![Postal Date: December 19, 1856, Coffee Creek, Indiana [letter dated December 18, 1856] Scott Catalog Number of Postage Stamp: 11 Collection: Steven R. Shook SENDER: George H. Spooner Coffee Creek, Indiana RECIPIENT: Mrs. Geo. H. Spooner. Petersham Mass. REMARK: The following is a transcription of a letter written by <a href="https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/120780404/george-herbert-spooner" rel="noreferrer nofollow">George Herbert Spooner</a> on December 18, 1856, to his wife <a href="https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/155972086/mary-m_-spooner" rel="noreferrer nofollow">Mary M. (Thayer) Spooner</a> in Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts, from Coffee Creek, Porter County, Indiana. The envelope in which this letter was contained can be viewed <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/shookphotos/51252721528">here</a>. Coffee Creek Dec. 18th 1856 My [---?---] darling pet, I supposed you received two letters from me dated at Plymouth, Ind. Well I believed I told you of Mr. Kendall’s kindness to me he supplied me with [---?---] & paid me every attention that I could ask for & [---?---] too. Mr. Kendall has been sick [---?---] to trying to do too much. I think but is better now but has so much to do that he has not had time to ans[wer] Mr. White’s letter & which he requested me to do. I shall write soon to Mr. White & thank him for his kindness. I believe that I wrote those letters Friday, well Saturday the Freight Agent [of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway] had a little writing for me to do & I did it & there asked him if he wants me & answered that he did not want me to stay by what he said Friday & I got us[?] particulars, except that he had been in the habit of choosing his own men & I saw that we were not going to get along well together & I concluded about 4 that afternoon that I would leave & there was a train to start for La Part [LaPorte, LaPorte County, Indiana] at 5 & I packed up & had not time to get my baggage down to the Depot & no money to pay my bill so I left my bank and desk & started & I got to La Part about 8½ in the night & there went to see Mr. Kendall & he was busy & I waited till 10½ & then talked with him a few minutes & he told me to go back to Plymouth & get my things & gave me a pass for the road, but told me to stay in La Part till Monday morning & told me to go to the Parker House, the best hotel in the City & there let me have $5.00 & I went staid there that night. The next day & that night through a terrible storm from Saturday afternoon till Monday morning. I then went to Plymouth & had no train to get dinner but grabbed my pockets full of apples & cookies & started for the Depot & went to La Part where Mr. Kendall gave me another dollar & I got home with 60 borrowed money & Will [probably Will Bently, who is mentioned in another letter written by Spooner] & a Mr. Moore had taken a shop together & they told me that I might put up a bench & do anything that I was a mind to & they would help me to work when they had any & as my trip has improved my health so much that I have had all that I could do so far but how long it will last I do not know. I am some lame from the fact that I have laid still so long that I am all [---?---] and loose & I got a cold that has settled in my wisdom teeth & they pain me awful but excepting that I am well & nearly $60.00 in debt for Mr. Kendall but [---?---] have $16.00 & Mr. Moore (in the shop) $10.00 more & when I went away I owed Mr. Brown the landlord $24.30 & I owe another dollar & my washer woman some more & my board to the [---?---] that you receive this will make about $60.00 but I do not care. I have paid $1,740[?] today [---?---] [---?---]. I guess that I shall do well enough. I know that I should if I had you here with me. I have got over having the blues at any luck. Mr. Kendall did all in his power for me & put me in a peace that I could hardly fill on acct [account] of my weekness but he ran the [---?---]. I could have had several other births but there was to much exposure or too hard work & he thought that they would not do for me or rather I should not do for them, but he promised that he would assist me in every way that he was able but it is a cruelty to apply to him for he is so busy night & day. I hope soon to be able to pay him all up again. The excitement & novelty of going round & seeing people & places has about crushed the disease out of me & I have Mr. Kendall to tank for it & Mr. White. Mr. K. has two brothers here, one is a Freight Master & the other is Assistant Superintendent. The Freight Master’s name is Marion & the other is David. I never paid anything for going over the R R that Mr. Kendall is Supt. Of & I went over the road three times but had to pay on the Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana R R from La Part to Calumet or Coffee Creek & the fare is .55 cts [cents] & and I went over and back three times so you can run up & I got some clothes & other things that I needed & enjoyed myself first rate all the time I was gone. Will [Bently?] seemed glad enough that I was back again. I have had a letter from Bill at Deerfield since I came back & one from Hair who is at Chatfield Minnesota Teritory about 25 miles west of the Missippi [Mississippi] river & he says that wages are 2 50 per day & he is getting that now & paying $6.00 a week for board and that last summer they were paying $8.00 per day will pay that next spring. I’m very anxious to have you & I come out ther as soon as the river opens in the spring but I cant go till I get my debts paid. The prospect looks gloomy enough but I must care (for I shall take whatever chance offers whether it is strictly honest or not if it is big enough to make it an object for I despise rascals that do well). No No pet. I see your sweet from far. I will do right, let what will come as long as I know you so love & [---?