A New Year’s Greeting from 1866: News, Crops, and a Lost Pocketbook

“I found oald Stevn Harmons pocket Book laying in the Road a few dayes a go containing 1.76 cts he felt beter when he got it.”

Gather ’round, friends, because I’ve got something special to show you from the back of the filing cabinet. It’s a letter from December 31, 1866—New Year’s Eve—written by a fella named H. Gwinn to Laban Gwinn. When you look at it, you can almost smell the woodsmoke of a nineteenth-century hearth. The paper is aged to a warm yellow, showing those tea-colored stains and foxing along the edges that only time can create. Though the ink is a faded brown, the handwriting remains clear, carrying the voice of a man who didn’t let a few spelling errors get in the way of a good story.

H. Gwinn starts off with a classic update, letting Laban know that despite everything, the family is ‘all on the move and right side up.’ He shares the bittersweet news of the day—from the passing of James Millburn and ‘oald Ned Gregory’ to the pride he feels for young John Wallace, who was earning a solid two dollars a day teaching school in Jackson Township. It’s a real window into the everyday worries of the time, like the wheat crop being a failure for two years or the price of pork. He even mentions selling 8,000 pounds of pork for 480 dollars in ‘greenbacks,’ which was a significant bit of business for a family farm back then!

But it wasn’t all just business and farming. You can feel the tension of the post-Civil War era in his words when he talks about ‘Jeff Davis Democracy’ and his strong support for a Congress that knew how to handle the lingering echoes of rebellion. Yet, amidst those big political shifts, he still finds time to mention finding neighbor Steven Harmon’s lost pocketbook on the road. It only had a dollar and seventy-six cents inside, but H. Gwinn was just happy to see his neighbor ‘feel better’ when it was returned. It’s these little moments of kindness and the resilience of a family looking toward a new year that make this letter so special. It reminds us that no matter how much history marches on, the things that truly matter—our health, our neighbors, and the hope of a fresh start—remain the same.

Original Transcription

Dec the 31 – 1866
Mr Laban Gwinn sir
After the Elapsation of
Meany Mounts I take pen
cil In hand to inform you
that yores of the 21st of May
/66 Came to Hand after
a long time and found
all on the Moove & I think
Right Side Up – our helth
has Jenorley Bin good Since
I Rote last & we are all well
at presant infact My heth
Is Better than Common
Mary Catharine Has had
only a glimer of thos sp
some part the last year &
we are inhopes they will leave
her Intiraly as they are
varey unplesant
see the 2 page

I supose you have learned
that James Millburn went
to Va last fall on a visit
and died at His Mothers in
Monroe County So He has
left us forever in this worl
his sail amounted to about
four thousand dollers –

We Have a yong man
Living with us by the name
of Wm Marten from nicless
City Va he is a varey good boy
I have Mailed two or three
papers to you during the last
Summer yors in love
To L Gwinn } H Gwinn
W Va

I was glad to hear that
yore Self & famley got thr
ough Safe to yore oald home
our Children are all Singel &
Liveing a bout Home as yet
John Wallace Has went two
terms to the high School at
the Battle ground Institute
He is now teaching School
Now In Jackson T p. in this
County at $2.00 per day

Items
The wheat Crop Has Bon al
must a falior for the last two
years Corn Crops quite good
oats good Hay good Taters Roten
oald Ned gregeary Depart
ed this life last fall Jest
Before the Elexcon and failed
to Vote for Jeferson Daves

we put out a dedning on
Jeff Davis Democracy last
fall that is going to make
Treason odious I doe think

we have a united States
Congress now that knowes
what to Doe with Rebe

I sold 8000 lbs of pork a
fewe dayes a go for $ 4.80.00
In green Backs

I have lifted the last note
for S Harmons land with
the Exception of one hundred
& 66 dollers & Expect to
pay 100 of that to morrow

I found oald Stevn Harmons
pocket Book laying in the Road
a few dayes a go containing 1.76 cts
he felt beter when he got it