Presented by Dave Hunt on May 8, 1998 The following are transcripts of letters obtained from my mother, Bertha Franklin (Tarbox) Hunt, transcribed from the originals by Louise (Hunt) Staples, sent by John Robert Hunt (born Jan 23, 1828 - Halifax, NS, CD, died Oct 2, 1867 - Lynn, Essex, MA, USA) to his mother, (Margaret Stuart), brother, and Father(John Hunt, born Jan 6, 1804 - Halifax, NS, CD - died Jun 6, 1882, Lynn, Essex, MA: LETTER # 1 Saco, (ME) Mar 3, 1850 Dear Mother, Not having received an answer to my last letter I again take up my pen under the impression you have not received it. After remaining in Portland about a fortnight I left for Saco, a place 15 miles distant. It is a small place containing about 2 thousand inhabitants. There are a number of factorys here employing over two thousand females. I came down from Portland in the cars. I found it very pleasant. We came down in about an hour. My ticket cost me .65 cents. Shoemaking has been very dull this winter, but is improving now. Shoemakers in this country earn from 5 to 9 dollars per week but I have not been able to earn so much as yet. The shops I have worked in were first class shops and my work will not draw full price until I improve a little. I think it is better to stick to the good shops till I get my trade perfect and then I will always be shure of employment. The price of work is as follows Men's thin boots sowed 2 dollars, paged 1 1/4 doll. thick boots sowed 1 1/2 doll paged 1 doll. womans thick shoes paged 25 to 30 cents sowed- - - 40 to 50 cents spring. 30 cents - - - 12 cents for common ones 20 cents for good ones. Board is cheaper here than it is in Portland I could get board in a private family as good as any I could get in Guysborough for 1 dollar and 3/4 but I prefer paying 2 dollars for the house I am in. So far I have not been disappointed in the United States. I find things much as I anticipated. The people seem to be more friendly than they are in Nova Scotia and not so proud. I like Saco bett er than i do Guysborough yet it is not because I attend any places of amusement for I have not been in a theater as yet nor do not intend to go. I have been to two Lectures on psicology or electrobiology, a science related to mesmerism. I do not think I shall go back to Nova Scotia to live. I shall go back to see you if you remain there but I am in hopes that I shall be able to write for Father to come on through the summer for I think you could make a much better living here than you can in Guysborough. Father and James after they got used to the work here would earn from 9 to twelve dollars a week and bonnet making is a money making business here. I generaly (sic) attend the Calvinist Baptist meeting 2 or 3 times of a Sunday. I can hardly account for it (I attended there meetings so little at home) but that denomination seems nearer home than any other when I get in a strange place. I should have thought the methodists would. I have been introduced to the baptist minister here and he has invited me to call at his house but I have not gone as yet. I have not seen any yet that I was acquainted with in Guysboro. I enjouy very good health so far. I wish you to remember me to Mr. and Mrs. Fraser and Mr. Lemuel Scott and any person who may inquire about me. Give my love to father to the boys to Annie and kifs her for me and tell her when thoughts of home steal into my mind she often comes first. Give my love to Maria and tell her I hope she is a good girl. I remain your affectionate son, John LETTER # 2 Dear Brother, You need not be the least alarmed about any of the 2000 Saco factory girls stealing my hart or preventing me from going home when I wish to do so. I have not seen that yankee girl you speak of as yet or if I have I do not know it. When I do I will let you know. Walking along the street the other night in company with Grover who should slip up to us but Richard Scott. He has grown so much I scarcely recognized him. He has altered a good deal for the better I think. He received your letter and thought a good deal of it. He is going home in the fall to see his mother as he promised her he would do so. Charles Graham was at Gloscester last fall he is a drunken worthless rowdie, disliked by everybody. Thomas Cutter was there he is as worthless as ever and was so bad with a verry respectable disease that his face was broken out. John Knowles is there. As I have not been there of course you will know I received it second hand. I also heard and I think it not improbable that Moses got so drunk he had to be carried to bed. Abigail Scott is at West parrish and is as steady as ever. I do not know where Joseph is but the last I heard of him he was as staunch a Christian as ever. You want to know how many pairs I can make in a day 9 pairs is the most I have made as yet 4 pair and a shoe was all I could make at first. I will advance both in number of pairs