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Description
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Box /
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Folder
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: materials and supplies, finances, office operations;
New-York & Erie Telegraph Company.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
1848-1851. Extracts from O'Reilly's letters to Delano.
January 21, 1851. J.J. Speed to Ezra Cornell discussing telegraph office operations, the possible dishonesty of an operator, and business with Hotchkiss.
February 4, 1851. J.J. Speed to Ezra Cornell concerning business with Faxton.
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PLACES:
Detroit;
Ithaca.
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PEOPLE:
O'Reilly, Henry;
Delano, W.J.;
Speed, J.J.;
Hotchkiss, S.W.;
Ingersoll, C.M.;
Faxton, Theodore;
Cornell, Alonzo B.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, salaries, patent rights.
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PLACES:
Penn Yan, N.Y.;
Detroit;
Ithaca.
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PEOPLE:
Tillotson, L.G.;
Ingersoll, C.M.;
Curtis, E.H.;
Speed, J.J.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: office operations, finances, materials and supplies, consolidation of lines.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
February 24, 1851. Ezra Cornell to J.J. Speed discussing Speeds experiments and proposing that a consolidation of lines be considered.
February 28, 1851. D.T. Tillotson to Ezra Cornell:
"I am getting very short for want of money. My rects. are light & what I have recd. I have been paying up old debts with. I want some clothes very much but can't get them. It is now nearly 2 years since I commenced working for you & for the first 6 months I have hardly recd. a cent & not much for the rest of the time."
March 4, 1851. J.J. Speed to Ezra Cornell from Detroit:
" I do not know but the cursed rascals will use us up at last. It is absolutely certain that some one is purposely interrupting our lines. It is utterly impossible for so many things to happen by accident without any apparent cause."
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PEOPLE:
Speed, J.J.;
Tillotson, D.T.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, demands for payment, office operations.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
March 18, 1851. C.M. Ingersoll to Ezra Cornell from Newburgh regarding payment of operators.
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PLACES:
Cleveland;
Ithaca.
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PEOPLE:
Speed, J.J.;
Wade, J.H.;
Ingersoll, C.M.;
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Cornell, E.B.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, demands for payment, materials and supplies.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
April 18, 1851. J.J. Speed to Ezra Cornell from Detroit reporting on western lines (Zanesville & Wheeling, Zanesville & Pittsburgh) and possible agreements with railroads.
May 3, 1851. Alonzo B. Cornell to Ezra Cornell concerning the insurance sold by Alonzo.
May 13, 1851. Report of the Ithaca Falls Company.
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PLACES:
Narrowsburgh, N.Y.;
New York City;
Honesdale, Penn.
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PEOPLE:
Skinner, G.W.;
Ingersoll, C.M.;
Speed, J.J.;
Tillotson, L.G.;
Wheeler, M.;
Cornell, Alonzo B.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations.
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PEOPLE:
Speed, J.J.;
Ingersoll, C.M.;
Kendall, Amos;
Shippen, W.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, materials and supplies, office operations.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
July 16, 1851. J. C. Woodruff to Ezra Cornell:
"The stockholders of your company are very much dissatisfied with your management from beginning to end, and are clamorous for a change in its management. Ithaca charges all its misfortunes upon you, and I do not see but you must stand Godfather to them all, fix it as you will. We have a line of telegraph that ought to pay well - substantially built - well arranged, and yet running into debt every day, and becoming a reproach and bye word among telegraphers and laymen…. In short, there is one general complaint - one outcry, and it is evident to me, that though you understand telegraphing well, you either have too much business in hand, or are short of capacity and concentration to manage such a line….
"We stockholders lack confidence in your ability to do anything with it, and the people lack confidence in the line…."
July 8, 1851. S.W. Hotchkiss to Ezra Cornell from Madison reporting of the reorganization of the Milwaukee, Galena & Chicago Telegraph Company under the name of the Northwestern Telegraph Company.
July 13, 19, 1851. J.J. Speed to Ezra Cornell concerning financial arrangements and operations of western lines.
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PLACES:
Cleveland.
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PEOPLE:
Speed, J.J.;
Tillotson, L.G.;
Shippen, W.;
Ingersoll, C.M.;
Hotchkiss, S.W.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: office operations, finances, offices in railroad depots (cooperation between the businesses), meeting of directors of the New-York & Erie Telegraph Association.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
July 28, 1851. J.J. Speed to Ezra Cornell concerning finances and management of western lines.
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PLACES:
Elmira, N.Y.
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PEOPLE:
Tillotson, L.G.;
Speed, J.J.;
Woodruff, L.C.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: office operations, finances;
New-York & Erie Telegraph Association;
wheat.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
August 27, 1851. L.C. Woodruff to Ezra Cornell expressing support of leasing the New-York & Erie line to Ezra Cornell.
September 6, 1851. Mckinney Irion to Ezra Cornell from Wolf River, Tennessee:
"My neighbour Mr. McNeal has received some of your beautiful wheat and I am so pleased with it causes me to ask the kind favour of you to send me a small quantity…."
September 16, 1851. Ezra Cornell to Amos Kendall:
"My courage is fast failing. I have worked hard and incessently for the last nine years at the Telegraph business, practicing the most rigid economy, and I am now worse off than when I began. At the time I first embarked in the business I was worth five thousand dollars in real estate which rented for enough to support my family. Now that same real estate is encumbered with a mortgage for money invested in the telegraph business and I am in debt some $15,000 besides for cost of construction of the various lines, and I cannot get the first cent from any of them toards paying interest on what I owe, aside from this is the various claims of patentees for account of patent.
