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This 88-page journal recounts Healy's travels from his home in Middlebury, New York, to northeastern Illinois between May 30 and July 13, 1838. The journal contains notes on his steamship voyages on the Great Lakes, descriptions of his overland travels and experiences in Illinois, and prayers and other religious reflections. This diary is a handwritten copy made by Horace Healy in 1841.

This 88-page journal recounts Healy's travels from his home in Middlebury, New York, to northeastern Illinois between May 30 and July 13, 1838. This diary is a handwritten copy made by Horace Healy in 1841.

Healy departed from Middlebury on May 30, 1838, with a friend, Hosea Wilson, and reached Buffalo the following day, where the men boarded the steamer Anthony Wayne, bound for Chicago via the Great Lakes. Healy kept a brief daily record of distances he traveled and the steamer's stops, until his arrival at Chicago on June 9. There, he took leave of Wilson. Along the way, Healy visited Fort Mackinac, Michigan, and described some of his fellow passengers. Upon his arrival in Illinois, he set out to visit acquaintances living southeast of Chicago, and then traveled westward and northward throughout the area for the rest of the month. A devout man, he recorded his religious activities, his attendance at church services, prayers, and religious thoughts.

The journal also contains brief descriptions of a few settlements, such as Naperville and Rockford, and of life on the Illinois prairie. One man at a camp meeting along the DuPage River mentioned his missionary work with local Native Americans (June 24, p. 38). On June 25, Healy left for home, though he remained in Chicago for several days awaiting a steamer; during this time, he visited Fort Dearborn and other sights. He boarded the Anthony Wayne on June 28, and spent a few days in early July near Detroit, Michigan, where he visited his brother Freeborn's grave in Macomb County (July 6, pp. 66-67). On July 10, he took the Clinton to Buffalo, where he arrived on July 12, his daughter's 14th birthday. The entry for July 12 also contains Healy's lamentation on the sinking of the steamboat George Washington on Lake Erie less than a month before (pp. 81-82). Healy arrived home in Middlebury on July 13, 1838.

Horace Healy transcribed this copy of his journal on October 21, 1841.

Peter and Hannah Keyes of Porterville, New York, received 23 letters from their son, siblings, and friends between 1846 and 1867. Jane Keyes Foster, Peter's sister, described her life on farms in Kaneville and Sycamore, Illinois, in the 1840s and 1850s, and Orson S. Keyes, Peter and Hannah's son, discussed his financial affairs and attempts to find employment in Rochester, New York, in the late 1850s.

Peter and Hannah Keyes of Porterville, New York, received 23 letters from their son, siblings, and friends between 1846 and 1867. Jane Keyes Foster, Peter's sister, described her life on farms in Kaneville and Sycamore, Illinois, in the 1840s and 1850s, and Orson S. Keyes, Peter and Hannah's son, discussed his financial affairs and attempts to find employment in Rochester, New York, in the late 1850s.

In letters to her brother and sister-in-law, Jane Keyes Foster discussed many aspects of farming life on the Illinois frontier. She provided information about local illnesses and her family's health, and often expressed her homesickness. In one letter, she reflected on the death of one of her children (April 10, 1852). Foster also provided details about working on the farm. In later letters, she often commented on her religious beliefs, and her last letter, written in 1867, expressed sadness about the abuse that her sister Betsey suffered from her husband, Calvin Combs. Jane composed one letter on stationery bearing an image and business directory of the Sycamore courthouse (July 8, 1859). Peter and Hannah Keyes also received letters from "Franklin," one of the Keyes siblings, about his journey to Kaneville, the price of crops in Illinois, local religion, and his thoughts on moving to Texas.

Orson S. Keyes, Peter and Hannah's son, also wrote frequently. He composed most of his letters from Rochester, New York, in the late 1850s, and discussed his attempts to find employment, the dried apple industry, and local churches. He often requested money from his parents and mentioned his friendship with Foster Dickinson. John S. Blossom, Hannah's brother, wrote to Peter and Hannah Keyes from Saratoga Springs, New York, in 1862, and shared his regret that the war had forced him to return to New York after living in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Other correspondents included William Blossom and Hannah Keyes, who reported to Peter about family matters.

This volume contains the constitution and meeting minutes of the Upper Alton Presbyterian Sabbath School Society, recorded between 1842 and 1850. Minutes often included the names of teachers present and the number of students, separated by gender.

This volume (6" x 7.5", about 225 pages) contains the constitution and meeting minutes of the Upper Alton Presbyterian Sabbath School Society, recorded between January 5, 1842, and July 14, 1850. The first 2 pages are comprised of the society's constitution, along with the names of 20 members, followed by around 225 pages of weekly notes. The group's secretaries regularly recorded brief meeting minutes every Sunday with occasional gaps, most notably between April 1846 and June 1848. Meetings generally opened and closed with prayer or singing, and the minutes often include the names of teachers present and the number of students in attendance, separated by gender. Some sets of minutes, especially those composed at the beginning of each calendar year, note additional occurrences, such as officers' resignations and the results of the group's annual elections. On January 19, 1845, the society read a communication about the death of a devout Seneca Indian boy, and on January 21, 1849, the society mourned the loss of a girl who had previously attended Sabbath school meetings. The minutes dated after January 1850 refer to teachers' accounts with the group's library, and the minutes from February [1 or 7], 1850, consist of a list of Sabbath school scholars. The Upper Alton Presbyterian Sabbath School Society's secretaries between 1842 and 1850 included Benjamin Walker, Samuel H. Archer, Moses H. Long, Eliakim Thorp, E. Cunningham, and James Newman.