A Journey by Carriage from Newport, Rhode Island, to Smithfield, Ohio, 1811.—I

Abstract

[The following account of a journey by carriage from Rhode Island to Ohio, in 181 1, is taken from the original lent by the owners of the manuscript, and offered to the Bulletin through the courtesy of Rayner W. Kelsey. It is a simple account of a long and somewhat arduous trip by a family intending to settle in what was then the far West. Considerable light is thrown on manners and customs, and the comments of one who was evidently a shrewd New Englander are informing. With a few unimportant changes in spelling, chiefly where the same word is spelled differently at different places, and in punctuation, which is somewhat wild, the manuscript is printed exactly as written, with no omissions. An itinerary, so far as it has been possible to make one out, has been added.— Editor.]