A Very Early Indiana Territorial Letter Henry A. Meyer* Stamp collectors, two generations ago considered “queer” or “childish” by those who did not feel an interest in their activities, have of late years taken on a new dignity by rea- son of their having turned their attention to that phase of philately known as “postal history.” To pursue this line of study, it is necessary to collect, not used or unused single stamps in an album provided with spaces, but those objects known to collectors as “covers.” A “cover,” to a philatelist, is the envelope or other enclosure of a letter, bearing an address, sometimes a stamp, and a postmark or other visible evidence of its having passed through the mail, The first national issue of postage stamps appeared in 1847, and the use of stamps was made compulsory in 1856; therefore, previous to 1847, and very largely also during the period from 1847 to 1856, the covers collected by philatelists are those known as “stampless covers.” More and more col- lectors are realizing that these stampless covers, sometimes called “pre-stamp covers,” are equally as interesting as stamps, and in many cases even more so. There are many philatelists who limit their collecting to stampless covers, and they are among the most ardent postal history students. The use of envelopes to contain letters did not become widespread in the United States until the early 1850’s, and it did not become universal in this country until well after the Civil War. Previous to the use of envelopes, the letter was written on pages 1, 2, and 3 of a large double sheet, leaving page 4, or at least most of it, blank. The letter was then folded in such a manner that page 4 became the outside. The two sides were folded inward; the top and bottom were then folded over the middle portion, and one fold was tucked into the other, thus reducing the whole to a neat rectangle, usually about 3 x 5 inches or somewhat larger in size. The top and bottom flaps, one of which had been inserted in the other, were sealed, either with sealing wax, or with a pre- pared “wafer” which could be had at the general store. This wafer was a small circular device, red in color, which was laid between the folds to be sealed, and a hot iron was set - +Henry A. Meyer is a teacher of mathematics at Central High School, Evansville, Indiana, and an amateur student of early Evansville and Indiana history as well as the history of transportation on the . He is an active worker in the History Sketchers, the early Indiana study group of the Evansville Public Museum. 210 Indiana Magazine of History upon it for a few seconds. If care was taken in opening the letter, very little damage resulted from the manner of seal- ing; but if the seal was torn hastily, it often made a very unsightly hole in the letter. Letters thus folded, self-con- tained and sent without an envelope, are called by collectors “folded letters.” “Stampless covers” are in a majority of cases also “folded letters” and vice versa, though not uni- versally so. “Folded letters” have proved to be a very rich source of original historical material, not only for the postal history student, but also for the student of national, state, and local history. A century ago, when letters were sent and received only rarely, families and business firms saved their entire correspondence, filing it meticulously, either in some sort of homemade filing cabinets, or in large chests in the attic. There it reposed for several generations, until the descen- dank of the original receivers of the letters found them and did one of three things; destroyed them, as did the priest in the Illinois town ; saved them as family heirlooms, which was better than destroying them, but only rarely do letters thus saved become available as historical source material, because those who save them attach to them only a family interest, not a general historical interest; or sold them in bulk to stamp dealers, who retailed them to collectors, who, becoming con- scious of their historical value, have either gone into his- torical research themselves, or have made them available to research students. It was through the discarding of old files of correspond- ence that Professor John C. Andressohn of Indiana Univer- sity was able to acquire some forty letters of the Rappites relating to their business dealings. It was as a philatelist that the present writer acquired further letters relating to the doings of the Rappites which he made available to Pro- fessor Andressohn, who has reported them in supplementary articles.’ It was also as a philatelist that the present wrfter bought a letter described by the dealer as “a very early In- diana stampless cover” and which turned out to possess con- siderably more historical than philatelic value. This letter forms the subject of the present article. It is indeed a “very early Indiana letter.” Letters of the territorial period dated from 1807 onwards are offered OC- casionally by dealers, but are quite scarce. But the letter