"…My wife well knows my ability to support my family by labour if properly directed. She feels that I have followed the Telegraph quite long enough, and that it would be for our interest to abandon it in toto and all claims upon it, and direct my energies in some more productive channel.
If I had been successful in the business I should not think of an appeal of this kind, but under the circumstances I think I have a claim to my devotion to the interest of Prof. Morse and his great invention entitles me to some concideration tin the settlement of this question of patent."
September 25, 1851. J.J. Speed:
"I can say now with great sincerity that I am used up - nothing under heaven but hope & that rather small…All I can say is I will keep trying & if I do not see a better prospect in 6 months, I will abandon the whole thing & try to get some squatters right in Oregon or elsewhere. Yours, busted all to hell, J.J. Speed Jr."
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PLACES:
New York City.
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PEOPLE:
Woodruff, L.C.;
Pew, W.P.;
Kendall, Amos;
Wood, Otis E.;
Speed, J.J.;
Munn, Stephen B.;
Irion, Mckinney.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations;
meeting of New-York & Erie Telegraph Association.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
October 5, 1851. J.J. Speed to Ezra Cornell:
"I think Faxton is trying to make an arrangement with the OR line to get their bus & give them half of his. As soon as he does so I will make a bargain with the House folks and give them & Bain our Eastern business this side of NY, and the NY bus until you get so you can do it…"
October 6, 1851. J.J. Speed to Directors and Stockholders of New-York & Erie Telegraph Company reporting on telegraph lines and the business they are doing, the problem of brimstone caps, and recommendations for improving the line and business.
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PLACES:
Detroit.
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PEOPLE:
Hopkins, P.A.;
Wood, Otis E.;
Munn, Stephen B.;
Speed, J.J.;
Finch, James;
Tillotson, L.G.;
Wade, J.H.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, materials and supplies, office operations, New-York & Erie line.
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PLACES:
Cleveland;
Narrowsburgh.
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PEOPLE:
Speed, J.J.;
Munn, Stephen B.;
Hopkins, P.A.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: office operations, finances, materials and supplies, New-York & Erie line, consolidation of lines.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
December 21, 1851. John S. Bristol to Ezra Cornell expressing condolences on the death of Ezra Cornell's son Ezra.
1851. Petition for renewal of Patent for "Cornell's improved pipelayer."
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PEOPLE:
Munn, Stephen B.;
Livingston, Johnston;
Speed, J.J.;
Bristol, John S.;
Beebe, Jeremiah S.;
Cornell, Ezra (son of the Founder).
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: office operations, New-York & Erie line, finances.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
January 15, 1852. Ezra Cornell to J.J. Speed reporting the sale of the New-York & Erie line:
"I shall soon get the N.Y.&E. in good shape, and get up a good feeling, and I must have a chance at the western business."
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PLACES:
Ithaca.
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PEOPLE:
Smith, C.M.;
Munn, Stephen B.;
Speed, J.J.;
Livingston, Johnston;
Dunham, J.;
Hopkins, P.A.;
Cornell, Alonzo B.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: New-York & Erie line, office operations, finances.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
February 10, 1852. Ezra Cornell to Edmond Coffin of Tarrytown, New York:
"If your self and friends should still be desirous of securing the facilities of an office at Tarrytown either with or without branches extending to your dwellings, I should be hapy of an interview with you on the subject."
February 15, 1852. Ezra Cornell to Orrin S. Wood:
"In regard to my affairs, it is difficult for me to place an estimate upon them. I may be worth an hundred thusand dollars if I live a year or two longer or I may not be worth a cent - it all depends upon the manner in which the Telegraph war which has raged so fiercely in the states the past three years is ended…I however do not despair my confidence is as firm as ever in the future of my enterprises…"
Also Ithaca real estate, Ithaca's growth.
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PLACES:
Narrowsburgh.
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PEOPLE:
Hopkins, P.A.;
Coffin, Edmond;
Wood, O.S.;
Speed, J.J.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: office operations, finances, New-York & Erie line.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
March 20, 1852. J.J. Speed to Ezra Cornell discussing western business and Speed's proposal of a printing telegraph.
March 22, 1852. J.J. Speed to Ezra Cornell:
"What say you to making one desparate effort to retrieve the past, and provide for the future by going to California & building a line…."
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PLACES:
Detroit;
Ithaca.
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PEOPLE:
Speed, J.J.;
Wood, Otis E.;
Wood, Benjamin;
Hopkins, P.A.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, materials and supplies, near-collapse of company, transfer of lines, patents and contracts.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
April 7, 1852. Transcripts of letters from Ezra Cornell to J.J. Speed:
"I was never so poor in my life as now, I am barely able to supply the necessaries of life. This position weighs heavily on my spirits, and I must get relief soon or it will drive me crazy. I have not contributed a dollar to the support of my family in two years, they suffer for the ordinary comforts of life. Smith and Kendall are both as heartless as adamant and as selfish as the devel."
