Letter 5 of 6 from Samuel Spurling to Fannie Preble

Letter 5 of 6 letters (with transcriptions) written 1865-1874 from Samuel E. Spurling (1827-1895) to his much younger half-sister Frances (Fannie) A. Preble (b. 1849). Samuel moved from Great Cranberry to California about age 23 ca.1850. In these six letters, he writes from Gold Hill, Nevada, where he works in gold mines. This letter #5 is from Gold Hill February 6, 1867 to Miss Fannie Preble from S. E. H. Spurling. Samuel mentions that smallpox is raging where he is but his health is good; winter not as severe as the last two; business dull; he worries that he’s caused offense to Andrew and wife; Fannie had been in Ellsworth for six weeks yet sent now news of Andrew. Uncertain when he will return home. Samuel E. Spurling is the eldest son of Abigail Cobb Hadlock Spurling and Samuel Spurling. A.B. Spurling (likely Civil War General Andrew Barclay) who wrote letter 7 is one of Samuel’s younger brothers. Frances (Fannie) A. Preble was Samuel and Andrew’s half-sister, the daughter of the widowed Abigail Cobb Hadlock Spurling and her second husband William P. Preble.