Letter 1 of 6 from Samuel Spurling to Fannie Preble

Letter 1 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 California and Nevada where he works in gold mines. This letter #1 is from Gold Hill, Nevada. In this letter he mentions he’s an old bachelor who has been away since his sister was a baby; his desire to go home but he is not going home; using snowshoes in Siena(?) County California mountains; and he tells a story, perhaps in fun, about the Paiute Indians of Nevada. 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.