Dexter, Andrew Alfred (1809-1854) to Simon Newton Dexter
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00330 Author/Creator: Dexter, Andrew Alfred (1809-1854) Place Written: Cross Keys, Alabama Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 24 March 1849 Pagination: 3 p. : address : docket ; 25 x 20 cm. Order a Copy
Signed as "A. A. Dexter." Docket reads "Rodney B[illegible]." Mentions his father's memoir. Discusses his "planting business" and a successful crop. Writes, "I have now quite a reputation as a planter having made the best crop in the county... I had no overseer or driver- neither did I find it necessary to be with my people in the field, except occasionally. This result I think will compare favorably with free labor at the North... I have now bought me six more hands, making 14 workers of my own, besides house servants..." Discusses a trip to Columbus in which he became sick. Notes that decisions in Texas courts do not benefit his interests there. Says of Texas: "Poor Sam lost his life there. I have thrown away the best 10 years of mine." Discusses other personal news and plans. Notes that if he can get underway as an engineer again, he is determined, "like... J.Q. Adams to die with the 'harness on my back.'" Written to his uncle.
Simon Newton Dexter (1785-1862) was a manufacturer of cotton goods in New York. He was a nephew of Samuel Dexter, secretary of the treasury under John Adams. Andrew Alfred was the son of Andrew (1779-1837) and Charlotte Apthorp Dexter. He was trained as a civil engineer, surveyed the first railroad from Charleston, South Carolina to Augusta, Georgia, and laid out the town of Aiken, South Carolina. He became a cotton planter in Macon County, Alabama, and died of yellow fever while surveying a railroad from Mobile to New Orleans (Library of Congress).
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