Otego Oct 15th ‘76

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Dear Brother

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I was excessively glad to hear from you. It had been such a long, long time since we heard from you. Well I’m glad you are alive and well. I wish you would come home once more. I have a feeling I shall see you again in the flesh. I feel sometimes as if I should be almost willing to go to my eternal home if I could see you once more. The old place is passed into the hands of strangers and I’m very sorry they are not more like our folks. They are rather a low family and I can’t go there and feel they are fit associates for us and it makes me very sad to think the change there has been for the worse. Mr. Houghton and Mr. Crandall still live where they did though Mr. Crandall lives where John Curtiss did. He married Clarissa Houghton. James Smith, Mary’s husband, is here on a visit. Mary and the oldest boy stayed at home and Smith and the other boy came east on a visit. Went to Philadelphia and saw the big show. How I wanted to go but I knew it was impossible. I am working at Orrin Houghton’s the summer. Elvira and I are going to keep house again in the spring. It is very lonely since ma went home. How thankful I am that she passed away so happy. She prayed for her boys on her death bed. Lucius has since experienced religion and joined the church. He has three nice boys. Marietta Hyde, you know, married Jonas Olmsted. Well he married her and she finally left him. She has one son a ticket in Colorado. She is living in Ill. about 20 miles from Mary. The rest of the Hyde family are mostly gone. Edwin, Charles, Sylvia, Augusta with their parents have gone to the spirit land. Albert is living in the state at Hamilton I believe. Dr. Saunders and Mr. Newland are dead. I have forgotten many things that would interest you perhaps but I will do the best I can. The mountain and river look as they did of old. The old orchard and the sap bush and the ledge that we used to think were so high. I suppose you have seen such grand scenes and large rivers and high mountains that our small hills and insignificant river would look very tame to you but would it not look beautiful as the home of your youth when we were all together under our father’s roof when we were comparatively free from care. How sad and lonely it seems tome now that we are so widely scattered and do write often, it puts new life into me to I hear from you. Our mother told me not to neglect writing to you and say to Whitfield not to stop writing to us because she was gone. I thank you kindly for the money you send but I thought more of hearing from you than I did at the money.

(from Tempe)