1 “Three Additional Ra ite Letters,” Indiana Magazine of History (Bloominglnn, 1905- ), YLV (1949), 184-188. A Very Early Indiana Territorial Letter 211 here discussed is dated 1801-less than a year and a half after the territory was created. It does not bear an Indiana postmark; if it did, the dealer’s price would no doubt have been prohibitive. As was a very common custom in the early 1800’s, it was carried privately, by a traveler going that way, as near to its destination as possible, for postage rates at that time were computed by distance.2 As was also a pre- vailing custom at that time, it was not prepaid, but was sent unpaid, the postage being collected of the addressee. Stamp- less cover collectors rate the scarcity of prepaid letters to letters sent collect as at least ten to one. Therefore as a courtesy to the addressee, it was sent by messenger as far as possible, so that the rate as figured by distance would be reasonable. The letter is addressed to Hudson, New York, and bears a red “shell” postmark of New York City. If there chance to be any philatelists among the readers of this article, they know that the “New York shell” is a post- mark highly prized by collectors, especially when applied in red ink. But the feature which makes this letter of great interest to students of Indiana history is the fact that it was written from the Harrison house in Vincennes by a near relative of the Harrison family, and that it relates to the doings of the family and to events well known to students of the history of the Territory Northwest of the Ohio. The following is a description of the address side of the “folded letter,” as nearly as it can be reproduced: (New York shell postmark) 3 12~4 Mar 26 Mrs. Bell, City of Hudson State of New York- To the care of Brockholst Livingston, Esq.5 Broadway 37. New York- Honored by Mr. Gratiot-6 The directive, “To the care of . . .” indicates that the writer intended to send the letter by mail; but that line and the following one are very neatly crossed out by numerous diagonal strokes, and the phrase “Honored by Mr. Gratiot” is added in the extreme bottom corner as an afterthought.

2 Rates from 1799 to 1814: not over 40 miles, 8 cents; 40 to 90 miles, 10 cents; 90 to 150 miles, 12% cents; 150 to 300 miles, 17 cents; 300 to 600 miles, 20 cents; over 500, 25 cents. s, 4,s) 6 (See next page.) 212 Indiana Magazine of History

The writer of the letter, “S. Symmes,” was Susanna, the third wife of John Cleves Symmes and the stepmother of Mrs. . She was evidently living

*The date of the letter being stated as Oct. 15, 1801, and the date ;f the ostmark (the “New York shell”) being Mar. 26, it took the SpanisE Gentleman from St. Louis” a little over five months to make the journey. That is entirely possible, if he paused occasionally to at- tend to his many business matters. ‘The postage rate from New York City to Hudson, 12% cents, to be collected of Mrs. Bell. 5 Brockholst Livingston, in whose care the letter was originally addressed, had been an in the Revolution. He was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1807 until his death in 1823. He wrote political pamphlets of the Whig persuasion under the penname of “Decius.” He was the son of , and therefore the brother of Mrs. Susanna Symmes. Their other sister, Sarah, became Mrs. . The great-grandfather of Brockholst, Susanna, and Sarah Livingston was Robert Livingston, a Scotchman who received grants of land on the Hudson, beginning in 1686, which became known as Livingston Manor and. which comprised the greater part of the present Dutchess and Columbia counties. “The Manor” referred to by Mrs. Symmes was their ancestral estate, Livingston Manor. Mrs. Bell, the addressee, was probably their neighbor and friend in Hudson. John A. Krout, “William Livingston,” in Dictinnwy of American Biography (20 vols., New York, 1943), XI, 325-327; Robert E. Cushman, “Henry Brockholst Livingston,” in ibid., 312-313. 6 The directive, “Honored by Mr. Gratiot,” should be explained. The cytomary hrase found on old stampless covers is “Politeness of -.” In care 08, does not seem to have found favor with letter writers of those days. On a southern letter of the Civil War period, the present writer has “By the urbanity of Lieut. Bryant.” The ,?,ymmes letter is the only one he has found with the phrase “Honored by. Charles Gratiot (1752-1817) was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, of Hugenot parents. At seventeen, he went to London, and from there immediately to Montreal, where he joined his uncle in the fur trade. In 1775 he formed a partnership and went west on a fur venture, in which he lost heavily. In 1777 with two partners operating under the title of David McCrae & Company, he again went west. He opened a store in Cahokia, while the other two partners opened one in Kas- kaskia. He became a friend of George Rogers Clark, Jean-Gabriel CerrB, Father Gibault, and John Jacob Astor. In 1781, Gratiot moved to St. Louis, where he married Victoire, the half-sister of Colonel Auguste . He traveled repeatedly to New Orleans, to the Atlantic seaboard, and to Europe in connection with his business ven- tures. Besides his fur tradings, he operated a distillery, a tannery, saltworks, and engaged in land dealings. The formal transfer of Upper Louisiana on March 10, 1804, took place on his portico, with himself as interpreter. He was the first presiding judge of the Court of Quarter Sessions of St. Louis He was a trustee of the town of St. Louis when it was first incorporated in 1809. He had a good knowl- edge of law and a very logical mind. He prepared his own legal briefs, using French and English equally well. One more feature remains to be studied, namely, the identity of the “S anish gentleman from st. Louis.” He turns out to be not Spanish, gut French, and a man of rare distinction. He has been honored by having had named for him a street in St. Louis, likewise a street in , and a fo‘ort, a town, and a county in Michigan. Fort St. Joseph, near Port Huron, Michigan, established by the French in 1686, was renamed Fort Gratiot in honor of General Charles A Very Early Indiana Territorial Letter 213 with the Harrisons at Vincennes while her husband was at- tending to his duties and personal affairs at Marietta.’

