NON-FICTION HISTORY "Letters from the Past" brings back and reveals the actual thoughts and experiences of our ancestors from 1816 thru 1956. The majority of the book centers on Dick Evans Arrowsmith (1862 - 1954) when he owned a horse and mule ranch in Nevada from 1890 to 1904. He engaged in capturing and breaking wild horses as well as buying and selling horses and mules. While away from his ranch on business, he wrote letters to his wife keeping her updated on his location and daily events. His recorded work deserves to be saved for the reading enjoyment of today's and future generations. With cell phones and emails that get erased almost daily, it would be impossible to replicate this book for anyone living in today's twenty-first century. In addition to Dick Arrowsmith's life, other period happenings of interest are documented: Simon Kenton, the famous frontiersman, sells land to Dick's great grandfather in 1816.Civil War letter of 1860 is written by Dick's father. Cattle Drives from the 1860's are made by Dick's uncles. Extinct town of Dewey, Nevada is located near Dick's horse and mule ranch. Horses and mules are sold to the US Calvary until 1904.Primitive cabins and homes are described. A California "posse" is encountered in 1857.Travel by horseback, wagon, stagecoach, and 1869 passenger train is described. Contract bids are made to carry mail by horseback. Emphasizing, the letters and documents included are the exact words used without guess work or speculation. A true read of life before airplanes, automobiles, cell phones, oil, and Chinese imports. If the last chapter on "Revelations" saves just one person, this book will be a success.
LETTERS from the PAST
REVELATIONSBy Dick ReedAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2010 Dick Reed
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4490-0813-0Contents
Introduction..................................................................1Chapter 1 Step Back in Time...................................................3Chapter 2 Dick Evans Arrowsmith Autobiography.................................19Chapter 3 Simon Kenton Land Sale 1816.........................................27Chapter 4 Dick Evans Arrowsmith Wedding to Gertrude...........................31Chapter 5 Letters 1892, 1893, and 1894........................................43Chapter 6 Letters 1897........................................................53Chapter 7 Letters 1898........................................................61Chapter 8 Letters 1899........................................................69Chapter 9 Dick Evans Arrowsmith Prank 1899....................................95Chapter 10 Letters 1901.......................................................101Chapter 11 Letters 1903 and 1906..............................................105Chapter 12 Letters 1908.......................................................123Chapter 13 Dick's Grandfather 1808 - 1893.....................................129Chapter 14 Dick's Father 1833 - 1864..........................................133Chapter 15 Dick's Mother 1840 - 1940..........................................141Chapter 16 John M Rhodes Family 1827 - 1956...................................157Chapter 17 Author's Life with Dick Arrowsmith 1939 - 1954.....................181Chapter 18 Author's First Marlin Rifle:.......................................197Chapter 19 Revelations Last Chapter of the New Testament......................205References....................................................................215
Chapter One
Step Back in Time
The year is 1862. Dick Arrowsmith was born in Defiance, Ohio on the 29th of October. We do not know the exact place of birth but his father was John Caraway Arrowsmith and his mother was Mary Ann Evans Arrowsmith. Dick's father and mother were married on December 21, 1861 at the bride's parents' home. Their home was a white frame house along the River Road in Defiance, Ohio, on a hill, now the Kettenring Country Club.
Dick's mother, Mary Ann Evans Arrowsmith, was one of thirteen children, being born in 1840. Birth control was for all practical purposes non-existent in the early 1800's and large families were commonplace. Rubber condoms were not available until 1855 and men were instructed to wash them out after use and keep reusing them until they crumbled.
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States elected into office in 1860. He won 1,865,908 of the 4,685,029 popular votes beating out John C. Breckinridge, John Bell and Stephen A. Douglas. Comparing this to the 2008 election with Barack Obama receiving 66,862,039 of the 125,181,481 popular votes, for every voter in 1860 there were almost 27 voters in 2008. When President Lincoln gave his inauguration address on March 4, 1861, it was 8 days until the State of California received the news. The message was sent by telegraph to Joseph, Missouri and from there it was carried by pony express to California. The pony express trip took 7 days and 17 hours. The telegraph lines were completed in October of 1861 and that ended the pony express.
The Country was in the midst of the Civil War which started on April 12, 1861 and finally ended on May 26, 1865. This war resulted in the death of 625,000 men or almost 2% of the 1860 population. Historical records tell us that the average number of deaths were 599 men for each day of the war.
The first Henry rifles were offered for sale in the summer of 1862 at a price of $42, equivalent to a soldier's salary for three months. This brings us to an interesting story I recently heard about the early profits of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Oliver Winchester, the founder, died in 1880. His only son was William Wirt Winchester. William's wife Sarah lived in great guilt. First, their only child, a daughter, died shortly after birth in 1866 and they never had any more children. Second, William Wirt died of tuberculosis in 1881 leaving Sarah with nothing but lots of money and a life of guilt and fear. It is reported that a psychic told Sarah that the loss of her family was caused by spirits of all the people killed by repeating rifles manufactured by Winchester. The psychic suggested that she move west and commence construction of a house and never finish construction and as long as construction was going forward, she would be safe. So, she ended up in San Jose, California with 20 million dollars and a monthly income of $1,000.00 from her part ownership in Winchester. One internet site said her income was $1,000.00 per day. Regardless of whether it was per day, per week, or per month, it was in 1884 when a quart of strawberries cost 4 cents. She bought a house and 160 acres in San Jose and for the rest of her life had something like 24 carpenters working 24/7. The construction had no plans and the ongoing daily verbal design was to discourage spirits. There are stairs going nowhere, doors opening into solid walls, windows with 13 panes of glass, and numerous unheard of weird things. The author first learned about this house during a sermon on over coming guilt given by Ed Ivie of Living Waters Community Church in Bonita Springs, Florida. Guilt can be so easily over come simply by asking forgiveness from Jesus Christ. This home is located at 525 South Winchester Boulevard in Jan Jose, California. The Winchester home is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is open for tours.
It would be 14 more years before the Battle of the Little Big Horn known as Custer's Last Stand which took place on June 26, 1876 in Big Horn County, Montana. After the battle, Custer and all 200 of his US Calvary were killed and most of the bodies were scalped and mutilated. Some even had their genitals cut off and placed in their mouths. The white men and the Indians had developed a bitter hatred towards each other. Then, 14 years later, on December 29, 1890, the last major Indian war ended in Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota. 500 troops of the US 7th Calvary killed 300 of the Lakota Sioux Tribe. This is a sad event in history because the 300 Lakota's killed were not just warriors but the elderly, women, and children of all ages including infants. For all practical purposes, war with the Indians was over and the various tribes were confined to reservations.
This sets the background for the start of Dick Arrowsmith's life. There were no computers, no hard surface roads, no gas stations, no automobiles, no airplanes, no telephones, no radios, no refrigerators, no bottled water, no microwaves, no indoor plumbing, no credit cards, no fast food restaurants, no Social Security, and list goes on and on. Perforated toilet paper in roll form was not even factory produced until 1877. Sears Roebuck & Company did not begin business until 1888. The things we take for granted today did not exist in this period. Blackberries were used for jams and pies, not for text messaging. Firearms, saddles, wagons, tools, cooking utensils, clothing, etc. were American made without Chinese and other Asian imports.
Imagine, today in 2009, going into a hardware store or shopping mall, walk the merchandise in its entirety and mentally remove from the store everything imported. What would be left? In the clothing and shoe stores it is almost impossible to find American made...
