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Minneapolis July 11, 1856
Dear Mother,
After a good deal of labour I have succeeded in getting in some crops which are doing well and have built a house of good hewed logs and will make a kitchen for a better one some other day,
it will be warm and dry and will be very comfortable. We will have, by the time I get back, a well dug near the house which is well shaded by forest trees. I also have a good cellar under the house for the purpose of making butter. I have in the front of our cottage one acre of land, plowed and planted in corn and potatoes, some beans and peas. By next year it will be mellow and will make a fine garden. I have plowed eight acres of land and planted three of it in corn and one in potatoes and turnips, the balance intended to put in buckwheat but could not procure the seed. I intend to break land all of this month and the next so that next spring we can start with better hopes of success. I am here for Mary and the children and will start for home on next Tuesday, will write again when we arrive. The family are all well and I am very well. Craig(_______) and all the rest are well with the exception of Mr. Pollock who has a sore hand but it is getting better, this is a fine country and very healthy abounding with wild fowl from which we can find our meat in the season. Last fourth of July we shot 18 pigeons from our house and stewed them for our dinner. Prairie hens are abundant in August and ducks and geese in the fall so we shall have plenty. I have two yoke of oxen and a cow and a calf. I am going to take with me a couple of pigs and some chickens so as to have things comfortable in a short time. I wish you could get John Brooks to send me some seed of the red currant this summer if possible. He can get them in the neighborhood if he does not have them himself. My best respects to Mr. Lovele and tell him he may rely upon it that Minneapolis is the place to speculate in town lots or send money and if he is that way inclined John Murray will act for him. John is boarding at my friends Mr. Hoag and is in employment and in good health. He is building himself a house and I think will do well. My best love to the girls and respects to my friends all. Tell them I have been so busy that I could not write but will soon have time to attend to them, and remain your affectionate son,
R.E.Grimshaw
Direct to me in care of A.J.Bell, Glencoe, Minnesota