Otsego June 25 1845Dear Brother & Sister

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I now embrace the opportunity of writing a few lines to you to inform you of our health which is verry good at present and hope these few lines will find you and your family enjoying the same blessing I received your letter a short time since and was sorry to hear that you had lost your youngest child but sickness and death awaits us all and we shall all be soon numbered with the dead and if we are prepared we shall meet them in a better world than this where sickness pain and Death are felt and feared no more although it is hard to part with children and friends yet it is not as hard to part with them when small as it is when older for we have a sure hope that they have gone to rest in the arms of theire Saviour and what is your loss is your childs gain strive to live in such a manner as that you can meet your little one in heaven Mother sends her love to you and says that she should be verry glad to see you but she says that she does not expect to ever see you again unless that you should come out here and see her her health is as good as would be expected at her advanced age her arm has never got well she hurt about three years ago she wants that Lydia should come out here and live with her if she can - she says that she should be verry glad likewise to have you come out

here and live but we suppose that you are so attached to Vermont that you think that there is no place equal to it but I have no wish to spend the rest of my days in that cold frozen region I would inform you that we moved out here to Indiana last Oct we have one hundred and twenty acres of land here and we have since we moved here and cleared and planted about six acres of land to Corn Potatoes Beans and other things and our Crops look well for the season of year some of our Corn is waist high now we have between four and five Acres of Corn and Wheat crops around us look verry promising wheat harvest will commence next week we have paid for our land into about forty dollars and Brother Shepard is gone out to work this summer to get the money to pay the rest of it i expect that he is at Buffalo New York for he started for there and he will not be home before fall we received a letter from Zebina this spring he wrote that his health was poor and that there was no prospect of his paying for his land and that he had some idea of coming out here and I wrote back to him that I thought he could do better here than he could where he was or in Vermont I do not think he would better himself any by going back to Vermont for it is a hard place for poor folks and if he should move out here I should be verry glad to have Lydia come out with them if she thought it best if she is with you tell her to write to us Mother sends her love to Mary and the rest of the children and was glad that she had a few lines from her Verona and Lyman send there love to you and there Counsins and wish to see you verry much Carseldana has parted with her husband he took her off to Illinois last summer and after

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he got her off there he abused her so much that she could not live with him he proved to be a worthless character and she is left them with strangers we receive a letter from her about a fortnight since her Father does not know it as yet for he was gone before she wrote to us and he will not be back before fall if Lydia should think of coming and Zebinas folks should not if she should come to Buffalo this fall she could come from there with Shepard so you see it is a world of trouble and trials and disappointments and I can say for one that I do not wish to have my portion here in this world for I look for my promised inheritance in the world to come Oh Brother and Sisters seek for eternal life in the world to come give my love to Lydia and Mary and the rest of the children and tell them that I should be verry glad to see them I suppose that you would like to know something about the country here and the price of land land is two dollars and fifty cents per acre and the soil is verry good and the winters are verry mild here we did not have more than one inch and a half of snow at any one time last winter but we have had a wild backward spring this last spring it is not so uncomfortable here in the winter as it is with you please write in your next letter respecting Aunt Sally and family and if you should see any of them give our love to them we would be glad to know about Sally how she is and likewise write about the rest of the folks give my respects to your Fathers family and to all enquiring friends there is many things that I could write to you more but you see that I have about used up my paper so I must Draw to a close please direct your letters to Otsego Stuben County Indiana to be left at Enterprise post office I have no more to write so I must Draw to a close by subscribing myself

your affectionate BrotherLemuel Colton

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Mr Andrew FletcherWaterville County VermontHamilton IndJune 30 1845