Physical Description: Autograph letter, signed. Addressed from San Francisco, California to Williamsburgh, New York. 3pp. on a folded folio sheet.
Old folds, minor wear and soiling.
Scope and Contents
This note was adapted from the description written by the immediate source of this acquisition, McBride Rare Books,
A somber and revealing letter from T. R. Billings, a California gold seeker, to his wife, Elizabeth Billings, back home in
Williamsburgh, New York. Billings, a mason by trade, writes that he is sorry that he cannot send money and advises his wife
to sell the furniture if necessary. Although he had nothing to show for the past season, he states his intentions to attempt
another season looking for gold, and promises to return home to "work out the rest of my days at mason work," if his luck
fails to turn. His letter speaks for so many who went out with gold fever and high hopes and subsequently failed to make good
on their gold dust dreams. He writes, in part:
"Dear wife, I left hear (sic] on the 22nd of last February for the mines with the rest of the company, I was six weeks ageting
[sic] there. I did not stay with Mr. May but about six weeks, we had a falling out he was drunk at the time although he was
a temperance man and a minister when we left N York ... I then had scurvy and as soon as I was able to ride a horse over the
mountains I left for San Francisco, it cost me all the money I had made ... and left me without one cent on arriving at this
place ... I should have done well this season had l not taken sick. I had five hundred dollars in gold dust I should have
sent you part of it had there been any way to have sent it from the mines..."
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from McBride Rare Books, March 2024.
