Autograph Letter Signed, Vansburgh, Genesee County, March 12, 1830, to George W. Nesmith, Franklin, New Hampshire

folio, 3 pages, plus stamp less address leaf, free franked by Clarke as postmaster of Vansburgh, some browning to paper, few splits and tears, else in very good, legible condition.

Caleb Clarke, evidently a former New Hampshire resident writes a friend, describing his home in Genesee County and travels from New York to New Hampshire and return.

Clarke writes:

"… I regret to acknowledge that the place in which I reside is so very obscure as to be thought unworthy of a name in Say's map of New York – Still the place existed long before Says map was published or Franklin received its charter – I can give you directions which if followed will bring you to the spot at once – You will doubtless find Batavia – in the North East corner of Sheldon, on the East bank of the Tonawanda Creek & only a few rods below the junction of Stony Creek (also nameless on Says map) with the Tonawanda – Our country is unlike the north part of Genesee County, being unfavorable to the growth of wheat – the land is excellent for grazing & for coarse grains, & fruits of most kinds are abundant – the surface is quite uneven & may be called hilly – the water is pure - & the inhabitants very healthy – being either Yankees or the direct descendants of Yankees – Antimasons generally – and of course anti Administration men – though now & then there may be found a true & steadfast republican as for example your humble servant.

I was extremely gratified to learn that you enjoy so much health that fortune has placed you in a situation in which you can support so numerous a progeny – a difficult task I should think for one man – especially in New Hampshire – where the fees of the profession are so trifling – It is well for some of you gentry of the Grain Bag – (an article by the way never seen in this state) that you have no Erastus Root to revise & dock your fee bill – Ira Goodall Esq – may thank his stars that his lot was not cast in the State of New York. He is not in my opinion a man of genuine talents, nor of the most profound learning. His capacity seems however tolerably well adapted to many transactions & he knows well enough how to frame a declaration on a common note of hand – However his piety shall shield him from the malice of the wicked - & therefore enough said of him.

When in 1828 I passed through New Hampshire I fell in company with a Mr. Smith from your village … & hot headed abuser of Genl Jackson, Isaac Hull &c - I traveled with him from Concord to Boston – he was on the whole an intelligent man though labouring under aberration of mind which perhaps he has outgrown since the contest which produced his disorder – There was also in our company a young man from Concord, who seemed so well acquainted with Dartmouth College & its inmates officers &c at a certain period that I supposed he must have been a graduate from that Seminary This opinion was strengthened by the erudition he displayed in casting learned epithets upon the same Isaac Hill above mentioned – Before leaving this gentleman's company I ascertained that he was what in our diction is called the ninth part of a man & had acquired his knowledge & learning by making coats for you collagers – a good enough way to climb the hill of science – after ascertaining this fact I could not but notice that his manner savoured a good deal of Buckram.

My journey from Hanover to the City of New York was one of the most delightful jaunt I ever took - & there was but one thing wanting to make it altogether so – I should have waited a day in Salisbury – but my eagerness to get along together with the pressing solicitations of my company changed the determination I had formed of stopping - From Providence to New York by water the pleasure I experienced at every swelling of the wave… cannot well be told – On the morning following my embarkation at Providence I arose before the sun – I was on the promenade deck to the East no trais of land were visible – on the South Long Island was seen stretching out its verdant shores at the distance of 15 or 20 miles & on the North the shores of Connecticut were visible at the same distance … If you should ever travel for pleasure I would recommend this trip as one that would give satisfaction – And what hinders you – You have "no crying within your walls" whether at home or abroad - & after you arrive at New York you could not deny yourself the pleasure of a ride in the North America to Albany at the rate of fifteen miles an hour – a slow pace it is true compared with the swiftness of passage acquired by the locomotive engines of the present period in England. I shall surely expect in the course of a few years you will call on us and spend the evening when the National rail road shall be completed – especially if, as is anticipated, our cars shall perform their journeys at the velocity of a hundred miles an hour - … Caleb Clarke"