Replies

Oh, man!

That is a treasure!!

I absolutely love those old letters! They didn't worry about proper etiquette - just told it like it was.

I was wondering when I read it for the third time if maybe he wasn't part of the Mier Expedition with Big Foot Wallace. They drew beans to see who would be shot.
I'll go back and check dates and places.

Thank you very much for sharing that.
It goes in a Word file by itself!

I'm glad you like it!

I've owned this letter for almost 20 years, and I do research on it whenever I get the chance. I've also sent copies of it to several historical experts in Texas, all of whom have said they can't prove that Maxwell actually did all the things he claimed he did, but there were no historical inaccuracies, either! One researcher told me, "If he's telling tall tales, he's the best I've ever seen because he got *all* the facts right."

I was wondering when I read it for the third time if maybe he wasn't part of the Mier Expedition with Big Foot Wallace. They drew beans to see who would be shot. I'll go back and check dates and places.

I've had two historical researchers mention the bean episode, but they've told me that no one named Maxwell took part in it. OTOH, he could have been using a different name then, so who knows?

BTW, the Red Bluff from where he wrote the letter is in California. That took me *years* to figure out! I was also stumped for years about how it could be 2,000 miles from where he was in Mexico to the war in Texas, until I realized that *California* was part of Mexico, and he wasn't taken to Monterrey in present-day Mexico, but to Monterey, California.

How do I know he's from Red Bluff, CA? I FOUND HIM!!! He's in the 1860 census records. The day I found that data, I literally broke down and cried. He was real - really real. Yes, I'll freely admit I'm a bit in love with Mr. Maxwell!

I've tried to look for him in the Pennsylvania census records (since he directed the letter to PA, I'm assuming he's from there), but I've never found him or his niece.

My next real vacation, I plan to visit Red Bluff and do some "on site" research. I'm also going to visit Monterey and look through the marriage records for him and Petra, but I fear they're in Spanish, which isn't a language I know very well.

I love the old letters, too, and this one is my best, my favorite and my first. I don't necessarily want anything written by anyone famous - just give me a really interesting letter written by an ordinary person, and I'm thrilled.

Maven