This collection contains twelve letters written by Edward W. Chesebro of Guilderland, New York, and Allen D. Chesebro of Gallupville, New York, to John Carhartt of Bridgeport, New York. Edward wrote ten letters between January 3, 1846, and February 21, 1847, primarily about his career as a schoolteacher in Guilderland and Bangall, New York. He frequently shared his opinions of his students, who often performed far below his expectations, and expressed his frustration with their shortcomings, both academic and moral. He also gave his generally negative opinions upon the state of education in the region and the importance of attending the State Normal College at Albany while pursuing an educational career. In October 1846, he described his travels along the Erie and Ohio Canals.
The letters include updates on Chesebro's family members, and he occasionally mentioned contemporary political issues, including violence at the New York Democratic Convention (April 2, 1846). About the American South, he wrote, "I returned as perfectly disgusted…as any live man could be" with the people, the climate, and slavery (December 7, 1846). In two additional letters, Allen D. Chesebro (1822-1902) of Gallupville, New York, discussed his own travels throughout New York, Edward's plans to move to either Texas or Mississippi, and news of the Chesebro family.
Edward W. Chesebro was born in Knox, New York, on August 11, 1819, and graduated from the State Normal College at Albany, New York (now the State University of New York, Albany), in 1846. He taught in Guilderland and Bangall, New York, and briefly moved to the South in mid-1846, though he returned to Guilderland by December. He continued to teach in New York until the 1850s, when he moved to Paris Township (now Kentwood), Michigan, where he oversaw the Grand Rapids Union School for several years before resigning due to poor health. He died in Grand Rapids on January 31, 1862. He married Sarah M. White in 1854 and, following her death, Cynthia A. Ward, in 1857. He had no children.