Bacheldor John (1 results)

Six letters. Condition: Excellent. John Marvin Bacheldor (1826deceased) was born in Newbury, Ohio and attended Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. He would later run the Rural Home Family School for Boys in Pownal, Vermont, and then Bacheldor's Business College in York, Pennsylvania. His parents, Sarah (18001876) and John Bacheldor (17861858), were New England farmers who moved to Ohio sometime before 1825. Offered here are six letters from Sarah and John to John Marvin, from the latter's time as a student at Williams. The letters are mainly updates on the family farm and on the various illnesses spreading throughout the region at the time, smallpox and scarlet fever were epidemic, though Sarah Bacheldor also notes several cases of "brain fever." She mentions an intriguing county-wide school meeting: "3 schools met at [?] Centre Church I suppose the 4th Fuller Town Sc think us so joined to slavery they dare not even meet in the same house with us O when will people cast out the [?] before they say brother [.] Perhaps those who are branded as pro slavery would do as much to liberate the slaves as their accusers, I dont think we need to go down South to find something to differ about". (September 10, 1847) Though Ohio was an early abolisher of slavery, and famously a stop on the Underground Railroad, the issue was far from settled among its residents. Sarah also mentions, but does not elaborate on, some strife with both the Baptist and Methodist churches: "You may wish to know something about our religious prospects they are not very encouraging The Baptist Association met at the Centre but I guess they had more strife & contention than ardent desire for the salvation of souls & there was no [?] blessing. The Methodist[s] had a quarterly meeting the last of June & yet we were not revived It is a time of great stupidity in all this region truly". (July 14, 1848) Overall, a look at life and attitudes in rural Ohio in the mid-19th century.