Manuscript Database
Creator/Title
Stow family. Papers, 1820-1923. 6 cu. ft.
Call No.
Mss. A S891 / 31-35, 55-57, 60-62, 80, 108-109, 128-131, 135-136, 138, 141, 144, 157, 181, 197-227
Content
This collection centers on several generations of the Stow family, Methodists and farmers in Switzerland County, Indiana in the 19th century. Several generations of the Stow family farmed in Switzerland County, Indiana and agricultural work is often commented upon in their correspondence and diaries. In correspondence dating from May 1868 through June 1870, Edward Manser frequently discusses hay shipments sent to Covington, Kentucky from his uncle Uzziel Stow's Indiana farm, commenting on things such as the quality of hay received, current prices, and accounting concerns (31-35). Uzziel Stow discusses the health of his crops and cattle, local weather conditions, and pressing hay to sell at market in Covington, Kentucky (55). The correspondence of Catharine Stow, Uzziel's wife, also sometimes mentions farm work and harvesting various crops (56). Shelomith Stow wrote two letters in 1843 while visiting his brother in LaPorte, Indiana; the letters contain comparisons of LaPorte's agricultural land and crop yields to those in his hometown of Switzerland County (57). Several letters written to Uzziel Stow from George McCulloch, George Hastie, Joseph Porter, and Alfred Hones regard the shipment and sale of hay produced on Uzziel's farms (60-62). Baron Stow's correspondence from 1858-1859 frequently mentions tasks on his father Uzziel Stow's farm (80). Viola Stow Dufour's correspondence, particularly from 1899-1901, contain references to raising and harvesting crops, including mentions of harvesting tobacco and wheat, gathering summer fruits, and preserving foods for the winter (108-109). Horace Stow's letters to his brother Uzziel and other family members in the 1840s-1850s describe his work and financial and health troubles while raising wheat, hay, corn, rye, oats, potatoes, cattle, and apple trees in the Indiana counties of Jefferson, LaPorte, Starke, and Grant. He details the prices of agricultural products and land, as well as his many debts and creditor notes (128-131). Letters from Horace's sons James Howard, Edward, and William Stow reference their farm labor, cattle, and agricultural prices in the 1840s-1880s (135-136, 138). A letter dated 8 June 1877 from Argus Dean to Uzziel discusses his desire for sheep "to run in my orchards" (141). In a letter dated 8 November 1881, Harriet "Hattie" Wells Dean writes about the family making apple butter with apples from their orchard (144). In letters dated 8 July 1857 and 2 January 1858 from Henry Manwaring in Connecticut, Henry writes Loring Stow about sending him a Connecticut strain of rye as requested (157). In letters from 1847-1848, David Brown writes to Uzziel Stow about a potential buyer for farmland Uzziel was selling and about a plow; he also writes to his brother about apple orchard conditions (159). A 1849 handwritten contract between Uzziel Stow and G. W. Winchester relates to Winchester's use of some of Stow's land, barn, and hay prep (181). The diaries and account books of Uzziel Stow and other family members document the wide range of agricultural goods produced on Uzziel's farm, mostly for sale in the nearby markets of Vevay, Louisville, and Cincinnati, but also for use on the farm, for home consumption, and for transportation by river to New Orleans. These products include hay, corn, wheat, oats, rye, barley, potatoes, onions, turnips, tomatoes, beets, parsnips, lima beans, cabbages, hogs, sheep, cows, turkeys, chickens, butter, eggs, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, cherries, currants, grapes, apples, peaches, grass seed, flour, honey, sorghum, molasses, cider, manure, wood, and ice. The diaries also record the use of different types of agricultural equipment, the seasonal rhythms of labor, and the sale prices of agricultural commodities (197-226). See also the 1861 diary of farm worker Josiah Thompson (227).