PRE-CIVIL WAR CORRESPONDANCE BETWEEN TWO BROTHERS
Collection of thirteen letters written by Daniel Tainter of Charlestown, Massachusetts, to his brother, Dean, between 1856 and 1858, describing his life traveling for work opportunities in Massachusetts and New York, residing at times in Brooklyn, Haydenville, and Charlestown.
In his letters, Tainter (1838–1917) provides a vivid glimpse of daily life in pre-Civil War Massachusetts, including living conditions of various boarding houses, work as a travelling salesman, failures and successes in courtship, political views, church life, and his experience working in a factory, an ordeal he describes as leaving him with "no enterprise, energy, or ambition...dead, dead, dead."
On February 26, 1856, he wrote from Haydenville where all the men worked in one of the three factories: cotton, brass, or gold pen. He worked in the gold pen factory as a grinder, earning 4 cents per pen and hoped to complete at least 38 per day. The downside, he wrote, is they were only paid once every six months. “Folks get trusted six months for everything they buy here. There is hardly a dollar circulating in the whole village which is so small that you can’t take much more than five minutes walk in one direction without fetching up in the forest bushes.”
In May 1856 he wrote of visiting home and the political views of fellow travelers. “I think the troubles in Kansas has rather spoiled the prospect of (Millard) Fillmore and the K.N. (Know Nothing) party,” he wrote. “No such slavery man as Fillmore can get a majority in the Northern states as affairs now stand.”
By 1858, he returned to his hometown, Charlestown, where he tried his hand at door-to-door sales, first unsuccessfully with chemical kindlers. He also canvassed for advertising for the Albany and Troy directories and did well, but was not as successful as his colleagues, Davenport and Weeks, who opted to work Sundays. “On that point, I am superstitious. I believe a man loses by it. I actually ascribe the death of D’s little boy to this circumstance, that Davenport spent the holy sabbath in planning and working the first Sunday I came. I thought of it and predicted in my mind that some misfortune would befall him.”
The letters have creases from prior folds. There is some minor wear but overall, the letters are legible and in good condition. A compelling account of the life of young man, the working conditions he endured, and the political views developing in the pre-Civil War Northern states. Item #79066
Price: $350.00