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December 17, 1888 letter from Thomas Blanchard

of Oshkosh, Wisconsin to James⁸ Low III

of Newburg Township, Pike County, Illinois.

The letter was found in the trunk of James⁸ Low III and transcribed Dec 1997 by his great-great grandson, Bingham James Forrest¹² Lowe of Phoenix, Arizona.

In addition to his other financial interests, James⁸ also bought and sold land. Like James⁸, there were many, many people in New England who had received or inherited land grants in Pike County. Many of these individuals were not interested in relocating their families to the Midwest and chose to stay in the East. James⁸ and a business partner, Thomas Blanchard, would offer to purchase the rights to such unclaimed land grants and would then immediately sell the land at a profit. James⁸ and Thomas Blanchard were constantly shifting funds back and forth to each other to take advantage of such opportunities.

Thomas Blanchard, who was born in England, would also loan money to Pike County residents to purchase land. James⁸ would often act as the agent for Mr. Blanchard, who lived in Wisconsin. The two of them corresponded for many years. A few of Thomas Blanchard’s letters were found among James⁸' papers:

Genealogical position of James⁸ Low III:

10th generation: Frank, Forrest, Lenna, Arthur, Edward, Paul, Leland, Charles Doss, Pearl, Henry, James, George

Bingham James⁹ Low(e)   Aug 27, 1853 - Feb 10, 1923           (wife: Mary D. Culver)                    of Pittsfield, IL

James⁸ Low III                  Apr 27-1816 - Sep 2, 1889               (wife: Margaret Huston Montgomery) of Clinton & Brighton, ME / Pittsfield, IL

James⁷ Low Jr                   1796 - Mar 20, 1824                        (wife: Mary Wyman)                       of Clinton, ME (fought in War of 1812)

James⁶ Low Sr                   Jul 17, 1770 - bef 1830                    (wife: Elizabeth "Betsy" Chase)      of Boxford, MA / Clinton, ME

Nathan⁵ Low                     Oct 1, 1742 - Jul 24, 1804                (wife: Lucy Lord)                            of Ipswich, MA / Boxford, MA

Caleb⁴ Low                        1707 - Jul 17, 1777                          (wife: Abigail Varney)                     of Ipswich, MA

David³ Low                       Aug 14, 1667 - Jun 2, 1746              (wife: Mary Lamb)                          of Ipswich, MA

Thomas² Low                    May 8, 1631 - Apr 12, 1712             (wife: Martha Boreman)    of Groton & Boxford, Suffolk, England / Ipswich, MA

Thomas¹ Low                    1605 - Sep 8, 1677                           (wife: Margaret Todd)       of Groton & Boxford, Suffolk, England / Ipswich, MA

Giles⁰ Low                        unknown (Wife: Syseley Wall, marr 3/5/1601/02)     of Brancepeth, Durham, England; Groton & Boxford, Suffolk, England

Vinland Winebago County, Wis

Dec 17^th, 1888

Mr Low Dear sir I receved your kind letter of Dec 10, 1888 Was glad to heare from you and that you are well In regard to the mony you can keep it I don’t need the mony now and when you get ready to pay it you can drop me a few lines and I will send the notes to the bank when I heare from you I have som mony on hand now My uncle bought som land that I had a mortgag on and he keeps paying som of it off so I have som on hand and I expect to get som mor the first of Janury, you don’t know of a good place were I could lone a few hundred dolars on real estate first mortgage if you do you mite drop me a few lines som times a person will know of som one wanting mony and I thought I would just mention this to you It maby you mite know of som one wanting to borrow mony

from your friend

Thomas Blanchard