Item Detail
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Bonesteel, Lucy Wright
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1801-1874
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MSS SC 3270
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Letters
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Lucy Wright Bonesteel was born on 8 April 1801 in Rome, New York. Her father and mother were Peter Bice Wright and Elizabeth Shed Wright. Lucy was the eldest of their 10 children, the others being Catharine, Julius Caesar, Arrunah, Jonathan Calkins, George Dinsmore, Silas Warren, Elizabeth, Emily Lovina, and Marian.
Lucy spent most of her life in Illinois and Indiana. On 12 May 1816 in Dearborn, Indiana, Lucy married Amos Bonesteel, and together they had 2 children, Peter Wright, and Lucy Amanda Jane. They spent much of their married life in Bloomfield, Illinois.
She died on 26 June 1874 in Martell, Wisconsin, at the age of 73 years. -
This is 100 pages of photocopied, handwritten letters with dates ranging from 1831 to around 1888. It is correspondence between Lucy Bonesteel and her family. A few of the letters are from Lucy herself, but most of them are addressed to her from various brothers, sisters, and cousins, such as Mary Elizabeth Smith, her cousin, and Emily Lovina Smith, her sister.
Lucy lived in Bloomfield, Illinois with her husband Amos and their children, Lucy Amanda Jane and Peter while receiving much of this correspondence. Most of the letters were written and sent within Illinois or Indiana.
The content of the letters generally includes news of friends and family, such as who has died, who has married, who has given birth, and who is sick. It also includes news of crops, such as how the potatoes are doing, and whether or not the season has been good. Occasionally there is a request to have another friend or family member write to the authors.