Scope and Contents:
This collection contains photocopies of two sets of letters from the Templeton family of Illinois and Pennsylvania. The first set of letters, dated 1832-42, were written by James Templeton of Hennepin, Ill., to his brother Samuel of New Berlin, Pa., and discuss bookselling, land costs, farming conditions, and the shortage of currency. The second set of letters, dated 1849-56, were sent by Samuel, then of Freeport, Ill., to Philip Grass of New Berlin, and discuss labor, land, produce and interest costs, farming conditions, frontier diseases, politics, the need for a post office and for craftsmen, and the possibility of exchanging eastern property for land in Illinois.
David Schob donated the photocopies to the Illinois Historical Survey in 1969. The originals are at Cornell University.