{"value"=>"<p>The correspondence among members of the Ferguson and allied families, in England and the United States is rich in content. Many of the early letters to Samuel Ferguson in America give insight into the everyday life of his relatives in England. In a letter to Samuel dated September 12, 1804, his sister Martha writes \"we have bought share in the Hull Docks which now pay very good interest and if Bonaparte does not come and destroy all, the value of them will be increased\". The letters to Samuel from home are also peppered with family gossip. One topic that comes up repeatedly in letters around 1797 from his sister Martha, Uncle Edward, and Aunt Rawson is a scandalous affair involving a cousin, Jane Ferguson, and a Mr. Holroyd. Mrs. Rawson describes the two as \"having disagreeable tempers, arrogance and conceit\". There is also discussion of Dorothy and William Wordsworth after Dorothy moves out of her Aunt Elizabeth's house. Elizabeth writes to Samuel on March 11, 1795 that \"William and Dorothy have a scheme to live in London and plan to maintain themselves by their literary talents, writing, and translating\", which Mrs. Rawson thinks is \"a very bad, wild, scheme\". Martha, Samuel's sister, also talks of William and Dorothy \"wandering Germany\" and in a long letter from Dorothy (transcript only, no original) to her aunt Elizabeth on June 13, 1798, she discusses the move to Germany saying, \"we have long wished to go into that country for the purpose of learning the language, and for the common advantages to be acquired by seeing different people and different manners\". In an 1804 letter to Samuel Ferguson, Dorothy gives him an update and expresses her desire to hear about his family.</p> <p>In letters from Samuel's brother Edward, a linen draper, there is great detail about the current fashions of the time in England, and Edward's own personal style. In a letter dated July 19,1797, he describes his own hairstyle as the present fashion and says it will suit an American summer. He also sends along a few drawings to illustrate. In a May, 1798 letter, Edward talks about wigs and powder and says only the gray headed wear powder and those who want to be thought of as young and smart, cover their gray with wigs. He goes on extensively in these letters about the styles of the times.</p> <p>In addition to news from overseas, the correspondence gives insight into life in America during the early Republic. A November 13, 1803 letter from Abraham Walton describes in detail his journey by wagon to Utica and the countryside in New York. He also writes about meeting with Indians. There are also many family letters from the late 18th and early 19th century documenting the impact of the yellow fever epidemic in America, and specifically in New York. In a letter dated November 3, 1798 to his brother Joseph, Edmund Morewood describes the deaths of their brother Thomas and his business partner David Ogden from the disease. There is also a prophetic letter dated September 15, 1798 in which Thomas Morewood mentions that his servant has contracted yellow fever. Discussion and concern about the epidemic can be found in much of the family correspondence from this period.</p> <p>Although the business papers series of this collection includes the bulk of the information on mercantile affairs, there is also copious information on business dealings to be found scattered throughout the family correspondence. The letters exchanged by the Morewood brothers are particularly rich with this information. One example is in a letter from Edmund Morewood dated November 24, 27, 30th 1798. He states, \"Coffee and Sugar are too high for a safe adventure, though I think the last article might pay even at its present exorbitant price.\" He also says, \"Cotton has also been very much in demand and has rather advanced, fine Georgian especially. I do not esteem the people here great judges of cotton.\" In a colorful example from John Day's letters to Samuel Ferguson, he provides descriptions of life on a commercial voyage. In a September 1806 letter, he writes of passenger and business associate William English, \"a melancholy instance he is of the effects of liquor\". John Day also complains that he's \"been occupied in the concerns of these foolish people all week\" and tells of William English's wife's request for \"the accommodation of two dogs, a mockingbird, and that infernal beast of a cockatoo!\"</p> <p>Letters of the later generations include those of John Ferguson and his wife Helen Morewood Ferguson and their siblings and children. There are many letters of advisement from relatives directed to John Ferguson after the death of his father and at the time when he is going into business. In a June 22, 1822 letter from John Day to John Ferguson when he is about to go to London by ship, John Day states \"Remember, my dear John, our business in this world is not to eat and to drink, and to gratify our Passions, but to keep all our appetites in due subordination; to do all the Good we consistently can; faithfully uprightly and honestly in our respective Callings discharging our duties.\" He also urges John to attend the Church of England while in England, even though he was raised Episcopalian. He dissuades him from going to church with his Great Aunt Elizabeth Threlkeld Rawson because she is a Unitarian and Unitarian doctrines \"are flattering to human vanity and very likely to allure the superficial thinking\". Subjects discussed in the letters of the later generations of the family in the United States include descriptions of the Ferguson children's trips abroad, to the west coast, and to and from school.</p> <p>The correspondence is arranged alphabetically by last name of the family and then by first name of the correspondent. Many of the original letters are accompanied by transcripts.</p>"}