Description
Steve Halford, a Missouri pioneer now living at Porterville, California, recently visited his old home in Missouri and while there found among the old papers of his deceased father, several interesting documents which he showed to a (Atchison Daily) Globe correspondent.
One of them was a letter written by members of the Halford family from Platte County, Missouri, in 1844. That was the year of the greatest flood in the history of the Missouri River. Some of the Halfords had just sold their farms in Platte County to David Hunt and others, and were starting for Texas with a wagon train of 7 wagons and several families.
Among those who accompanied the train, in addition to the Halfords, were James and William Gibson and Hall Medlin, well known old timers of Platte. Medlin and David Hunt, mentioned above, built the first court house In Platte County in the year that the letter was written.
One of the Halfords, before starting for Texas, had bought a young negro slave woman and her baby in Platte County for $450.
It cost 25 cents to send a letter then. Postage stamps had not been introduced. The letter was folded and held together with a seal and without envelope, and the amount of postage paid at the forwarding office. In 1845, letter postage was reduced to 12 ½ cents, and in 1846 to 10 cents. Postage stamps were used in the United States for the first time in 1847, and in 1851 postage was reduced to 3 cents for a half ounce. G. J. K.
(Researcher’s note: A James Halford is listed on the 1839 Platte County Tax List but no Halfords appear on any subsequent tax list or census records.)Date(s) of Creation
6/10/1924
