ABSTRACT
The Matthew Willis letter of 1849 is especially valuable for the fact that it was written from Iowa County, in western Wisconsin, to Carperby, Wensleydale, in Yorkshire, and thus is a link between the two mining regions and the Yorkshiremen who mined and farmed there. It records the use of English methods of agriculture. It also makes a reference to John Dinsdale, whose biography is included in Volume 2 of this collection, and whose brother, Matthew, left many letters that have already been published. 1 It includes the observation that ‘The Americans are very jealous of all English writers and hold in utter detestation both them and their works’ – a reference to the sense of cultural inferiority that many Americans apparently had in regard to their old ‘mother country’. Willis senses that too many Americans do not ‘fear God’ and were not sufficiently anti-slavery. He is also ready to help more English immigrants, and says that it would be ‘a pleasure to assist them’. In 1849 he senses that farming in Wisconsin ‘is a poor business. You can scarcely meet with a farmer that can pay ready cash for 5 bushels of seed potatoes.’ Yet, the soil is better than that in England – of course he is comparing it with the thin soil of the Yorkshire Dales. His reference to American farming methods is especially insightful: the Americans ‘are obliged to take up fresh land every few years, on account of the impracticability of keeping the weeds under in old plowing land. This, in all probability is the reason why manure does not get into general use in America.’ The latter part of the letter makes interesting references to Mineral Point, where many Yorkshiremen and Cornishmen were developing the lead mines.