April 27:
"My clothes are getting so ragged I am ashamed of my appearance…I learn this evening that my wife has presented me with another daughter and I feel guilty of abusing the best of women by not being with her during her confinement, but my embarassments, poverty & sickness altogether has prevented…"
May 7:
"This trial has exposed the fact to the satisfaction of my mind that Morse did not invent the local circuit, and that he first learned it from Davies invention which was on exhibition in London when Smith & Morse arrived there."
April 16, 1852. Ezra Cornell to J.J. Speed concerning New-York & Erie Company, and including technological suggestions.
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PEOPLE:
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Kendall, Amos;
Speed, J.J.;
Smith, F.O.J.;
Munn, Stephen.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: transfer of lines, office operations, materials and supplies, patents and contracts, new lines in the South.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
April 27, 1852. Ezra Cornell to J.J. Speed:
"I regard Smith's treatment towards us, in giving O'Reilly the control of the territory in question, as the most shabby character…"
April 27, 1852. J.J. Speed to Ezra Cornell including comment on the company and speculations on telegraph science.
April 30, 1852. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:
"I can disern a streak of light, the clouds of adversity appear to be braking, and the sunshine of hope glimmers through the fractured darkness."
May 4, 1852. Ezra Cornell to Alonzo B. Cornell:
"As you requested I have secured your appointment as Agent of the New York Mutual Life insurance Co."
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PLACES:
New York City.
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PEOPLE:
Speed, J.J.;
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Cornell, Alonzo B.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, materials and supplies, new lines in the South, transfer of lines, patents and contracts;
telegraph patent trial in New York Superior Court.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
May, 1852. J.J. Speed to Ezra Cornell on "facsimile telegraph."
May 25, 1852. Ezra Cornell to J.J. Speed:
"I arrived in N.Y. to day found your letter with facsimilie message, and it was not so bad a specimen…. Don't get excited, and don't neglect the E & M Line, keep that agoing…"
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PLACES:
New York City.
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PEOPLE:
Speed, J.J.;
Tillotson, D.T.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, materials and supplies, new lines, transfer of lines, patents and contracts.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
June 14, 1852. List of lines of the New-York & Erie Telegraph Company, cities and miles.
June 1852. J.J. Speed's experiments and speculations concerning telegraph science.
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PLACES:
Ithaca;
New York City.
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PEOPLE:
Speed, J.J.;
Wood, Benjamin.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, materials and supplies, transfer of lines, patents and contracts;
New York and Western Union Telegraph Company.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
June, July 1852. J.J. Speed's experiments and speculations concerning telegraph science.
June 27, 1852. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell reflecting on years of marriage.
July 4, 1852. Ezra Cornell to Jeremiah S. Beebe pleading that he refrain from drinking to avoid losing his employment:
"Total abstinance is the only rallying cry under which victory is sure."
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PLACES:
New York City.
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PEOPLE:
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Speed, J.J.;
Beebe, Jeremiah S.;
Smith, F.O.J.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, materials and supplies, transfer of lines, consolidation of lines;
New York and Western Union Telegraph Company.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
July 10, 1852. J.J. Speed to Ezra Cornell:
"Wood has just come in and I read him your letter. He says you can crawl through a small hole with a whole skin than any other live man."
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PLACES:
New York City;
Ithaca;
Chicago.
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PEOPLE:
Beebe, Jeremiah S.;
Beebe, Sarah P.T.;
Speed, J.J.;
Wade, J.H.;
Cobb, Emory.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, patents, western lines, materials and supplies, transfer of lines, consolidation of lines;
New York and Western Union Telegraph Company;
cholera;
New York and Erie Railroad Company.
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PLACES:
Chicago;
St. Louis;
Ithaca.
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PEOPLE:
Speed, J.J.;
O'Reilly, Henry;
Faxton, Theodore;
Beebe, Jeremiah S.;
Haviland, J.;
Bristol, John S.;
Gordon, D.P.;
Loder, Benjamin.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, materials and supplies, patents, western lines, transfer of lines, consolidation of lines;
New York and Western Union Telegraph Company.
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PEOPLE:
Speed, J.J.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, materials and supplies, patents, consolidation of lines, western lines;
New York and Western Union Telegraph Company;
cholera.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
September 3, 1852. Speed's experiments and speculations concerning telegraph science.
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PEOPLE:
Hopkins, P.A.;
Skinner, G.W.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, materials and supplies, consolidation of lines, western lines.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
October 15, 1852. Ezra Cornell to J.H. Wade:
"If I could have my choice, I should prefer that my name should be immortalized by its connection with some good deed, by alleviating the sufferings of humanity."
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PEOPLE:
Smith, F.O.J.;
Wade, J. H.;
Speed, J.J.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, materials and supplies, consolidation of lines, western lines;
New York and Erie Rail Road.
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PLACES:
Ithaca.
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PEOPLE:
Speed, J.J.;
Wood, Benjamin;
Haviland, J.;
Wade, J.H.;
Wood, Otis E.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, materials and supplies, consolidation of lines, western lines.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
December 27, 1852. Ezra Cornell's plan to bury telegraph cable.
1852. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:
"I am homesick, and can't write, I want to go home and stay there. I am sick of telegraphing, sick of business - sick of everything except my wife and I wish I could live with her, but I can't, I have got into the scrape and must stick to it manfully until I can work out."
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PLACES:
New York City.
