Smith, David Doggett (1753-1831). Revolutionary War soldier, wounded and captured at the harrowing Battle of Fort Washington (1776). ALS, 2pp, 7.75 x 11.25 in., "Wooster Township, Wayne County, State Ohio." n.d., ca 1816. Addressed to Abel Gunn of New Milford, Connecticut. David Smith was a native of Dutchess County, New York and settled in Wayne County at some point between 1800 and 1820, as indicated by census records. In his letter to Gunn, seemingly a family friend, he notes that he moved to Ohio "six years ago with all my children" and his twenty-one grandchildren. He asks after the health of Gunn's father, Abel Gunn, Sr. and relates that his youngest child has passed away, possibly from complications of epilepsy ("fits of falling sickness"). His eager to share his family's experiences on the frontier, most notably his neighbors' encounters with American Indians: "In the time of war I forted in my own house on the account of the Indians. They killed several within 15 miles from me but I made holes through my house to shoot the Indians if they should attempt to come and kill me, but I never got disturbed by them." Smith also provides Gunn with detailed descriptions of physical features of Ohio's land, the weather, and the native vegetation. He made his living primarily as a farmer in Ohio, and change in climate and growing conditions has taken some adjustment: "Things are uncommon backward this season by being Drye and Cold which is not common here. Snow falls but 2 or 3 inches deep here in the winter. The winters are not hard and summers are not so sufferish hot as by you." Of his crops, he writes in part, "We are in a fine country, soil good, corn is now sixteen feet high, the ears are some of them as high as you can reach. Wheat is very plenty and good it will w[e]igh from 65 to 68 lb. per bushel, potatoes 3 inches thick now." Though his interests are largely agrarian, Smith points out that Wooster, the county seat, also boasts a modest downtown, complete with "6 stores in it. . . Business going on like a city," including a church, a "saltworks," a post office, a sawmill, and a gristmill. He would later work as a silversmith and mesh maker, though his workshop was destroyed by a fire. Though he applied for a pension as a veteran of the Revolutionary War, his application was rejected, and his son Daniel was left to care for him and his wife in their old age. Condition: Creasing, toning, and areas of staining.
Smith, David Doggett (1753-1831). Revolutionary War soldier, wounded and captured at the harrowing Battle of Fort Washington (1776). ALS, 2pp, 7.75 x 11.25 in., "Wooster Township, Wayne County, State Ohio." n.d., ca 1816. Addressed to Abel Gunn of New Milford, Connecticut. David Smith was a native of Dutchess County, New York and settled in Wayne County at some point between 1800 and 1820, as indicated by census records. In his letter to Gunn, seemingly a family friend, he notes that he moved to Ohio "six years ago with all my children" and his twenty-one grandchildren. He asks after the health of Gunn's father, Abel Gunn, Sr. and relates that his youngest child has passed away, possibly from complications of epilepsy ("fits of falling sickness"). His eager to share his family's experiences on the frontier, most notably his neighbors' encounters with American Indians: "In the time of war I forted in my own house on the account of the Indians. They killed several within 15 miles from me but I made holes through my house to shoot the Indians if they should attempt to come and kill me, but I never got disturbed by them." Smith also provides Gunn with detailed descriptions of physical features of Ohio's land, the weather, and the native vegetation. He made his living primarily as a farmer in Ohio, and change in climate and growing conditions has taken some adjustment: "Things are uncommon backward this season by being Drye and Cold which is not common here. Snow falls but 2 or 3 inches deep here in the winter. The winters are not hard and summers are not so sufferish hot as by you." Of his crops, he writes in part, "We are in a fine country, soil good, corn is now sixteen feet high, the ears are some of them as high as you can reach. Wheat is very plenty and good it will w[e]igh from 65 to 68 lb. per bushel, potatoes 3 inches thick now." Though his interests are largely agrarian, Smith points out that Wooster, the county seat, also boasts a modest downtown, complete with "6 stores in it. . . Business going on like a city," including a church, a "saltworks," a post office, a sawmill, and a gristmill. He would later work as a silversmith and mesh maker, though his workshop was destroyed by a fire. Though he applied for a pension as a veteran of the Revolutionary War, his application was rejected, and his son Daniel was left to care for him and his wife in their old age. Condition: Creasing, toning, and areas of staining.
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