---] or at least write. I must bid you goodnight darling & close this long letter but I do love to write to this my precious pure & loving one. I am going to write to Carrie Sunday. & perhaps shall not write to you then pet but shall before long. I shall drink to her & I am glad to have her write for I love to read her letters when she feels like from her last did sure a great deal of good & I wasn’t [---?---] [---?---] to writ & Aunt Laura & all trough. I suppose it would be of no use to ask for her to write. I will stop now darling & light a pipe & [---?---] & think of her my own wife. Yours ever [---?---] one Geo. ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ The Mr. Kendall referred to in this letter, with brothers named David and Marion, is believed to have been N. Kendall, who served as the Superintendent of the Cincinnati, Peru & Chicago Railroad. George Herbert Spooner was born at Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts, on January 16, 1833, the son of Stevens Spooner and Mary Angela (Negus) Spooner. He married Mary M. Thayer at Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts, on January 16, 1854. Mary was the daughter of Ephraim Thayer and Adah M. (Mathewson) Thayer and was born November 17, 1836, at Hartford County, Connecticut. Prior to 1860 George and Mary had moved to Clifton, Iroquois County, Illinois. Mary died in 1874 in Clifton and is buried in Clifton Cemetery. George perished in a tragic accident. On December 29, 1876, George was a passenger on Train No. 5 of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway, which originated in Buffalo, New York, with a Chicago destination. The train consisted of the locomotive, two baggage cars, two day passenger coaches, two express coaches, a drawing room car, three sleeper cars, and a smoker car. As the train and its 160 passengers crossed the Ashtabula River in Ohio, the iron bridge spanning the river collapsed sending the entire train into the waters below. Oil lanterns and coal-fired heating stoves soon ignited the wooden railcars and many of the passengers perished in the fire. Other victims drowned under debris. Approximately 90 people were killed in the disaster, including George Herbert Spooner, who perished in the car named City of Buffalo. One newspaper column concerning the disaster mentions that George was traveling to California. The wreck ranks as the third deadliest rail disaster in U.S. history. At the time of his death, George was a resident of Petersham, Massachusetts. Note that a woman named Clara Thayer from Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts, was also killed in the Ashtabula disaster. Clara may have been related to George's wife, Mary. The University of Michigan's Clements Library maintains an archive referred to as the <a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/clementsead/umich-wcl-M-2662a19spo?id=navbarbrowselink;view=text" rel="noreferrer nofollow">George and Mary Spooner Family Collection (1842-1882)</a>. Two Coffee Creek post offices existed in Porter County and this letter was posted from the second post office. The first post office operated from Jesse Morgan's inn located along the south side of present day Porter Avenue in Chesterton, slightly east of Dickinson Road. It existed between 1835 and 1849, and when discontinued the mail was routed to the Calumet post office located at New City West (now referred to as the Tremont area northeast of Chesterton). The second Coffee Creek post office operated from 1850 to 1870 and was located near the downtown area of present day Chesterton, Indiana. The community was renamed Chesterton on January 24, 1870. Sources: The Chicago Daily Tribune, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois; January 6, 1877; Volume 31, Page 2, Column 6. Column titled "Ashtabula. The Bodies of Several Additional Victims Identified." Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois; February 13, 1904; Volume 63, Number 38, Page 4, Column 6. Column titled “Obituary. Lyman A. White.” National Republican, Washington, D.C.; January 4, 1877; Volume 17, Number 32, Page 2, Column 5. Column titled "And Still Another." Rutland Herald, Rutland, Rutland County, Vermont; January 5, 1877; Volume 16, Number 157, Page 3, Column 6. Column titled "The Ashtabula Disaster." Williams, C. S. 1857. Williams' Ohio State Register and Business Mirror for 1857. Cincinnati, Ohio. C. S. Williams. 311 p. [see p. 168] Copyright 2021. Some rights reserved. The associated text may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Steven R. Shook.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d9/Letter_from_George_H._Spooner_to_his_wife%2C_Mary%2C_December_18%2C_1856_-_Coffee_Creek%2C_Indiana_%2851252867178%29.jpg/960px-Letter_from_George_H._Spooner_to_his_wife%2C_Mary%2C_December_18%2C_1856_-_Coffee_Creek%2C_Indiana_%2851252867178%29.jpg)
Day 11
Notes
Washington DC, USA
Time: Morning
Photo by
Steve Shook from Moscow, Idaho, USA
on
Wikimedia Commons
Overview
Trip concludes.
Summary
Your trip to Washington D.C. concludes today. Safe travels home!
