Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Pond, Noah Sherman, 1815-1892 (SC 3203)

Manuscripts & Folklife Archives, Western Kentucky University

Document Type Finding Aid

This collection is archived in Manuscripts & Folklife Archives at Western Kentucky University; 270-745-6434; mssfa@wku.edu

Abstract

Finding aid and full text of letters (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3203. Four letters, 1836-1837, of Noah S. Pond to his sister and brother-in-law in Washington, Connecticut. Writing from New Design, Trigg County, Kentucky, where he is working as a peddler, Pond describes many aspects of life in frontier Kentucky: changeable weather, agricultural practices and prices, lay preaching, voting, and the lives of slaves, who he believes are well treated and better off than the poor in the North. He describes selling to a Dutchman who dislikes “Yankees,” notes recent political developments, and finds Kentucky a promising place to make money despite its “unhealthy” climate.