Search

This collection contains correspondence and other materials related to Richard and William Fulcher, natives of Norfolk County, England, who moved to St. Joseph County, Michigan, in 1835. The brothers received around 100 letters from their friends and family in England, who provided them with family and local news, discussed the effects of transatlantic separation, and commented on political events, such as the American Civil War. Photographs, an extract from a will, and bank checks are also included.

This collection contains correspondence and other material related to Richard and William Fulcher, natives of Norfolk County, England, who moved to St. Joseph County, Michigan, in 1835. The brothers received around 100 letters from their friends and family in England, who provided them with family and local news, discussed the effects of transatlantic separation, and commented on political events, such as the American Civil War. The collection also includes an extract from Thomas Fulcher's will, Richard Fulcher's bank checks (9 items), 9 photographs of the Fulcher family and other subjects, and a newspaper clipping.

The Correspondence series (100 items) is primarily comprised of William and Richard Fulcher's incoming correspondence, which they received after emigrating from England to Michigan in 1835. Friends and family members wrote about their lives in Old Buckenham and Hingham, England, and commented on topics such as their social lives, family health, crops, and local news. Many letters, particularly the earlier items, mention the effects of separation. Thomas Fulcher, curate and vicar for the Old Buckenham Parish Church, and Sophy Moxon, the Fulcher brothers' niece, wrote around 33 letters to William and Richard. Richard's wife Esther also corresponded with her English and American relatives. Later items are occasionally addressed to Ada Fulcher, Richard and Esther's daughter. During the Civil War, Thomas Fulcher and other correspondents commented on political and military developments in the United States. Postwar letters contain some description of travel around England and Wales. The final letters in the collection include several that mention family deaths; a letter dated July 10, 1888, for example, contains a newspaper obituary for Thomas Fulcher and a lock of his hair.

The Extract from Thomas Fulcher's Will (3 pages), dated 1888, concerns his farm and payments to several of his relatives, including Esther Fulcher, Richard's widow.

The Checks series is comprised of 9 printed bank checks drawn on the First National Bank of Three Rivers. Each is signed by Richard Fulcher.

The 9 Photographs are modern reproductions and enlargements of 19th and early 20th century images that depict numerous members of the Fulcher family, including Oriel Fulcher's daughters, Sophia (or Sophy) Moxon, Esther Bridgman Fulcher, Thomas Fulcher, Eliza Fulcher, Bessie Fulcher, and Richard Fulcher. One item depicts the Old Buckenham Parish Church.

A Newspaper Clipping from the Three Rivers Commercial shows 2 photographs of Richard Fulcher's home in Three Rivers, Michigan.

This volume is comprised of retained copies of letters that William and Ann Story of Wigton, England, wrote to their son Daniel after his immigration to North America in the early 1840s. The couple described political and economic conditions in England and discussed their preparations for joining Daniel in North America.

This vellum-bound volume is comprised of 24 pages of retained copies of letters that William and Ann Story of Wigton, England, wrote to their son Daniel between June 23, 1840, and March 17, 1842, after Daniel's immigration to North America. They described political and economic conditions in England and discussed their preparations for joining Daniel in North America.

Daniel Story arrived in Liverpool before June 1840 and sailed for North America on July 13, 1840, accompanied by a friend or relative named Thomas. William and Ann Story responded to news of Daniel's journey and to his thoughts about their potential emigration. They provided updates about acquaintances and family members in England, including Daniel's sisters, and frequently discussed political and economic issues, the Chartist movement, and political figures such as Daniel O'Connell and Feargus O'Connor. Some letters include information on recent trials and elections, and on local food prices. In later letters, the couple described their preparations for a move to North America and the difficulty they had recovering money from various debtors. Though Daniel offered to visit England to assist, his parents dismissed the idea as too dangerous and recounted stories of recent shipwrecks.

Following the family letters, Jane Story copied a 1-page article about a prophet in France who supposedly predicted Great Britain's destruction by war in 1842. The article originally appeared in a German-language newspaper. The volume is bound in vellum.

Peter Atkin of Liverpool, England, and his son George received 10 letters regarding Peter's nephew, Englishman William D. Hope, between 1862 and 1866. Hope, an aspiring pharmacist, wrote 5 letters to his uncle and 3 letters to his cousin about his desperate financial situation, his attempts to find work in England, his experiences serving with the Union Army in the Civil War, and his life in Illinois in the year following the war. Two other acquaintances wrote to Peter Atkin about a visit Hope made to Nova Scotia in 1862 and about Hope's financial hardships.

Peter Atkin of Liverpool, England, and his son George received 10 letters regarding Peter's nephew, Englishman William D. Hope, between 1862 and 1866. Hope, an aspiring pharmacist, wrote 5 letters to his uncle and 3 letters to his cousin about his desperate financial situation, his attempts to find work in England, his experiences serving with the Union Army in the Civil War, and his life in Illinois in the year following the war. Two other acquaintances wrote Atkin about a visit Hope made to Nova Scotia in 1862 and about Hope's financial hardships.

Dr. William Denison of Newport, Nova Scotia, wrote Peter Atkin on August 6, 1862, concerning William D. Hope's recent professional visit and his local love affair, since broken off. William D. Hope wrote the following 4 letters to Peter Atkin and George Atkin, his uncle and cousin, respectively, while traveling around England between September 22, 1862, and May 2, 1863. Hope discussed his unsuccessful love affair with "Miss Paint" in Nova Scotia, and lamented his poor financial fortunes. He described his attempts to find work, as well as his difficulties in doing so, which he attributed to the machinations of a relative, David Hope. In his letter of September 22, 1862, he mentioned the dampening effect the Civil War had on business affairs in North America. Andrew Paton also wrote to Peter Atkin on January 26, 1863, expressing his displeasure at Hope's situation and his failure to call on Paton in Glasgow, Scotland.

Hope's letters from North America begin on December 1, 1863. In the 4 letters that follow, he described his work for the Union Army at Hart Island, New York, and at Lookout Mountain, Tennessee (2 letters, December 1, 1863, and January 19, 1865, 13 pages), as well as various aspects of his life after the war (2 letters, August 8, 1865, and August 20, 1866, 9 pages). He reported on his experiences as a medicine dispenser for a hospital on Hart Island, recounted his travels from New York to Tennessee, and explained his duties with the quartermaster's department at Lookout Mountain. He also commented on the progress of the war, on the perceived American prejudice against Englishmen, and on the war's effects in Illinois. In his letter of December 1, 1863, he described the New York City draft riots of 1863, during which he was almost fatally shot, and he mentioned the recent hanging of the Lincoln assassination conspirators in his letter of August 8, 1865.