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PEOPLE:
Wood, Phebe;
Wade, J.H.;
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Beebe, Jeremiah S.;
Cornell, Mary Ann.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, materials and supplies, consolidation of lines, western lines, transfer of lines, patents and contracts;
Telegraph Convention;
New York and Erie Rail Road;
New York and Western Union Telegraph Company.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
January 6, 1853. Speed/Faxton contract.
January 16, 1853. Ezra Cornell to J.J. Speed:
"O'Reilly sent round to me yesterday to borrow $10, which I did not have…"
Ithaca.
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PEOPLE:
Gordon, D.P.;
Speed, J.J.;
Faxton, Theodore;
Wood, O.S.;
O'Reilly, Henry.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, materials and supplies, consolidation of lines, transfer of lines, patents and contracts, western lines, New Orleans and Ohio Line.
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PEOPLE:
O'Reilly, Henry;
Speed, J.J.;
Cornell, John H.;
Gordon, D.P.;
Delano, W.J.;
Mann, Donald.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, consolidation of lines, transfer of lines, patents and contracts, western lines;
Telegraph Convention in Indianapolis.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
March 7, 1853. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell describing a trip from Ithaca to Indianapolis via Cincinnati.
March 20, 1853. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:
"Hard cider is fast retreating before the colums of the 'cold water army.' The Sons & Daughters of temperance are marching on to a sure and glorious victory."
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PLACES:
Indianapolis;
Indiana.
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PEOPLE:
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Mann, Donald;
Wade, J.H.;
Speed, J.J.;
Delano, W.J.;
O'Reilly, Henry;
Haviland, J.;
Kendall, Amos.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, consolidation of lines, transfer of lines, patents and contracts, western lines;
Ithaca land.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
April 24, 1853. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:
"The history of Telegraph has therefor been a history of wars, and there are many of those contests unsettled…"
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PLACES:
Fall Creek.
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PEOPLE:
Wood, Phebe;
Smith, F.O.J.;
Kendall, Amos;
O'Reilly, Henry;
Delano, W.J.;
Wood, M.B.;
Morse, Samuel F.B.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, consolidation of lines, transfer of lines, patents and contracts, western lines.
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PLACES:
Indiana;
Montreal;
Chicago;
Fall Creek.
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PEOPLE:
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Wood, O.S.;
Chester, E.W.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, consolidation of lines, transfer of lines, patents and contracts, western lines.
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PLACES:
Indiana.
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PEOPLE:
O'Reilly, Henry;
Chester, E.W.;
Speed, C.H.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, materials and supplies.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
July 21, 1853. Ezra Cornell to Alonzo B. Cornell from Chicago:
"There are some six hundred to a thousand Odd Fellows in the city from other parts of the state and they are having a celebration - a procession this P.M."
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PLACES:
Indiana;
Indianapolis.
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PEOPLE:
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Speed, C.H.;
Chester, E.W.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, materials and supplies.
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PEOPLE:
Speed, C.H.;
Speed, J.J.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, materials and supplies, transfer of lines, consolidation of lines;
account of a family trip west;
Ithaca land.
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PLACES:
Ithaca.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations;
Ithaca land;
extracts and transcripts of F.O.J. Smith letters.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
September 19, 1853. D.B. Cornell to Ezra Cornell:
"I…write again to ask what kind of employment you could give me and where would it and so forth if I should abandon the Idea of going to the gold diggins. My mind has been so unsettled since Maria's Death that I could hardly tell what I was going to do."
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PEOPLE:
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Speed, J.J.;
Cornell, D.B.;
Smith, F.O.J.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations.
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PEOPLE:
Gordon, D.P.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines.
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PLACES:
Indiana;
Ohio;
Ithaca.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, consolidation of lines, transfer of lines;
Union Telegraph, Speed and O'Reilly Lines.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
November 5, 1853. J.J. Speed to Ezra Cornell:
"I think it probable that O'R has got […] & may give us some trouble, in consequence of not carrying out his darling project of a grand consolidated Company, making him Pres't with a salary of five thousand dollars."
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PEOPLE:
Speed, J.J.;
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Kendall, Amos.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, consolidation of lines.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
December 1, 1853. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:
"This is destined to be a great city. Chicago has now a population of over 50 thousand population and this will double and quadruple as rapedly as that of any other city of the union."
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PLACES:
Chicago.
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PEOPLE:
Cornell, Mary Ann.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines;
American Telegraph Confederation.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
December 6, 1853. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:
"I have had some tooth ache this P.M. in an old snag that was left some ten years ago, when I went to Ithaca at midnight with Dennis McCoy the Irishman to hold my head. You may recollect the history of that terable night. Dr Miles (I think) pulled on it 3 times with his entire strength, and as offin the irons broke loos. The fourth pull broke the tooth taking the tooth with one prong out, and a piece of the jaw with it."
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PEOPLE:
Bristol, John S.;
Cornell, Mary Ann.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
January 5, 1854. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell describing a train trip to the west:
"I received an invitation from Mr. Tubbs to go to the 'Grand Concert of Madame Sontag' who was to appear for the first time on the Cleveland 'boards' -- I accepted, the house was crowded, and the audience have marked evidence of their satisfaction. The pieces were Italian and French excepting 'Home Sweet Home' which was so distorted by artistic skill that it made me nervous."
Ezra Cornell's account of the origins of the Cornell-Speed partnership in the telegraph business.
