1854 02 01 John S. Carrick to esteemed friend

                                                Shortcreek    Feb 1^st AD 1854

Respected and much esteemed friend 

       I regret to communicate to you the mournful

 intelligence that unkle John departed this life

 this morning at half past six o’clock  

 the funeral is to take place tomorrow

 at ten.  he suffered very much for the

 last five or six days.  I defer writing any

mor til I know what disposition he

 has made of his property.

Feb 6^th  the friends are all well

 at present so farr as I know

   I will now give you an account of

 the will as near as I can mind  it was

 read on friday the third and was as follows

    first to unkle David one hundred

dollars  next to aunt Nancy Parr 150 dollars

 next to aunt Livina Andrews 150       “  

 next to aunt Margaret 150 dollars togather

 with one bead and beading  the bureau

 one set of chairs hir chois one cow hir chois

 and the cupboard and cupboardware 

  next to Father the farm providing he will

 provide a living for aunt Margaret either

 in his own family or in the house where he

 died and pay the other legacyes.

  next he gave to Father two family bibles and

 Scots Commentary to Samuel Parr all of

 flavels works to Aunt Lavina bucks

 dictionary an Alexanders Sermons.  the balance

 of his books is to be equally divided among

 his brothers and sisters now living togather

 with

myself.  that is all I get.  his sadle

 and wach he gave to William C Carrick

                             paps William  

I have give you the outlines of the will

 as near as I can recollect aunt Margaret

 has not determined yet whether she will

 go to fathers to live or stay in the house

  unkle David and aunt betsy are trying

 to make a fuss but they cant get at it

 rite  they say that it is not unkle John

 will that it is Fathers and Mothers.  they

 say that they are a going to prove that

unkle John was not fit to make a will and

concequently break the will but I think that

 they will fail their.  I think that the less

 that they can say the beter  they will fair

   nothing more at preasant but still

 remain your sincer well wisher

write soon and let me know how

 you are getting along

  I will writ again as soon as I can

 tell you what is a going to be done

 and what aunt Margaret is

 going to do

   that is all for the present

John S Carrick

1854 01 23 Carrick, John S. to Wm Andews

Shortcreek  January 23^rd AD 1854

Respected Friend   I take the preasant

 oportunity of informing you that we

are all well at preasant with the exception

 of unkle John  he is still living  when that

 is said it is all that I can say for we do

 not know how soon he will be numbered

 with the dead  he has ben very bad for three

 weeks he was 21 days without a pasage

 last Thursday  Doctor------------ succeded in getting

 a pasage but it seems as tho it did not

 do him any good, he does not suffer

 very much near so much as might

 be expected we have to sit up with him

 at nights he does not sleep much, he has

 not taken any nourishment for

 two weeks except a sup of cream once

 or twice a day.  I wrot a fiew lines

 to John soon after you left us and

 requested him to write and let mee know

 how you got home  I would haf writen

 to you some time a go but I did not

 know what to write as unkle John has

 ben very much the same as when you was

 here  he does not talk so bad as he did

 we have had a very dry winter till last

 week we had a rite smart wet spell and

one of the hail storms.  We have very

 suden chainses some days warm others very

coald  this is one of the coald ones

 I have nothing more of importance to write

  only to request you to answer this

 by the return mail.  yours respectfully

                        John S. Carrick

1854 06 08 James W. Carrick to Lavinia Carrick Andrews

                                              






  Harrison County  Ohio  June the 8^th 1854

                        Dear Sister  I now sit down to write a few lines to

 you to let you know that we are all well at present except aunt

 peggy   she has a very severe attack of inflamitory rumatism

  she has been confined for a bout three weeks   the first two she

 had to be lifted inn and out of the bed like a child  she could

 not even eat her own meat but had to be fed like a child

   she is now some better  she can sit up a little and walk from

 her bed out to the fire with one to assist her     the doctor says

 that it will be som time before she gets clear of it as it is a

 very tedious lingering complaint and he says she must be

 verry carefull of her self and not be exposed to wet or cold

 as she may have a relaps the rest of the friends are al well

    I received a letter from David dated March the 30^th in which

 in answer to the one that I rote a short time before he wrote

 that you were satisfied with the disposition of unkle johns

 property and that if the will was broke it would be

 don with out your consent and with out your assistance

 but I see in our paper that thear is a bill filled in which

 you and others are plaintiffs and me and others are defendants

 and I have heard just lately that you wrote to David that you

 were not satisfied and I suppose on the strenth of that he

  made use of your name    now if this be true it seems to me

 to be verry strange but I would like to know the

 certainty of it and I hope that you will let me know as soon

 as convenient   it makes no particular difference to me only

 just for my own satisfaction I would like to know what

 representation he made to you about the disposition of the

 property as he has been representing it in a verry different

 light from what it actually is and he may have deceived

you in order to get you to help him    if my memory serves

 me wright I think  I wrote you not to have any thing to do

 in the case as you would be as well of[f] if the will was broke

 as though you had assisted and if not you would loos nothing

[Second page]

David said in his letter that you wanted to know what aunt

 pegs idea was in going to Illinois whether on a visit or to stay

    she had no idea of staying anny longer than fall or till

 she would me[e]t with a good chance of coming back again

    I intended to take her out to see you and stay awhile this summer

 but the prospect for her going is very dull at this time    I

intended to go about the middle of may but she took

 the rumatism and concequently was not able to go     perhaps

 after harvest or in  the fall if she gets better we will go

     I want you to rite as soon as you get this letter

 and let us know how you are getting along but I must

 close    excuse my bad writing for I have wrote in a hurry

    give our best respects to all the family and to John and

 his wife       no more at present  yours affectionately

                                                                                                                        J W Carrick

PS I send you the bill as it is in the paper

and if you request it I will send you a copy of the will