E. D. Harmon letters to Isaac Harmon, 1835.

0.21 linear feet (1 box)

English

Purchased from Michael Vinson on the Thomas W. Streeter Fund, 2016.

Arranged chronologically.

This material is open for research.

E. D. Harmon (1782-1869) was a physician, farmer, and settler in Texas immediately before the Texas Revolution in 1835. Harmon was born in Vermont and studied medicine before becoming a surgeon in the War of 1812 and establishing the first major medical practice in Chicago at Fort Dearborn in 1830. Hoping to pay off his debts by farming and raising livestock, Harmon purchased a tract of land in Texas in 1835 and moved to Mina, Texas (now Bastrop, Texas). Harmon returned to Chicago in 1840.

Four autograph letters comprising circa 40 pages, signed, from E. D. Harmon to his son Isaac Harmon in Chicago. Harmon describes his property in Texas, including the agricultural prospects, the quality of the soil and water, and Native American burial mounds and artifacts. He details property law in Texas, the oath he took to become a naturalized Mexican citizen, and his expenses and financial prospects in Texas. The later letters discuss conflicts and violence with unidentified local Native American tribes, the tensions preceding the Texas Revolution, and the possibility of the United States annexing Texas.

September 06, 2017

E. D. Harmon Letters to Isaac Harmon. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

E. D. Harmon Letters to Isaac Harmon. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.