20.18.12 b

Letter

1876 Approximate

Letter to Amanda Conner from Rosina Conner Payne. Material: paper. Size: 5" x 8". Description: white lined tablet paper containing a handwritten message in blue ink, dated May 26, 1876 from Van Meter, Iowa. Contents: a newsy letter written to Amanda Conner in Blooming Grove, Minnesota from her sister, Rosina (Mrs. Harvey Payne) living in Van Meter, Iowa; mention of children Nora and baby Mary, farm and land prices, hard times and that they are liking life in Iowa.

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.