January 8, 1854. Mary Ann Cornell to Ezra Cornell recounting her trip via steamer and stage to Syracuse for a wedding.
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PLACES:
Ithaca;
Chicago;
Fall Creek;
Indiana.
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PEOPLE:
Delano, W.J.;
O'Reilly, Henry;
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Cornell, Alonzo B.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines;
smallpox.
| ||
|
PLACES:
Indiana;
Ohio.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Cornell, E.B.;
O'Reilly, Henry;
Cornell, E.S.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, adjudication of telegraph disputes, transfer of patents;
smallpox;
American Telegraph Confederation.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
January 27, 1854. Mary C. Robertson to Ezra Cornell:
"Jane says Brother E.B. is in the lottery business some this winter which surprises me very much. I don't know but its honorable business in N.Y. State."
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Robertson, Mary C.;
Wood, M.B.;
Morse, Samuel F.B.;
Speed, J.J.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines;
House Line.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
March 5, 1854. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell describing a journey west, and plans for the farm in Ithaca.
| ||
|
PLACES:
Indianapolis.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Cornell, Franklin C.;
Wood, Phebe;
Cornell, John H.;
Cornell, Mary Ann.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, transfer of lines;
legal suits.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
March 19, 1854. Mary Ann Cornell to Ezra Cornell:
"…I most sincerely hope that you will finally succeed in geting together enough of this worlds goods so that you can finally make up yuir mind to settle down on some nice spot and enjoy the comforts of 'home sweet home' with your family. Oh, how happy I should be if it could be so, my dear little do you know the many lonely hours I have passed in your twelve years of absence from home, the cares and anxieties of home all resting on me and the still more anxious care for one I loved dearer than life itself…"
March 24, 1854. Amos Kendall to Ezra Cornell:
"I regret to learn that you and Mr. Wade do not get along amiably. These quarrels kill the telegraph; and no sooner is one quieted than another springs up."
March 26, 1854. Ezra Cornell to Alonzo B. Cornell:
"I rejoice that the Great State of N.Y. has granted her sons at last the justice, though tardy, of a prohibitory liquor law; it will save the rising generation if it does not rescue those who are already on the…plain of inebriacy."
| ||
|
PLACES:
Ithaca;
Indiana.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Cornell, E.B.;
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Kendall, Amos;
Speed J.J.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, patent rights, transfer of patents.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
April 9, 1854. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell from Chicago, describing conditions aboard a crowded train, and the benefits of wholesome air.
| ||
|
PLACES:
Michigan;
Indiana.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Wood, Phebe;
Kendall, Amos;
Cornell, Ellen.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, transfer of lines and stock.
| ||
|
PLACES:
Indiana.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Speed, J.J.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, transfer of lines and stock;
Speed's unapproved sale of telegraph stock and lines.
| ||
|
PLACES:
Indiana.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Speed, J.J.;
Kendall, Amos;
Cambridge, Livingston.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, transfer of lines and stock;
Speed's unapproved sale of telegraph stock and lines.
| ||
|
PLACES:
Indiana.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Wood, M.B.;
Speed, J.J.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines;
Speed's unapproved sale of telegraph stock and lines.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
June 1, 1854. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:
"This act of perfidy of Speed & W[ade] will lead to new combinations, whether the plans they had formed will all mature, or whether the frosts of treachery may not nip some of them in the bud remains to be seen, I should not be surprised if the latter was the fact."
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Speed, J.J.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines;
Speed's unapproved sale of telegraph stock and lines.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Wood, Otis E.;
Cornell, E.S.;
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Read, James H.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines;
Speed's unapproved sale of telegraph stock and lines;
Erie & Michigan Telegraph Company.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
June 27, 1854. Amos Kendall to Ezra Cornell:
"I am disposed to act with you in carrying out, as far as we can, the arrangements of June 1853 and in punishing the conspirators by whom both you and my principal [S.F.B. Morse] have been betrayed and defrauded."
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Kendall, Amos;
Read, James H.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines;
Speed's unapproved sale of telegraph stock and lines;
Erie & Michigan Telegraph Company.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
July 18, 1854. J.J. Speed to J.H. Wade concerning the sale of western lines.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Read, James H.;
Speed, J.J.;
Wade, J.H.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, pipelayer and underground telegraph, office operations;
Ezra Cornell's ill health and treatment.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
July 27, 1854. Ezra Cornell to Alonzo B. Cornell from Detroit concerning underground telegraph, family news and health, and instructions to Ellen on the care of the children in Ezra and Mary Ann's absence.
| ||
|
PLACES:
Detroit;
Ithaca;
Logansport, In.;
Indiana.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Cobb, Emory.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: office operations, finances, consolidation of companies, Ohio, Indiana & Illinois line.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
August 20, 1854. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann from Indianapolis reporting on his health and discussing the treatment received for his condition.
August 27, 1854. Ezra Cornell, Mary Emily Cornell, Mary C. Robertson and M.B. Wood to Mary Ann Cornell from Albion sharing family news.
| ||
|
PLACES:
Indianapolis;
Indiana.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Curtiss, George;
Pew, W.P.;
Robertson, Mary C.;
Wood, M.B.;
Cornell, Mary Emily.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: office operations, finances;
Erie & Michigan Telegraph Company;
cholera.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
September 2, 1854. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann from Detroit:
"It is very sickly about Albion for such as have defective constitutions or shattered health, and many deaths have occurred…"
Family news.
