushel wheat spring $1 to $1.10, fall $1.40 to $1.50, rye 95 ¢ per bushel, potatoes are scarce and high about $1 per bushel, the bugs eat the vines last summer so that the potatoes done no good.
Stock of all kinds bears a good price though not so high as it is with you.
You spoke about railroads there is one surveyed through my land from Burlington to Farmington it cropes the creek a little blow the old sand bank
Tues morning Tues 2nd
I will now tell you how I have been getting along since I wrote to last. I have been keeping house by myself the most of the time which was rather hard for one of my age to do, but I have been blessed with good health the most of the time. I had a good crop of apples and peaches but I was not able to tend to them for I had a gathering in my hand which kept me from work about six weeks rite in the time I ought to have been gathering my peaches and apples and then when I when my hand got so that I could work I mad me a bench about four feet high to gather apples on and when I was trying to get on it I fell and hurt my back, so that if you had been here and cut my head off I would never have knew it. That laid me up for about three weeks. I can plainly see I am failing my limbs gives out and fails me but my health is good. I got near about five hundred bushel of rent corn and I raised about forty bushels my self besides tending my garden though my garden was rather poor last year.
I have not got a very large lot of stock. I have only one cow and eleven head of hogs but one of them is sick with the I suppose cholary, and I have two live nice pigs and a lot of 32 chickens which constitutes my stock.
You speak about wanting to sell and going south and let me know how far south and in what part of the country you calculate to locate if you do sell.
I have been offering my farm for sale for two years but I have not had any bid yet. I hold at ten thousand dollars if I sell I will write to you come out and if my health is spared I want to go to a warmer climate.
Abraham is a smart boy but he is very mischievous he is well and harty he was five years old the 19th day of last July. He knows all the letters and can spell quite well in three and four letters. Now I will tell you about the rest of the family.
Samuel is living with Dave and is well as usual.
Wm Newton bought one of the bonnel ? farms for Thomas and he and Nancy are living with Tom they are all well as usual.
Dave he is living at the same old place and is doing very well he and family are all well.
Martha and children are all well, Seeley is doing about as he was when you lived here, Joseph he is living in Scotland County Missouri he is doing tolerable well they was all well the last I heard.
Jes and family are all well they have four children girls, the two last are twins. I would like to hear from Nancy J and her husband how they are getting along and what they are doing.
My best respects to Matilda and the children. I would like to see you all.
I make the Bible my daily companion and I hope you will do the same and that we may both profit by so doing.
			From your affectionate Father
			Isaac Bealer
It is snowing this morning very fast but is not cold please write again soon
			J.B."

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