Vincennes Indiana Territory Octr-15th-1801 My ever dr. friend I am indeed ashamed of myself for having suffered your friendly letter to remain unnoticed several posts, but this lazy habit of pro- crastination that I have suffered to grow upon me shall be broken through; Mr. Harrison observed that my friends letters did me no good, for that I was always melancholy several days after I received any, & in particular he sd. he had always remarked that Mrs. Bell’s letters had that effect on me, & true it is, for then I weep not only

Gratiot, who was chief engineer in General Harrison’s army in 1813- 1814, and chief engineer of the from 1828 to 1838. The settlement around the fort was called Fort Gratiot until it was annexed to Fort Huron in 1893. When a road was opened from Detroit to Fort Gratiot, it was called the Gratiot Road. As Detroit expanded in area, the Gratiot Road became Gratiot Avenue, the chief thorough- fare through Detroit’s east side. Thus the name of the French fur trader who became useful to his adopted country in 80 many lines is erpetuated in two great cities. W. J. Ghent, “Charles Gratiot,” in 5ictionaq of American Biography, VII, 503-504. 7 John Cleves Symmes (1742-1814) lived in from 1770 to 1785. He was chairman of the Committee of Correspondence for Sussex County in 1774; a colonel in the militia in 1775; he helped cover Washington’s retreat through New Jersey in 1776; he was a member of the New Jersey Convention in 1776; a member of the New Jersey Legislative Council in 1776, 1780, and 1785; and Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court in 1778 and 1783; a member of the Continental Congreas, 1785-1786. He became interested in western colonization, and applied for two million acres of land between the two Miamis in 1787; the following year he contracted for one million acres. The same year (1788) he was appointed one of the three judges of the Territory Northwest of the Ohio. He founded the settlement of North Bend in 1793. He sold many parcels of the land for which he contracted, but because of a general money stringency he could not collect, and could therefore not make the payments for which he was obligated. Jonathan Dayton and Elias Boudinot came to his financial rescue and he received a patent in 1794 for 311,682 acres which he had actually paid for. It appears from Mrs. Symmes’ statements that Boudinot by 1801 had turned against Symmes and become one of hie several nemeses. Symmes was quarrelsome and impulsive, careless in financial and legal matters, and a defendant in many lawsuits. He even sold land which was not included in his patent. By the time of his death, most of his fortune had been dissipated; small wonder, when one considers his wife’s statements as to his pradoxical disposition. He did not co-operate fully with Governor Art ur St. Clair. Yet he planted an important colony and its chief city, . He was thrice married; by his first wife, Anna Tuttle of Southold, , he had two daughters, one of whom, Anna Cleves Symmes, be- came Mrs. William Henry Harrison. His second wife was Mrs. Mary Halsey of New Jersey; the third, Susanna Livingston, and the writer of the letter was a daughter of William, Livingston, first governor of New Jersey. “The Judge” and “Mr. S. . so often referred to in the letter are plainly Judge John Cleves Symmes. The New England His- torical and Genealogical Register (Boston, 1847- ), XI11 (1859), 137; Beverley W. Bond, Jr., “John Cleves Symmes,” Dictionary of American Biography, XVIII, 258-259. 214 Indiana Magazine of Histom for myself, but my friend-what a sad, sad time you must have of it in Hudson, how I grieve that your time & strength should be thus consumed “by a train distracting crew” often have I thought that if you had arrived before I left the Manor, I should have remained, & we would have taken a house together, & never more been sep- arated-for tho’ this is a charming country & I have a few very good friends in it, I never can feel at home in itiI am exceedingly attached to Mrs. H. not only on account of the realtive tie, but also in consideration of her many amiable virtues, & the uniform kind- ness, attention, & respect she has ever shewn me, to her sweet babes I am entirely devoted; Susan Ridley would be charmed with Betaey, She is now just turned of 5, she is all meekness, & mildness, takes every body’s part that she thinks injured, & is a most beautiful, elegant child, Symmes is 3, he is all turbulence, a most imperious little rogue, at the same time a very origininal [sic] fellow, in his opinion old & ugly is the sum of everything bad, when he’s mad with me, he calls me old Oran ’& Jane is old Dam-Lucy is 15 months, I think her a perfect beauty, but a poor afflicted babe she has ever been, she has just had 18 large boils, her disorders have made her as much trouble as 5 or 6 children-&. H. says I must deposit my bones here, both he & Nancy seem very unwilling I should ever return to Cin- we look for the Judge some time in Novr. after the Court at Marietta; he has an important cause of his own to be tried thia term-he promised to pass the winter at Vincennes, & we were to return in the spring, but his movements are so uncertain there’s no calculating upon them, & I should not be surprised if I receive a summons home this fall, I think his last letter looked very much like it-this house is now drawing toward a complete finish, it’s time I think, being 6 years since it’s foundation was laid-It gives me great pain to hear of the embarrassed state of the Judge’s affairs, owing to Congress robbing him of the Land to which he had a just claim, the land that he had contracted for at 5/ the acre,* he sold to 3 or 400 families for a dol. now that Congress has refused him a patent for the last half million, & offered it for sale at 2 dol. he is willing to refund the dol. with the interest from the time, which is just, but there’s a party in the Territory determined to sacrifice him, (& I fear they will effect their wicked designs), & endeavour to establish the principle that he should pay the appreciated price of the land, 5 & 6 dol. he has been obliged to it in several instances, thus is he robbed of thousands & tens of thousands of dollars most unright- eously; while the purchasers, after having had the benefit of their farms 6 or 7 years for nothing, pay Congress 2 doll. & put the rest of Mr. S. money in their pockets- Elias Boudinot has got judgment against Mr. S. for 50,000 acres of land, in the Miami purchase 15 milea on the Ohio, the cause was

