COUSIN-IN-LAW GEORGE A. THATCHER In a Maine genealogy I have discovered the strange fact that there has been more than one Henry David Thoreau , born on July 12th, and that the two Henry David Thoreaus born on July 12th were in fact remote blood relatives. Here is what I have found at http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ transclusions/19/00DECADE/09/1909_THATCHER.pdf. Nancy Thoreau was born in 1789, a daughter of Henry David Thoreau’s paternal grandfather Jean Thoreau and his first wife, Jane “Jennie” Burns Thoreau. She grew up in Concord with John Thoreau, Henry David Thoreau’s father, and would have been Henry’s aunt Nancy except that by the time Henry was born, she was already dead. She got married with Caleb Callender Billings and they had a daughter Rebecca Jane Billings on June 23, 1813. Nancy then died in 1815. Rebecca Jane Billings got married with George Augustus Thatcher on October 1, 1832 and they had seven children, 1st George Putnam Thatcher born July 14, 1833, who moved to California, 2d Frederick Augustus Thatcher born on September 24, 1835, who died in his toddlerhood on January 10, 1838, 3d Charles Alfred HENRY’S RELATIVES
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COUSIN-IN-LAW GEORGE A. THATCHER
In a Maine genealogy I have discovered the strange fact thatthere has been more than one Henry David Thoreau, born on July12th, and that the two Henry David Thoreaus born on July 12thwere in fact remote blood relatives.Here is what I have found at http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/transclusions/19/00DECADE/09/1909_THATCHER.pdf.
Nancy Thoreau was born in 1789, a daughter of Henry DavidThoreau’s paternal grandfather Jean Thoreau and his first wife,Jane “Jennie” Burns Thoreau. She grew up in Concord with JohnThoreau, Henry David Thoreau’s father, and would have beenHenry’s aunt Nancy except that by the time Henry was born, shewas already dead. She got married with Caleb Callender Billingsand they had a daughter Rebecca Jane Billings on June 23, 1813.Nancy then died in 1815.Rebecca Jane Billings got married with George Augustus Thatcheron October 1, 1832 and they had seven children, 1st George PutnamThatcher born July 14, 1833, who moved to California, 2dFrederick Augustus Thatcher born on September 24, 1835, who diedin his toddlerhood on January 10, 1838, 3d Charles Alfred
Thatcher born on May 16, 1837, who enlisted in the Union armyduring the US Civil war and died at Red River, Louisiana onNovember 26, 1864 while in command of the US steamer “Gazelle,”4th Benjamin Busey (not “Bussey”) Thatcher born on April 21,1839, who became a merchant in Bangor, Maine and has been a stateRepresentative and Senator, 5th Caleb Billings Thatcher born onNovember 5, 1840, a resident of Bangor, Maine, 6th Sarah FrancesThatcher born on June 7, 1842, and 7th Henry Knox Thatcher bornon August 3, 1854 in Bangor, Maine. Rebecca Jane BillingsThatcher died on October 27, 1883.George Augustus Thatcher had become by his marriage to RebeccaJane Billings an “in-law” of the Thoreaus. He would be not onlya remote in-law, but also a friend of Henry David Thoreau, andthey did a number of things together. He died in Bangor onDecember 1, 1885. However, Henry Knox Thatcher, 7th child ofGeorge Augustus Thatcher and Rebecca Jane Billings, had becomea physician in Maine, a member of the Republican Party, and anattender at the Congregational Church. Dr. Thatcher had gottenmarried with Annie Ross of Bangor, Maine and the couple hadproduced one child, born in 1884 on the anniversary of the birthof Henry David Thoreau, whom they had named Henry David ThoreauThatcher. This eponomously-named son would be educated in theschools of Dexter, Maine and in 1905 would graduate from theUniversity of Maine at Orono, Maine. As a civil engineer HenryDavid Thoreau Thatcher would help design the sewerage of OldTown, Maine.
August 24, Sunday: George Augustus Thatcher was born, who later would become Henry Thoreau’s cousin by way of his marriage to a Thoreau descendant, Rebecca Jane Billings.
Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal:
1 day 24 of 8 M / Owing to heavy storm of rain our meetings were small, but three women met this afternoonAt a few times in the corse of the week my mind was favor’d with a little ray of divine life & sweetness, but for the most part, Oh how painfully dead & barran. Called at a friends house this evening, but my mind was in such a condition that I could scarcly think a good thought. it seem’d as if rotteness had enter’d my bones, & every time I spoke the sound of my voice was a burden to myself & if I sat still my mind was so vacant of good that I fear’d my presence would burden others. This was my condition at meeting tho’ I strove hard to center down into life, yet could scarce feel a ray of it. Why I am thus left I know not, except it is for my unfaithfulness & extream depravity of heart. I some times think my heart is as unsurceptable as a stone. If I am not wholly forsaken I desire to keep patient that I may not provoke the Almighty still further, so that he withdraw himself entirely.
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ESSENCE IS BLUR. SPECIFICITY, THE OPPOSITE OF ESSENCE,
IS OF THE NATURE OF TRUTH.
1806
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS
George A. Thatcher “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
October 1, Monday: Texian political delegates convened at San Felipe de Austin (this is closer to present-day Houston than it is to Austin, Texas) to petition the government of Mexico for changes in governance for this northern district.
Samuel F.B. Morse boarded the packet-ship Sully in the harbor of Havre, France to return to the United States of America. During this ocean voyage, engaged in a conversation about electromagnetism, he would find himself casually remarking “If the presence of electricity can be made visible in any part of the circuit, I see no reason why intelligence may not be transmitted by electricity.” He was having the idea that if a spark could be made to travel along an electrified wire by suddenly interrupting the circuit at one end, that spark might be assigned a meaning, perhaps a part of speech, perhaps a number or a letter of the alphabet, and when that spark would exhibit itself at the far end of the wire, why, it could be taken to mean that part of speech, number, or letter! This would constitute a “telegraph,” transmitting meaning, conveying a message, but unlike an ordinary telegraph made up of raised and lowered flags or raised and lowered balls seen at a distance, this would be — an “electric telegraph!” In a few days, during this voyage, he would make rough sketches of the necessary physical apparatus for producing and receiving a series of such spark-messages, amounting to an elaborate communication such as “Our vessel is in peril, please come rescue us” or “The enemy is sneaking up on you.”
George Augustus Thatcher got married with Rebecca Jane Billings (the daughter of Thoreau’s deceased aunt
Nancy Thoreau Billings). The new style for women’s hair was a low, Grecian arrangement, with coronets of pearls, cameos, or flowers worn low on the brow. High gallery shell combs were out of style in favor of lower combs, in gold, with rows of cameos, and women were weaving gold beads or pearls into their braided hair. Another style which began in this year, and which would last longer, would be to wear the hair in a Grecian knot high in the back, with the front hair parted and arranged in soft curls on the temples.
This couple would produce seven children: 1st George Putnam Thatcher born July 14, 1833, who would move to California, 2d Frederick Augustus Thatcher born on September 24, 1835, who would die during his
toddlerhood on January 10, 1838, 3d Charles Alfred Thatcher born on May 16, 1837, who would enlist in the Union army during the US Civil war and die at Red River, Louisiana on November 26, 1864 while in command of the steamer USS Gazelle, 4th Benjamin Busey Thatcher1 born on April 21, 1839 in Brewer across the Penobscot River from Bangor, Maine, who would become an entrepreneur (lumber, wood pulp, then railroad and bank director) in Bangor and would serve as a state Representative and state Senator (Republican), 5th Caleb Billings Thatcher born on November 5, 1840, a resident of Bangor, Maine, 6th Sarah Frances Thatcher born on June 7, 1842, and 7th Henry Knox Thatcher born on August 3, 1854 in Bangor, Maine. Rebecca Jane Billings Thatcher would die on October 27, 1883. Henry David Thoreau would refer to this group of relatives as the “Penobscot tribe” of his family.
That 4th son, Benjamin B. Thatcher the railroad and bank executive and state legislator, would father a son George Thoreau Thatcher and daughter Charlotte May Thatcher. With the relocation of the remains of the Thoreau family of Concord to the new “Author’s Ridge” of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery during roughly the 1880s, it was Benjamin B. Thatcher who provided Maine granite for their new simple grave markers. He would die on June 3, 1906.
