Letter on board the Erie Canal boat "Victory"

Item Details

Rochester NY, John Greenough, 1835

excellent

"On board the Canal Boat Victory on the Erie Canal New York state June 30th 1835 between Syracuse & Rochester" 2 page letter mailed from Rochester NY to Mrs. Maria F. Greenough, Jamaica Plain, Mass, 18 3/4 cents postage. "Please to remember these letters must not be seen by anyone but the family." The writer, John Greenough (died 1846) had taken a stage coach to Utica and then an "extra" coach to Syracuse which was exhausting, so he and his companions opted for the ease of a canal boat. Details of the activity on the canal, the economics of the boat, and the locks, and the village they passed. They are headed to Niagara Falls. John's father was David Stoddard Greenough (1787-1830), his widowed mother, Maria Foster Doane Greenough (1793-1843), lived in Jamaica Plain until her death. His older brother, David Stoddard Greenough (1814-1877) mentioned in the letter, had just graduated from Harvard.