Monday, February 4, 2013

Family History Letter Number 2

This is story number two of my family letters. I write it as it was written in their words. 

State of Alabama, Talladega County
This September the 27th, 1860

Dear brothers and sisters. I now take the opportunity of writing you a few lines to let you know that we are all up but not well. The children has been sick with bad colds and foul complaint but they are nearly well of them. Fathers folks is not well, but all about. We have had the bigs fresh here that I ever saw in my life. There wasn't a mill in here in (unknown word) what was broke some part of it. The mill I was tending away, hit on the dam, but we have got it to grinding and we liked to went too, with it. It run in the house that I live in, shoe mouth deep and would have run deeper if they logged a sort of drift at the chimney end of the house that turned it of the house and then it undermined the two pillars that was at the back end of the house and it would have gone down if the back end hadn't been under find it washed a rock from the door that you couldn't tote. I haven't seen my little Dick Stear in 10 weeks. Him and Charly went off together and ain't heard from them, only one time they was 10 miles from home. I will commence another subject. There is strong talk of the negroes rising. They had their time set to make their start on Talladega town and they folks got hold of it and they took up some negroes and one white man and they slash some of the negroes and turned them out. There was a company went in the night and took the man out of jail and hung him. They have hung one negro since in Talladega town last week. The one that got killed went where the other one was at work and drew his pistol on him and told him to come out of the house and the man didn't go and he started towards him and the man threw his hand axe at him and cut his head half off. There was a negro killed another one since that he killed him with a bottle. There was two negroes a quarreling about the bottle and the one that got killed stepped up and claimed the bottle and the one that had it in his hand threw it at him and knocked him down and cut him with the bottle very bad. He lived several days after it some 5 or 6. Big talk of the election. Bad split (unknown word) some for Bell, some Breckinridge, some Douglas...(the rest of the letter is unreadable). 

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