That 7th son Henry Knox Thatcher became a physician in Maine, was a member of the Republican Party, and attended the Congregational Church. Dr. Thatcher got married with Annie Ross of Bangor, Maine and the couple produced one child, born in 1884 on the anniversary of the birth of Henry David Thoreau, whom they named Henry David Thoreau Thatcher. This eponomously-named son was educated in the schools of Dexter, Maine and in 1905 was graduated from the University of Maine at Orono, Maine. As a civil engineer Henry David Thoreau Thatcher helped design the sewerage of Old Town, Maine.
ESSENCES ARE FUZZY, GENERIC, CONCEPTUAL;ARISTOTLE WAS RIGHT WHEN HE INSISTED THAT ALL TRUTH IS
SPECIFIC AND PARTICULAR (AND WRONG WHEN HE CHARACTERIZED TRUTH AS A GENERALIZATION).
1. Disambiguation: Benjamin Busey Thatcher (1839-1906) of Bangor was not, but was probably related to, Boston historian and attorney Benjamin Bussey Thatcher (1809-1840), Bowdoin Class of 1826, a representative of the Boston Lyceum who scheduled lectures at Odeon Hall.
March 23, Easter Sunday: George Augustus Thatcher wrote from Stonington, Connecticut to Jones P. Veazie, a prominent businessman of Bangor, Maine who founded the Bangor Gazette:
My dear friend,Alone in a strange land and far from home and kind friends, I have it in my heart to write you a letter expressive of my friendship and interest in your behalf and I trust you will receive it in the spirit of kindness and affection by which on my part it is dictated. For some reason or other which I cannot account for, I have had you upon my mind at times for a week past, and I should do injustice to my own feelings did I not ex-press to you the sincere desires of my heart, particularly for your spir-itual welfare, tho’ I am not indifferent by any means to your temporal prosperity, but I cannot get out of my mind the undying and immortal interests of your soul. I ought to say in the first place that I have reason to be ashamed that I have been so backward in avowing these feelings to you whilst we have been so long & intimately acquainted, but you are aware I suppose, of the fact, that there is among Christians a lamenta-ble backwardness in this respect, and I have to plead guilty in your case to say the least, but however indifferent I may have seemed to be to your eternal welfare, I assure you, my dear friend, that I am now sincere in wishing that you may become interested in the great salvation of the gospel. I shall take it for granted that you believe in the existence of a Righteous God and in the Revelation which he has made to man through his holy word — that you believe in the retribution of another world, and the necessity of that great change which we must experience in order to see God in peace.Christ told Nicodemus when he came to him by night, “you must be born again” which is as true of you and me, as it was of him. We must be renewed by the power of God’s Holy Spirit operating upon our hearts. we must humble our hearts at the foot of the cross of our blessed redeemer and believe on Him to the salvation of our souls and that com-promises the whole duty of man. This done, with an honest heart, and the favor of God will be bestowed. The plan of salvation, as well as its terms, are very plain and simple, so much so that it is generally a matter of astonishment to the converted soul, that it was not seen and adopted before. “God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, be-cause he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God.” “and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”Here we see salvation depends upon believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is his own instruction, who taught as never man taught. Now then, the question comes home. Have you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ to the Salvation of your soul? If so, you know it — the peace and
joy and hope of a pardoned sinner never leave the soul in doubt upon this subject. If not, then my dear friend, let me urge you by all the mo-tives which can be drawn from the worth of the soul, from a consider-ation of its immortality & from the consciousness which doubtless comes across your mind at times that all is not right. Let me urge you — expect to meet you at the judgement seat of God, and hope to share with you in the bliss of the blest, not to delay any longer those eternal interests which are now so eminently at stake and which if not soon se-cured it will be forever too late to look after.In matters of worldly importance, you are not slow to attend your keen discernment and good practical common sense, lead you to look out for the interests