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Philip Burlingham spent several months, from about July 1870 to perhaps April 1871, in California. At least some of that time was spent working in a mining camp in Soapweed, California. Soapweed is in El Dorado Co. in northern California, and is now in Eldorado National Forest, about half-way between the towns of Pollock Pines and Georgetown.
While there he wrote letters back home to his wife and family in Michigan. The letters indicate that he arrived in California in July 1870. He is listed in the 1870 census in Allegan Co., Michigan, enumerated on 13 July, so he must have left for California very shortly after that date. His letters also indicate that he intended to return to Michigan about the first of April.
An expanded name index has been created for these letters that includes all of the people mentioned in them. It lists their parents; birth, marriage, and death information (when known); for some people, their relationship to Philip Burlingham; and the dates of the letters mentioning the person. The dates are linked to the transcriptions of the corresponding letters.
The original letters were scanned by Max Swikert, Philip's great-grandson. Transcriptions were made from the scanned versions of the originals, provided by Max. Earlier transcriptions done by Max were available for all the letters except those dated Nov 14-15, 1870, and these were used as starting points.
While transcribing these letters I have attempted to leave the spelling unchanged. However, some capitalization and punctuation has been added (or removed), and paragraph breaks have been added at logical places to make reading easier. The originals were generally written without paragraph breaks, and in many places without capitalization. In a few cases, uncertain words are followed by a "[?]," and indecipherable words are indicated by "[__?__]." Bracketed text in italics contains explanatory notes, and is not part of the original letter.
The following list briefly describes each letter, with links to a transcription and a PDF file containing images of the letter. Everyone mentioned in the letters is noted in the transcriptions using footnotes, with links to the expanded named index containing additional details about each person. Only the first mention of a person in a letter is footnoted; identification of the same person mentioned later in the letter is normally clear from the context.
- 4-5 November 1870, to his wife Charity. Briefly describes his work; his plans for the upcoming winter; and some financial issues back home in Michigan, including payment of taxes, and potential suits for repayment of debts owed him. [Transcription]
- 14-19 November 1870, to his wife Charity and son Calvin. Talks about some problems his family in Michigan was apparently having with a man named Green; potentially leaving for home in April; possible land sales in Michigan; the extravagance of the people in California; and the work and equipment needed to start a new mine. [Transcription]
- 30 November 1870, to his wife Charity. Mentions Nate selling part of his mining stock; describes the attempt of a man named Napier to pay him for some wood; and talks about leaving for home the first of April, but possibly selling their farm in Michigan and returning to California. [Transcription]
- 6 December 1870, to his son-in-law and daughter William and Inez Pinney, and to his son Calvin. Mentions his wages, and expenses for boarding; describes some prospecting he had done; talks about the search for a man that was missing after leaving on a hunting trip; says he'll head for home in early April; describes using a plaster to remove a sore (wart?) on his nose; and talks about his work hewing timber. [Transcription]
- 25-28 December 1870, to his wife Charity, son Calvin, and son Justin. Talks about the weather; describes how he spent Christmas day doing laundry; says Nate did not sell his mining stock after all, but has an offer, and may move to Baja California with his family; and tells his son Calvin he can't send him money to buy a "Clarionette." [Transcription]
- 30 December 1870-1 January 1871, to his wife Charity. Describes his good health, despite a sore arm, and the summer-like weather, and says he'll start for home, via San Francisco, in "three months and one day." [Transcription]
- 31 December 1870-1 January 1871, to his son-in-law and daughter Ed and Susan Rice. Enthuses about the weather, cheap property, and potential ease of life in California, and about moving there to live; but also talks about how most of the men there live day-to-day because they "lay round like large dogs all summer and scarcely doo any work." [Transcription]