September 3, 1854. Amos Kendall to Ezra Cornell reporting on telegraph business in New York and possible consolidation of lines.
| ||
|
PLACES:
Detroit;
Albion.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Kendall, Amos;
Cornell, Molly;
Cornell, Alonzo B.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, stocks, office operations, business conflicts with House and Wade, consolidation of lines.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
September 8, 1854. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann from Michigan City:
"Speed and Wades effort at my distruction by their diabolical sale to the enemy has proved a signal failure on their part, and will produce them a harvest of curses from the verry men who were to reap the golden apple of their treachery."
Ezra Cornell's health, telegraph business, and reflections upon his persevering and succeeding in the business despite Mary Ann's father's advice to pursue other things.
| ||
|
PLACES:
Indianapolis;
Wisconsin;
Indiana.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Smith, F.O.J.;
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Speed, J.J.;
Tillotson, D.T.;
Pew, W.P.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: office operations, finances.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
September 22, 1854. E.B. Sadler to Ezra Cornell concerning F.O.J. Smith's claims.
September 24, 1854. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann from Michigan City:
"I wish you was here with me, I am not as well used when alone as when you are with me, I dont get as good a room, nor as clean a bed, I dont get called to my meals as early or by as pleasant a messenger, and at table I have to wate longer before being wated upon. All those ills are incident to being alone every one of which would banish before the magic presence of a woman.".
Attempts to persuade Mary Ann and Emma to join him and discussion of the advantages of traveling during the winter.
| ||
|
PLACES:
Michigan;
Indiana;
Ohio.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Pew, W.P.;
Livingston, Cambridge;
Cornell, John H.;
Sadler, E.B.;
Haviland, J.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: office operations, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois line, finances, new western lines.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
October 6, 1854. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann from Chicago concerning family news from Michigan, telegraph business, and New York politics with reference to "fusion."
| ||
|
PLACES:
Indiana;
Ohio;
Illinois.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Pew, W.P.;
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Tillotson, D.T.;
Hopkins, P.A.;
Faxton, Theodore.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: office operations, Ohio, Indiana & Illinois line, finances.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
October, 20, 1854. George Curtiss of the New York, Albany and Buffalo Telegraph Company to Ezra Cornell requesting that a meeting be held to discuss a permanent Western connection.
| ||
|
PLACES:
Indiana;
Ohio;
Illinois.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Curtiss, George;
Speed, J.J.;
Pew, W.P.;
Cornell, D.B.;
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Hopkins, P.A.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: office operations, Erie & Michigan line, finances;
Southern Michigan Telegraph Company.
| ||
|
PLACES:
Utica;
Indiana.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Pew, W.P.;
Cornell, D.B.;
Haviland, J.;
Curtiss, George;
Faxton, Theodore;
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Caton, J.D.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: office operations, finances, stock purchases.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Cornell, D.B.;
Skinner, G.W.;
Curtiss, George.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: office operations, finances;
House Company.
| ||
|
PLACES:
Montreal;
Ithaca.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Cobb, Emory;
Wood, O.S.;
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Cornell, D.B.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, stock, office operations, consolidation of lines;
Erie & Michigan Telegraph Company;
House Company.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
December 14, 1854. Alonzo B. Cornell to Ezra Cornell discussing finances and Ithaca real estate holdings.
December 15, 1854. Amos Kendall to Ezra Cornell concerning telegraph business and the actions of the House people.
December 17, 1854. Franklin C. Cornell to Ezra Cornell:
"I am going to school this winter to try to finish my education so that I can be of some help to you. Next time you write to me I want you to tell me what you want me to go at in the spring for I want to begin to make some calculation on it."
| ||
|
PLACES:
Indianapolis;
Ithaca;
Detroit.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Pew, W.P.;
Kendall, Amos;
Speed, J.J.;
Cornell, Franklin C.;
Curtiss, George;
Haas, J.;
Cornell, D.B.;
Cornell, John H.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: office operations, finances, Erie & Michigan line, stock, Southern Michigan line;
House Company.
| ||
|
PLACES:
Albion;
Ithaca;
Albany;
Boston.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Cornell, D.B.;
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Cobb, Emory;
Beebe, Jeremiah S.;
Kendall, Amos;
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Curtiss, George;
Cornell, John H.;
Wade, J.H.;
Haas, J.;
Hopkins, P.A.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: office operations, finances, Cleveland, Wheeling and Zanesville line, Ezra Cornell's settlement with Speed, stocks;
House Company.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
January 21, 1855. Ezra Cornell to Alonzo B. Cornell:
"Speed evident regrets his treachery toards me and proffers his services, to aid me in any way that I can suggest and at any time that his services can be available. I rarely get cheated twice by the same person."
January 30, 1855. Ezra Cornell to Franklin C. Cornell:
"I hope if you decide to go to school that you will make up your mind to spend your time profitably, remember that knowledge is power."
| ||
|
PLACES:
Albion;
Utica.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Haas, J.;
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Curtiss, George;
Hopkins, P.A.;
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Beebe, Jeremiah S.;
Chace, Rebecca;
Pew, W.P.;
Cornell, Franklin C.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: Erie & Michigan line, finances, Ohio, Indiana & Illinois line, Southern Michigan line, western lines, office operations;
House Company.
| ||
|
PLACES:
Albion;
Ithaca.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Cornell, Franklin C.;
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Elwood, Isaac R.;
Kendall, Amos;
Wood, O.S.;
Draper, J.S.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: office operations, western lines;
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois Telegraph Company.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
March 10, 1855. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell from Albion:
"Last saturday one of the cars got thrown off the track in which was four of my men, one of them was so injured that he died yesterday. He leaves a wife, who will soon have an heir."
