HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID
RG1554.AM: Martha Ann DeVoll Mott, 1840-1903
Correspondence: 1876-1880 and undated
Virginia; Red Cloud, Webster County, Nebraska: Settler
Size: 19 items
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Martha Mott, daughter of Jonathan and Mary Jane (Potter) DeVoll, was born in New York on June 1, 1940. She married Washington Irving Mott in 1860, and the couple spent the first dozen years of their marriage farming near Glens Falls, New York. With their children, they moved to southern Virginia in 1872, where they were unsuccessful in their farming efforts. The Motts and their four children moved to Nebraska by wagon in 1878, spending nine weeks on the road until they reached Red Cloud. They moved to Indianola in 1883 and Curtis in 1888, where Martha died on July 5, 1903.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
This collection consists of nineteen pieces of correspondence dating from 1876-1880 and undated. Written by Martha Mott from Virginia and Red Cloud, Nebraska, to her relatives in the east, the letters describe the Mott family’s struggle to make a living by farming. In the Red Cloud letters Martha discusses prairie fires, the costs of grain and meat, crops planted, condition of land in the area, excursion trains bringing new settlers into Red Cloud, the growth of Red Cloud, hard times experienced in 1880 due to dry weather, tree planting and the advantages of settling in Nebraska.
The letters were transcribed by Henry and Evelynn Schutz. Patron copies of the original letters and transcripts are available. Due to their fragile condition, the original letters are restricted.
INVENTORY
Folder
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- Correspondence, 1876-1880 and undated [Restricted originals]
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- Correspondence, 1876-1880 and undated [Patron copies]. Includes an introduction written by Henry and Evelynn Schutz
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- Correspondence, 1876-1880 and undated [transcripts]. Includes an introduction written by Henry and Evelynn Schutz
Subject headings:
Agriculture — Nebraska — Webster County
Frontier and pioneer life — Nebraska
Mott, Martha Ann DeVoll, 1840-1903
Prices — Nebraska — Red Cloud
Red Cloud (Nebraska) — History
Weather — Nebraska — Webster County
Webster County (Nebraska) — History
Women pioneers
AIP/ksa 04-1993
JS/kfk 03-25-2004
Revised TMM 05-14-2007
Acc. Number: 1992.223
