A Bit of Trouble and a Lot of Heart in Old Union

“Wickline is coming back on me and of corse I will have to come back on you”

Pull up a chair, friends, because I’ve found something special in the archives today. It’s a single sheet of lined paper, yellowed like a dried corn husk and showing the soft creases of being folded and tucked away for over a hundred years. Dated July 12, 1892, and written in a steady, dark hand by a man named S. C. Peters, it takes us right back to the heart of Union, West Virginia. You can almost feel the summer heat and the weight of neighborly business as you look at it.

The letter tells a story we still recognize today—a disagreement over land. It seems a fellow named Mr. Flanigan was causing a stir, suing a man named Wickline over about twelve acres of property. Mr. Peters, caught in the middle, was reaching out to Saben Gwinn to set things right. There’s a wonderful sense of personal responsibility here; Peters tells Gwinn that since Wickline is looking to him for answers, he has to look to Gwinn. It’s a chain of accountability that reminds us how much a person’s word and their deeds mattered in those days.

Beyond the land dispute, there was the matter of $30.00 in back taxes. To keep the Sheriff from levying on some livestock, the money had to be paid. In 1892, thirty dollars was no small sum! It speaks to the hard-working nature of our ancestors and the constant juggle of keeping the farm and the family afloat. It wasn’t all legal talk, though; there’s a request to settle things up in person, showing that while business was serious, it was still handled with a handshake and a face-to-face conversation.

Looking at this fragile piece of history, we’re reminded that the challenges we face—taxes, property lines, and keeping our promises—aren’t new at all. This letter is a bridge to the past, showing us that the folks in Union were just like us, navigating their lives with grit and grace. It’s a little piece of our shared story, preserved in ink and paper, waiting for us to listen to what it has to say.

Original Transcription

Union Wva July 12/1892
Mr Saben Gwinn
Dear Sir
I write you a few lines in regard
to the land you and Maxwell deeded
to C E Clark and myself Mr Flanigan
has sued Wickline the man we sold
to for about 12 acres of the land so we
will have to see to it you told me once
that he had no right to it so you will
have to see to it as Wickline is coming
back on me and of corse I will have
to come back on you, See Maxwell
and wright me what to do, As to the
pastuer I agreed to send you whe
I setted with Wickline he had paid
Some $30.00 back taxes on that land that
I had to pay him the Sheriff had lev
ied on his stack and we will settle
it up when I see you pleas answer
as soon as you can yours S C Peters