and in price of making. I can earn from 6 to 7 dollars a week quite easily. I work on sowed work and do not intend to work on paged work any more. Give my love to Maria and to Anna and the boys and all my friends. Your affectionate Brother, John LETTER # 3 May 26, 1850 Dear Father, Through friends in Portland and Saco your letters of Feb. 11 and Mar 18 have come to hand and I now sit down to answer them. There is quite a difference in the tone of the two letters. the puting to rest in some measure the uneasinefs caused by the other. I am verry glad that prospects are somewhat brighter than they were in Guysborough and I hope that you will be enabled to do well there. Though naturally a little selfish and having a firm determination to accumulate enough of the world's goods to render me what is commonly called independent you will believe me when I say there is nothing dearer to me than your welfare, therefore should your circumstances at any time become straitened, a knowledge of it will bring me to your side with what ever little means I may be enabled to controul. Should things go backward with you at Guysborough my advice to you is to dispose of your property before it is all together sunk and come on to Linn for you could get a good living here and get your children schooled for nothing. Grover would never go back to Guysborough were it not for his wife and property. Since he has been here he has earned from 9 to 12 dollars a week and one week he earned 13. He averages about 11 dollars a week. The first week I came here I earned nothing, the next 4 dollars and since that it has been increasing. Last week I earned 7 dollars and 20 cents. Through the summer I expect to be able to earn from 7 to 9 a week. I have been working on Mifses Gaiter boots and slippers at 16 cents and make from 6 to 9 pairs a day. Grover is a match for most any of the yankee workmen he was racing with a Yankee last week and made 21 pairs of 20 cent gaiter shoes in 16 hours. The man he was racing with made 15 pairs of gaiter boots at 25 cents. Since I have been in Linn I have not had much time to devote to reading and study. At present I am reading Combs Physiology for the future I intend to devote more of my time to reading and improving my mind. Dear Father you speak of an apish bashfulnefs to look our superiors in the face. I know of no superiors but those who are my superiors in moral integrity, talent, and education and those no man need be ashamed to look in the face. One reason why I left Guysborough was because I could not bear the aristocratic airs and disgusting pride of people who were my superiors in nothing but immorality, vain pride and rogurey. With regard to seeking after fame and honours I think of all empty bubbles they are the emptyest and bring least happinefs to those who win them. Though not devoid of ambition and a desire to win them, I must say my real sentiments with regard to them are embroidered in those lines of Goldsmith's With secret course, which no loud storms annoy Glides the smooth current of domestic joy The lifted axe, the agonizing wheel Luke's iron crown, and Damien's bed of steel To men remote from power, but rarely known Leave reason, faith and conscience, all our own. I remain your affectionate son, John LETTER # 4 Dear Mother, I suppose you begin to think I am getting careless about writing but it is not so, Grover told his wife when she wrote home to let you know that I was here and well. I also wrote to James Gruber since I received your letters and told him to let you know I had written to him, the postage is too high for you to receive or send letters very often. I see by the back of your letters you have to pay 1/4 for each letter I only have to pay 10 cents. I have enjoyed verry good health since I left home I have not been sick for one day. You will see by the date of this letter if it is correct that I am writing on Sunday. I should have been in meeting this morning but it is too wet to go out. I have taken a seat in the Baptist meeting house here at 84 cents a quarter. I find the Baptist people here verry - - - -(clever - I believe it is) their minister is a verry sociable man. Dear Mother you overrate the temptations to be encountered in a city. I find no more temptations where I am now than I did in Guysborough. I live in a part of Linn called Gravesend it is not as large as Guysborough it is about 3/4 of a mile from the central part of the city. I have got a verry good boarding Place: I board at Thomas Vickery's. Mrs. Vickery came in to my room as I was writin and told me to send her regards to you and tell you she would take as good care of me as she could. I have found the people verry friendly in every place I have been in they were sorry to part with me both in Portland and Saco. I have written so much to Father I have not got much to say. I shall ever conclude myself your affectionate son, John