March 15, 1855. Ezra Cornell to Alonzo B. Cornell:
"Tell mother & Emma that I look at their daguerratype frequently and think it is the prettyest picture."
March 17, 1855. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:
"…it was a California show, going to California, a panorama of an over land trip to California where you can 'see the Eliphant for two dimes'…"
| ||
|
PLACES:
Michigan.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Wood, M.B.;
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Cornell, Alonzo B.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: refinancing of stock, office operations, western lines, Ely judgment;
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois Telegraph Company;
smallpox.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
March 31, 1855. Ezra Cornell to Alonzo B. Cornell:
"…I have a sharp corner to work out of, that Ely judgment is 3471.88. I have got permission to draw on Mr. Chester for $2,500…"
| ||
|
PLACES:
Indiana;
Ithaca.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Beebe, Jeremiah S.;
Cornell, D.B.;
Wells, Henry.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: refinancing of stock, office operations, western lines, Ely judgment;
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois Telegraph Company;
Erie & Michigan Telegraph Company;
smallpox.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
April 12, 1855. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:
"He may escape as there is not one in twenty who have been vaccinated that take the small-pox on exposure."
April 22, 1855. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:
"Calista was on her way to Windsor Canada to teach in a school of fugitives. They are sent to Canada as teachers by some society who have the educational welfare of the blacks in Canada under their keeping."
April 29, 1855. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:
"I see a lot of boys in front of my window gambling with pennies. I hope my boy Perry is better engaged."
| ||
|
PLACES:
Ithaca;
Michigan.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Speed, J.J.;
Cornell, Mary Ann.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: refinancing of stock, office operations, western lines, Morse telegraph patent;
transfer of lines;
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois Telegraph Company;
Erie & Michigan Telegraph Company;
Southern Michigan Telegraph Company;
House Company;
smallpox.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Kendall, Amos;
Chester, E.W.;
Hopkins, P.A.;
Cornell, E.B.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, transfer of lines, western lines, office operations;
Southern Michigan Telegraph Company.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
May 13, 1855. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:
"Homeopathy seems to do verry well when there is nothing the matter. It is so nice to take but when I am sick it seems to require the old ugly doses of the 'old butchers' to cure me."
| ||
|
PLACES:
Michigan.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Wood, O.S.;
Wood, M.B.;
Faxton, Theodore;
Smith, F.O.J.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, transfer of lines, western lines;
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois Telegraph Company.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
June 7, 1855. Mary Ann Cornell to Ezra Cornell describing unsatisfactory family conditions in Ithaca:
"I wish if money is plenty at the west that you would send me some, as Alonzo is so hard up that I can't get any of him, and I can't well get along without some…I think Ithaca will not hold me long if they go west to live, if your business keeps you there, there is nothing in Ithaca worth living for, and I wish you would sell everything you own here…but if you do come here and try living as I have this thirteen years and then you would be able to judge something about it."
June 10, 1855. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:
"I will pay your expenses out, that is to say, if you can get some body to advance your expenses out I will refund the money."
June 15, 1855. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:
"The next great question of the Day is the Know Nothing convention at Phil. that is of great political moment, not because of its Hindooism but because there is some hundreds of ordinarily inteligent men from all sections of the country and they may be persueded to reflect to some extent the feeling of their several communities feelings on the great issue of the day, liberty, or slavery. The Telegraph announces a split in the convention on that question -- this is a favourable sign, it shows that the concience of the north is being quickened, and may be regarded as the death knell to Southern Slave drivers, and Northern dough faces."
| ||
|
PLACES:
Indiana;
Ithaca.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Cornell, E.S.;
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Wells, Henry;
Curtiss, George.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, transfer of lines, western lines, stock payments due;
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois Telegraph Company;
Southern Michigan Telegraph Company;
Erie & Michigan Telegraph Company;
Ezra Cornell's broken arm.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
July 7, 1855. Ezra Cornell to E.W. Chester describing his railway accident in which his arm was broken and mutilated.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Cornell, D.B.;
Chace, Rebecca;
Cornell, E.B.;
Cornell, Mary Emily;
Wood, M.B.;
Curtiss, George;
Cornell, Alonzo B.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines;
New York, Albany & Buffalo Electro Magnetic Telegraph Company.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Chester, E.W.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, consolidation of lines;
New York, Albany & Buffalo Electro Magnetic Telegraph Company.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
August 8, 1855. Ezra Cornell to Alonzo B. Cornell from Detroit:
"I came to De this morning to attend meeting leaving mother at Al. Our meeting has resulted in an agreement with House folks to consolidate, they taking $350,000 and we $150,000, we putting in the E&M line, and they putting in the House line 920, the Lake Erie line 600, the House & Morse Patent, and all other interest they have in the west…"
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Wood, M.B.;
Curtiss, George;
Makepeace, H.F.;
Butts, Isaac.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, consolidation of lines;
New York, Albany & Buffalo Electro Magnetic Telegraph Company.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Curtiss, George.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, consolidation of lines;
New York, Albany & Buffalo Electro Magnetic Telegraph Company;
Erie & Michigan Telegraph Company.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
October 18, 1855. Mary Ann Cornell to Ezra Cornell:
"I think you will recollect of giving me fifteen dollars before you left home. I have used it very prudently…and it is all gone but fifty cents."
| ||
|
PLACES:
Rochester;
Buffalo;
Michigan.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Cornell, Mary Ann.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, consolidation of lines.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
November 18, 1855. Mary Ann Cornell to Ezra Cornell:
"I have never heard of so many suden deaths as I have this fall. It teaches us a powerful lesson on the uncertainty of human life."
