A Father’s Firm Words and a Sack of Coffee: A Glimpse into 1858

“I Dont like hugens to have any thing To Do with any Thing of One As he is out of my Books for Ever”

Pull up a chair, friends, because I’ve got something special to show you today. Imagine reaching into a dusty drawer and pulling out a single sheet of paper, folded carefully over a hundred and sixty years ago. It’s a bit weathered, with some brownish stains and deep creases that tell a story of their own, but the handwriting—a lovely, faded brown cursive—still speaks clearly across the generations. This isn’t just a scrap of paper; it’s a direct line back to May 31, 1858, written by a father named John Gwinn to his son, Laban.

John had business on his mind that day. He sent a quick note via a fellow named Leander Lusher, telling Laban to get the rest of a field planted with corn. You can almost smell the damp earth and see the horses waiting at the edge of the wheat. But it wasn’t just about the crops. John was also making sure his son got the coffee he’d asked for, promising to bring it down the following Tuesday. It’s those little details—the promise of a hot cup of coffee and the news that the family was ‘tolerable well’—that make these old letters feel so alive.

Now, every family has its secrets and its squabbles, and the Gwinns were no different. It seems a man named Huggens had been trying to get involved in the farm work, and John wasn’t having any of it. He didn’t mince words, telling Laban that Huggens was ‘out of his books forever.’ We might not know exactly what Huggens did to find himself in the doghouse, but we can certainly recognize that stern, protective fatherly tone. John wanted things done right, and he wanted his family’s business kept clear of folks he didn’t trust.

When we look at this letter today, we’re seeing a world right on the edge of great change, just a few years before the Civil War would tear through the country. Yet, in this moment, life was about the rhythm of the seasons, the reliability of a neighbor carrying a message, and the simple bonds between a father and his boy. It reminds us that while the tools we use to talk to each other have changed—from ink and quill to screens and glass—the things we talk about haven’t changed much at all. We still care about our work, we still look out for our kin, and we still enjoy a good cup of coffee at the end of the day.

Original Transcription

Son Laban { May the 31 day 1858
I Send This Line by Leander Lusher to inform
you that I wish you could put the ballance of that
feald that aint in wheat in Corn Burdet told
Me yesterday that you and Huggens had a notion
to put it in I Dont like hugens to have any thing
To Do with any Thing of One As he is out of my
Books for Ever I will be down next tusday &
fetch the Coffey you sent for by Eldrige we are
All tolerable well Respectfuly yours &c
John Gwinn