Western Primary Source Research
For homework, I was tasked to find a primary source which gave insight into the lives of those who settled in the West. I came across a collection of letters exchanged between the Oblinger family on the Library of Congress's American Memory page. In the summary of the collection, I was able to learn the main topics about this specific family's letters. They were mostly about land, work, neighbors and financial problems as well as the Easter Blizzard of 1873. Uriah, a Civil War veteran, is seen expressing his personal insight into the hardship and struggles of moving to the prairie while also highlighting the joy, despair, and determination that came along with starting fresh.
In a letter to his wife, Mattie Oblinger, Uriah opens by giving her an update on how the journey is going. He writes that he is currently in Forest Livingston County, Illinois and he's headed toward Fillmore County, Nebraska. He continues by informing her of the weather there, how it rained for a whole half day, which can only be assumed that he is not used to that type of weather. Uriah informs both his wife and the reader of his daily life on his journey to Elpaso, he talked about how they had to walk 90-200 feet to get water and that they spent the night on a camping ground where he shot 19 blackbirds in one round. He even mentions how the boys were "sitting by the fire greasing boots," which I assume is horseplay and having fun around the campfire after a long day. He ends the letter by informing her that he intended to go to church but neglected to due to the lack of his good clothes.
In a letter written on October 13, 1872, Uriah informs his wife of all the families beginning to move to the West. He says, "there is a haven emigration this fall," and continues by telling her all about the people and what the journey is like. He mentions one family which consists of, "three dogs 2 work horses 3 colts Man & woman & 4 children part of the family slept under the wagon with the dogs.
Uriah also wrote a letter in January of 1873 to both his wife and baby back home. In this letter he mentions the kind of work he's doing in order to keep his expenses up and support himself as he travels to the West. He hauls ice for $3 a day and pays $4 a week for board. He informs his wife that he has currently made $24 and is switching to $1.25 a day but now doesn't have to pay for board.
In a letter to his wife, Mattie Oblinger, Uriah opens by giving her an update on how the journey is going. He writes that he is currently in Forest Livingston County, Illinois and he's headed toward Fillmore County, Nebraska. He continues by informing her of the weather there, how it rained for a whole half day, which can only be assumed that he is not used to that type of weather. Uriah informs both his wife and the reader of his daily life on his journey to Elpaso, he talked about how they had to walk 90-200 feet to get water and that they spent the night on a camping ground where he shot 19 blackbirds in one round. He even mentions how the boys were "sitting by the fire greasing boots," which I assume is horseplay and having fun around the campfire after a long day. He ends the letter by informing her that he intended to go to church but neglected to due to the lack of his good clothes.
In a letter written on October 13, 1872, Uriah informs his wife of all the families beginning to move to the West. He says, "there is a haven emigration this fall," and continues by telling her all about the people and what the journey is like. He mentions one family which consists of, "three dogs 2 work horses 3 colts Man & woman & 4 children part of the family slept under the wagon with the dogs.
Uriah also wrote a letter in January of 1873 to both his wife and baby back home. In this letter he mentions the kind of work he's doing in order to keep his expenses up and support himself as he travels to the West. He hauls ice for $3 a day and pays $4 a week for board. He informs his wife that he has currently made $24 and is switching to $1.25 a day but now doesn't have to pay for board.
In another letter a year later, Uriah is now in Bachelors Hall, Nebraska. He tries to encourage her to come stay with him, he says, "Nebraska needs women for there are quite a surplus of men now." In addition, he is also excited for her upcoming visit which is how he opens his letter. He talks about the food they eat and the endless amount of beans in their diet as well as a longing for coffee. He continues and elaborates on his want for her to come visit by listing the fares for the train and the quickest way to get to him, but he is also cautious of their money and their first year as homesteaders. In his letter, he even gives Mattie an update on the health of his family, specifically his father and his two sisters who were sick and possibly a new marriage in the family. He talks about the snow and how they can't see the stables and how the house is thawing because it is covered in ice.
These letters serve as primary sources into the lives of those who moved out West in hope of a fresh start and new opportunities, maybe even opportunities to get rich. They give researchers the opportunity to get firsthand experience and truly understand and get a picture of what life was like on the frontier and the hardships that were encountered with moving to a new place with nothing in hope to make a living and support your family.
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