This volume is a collection of important historical documents published by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. It is entirely devoted to letters from an English immigrant, Edwin Bottomley (1809-1850), written between 1842 and 1850 to his father, Captain Thomas Bottomley. Edwin Bottomley was born in Mossley near Manchester, and moved to Huddersfield and South Crossland, where his father became manager of the Crossland mills. As a pattern designer and leader of the Methodist church choir, he became prominent in that community. In 1842, however, seeking better prospects than could be found "in a cuntry wher Labour the sorce of all Real wealth is troden under foot By Monopoly Taxation and Opprssion," he emigrated with his wife, Martha, their five children and his bass viol to what would soon be known as English Settlement in western Racine County, Wisconsin. Bottomley farmed seventy acres and within eighteen months moved his family from a temporary shanty to a substantial brick house. The years brought hard work and regular bouts of fever, but enough prosperity for Bottomley to add 300 contiguous acres to the original holding. (The mortgage on this purchase caused him considerable anxiety, and he later turned to his father and brother for financial help). From the beginning, Bottomley was active in civic affairs, helping to establish the local school house and Methodist Episcopal church. His letters contain many references to British political issues and reflect some of the religious tensions of the period. In 1850, Bottomley succumbed to typhoid fever, leaving a will and inventory included here. An index appears at the end of this volume.

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This volume is a collection of important historical documents published by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. It is entirely devoted to letters from an English immigrant, Edwin Bottomley (1809-1850), written between 1842 and 1850 to his father, Captain Thomas Bottomley. Edwin Bottomley was born in Mossley near Manchester, and moved to Huddersfield and South Crossland, where his father became manager of the Crossland mills. As a pattern designer and leader of the Methodist church choir, he became prominent in that community. In 1842, however, seeking better prospects than could be found "in a cuntry wher Labour the sorce of all Real wealth is troden under foot By Monopoly Taxation and Opprssion," he emigrated with his wife, Martha, their five children and his bass viol to what would soon be known as English Settlement in western Racine County, Wisconsin. Bottomley farmed seventy acres and within eighteen months moved his family from a temporary shanty to a substantial brick house. The years brought hard work and regular bouts of fever, but enough prosperity for Bottomley to add 300 contiguous acres to the original holding. (The mortgage on this purchase caused him considerable anxiety, and he later turned to his father and brother for financial help). From the beginning, Bottomley was active in civic affairs, helping to establish the local school house and Methodist Episcopal church. His letters contain many references to British political issues and reflect some of the religious tensions of the period. In 1850, Bottomley succumbed to typhoid fever, leaving a will and inventory included here. An index appears at the end of this volume.

Excerpt from An English Settler in Pioneer Wisconsin: The Letters of Edwin Bottomley, 1842-1850 I desire in closing to express my appreciation of the public-spirited generosity of Miss Arminal Ann Bottomley, of Rochester (deceased in whose gift of her father's papers to the State Historical Society has insured their per manent preservation and rendered possible the preservation Of the record here presented to the world of scholarship. The facts concerning the early life of Edwin Bottomley were largely supplied by her. I am under much obligation, also, to Mrs. I. W. Moyle, of Mukwonago, who first informed me of the existence of the Bottomley papers and has at all times displayed an active and sympathetic interest in the matter, first of their acquisition and later of their publication by the Society. For indispensable editorial assistance in the sev eral processes of preparing the Oopy for the printer and see ing it through the press I am indebted to Annie A. Nunns and Marguerite J enison of the Society's stafi and to Lydia Brauer, now of Greenwood, Nebraska, and Mary Farley, now of Chicago, formerly members of the Society's staff. The index is the work of Miss J enison. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.