Lemuel Colton to Andrew and Ruth Fletcher and Lydia [Willey], 1863 November 2
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I now embrace the opportunity of writing a few lines to you to inform you of our
health which is tolerable good at present and hope these few lines will find you
enjoying the same blessing we received your letter and was glad to hear from you
we have had a good deal of sickness in our family this summer Lemuel was under
the Doctors care for eight weeks and we did not expect that he would get well
but through the blessing of God he was spared and now enjoys good health he had
the spotted fever there has been a
good many cases of it here and most
of those that had it died Brother Shepards family were all well the last that we
heard from them Brother Shepard is sell off for this worlds goods Lyman has two
children a girl and boy he has built him a house near his father and farms a
little and preaches the rest of the time he is one of the ablest preachers we
have in this vicinity Verona has but one child a girl she and her husband live
with Brother Shepard and they have Carseldanas oldest boy the other is at his
grandfather Holdridges they are both bright
smart boys Cornelius Pratt
and wife were and made us a visit a few weeks ago they [are] a going east soon and Lemuel sent this
likeness by them to you he is a large boy of his age he was fourteen last May he
is as tall as most boys at sixteen he is all the help that I have my wifes
youngest boy went into the army this fall we have eighty acres of land but there
was not mutch improvement on it when we moved on to it a year ago last spriing
and the frost damaged our Corn so that we do not get half a crop but we are
thankful
for what we have it is the first time that the Corn crop
has been badly injured since that I have lived at the west so we have no verry
good reason to complain and our heavenly Father bestows on us more than we are
deserving of the rest of the crops were good and things fetch a good price you
wrote that you thought we could come as well as not to see you this fall but
sickness has used up all the means we had we would be glad to see you give my
respects to all enquiring friends no more at present
Lemuel Colton