This collection is made up of six letters by Solomon M. Jennings and one letter by William H. Mitchell to [Joab?] Stafford of Essex, New York, between 1858 and 1877. Jennings wrote, with phonetic spelling, four letters from Iowa, where he worked as a farmer, 1858-1860; one letter from Denver City, Colorado, where he worked as a blacksmith, 1862; and a letter from Deer Lodge, Montana Territory, where he successfully invested in a quartz mining endeavor, 1877. He discussed prices of agricultural goods and livestock, property, his personal debate over whether or not to move to California, travels and costs of traveling, financial struggles (loans and debts) and successes (investment), and the weather. Mitchell wrote to Stafford from Kansas City, Missouri, about local matters including the need for blacksmiths, in 1865. Both writers tried to convince Stafford to move west.
Solomon M. Jennings (or "Soloman Jennings") was born on October 28, 1818, in Columbiana, Ohio. He traveled extensively in the 1850s and 1860s, engaging in farming work in Polk County, Iowa, and blacksmith work in Denver City. He weighed his options for traveling west to Arizona or California, but instead decided to settle first in Deer Lodge (or Deerlodge), Montana Territory, around 1865, where he successfully invested in a quartz mining operation. He moved to Silver Bow County, Montana Territory, sometime after February 1877. There, he married Ellen Campbell, an Irish immigrant and widow, on June 30, 1887. The couple had one daughter, Teresa K. Jennings (1886-1938), who married Nelson W. Atkinson (1870-1957) in 1909. Solomon Jennings died on November 10, 1890, and is buried in Melrose Cemetery, Silver Bow County, Montana.
Solomon Jennings wrote a series of letters to "Friend Stafford," who appears to be Joab Stafford (1821-1886), a farmer in Essex, New York.