of this life, and that is all well and right if done with proper motives; why not exercise something of that foresight and prudence in relation to your soul? I might add many reasons that crowd upon my mind why you should immediately attend to this thing. God has placed you in a very responsible situation as a husband & a father. The inter-ests of other souls are entrusted to your care. Look at that dear little boy and remember that he is receiving impressions every hour that will be as lasting as eternity. God says “train up a child in the way he should go &c.” Are you obeying this command?I must close for want of paper. I have not said the half I want to. I feel a great respect & friendship for you, such as perhaps I feel towards but few with whom I am not connected by kindred ties. I want to see you come and boldly & decidedly as I know you will on the Lord’s side. I want that we should side by side and shoulder to shoulder in this, as we do in the cause of human liberty. I want your countenance & influ-ence or rather God demands it of you. Come, then, my dear friend to the immediate decision. “As for me & my house, we will seek the Lord.”With my best regard to your esteemed wife, I remain your affectionate friend, — George A. Thatcher
“HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE” BEING A VIEW FROM A PARTICULAR POINT IN TIME (JUST AS THE PERSPECTIVE IN A PAINTING IS A VIEW
FROM A PARTICULAR POINT IN SPACE), TO “LOOK AT THE COURSE OF HISTORY MORE GENERALLY” WOULD BE TO SACRIFICE PERSPECTIVE ALTOGETHER. THIS IS FANTASY-LAND, YOU’RE FOOLING YOURSELF. THERE CANNOT BE ANY SUCH THINGIE, AS SUCH A PERSPECTIVE.
George A. Thatcher “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
August 31, Monday-September 10, Thursday: Henry Thoreau went on his initial trip into the Maine wilderness, with his cousin-by-marriage George Augustus Thatcher. If the locomotive that pulled Thoreau’s train out of the railroad station in Boston that day, heading toward Portland, was one of the newest ones manufactured by the company of Matthias W. Baldwin in Philadelphia in 1846, this may have been what it looked like:
Or, this may have been what it looked like, since we know Baldwin’s company had begun to manufacture such a model for the Madison & Indianapolis Railroad:
(Would it be wrong to suggest, Thoreau was being haunted by what that old Indian had said to him on the dock in Oldtown in 1838? )
After venturing by rail via Boston to Portland these cousin adventurers traveled by night steamship to Bangor, by stagecoach to Mattawamkeag, by batteau up the Penobscot River into North Twin Lake and to Sowadahunk
deadwater, climbed to a ridge of Mount Ktaadn near South Peak only to turn back because of cloudy weather, and then Thoreau returned by ship. His notes of the climb at that point were no more than: “climb tree — torrent — camping ground — leave party — go up torrent — fir trees — lakes — rocks — camp — green fish — fire at night — wind up ravine.” He then wrote, but decided not to domesticate, a 7-page account of Agiocochook. (Berg MS — instead, he expanded the Saddleback episode eventually for use in A WEEK ON THE CONCORD AND MERRIMACK RIVERS.)
Aug 31st 1846 Concord to Boston– Rail road Station –tall man –sailors short of money –cars toPortland Passenger to Umbagog. Sea shore –Salem tunnel no water hay cocks –Portsmouth North Berwick
Whenever and wherever you see this little pencil icon in the pages of this Kouroo Contexture, it is marking an extract from the journal of Henry David Thoreau. OK?
–Saco –Portland –Capt’s office –White head light –sailor –owls head Thomaston –Camden –Belfast –Bangor–
(The map prepared by Tom Funk which shows the route of this journey, and the one Thoreau would make in 1857, can be viewed on the following screens.)
In the “KTAADN” essay that would be based primarily on this trip, Thoreau would comment that a local farmer who seemed by inference to have been attempting also to grow tomatoes had even in that remote area been infected by the potato rot though he had used seed of his own raising!
I think he said that he was the first to bring a plough and acow so far; and he might have added the last, with only twoexceptions. The potato-rot had found him out here, too, theprevious year, and got half or two thirds of his crop, thoughthe seed was of his own raising. Oats, grass, and potatoes werehis staples; but he raised, also, a few carrots and turnips, and“a little corn for the hens,” for this was all that he daredrisk, for fear that it would not ripen. Melons, squashes, sweet-corn, beans, tomatoes, and many other vegetables, could not beripened there.
