ABSTRACT
Samuel Mearbeck was a cutler who emigrated in 1815, bought land in Randolph County, Virginia, and wrote letters back to his relatives in Sheffield. He bought his land by selling the plated goods he took along with him. These letters are particularly good for Mearbeck's descriptions of the complex voyage (including delays by storms, near-shipwrecks and his dealings with the Customs House), his observations of New York, Washington and Baltimore, and especially his adjustments to farm life in Virginia, where he apparently sought out the company of other English immigrants. Mearbeck took to selling goods to pioneers living on the frontier, and he himself lived quite successfully as a pioneer for a short time. His descriptions of the people and their situations are vivid and useful for the study of frontier life during this period. Finally, there are four letters written by Mearbeck's friends and lawyers after his death (dated 1855 and 1856).
