Skip to main content

Letter by Isaac P. McDowell to M. T. Burwell (1895)

No. 1987
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
I.P. McDowell, President
J.F. Taylor, Vice President
T.S.O. McDowell, Cashier
J.V. McDowell, Cash'r.

Fairbury, Ill. April 26th 1895
 

Hon. M. T. Burwell
Wichita, Ks

Dear Sir:
Supposing you to be the chief civic official of your recently adopted city.   I desire to extend congratulations for your good luck, and wish you a most successful and happy "reign."

I consider it, indeed, no small honor to be invested with the amount of authority implied in the term of mayor, especially when conferred by a voluntary voice of the people I bespeak for you a wise and first government and trust that, while forbearance is an inherent virtue in your nature, you may be exacting & prompt in the administration & meting out of justice to the good people of your city.

I left Denver a few days ago after enjoying a winter's sojourn there of most excellent health; for which I desire to be grateful to the beneficent Given of all good things.
 
I left your friends there, Mrs. A. Burwell & daughter, in good health.   They gave up the Webster terrace, a short time before I left, & rented & moved into a larger & better flat on Pearl St. at a rental of $55.00 pr month.   I was a mite fearful they may have missed it, however, in the change, Webster offered them a reduced rent-$30- pr month rather than have them leave- Amos was still with the old aunt in Iowa.

I wanted, very much, to have come home your way and made you a brief visit, but had to come by my boy at Fairbury Neb & stop a while with him.   I will endeavor to take you in some of these times as I go back and forth to the mountain city of good health as Denver has so often & kindly proven to be to me.   I may go back there again-can't tell-ere the falling leaf time of year rolls round.   Denver's dull & the good old times of yore returns sluggishly.   I sold the remnant of my town out there for $12,000.00 one third down with mortg on it for the balance.   If convenient I would like to hear from you

Respectfully, your friend

Isaac P. McDowell

Source: the Burwell/Tate Family Papers, 1850-1930 (K0233), Folder 1. Burwell family scrapbook and photo album, 1879-1908, photocopied.*

*BURWELL-TATE FAMILY PAPERS, 1850-1930 (K0233), The State Historical Society of Missouri, 800 East 51st Street, 306 Miller Nichols Library UMKC, Kansas City, MO 64110.
Labels:
Location: Fairbury, Illinois, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Celebrating 20 Years of Discovering My Family History

Researching my family tree is an all consuming hobby.  Unfortunately, there are not enough hours in the day to devote to genealogy when there is also work, family and friends, obligations, and all the good and bad that goes with living life.  I first embarked on this journey 20 years ago, when my mother and I bought a PC and connected to the Internet for the first time.  Anyone remember dial up?  I used to come home from my long commute, start dialing up to CompuServe, have dinner, and wait to connect to the Internet.  It usually took 30 minutes.  Fast forward to now, when I lose patience if I get disconnected for a few seconds...
Post a Comment
Read more

Solved! Mystery World War I Soldier Identified

In 2016, I inherited some of my grandmother's personal papers. This included some postcards from the early 20th century to her paternal grandparents, Frank and Mary Ellen (Ingersoll) Bryant of Los Angeles.  They were originally from Bloomington, Illinois.  The earliest postcard in the collection was from a soldier, Warren Allen, sent from Paris, France in about 1918.  When I originally shared this on my blog, I did not know how Mr. Allen was related to the family. There was also a 1930 postcard from Alice Allen of South Bend, Indiana addressed to "Dear Cousins": 24 November 1930 Postcard from Alice Allen to Mrs. R. F. Bryant from family collection. It turns out that Mary Ellen had a first cousin, Alice Louella Ingersoll, who married William E. Allen in Bloomington on 24 September 1890.  They had at least three sons, Howard, Warren, and Herbert, born in the 1890s.  Twenty-four year-old Warren William Allen (1893-1970), was working as a bookkeeper and residing in ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mystery Mail from World War I Soldier

Mystery Mail from World War I Soldier The above postcard or carte postale is the oldest item in my grandmother's postcard collection.  A W. W. Allen sent the card via soldier mail from Paris, France, to Mrs. Frank Bryant of Los Angeles, California.  The front depicts an early 20th century street scene at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.  The message says, "Paris 4/13 [April 13th] - I'm having a short vacation and a wonderful time.  W. Allen."  Mrs. Bryant (nee Mary Ellen Ingersoll, 1862-1936), originally from Bloomington, Illinois, relocated to Los Angeles with her family in the early 1910s.  She was my grandmother's grandmother.  Mr. Allen is not a known relative.  So who could he be?  Perhaps he was a neighbor or a family friend.  There could be another connection.  There is a later postcard postmarked November 25, 1930, from Alice Allen of South Bend, Indiana, to Mrs. Bryant which starts wit...
1 comment
Read more