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Beebe, Jeremiah S.;
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Wells, Henry;
Cornell, Mary Ann;
Chace, Rebecca;
Kendall, Amos.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, consolidation of lines;
newly patented register, patent rights, transfer of lines;
New York and Western Union Telegraph Company.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
January 4, 1856. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:
"I reached here at 7:30, after the coldest night ride I ever recollect of having since stage coachs went out of fashion. I sat next to the stove all night, and my feet suffered with cold."
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Sholes, C.C.;
Kendall, Amos;
Chace, Rebecca;
Cornell, Mary Ann.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, consolidation of lines;
New York State canals.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
January 21, 1856. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell on the raising of daughters and deportment of young women.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Curtiss, George;
Speed, J.J.;
Sholes, C.C.;
Chace, Rebecca.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, consolidation of lines;
New York, Albany & Buffalo Electro Magnetic Telegraph Company;
Associated Press of New York;
Montreal Telegraph Company.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
March 2, 1856. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell on the raising of daughters and deportment of young women.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Wood, O.S.;
Cornell, Mary Ann.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, consolidation of lines, stock transfers, leases;
Cleveland and Cincinnati Telegraph Company;
New York and Western Union Telegraph Company;
New York and Erie Railroad Company;
change of name from New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company to Western Union Telegraph Company.
| ||
|
PLACES:
Ithaca;
Indiana.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Cornell, E.S.;
Kendall, Amos;
Cornell, Elijah.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, new lines (Syracuse-Binghamton and Upstate lines);
relocation of parents of Ezra Cornell and disposition of their worldly goods;
Erie & Michigan Telegraph Company;
Western Union Telegraph Company.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
May 12, 1856. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell, giving her additional stock in the Erie & Michigan Telegraph Company.
| ||
|
PLACES:
Ithaca.
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Cornell, Eunice;
Cornell, Elijah;
Poucher, Thaddeus;
Curtiss, George;
Kendall, Amos.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, consolidation of lines, stocks;
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois Telegraph Company;
Western Union Telegraph Company.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
June 29, 1856. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:
"…had a lovely passage to Detroit, arriving at 3 P.M. yesterday, One of those floating Hotels is the greatest luxury of the hot season and nothing could have rendered the sojourn of a day on the 'Rock' more pleasant except your company and Emma's & Mary's."
July 4, 1856. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:
"The anniversary of Our Independence is being celebrated in various ways but not so as to attract any special notice. I feel more interest just now in knowing how it is being celebrated in Kansas. That has become the second battle ground of freedom, and the day that secures freedom for Kansas will become notable in the annals of history, as the second birthday of freedom."
| ||
|
PEOPLE:
Curtiss, George;
Cornell, Mary Ann.
| ||
|
TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, consolidation of lines, stock transfers, O'Reilly lines;
New York and Erie Railroad;
Western Union Telegraph Company.
| ||
|
HIGHLIGHTS:
July 20, 1856. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:
"Mary and Jane went to Methodist [church], and H[iram] to the Spiritualist, and Phebe railed about it, and says she don't want any of her friends to call and see her who will go to a Spiritual meeting, so goes the world - and so it always went. Oh! dear me, will it ever be better?"
August 20, 1856. Ezra Cornell's letter to the American Citizen of Ithaca:
"As for the Pope, I am to old to be frightened by his shadow, and am quite sure his shadow or Substance will do less harm to the liberties of my country than will a party, who seek to acquire political power by exciting religious bigotry in the minds of their duped followers."
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PEOPLE:
Barbour, Lucian;
Cornell, Mary Ann.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, western lines, consolidation of lines, stock transfers;
slavery;
national politics.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
September 21, 1856. Rebecca Chace to Ezra Cornell on presidential elections.
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PLACES:
Providence, R.I.
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PEOPLE:
Chace, Rebecca;
Curtiss, George.
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TOPICS:
Telegraph business correspondence: finances, office operations, western lines, consolidation of lines, stock transfers;
slavery;
national politics;
pottery;
railroad rights in Lansing, N.Y.
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HIGHLIGHTS:
November 30, 1856. Ezra Cornell to Alonzo B. Cornell:
"I have begged $110 for the sufferers in Kansas the past 3 days by heading the subscription myself with $10. I got B.G. Ferris $5 & H. Dow $5, the balance from Republicans--I shall pay it to the National Kansas Committee at Chicago."
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PLACES:
Chicago;
Ithaca;
Iowa;
Providence.
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PEOPLE:
Chace, Rebecca;
Cornell, Alonzo B.;
Beebe, Jeremiah S.
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