20.18.12 a

Letter

1876 Approximate

Letter to Amanda Conner from Rosina Conner Payne. Material: paper, hair. Size: 5" x 6 1/2". Description: white lined tablet paper containing a handwritten message in blue ink, dated February 6, 1876 from Van Meter, Iowa, one small lock of dark brown hair is stitched to top of first page. Contents: a newsy letter written to Amanda Conner in Blooming Grove, Minnesota from her sister, Rosina (Mrs. Harvey Payne) living in Van Meter, Iowa; news of the new baby, the local United Brethren Church and Methodist Church, the mining of a coal vein in Iowa, and mention of her children Nora and George, as well as the name of a local grocery and clothing store owner in Van Meter, Frank Goar.

James Wilson (J.W.) Cleland and Miss Amanda C. Conner of Blooming Grove were married October 3, 1877. Amanda was born September 11, 1852, in Indiana, and came to Waseca County with her parents in 1856. J. W. Cleland was born September 27, 1847 in Delaware County, NY., and was one of nine children born to Rev. and Mrs. W. J. Cleland. He came West with his family in 1863. He carried on the homestead farm until 1885, when the place was sold and he purchased a small farm on the west shore of Clear Lake, near Waseca. J. W. was stricken by paralysis while working about a threshing machine. He never recovered from the stroke and died after a very prolonged illness, July 15, 1903.