Letters Of John B Macy

John B. Macy was born in Nantucket, Mass Mar 25, 1799. He lived in New York, Buffalo, Cincinnati and was one of the founders of Toledo. He moved to Fond du Lac County in 1845. He was elected as a Democrat to the 33rd Congress and served 1853-1855. He died on Sep 24, 1856 when the steamer Niagara burned and sank off of the shores of Port Washington.

I have long been fascinated by this individual, the sinking of the Niagara and the whereabouts of Macy's descendants and materials related to him and his life.

Over the years I have been fortunate to acquire a number of Macy correspondence items. Thanks in no small part to the modern keyword search capabilities of ebay and the internet in general.

Below are images of letters to John B. Macy by a number of individuals some of whom were quite prominent in their day including a letter written by and signed by Nathaniel P. Tallmadge from Troy, NY, a friend of Macy's and later Territorial Governor of Wisconsin.

This notification comes from the Fond du Lac Saturday Reporter Nov 14, 1863, page 1. This comes more than six years after John Macy's death.

"The balance of the extensive library of the late Hon. J.B. Macy, consisting mostly of public documents, were sold a few days ago, at 10 cents per pound, to a gentlemen from Chicago."

I can only imagine what was in that vast holding, and perhaps even all of these letters once came from the auction lot that this newspaper announcement described.

Welcome to SCF fldcovers!

I began collecting stampless covers shortly after joining the forum and find them quite appealing, especially when I can tie either the sender or recipient to something of historic value.

Amassing a collection around a specific addressee, other than a Bank Cashier, is a remarkable feat.

Thanks for sharing.

Steve

fdlcovers - what an amazing group of stampless covers and what detective work to find them. Glad you have not decided to stalk me. Tracking down all those covers from different sources is a daunting task and the covers themselves are great pieces. Thanks for sharing and WELCOME!

Very intresting!

Here are four more letters to John B Macy acquired since I posted this thread. Three of these were found recently thru an online auction.

Interesting covers, especially since they all pre-date John B. Macy's death in 1856.

Another interesting piece of history is found on the Wisconsin Historical Society's website about his death:




Of course one will never know, but it does make you wonder if Macy didn't insist on taking his money belt heavy with gold, if perhaps his lifeboat wouldn't have capsized and he and others might have survived the ordeal.

What a great find to acquire so many letters written to the same person and to find so much history with it.