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Creator: | Yates, Thomas, 1811-1876. |
Title: | Thomas Yates Letter |
Inclusive Dates: | 1843 |
Quantity: | 1 folder (SC) |
Abstract: | Letter from Thomas Yates of Factoryville, New York to Dr. William Knapp of the same town, regarding his feelings for Knapp's daughter Emily. |
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 |
Thomas Yates (1811-1876) was a lumberman and farmer in Factoryville, New York. (Factoryville is a hamlet on Cayuta Creek, located about a mile and a half north of Waverly, New York.) He married Margaret Emily Knapp in 1843. In 1850 he embarked on two trips down the North Branch of the Susquehanna River to document channels used by raftmen on that part of the river and to learn how to run rafts from Shepard's Landing in New York to Wright's Ferry in Pennsylvania. His charts include "the dangerous run through the Conewago Falls and the course with its options past Girty's Notch and through Lazy Man Gap," as well as a detailed list of supplies needed for the trip. He died in Waverly, New York in 1876. [From Earl E. Brown, Commerce on Early American Waterways, Boston: Macfarland and Company, 2010.]
The Thomas Yates Letter consists of a single letter from Thomas Yates of Factoryville, New York to Dr. William Knapp of the same town. In the letter, Yates apologizes to Dr. Knapp for any appearance of impropriety in courting his daughter, Emily, and assures Dr. Knapp of his sincere affection for her. Emily later became Yates' wife.
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Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
Thomas Yates Letter,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries
Purchase, 2015.
Created by: MRC
Date: 23 Sep 2015
Revision history: