More Gold Mine!

Newton Revis 1830-1917

Our Revis ancestor Newton Revis was featured in an earlier post (Gold Mine!).

I have found some of Uncle Newton's letters, and as promised, here they are!

I had borrowed two Revis lineage books from Cousin Lyle about five years ago. The books were published in 2002 and I would love to own a set but I have reached a road block in contacting the publisher. Anyway, before I returned them to Cousin Lyle, I took photos of pages that were relevant to me. During a research session last week I discovered that I had captured quite a few lovely letters from Uncle Newton in Idaho to his sister Nancy.

Note at top of letter: Blaine County now

Humphrey R Idaho

August 21st 1895

My Dear Sister

Your kind letters bearing date of March 7th and July 11th came duly to hand - but - I never acknowledged - they were not promptly answered, for which I ask pardon

I have mined very faithfull and hard this Summer and believe I will be rewarded with more than an average clean up.

I had one man hired 65 days at $2.50 per day and board. The rest of the time have mined alone

I am feeling quite well. My health having averaged better this summer than for many years past.

Our Winter was lighter than usual the snowfall not so deep however the water supply was sufficient for my purpose.

I have had lots of company this Summer. Many people having camped near my house including several ladies of the Salvation Army who have been holding a series of meetings throughout this county

I cannot say however that they have made any impression on me, They make too much n o i s e in their meetings - the likes of which we never heered in Smoky before.

Did I take a partner to the dance you ask ‘?’, Well I guess not, for it ain’t the rule of this country, We young men* expect them to be there and greet us with smiles on our arrival.

I have had lots of work to do to put my ground and ditches in shape for Spring work, therefore I cannot promise to visit you this Winter no matter how much I would like to do so. Thanks for the invitation.

Some people are digging for gold near my place under the direction of the Spirits. A woman pretends to point it out. She’s a fraud of course, and the men are fools.

With kind Regards I remain

Your Bro”

Newton Revis

* he was 65 years old at this time

He had sold his gold claims sometime before 1904 according to a newspaper article (in previous post, see link at top of article).

This last letter was written three months prior to his death on May 28, 1917.

Railway Routes

Map shows the routes as of 1868.

It is fun to start at Newton's mine in Idaho (red dot) and try to discover his 1893 route to the Chicago World's Fair! I wonder how long that trip would have been?

My goal in all of the Dead Family Tales is to present stories that would have been told around a kitchen table or campfire during family gatherings.

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