Profiteering from the Indian trade in Indiana – Pennsylvania emigrant's letter, 1834. folio, two pages, plus stamp-less address leaf, in very good, clean and legible condition.

Ochnig Bird, then 21 years old had just moved from Pennsylvania to Indiana, traveling a thousand miles, having seen "a grate many places", some "quite sickly", but was now in "a first rate place for merchandising… on the Wabash River where the Indiana and Erie Canal is progressing."

He had been working on the Canal as an Engineer, but hoped to convince Pettibone to come join him as a business partner, to "speculate in Trade or in Land, there is a going to be some first rate lands sold here soon and those who have the Change, have the first opportunity, and the Trade from the Indians is Good in this Country. The Miami Indians… draw from Government every year $ 25,000 which all comes around threw the hands of the Merchants for Goods at a double profit… The Indians "- of the Miami and Pottawattomi tribes are as thick as white men here … and the way merchants make Change out of them is a caution."

Both Bird and his friend, Pettibone, went on to achieve success in life, but not as business partners. Pettibone remained in Pennsylvania as partner in his father-in-law's store; he went on to become a railroad executive and industrialist. Bird remained in Indiana, working as engineer and railroad builder in Fort Wayne, then going into politics; he served in the state legislature before and after the Civil War, when, as a Democratic State Senator, he refused to vote for the amendment to the US Constitution giving freed slaves the right to vote.

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Details

Seller: Michael Brown Rare Books, LLC (US)
Seller's Inventory #: 30827
Title: Autograph Letter Signed, Logansport [Miamiport], Indiana, September 5, 1834 to Payne Pettibone, Jr., Kingston, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
Author: Bird, Ochnig
Book Condition: Used
Quantity Available: 1
Weight: 0.00 lbs
Keywords: Manuscript Americana, Indiana, Native Americans, Midwest, 19th century American Social History

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Michael Brown Rare Books, LLC

Terms and Conditions of sale: All items are guaranteed to be as described. Items may be returned within ten days of receipt. Payment must accompany order. Unless other arrangements are made, all invoices are due upon receipt. Institutions and libraries will be billed. The usual trade discounts are extended to dealers upon a strictly reciprocal basis. As usual a telephone order is advised to reserve any item of interest. Shipping is generally done via UPS; please give a street address when you order. Please add $ 3.85 to cover shipping and handling expenses for the first item ordered, after which please add $ 1.75 per item. Additional books may be found on the internet at www.mbamericana.com & www.ilab-lila.com

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Michael Brown Rare Books, LLC

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About Michael Brown Rare Books, LLC

We specialize in buying and selling printed and manuscript items pertaining to America and American history in its various aspects. Books, pamphlets, broadsides, ephemeral items, manuscript letters, diaries, account books and business ledgers and records from 1482-1930.

Glossary

Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Folio: A folio usually indicates a large book size of 15" in height or larger when used in the context of a book description. Further,...