Letter Writing in the West

An article from the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum titled Letters of Westward Expansion talked about the progression and commencement of letter writing in the West. The article opens with a paragraph about people who began to move to the West after the American Revolution. As a result of people moving around the country, letters were the one thing that kept them connected, it "helped to build an interconnecting network of people" who now lived in different parts of the country. News from around the world travelled by post, news from home, the frontier, and the city. The West was highly regarded as a place to begin again and start fresh.

This article references several instances where letters helped to connect people with their close family around the world. Joseph Bentley and his wife Anna Briggs and how she was able to stay very connected with her mother during her journey to to their family's newly purchased land in Ohio. The author explains that Anna's consistent correspondence with her mother helped them to remain close over all the years. In addition to the Anna Briggs and Joseph Bentley, the author also references two Devout Presbyterians, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman. During her journey from New York to St. Louis, Narcissa kept in contact with her mother and her sister, these letters also allowed her to remain in touch with her mother until her very last moment. A very close friend of Whitman's was able to write a letter to her mother accurately explaining what happened the night of the massacre that killed both Marcus and Narcissa.

Furthermore, the author writes about the expansion to the East in addition to the West. They mention how the factory workers were able to stay in touch with her families. These letter between the young women working in factories and their families back home gave them the ability to remain in contact and kept them informed about news back home. In contrast, the letters written in the East were more readily delivered compared to those written in the West. This was due to the lack of a direct mail delivery system. 

In conclusion, letters were a major part of life on the frontier. It was truly the sole means of communication for many of the migrants who lived in the West, but also the East. As the country neared toward the Civil War, the transcontinental postal service, the Railway Mail Service, became more readily available further simplifying the process of letter writing.