Table of Contents
Scope and Contents of the Collection
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Overview of the Collection |
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| Creator: | Nettleton, Gilbert. |
| Title: | Gilbert Nettleton Letters |
| Inclusive Dates: | 1831-1840 |
| Quantity: | 1 folder (SC) |
| Abstract: | Letters from a young man to his sisters and family. |
| Language: | English |
| Repository: |
Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center |
Biographical History
Little is known of Gilbert Nettleton other than the evidence given in the letters. His family was from Newport, New Hampshire, as that is where the letters to his parents and siblings are addressed. According to Edmund Wheeler's The History of Newport from 1766 to 1878 (Concord:1879), he was born 24 Mar 1808, one of six children of Joel Nettleton (p. 480). He worked for his father as a clerk in his youth but then "went to Illinois, where he spent the remainder of his life," and married Julia E. Pratt, "a French lady, belonging to a wealthy family" (evidence of the letters suggest that they were married around December of 1839).
Scope and Contents of the Collection
The Gilbert Nettleton Letters consist of ten letters from a young man named Gilbert Nettleton in Illinois to members of his family in Newport, New Hampshire. Also included in the collection is a commission for Gilbert Nettleton as an Ensign in the 5th Company, 31st Regiment of the New Hampshire Militia.
Most of the letters are addressed to Gilbert's sisters Elizabeth and Persis; one of them is from his wife "Juliette." He was evidently very close to his family, as his affectionate and detailed letters testify. The letters recount Nettleton's detailed observations on the people, places and society he encounters -- for example, the first letter, sent from Belleville, Illinois, discusses the low level of literacy among the general population and the effects of a lack of education. Nettleton's high opinion of "the East" is evident, as he often contrasts what he sees in Illinois with what he was accustomed to in New Hampshire.
The letters display a good deal of humor; in one of them he writes, "The town [of Belleville] is well laid out but they have taken no pains to build in any order but disorder, which gives it quite an unfavourable appearance. The revers [sic] might have been the case with a sufficient display of Yankee taste." Near the end of 1835 Nettleton relocates to Pinckneyville, Illinois, and he soothes his family's concern by writing as follows, in a letter dated 13 Nov 1835:
You appear to express some regret that I should leave where I am, but it appears to be all on account of a fear I may become unsteady. I will use a Commanding Voise [sic] and say, Hush such visionary fears! I, become unsteady? An old man on the wrong side of 24 after cruising about as I have been and not yet shown the first premonitory symptoms?
In the letter of 18 Jun 1840, from Chester, Illinois, he includes greetings from "Juliette," to whom he has been married about seven months, and in closing he adds that "the prospects for an addition to my family about 1st Nov next are very flutering [sic]."
Restrictions
Access Restrictions
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Use Restrictions
Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.
Subject Headings
Persons
Subjects
Places
Genres and Forms
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
Gilbert Nettleton Letters,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries
Acquisition Information
Transfer from Kohen Collection, 1967.
Finding Aid Information
Created by: MRC
Date: 29 Jun 2010
Revision history:
Inventory
| Correspondence | |||||||||||
| SC 522 | Family 1835-1840 | ||||||||||
| Memorabilia | |||||||||||
| SC 522 | Miscellaneous 1831, 1853 - deed of sale of land in Du Qoin, Illinois; ensign's commission | ||||||||||