Jefferson Co. Iowa Eleventh mon. 26th 1854
Dear Cousin I take my pen in hand to inform the that we are all well at present except Father who has been confined to his bed for the last two weeks but is now on the mend. The Doctor called it the Typhoid fever together with his old complaint which made his case seem quite hopeless for a few days.
Sister Mary Jane (3694) had a hard spell of the lung fever last spring but has recovered. During her sickness Brother John (3698) buried his youngest child (3964).
We have had a dry summer and fall. A great many of the wells have gone dry. The crops are generally good. There is snow on the ground an inch deep. It is the first that we have had.
Father took a trip this fall to Kansas Territory to look at the country in company with several others that were going. He said that there was high rolling prairie with plenty of stone coal. Timber was very scarce. There was springs aplenty but the water was not good. It was warm like branch water. They passed over land in Missouri that was good that could be bought for 12 ½ cents an acre. They saw the slaves at work as they passed through the state. One of their company has moved to Kansas City. Emigration to the West has been very great this fall. It was said there were one hundred wagons passed through Pleasant Plains in one day.
The cholera broke out in Burlington last summer which greatly alarmed the people. There were 20 deaths. Very few that were seized with it recovered. They burnt lime and hauled it to town and threw it in the stalls and cellars. There was no new cases afterwards.
The scarlet fever prevailed through the settlement the past summer which occasioned several deaths among small children.
There was several droves of cattle and hogs bought up in Missouri the past summer and fall. There was one drove of cattle passed along last week that had two hundred and ten head in it. Some of them are going north for the purpose of being stallfed this winter.
We received a letter from Uncle William dated 9th month 28th. He spoke of coming to Iowa. We would be glad to see him but it is getting late in the season and we must give up hope for this time.
Wheat is one dollar per bushel. Corn from 40 to 50 cents.
Please write when this comes to hand and let us know how your are getting along. Excuse my bad spelling and writing.
No more at present. I remain thy ever affectionate cousin.
Anna Bell (3703)
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