*Evidently New York shillings, 12% cents. If they had been shillings Sterling, he could not have sold the land at a dollar an acre and come out even. New York shillings (equal to the Spanish real) were used in computing prices until well down toward the middle of the nineteenth century. Their popularity was recognized by the Post Office Department by its having a 12% cents rate in every schedule from 1792 to 1845. A Vew Early Indiana Territorial Letter tried in Phil. Mr. S. employed a lawyer, (as Mr. H. tells me,) & never either fee’d him, or sent him any information on the subject, & when the cause came to tryal, there was Boudinot to tell his story & no one to contradict it-The Judge is a most inexplicable man, his at- tention to small things is remarkable while important ones he neg- lects-he has the character of a penurious man & I scarce know so extravagant a man, tho its in a way peculiar to himself, he receivea his interest in whatever his creditor pleases to pay him, horses, sad- dles, spinning wheels, watches, axes, ‘&. then he distributes them among his relations, I have known him to receive 70 axes at a time & give them all away-he will not miss a bargain if he has not the least occasion for the thing offered, but give it immediately away, & if the price is too high we must go without it, let the article be ever so much wanted. Mr. S. spends a world of money & we have nothing to shew for it-Mr. Short has leased out his Plantation, (which would have been a very grateful thing to poor Maria had she lived,) he has leased his estate in Woodford County together with negroes & stock for 7 years for the rent of 4000 dollrs. per annum, & his Elkhorn mills for 1250 dol. per annum-he has reserved his dwelling house & a few acres of ground at the latter place where he makes his home-he is said to be worth at least sixty thousand pounds, ’& ita an increasing estate-he will be a good spec. for some body-he will never marry for love, I believehe is a man of great talents, great business, & of a very delicate mind-I am very sorry my dr. Susan Ann declined prosecuting the french language in favor of geography, as she may not meet with a french teacher, when she wishes-I long to know how the dr. children improve, it most broke my heart to part with them-it will give me great pleasure to receive anything traced by my dr. childs little fingers, & Matilda must 9 me something to answer it& then they must be framed in the best manner by Mr. Cumberland-of which I’ll be at the expenc+then sent to Mr. Samuel Meeker at Phi. to be forwarded to Cin. by some Merct. I will write my dr. sister soon, in the mean- while give my love to her Mr. Livingston, & the dr. boys-Margaret & your little pupils have a large shar+I wrote Mr. Curson by the last mail, the 9th of this month & I wish to write to Sister Jay by this mail-my letter will be a very unexpected one to Mr. Curson- Jane desires her love to her Aunt & Cousins-& also to yourself & Miss Baxter-tell our Margt. I wish her a good husband & every thing besides she wishes herself-I left at the Manor a callicoe bed spread which I beg my dr. friend to accept of, perhaps it may make a couple of curtains, as its largewith my ardent wishes for your health & happiness, I remain with unalterable esteem Yours- S. Symmes- [On the back of the sheet, which becomes part of the outside of the folded letter, appears a postscript, though not ao labeled.] The Court has given Mr. S. until Decr. to shew cause why final judgment should not be past agst him, so that I think it probable that he will be obliged to repair to Phil. after Court at Marietta- Adieu! Adieu! I write this by a Spanish Gentleman from St. Louis who dined here yesterday ’& is on his way to New York-

0 The “wafer” seal renders the word illegible.