Since the late blight caused by Phytophthora infestans affects both potato and tomato plants, it would be possible that the source of this isolated farm’s potato rot occurring in potatoes grown from local seed would have been that the farmer had brought in tomato seedlings containing the fungus.2
2. The Irish potato famines of the mid-19th century were caused by a late blight disease which occurs in humid regions with temperature ranges of between 40 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit; hot, dry weather checks its spread. The Phytophthora fungus survives in stored tubers, in dump piles, in field plants, and in greenhouse tomatoes. The sporangia are airborne to nearby plants, in which infection may occur within a few hours. At temperatures below 59 degrees Fahrenheit the sporangia germinate by producing zoospores that encyst and later form a germ tube. Above that temperature most sporangia produce a germ tube directly. Foliage blighting and a new crop of sporangia are produced within four to six days after infection. The cycle is repeated as long as cool, moist weather prevails. Potato or tomato vines that are infected may rot within two weeks. The disease destroyed more than half of the tomato crop in the eastern United States in 1946, leading to the establishment of a blight-forecasting service in 1947. When plants have become infected, lesions (round or irregularly shaped areas that range in color from dark green to purplish black and resemble frost injury) appear on leaves, petioles, and stems. A whitish growth of spore-producing structures may appear at the margin of the lesions on the underleaf surfaces. Potato tubers develop rot up to 0.6 inch deep. Secondary fungi and bacteria (Erwinia) often invade potato tubers and produce rotting that results in great losses during storage, transit, and marketing.
Various scholars have alleged that in the Irish Potato Famine, we have a case of genocide. Dr. Edward Brennan, Ireland’s ambassador to Canada, has noted: “The Great Famine was Ireland’s holocaust (which) condemned the Irish to be the first boat people of modern Europe.”
Weary men, what reap ye? Golden corn for the Stranger. What sow ye? Human corpses that await the Avenger. Fainting forms, all hunger stricken, what see you in the offing?Stately ships to bear our food away amid the stranger’s scoffing.There’s a proud array of soldiers, what do they round your door? They guard our masters’ granaries from the hands of the poor. Pale mothers, wherefore weeping? Would to God that we were dead. Our children swoon before us, and we cannot give them bread!We are wretches, famished, scorned, human tools to build your pride, But God will yet take vengeance for the souls for whom Christ died.Now is your hour of pleasure, bask ye in the world’s caress; But our whitening bones against ye will arise as witnesses, >From the cabins and the ditches, in their charred, uncoffined masses, For the Angel of the Trumpet will know them as he passes. A ghastly spectral army before God we’ll standAnd arraign ye as our murderers, O spoilers of our land!
The Irish labor leader James Connolly alleged that “The English administration of Ireland during the ‘famine’ was a colossal crime against the human race.” The allegation has repeatedly been made by Irish patriots that their nation did not starve for want of potatoes, but because still-available foodstuffs, 30 to 40 shiploads per day, were being removed while this removal process was being guarded by 200,000 British soldiers organized as what amounted to Food Removal Regiments. Be that as it may, apologists for British conduct during this period of food scarcity would do well to ponder the characterization of British colonialism in Ireland by William Makepiece Thackeray:
It is a frightful document against ourselves ... one of the mostmelancholy stories in the whole world of insolence, rapine,brutal, endless slaughter and persecution on the part of theEnglish master ... no crime ever invented by eastern or westernbarbarians, no torture or Roman persecution or SpanishInquisition, no tyranny of Nero or Alva but can be matched inthe history of England in Ireland.
In 1861 in THE LAST CONQUEST OF IRELAND, John Mitchel wrote:
The Almighty indeed sent the potato blight but the Englishcreated the famine.
Mitchel further observed that:
... a million and half men, women and children were carefully,prudently and peacefully slain by the English government. Theydied of hunger in the midst of abundance which their own handscreated. There was no famine. There can be no famine in a countryoverflowing with food.
A London Times editorial of September 30, 1845, warned: “In England the two main meals of a working man’s day now consists of potatoes.” Grossly over-populated relative to its food supply, England’s overdependence on imported foodstuffs was similar to Ireland’s overdependence on the potato. In in 1844 the European potato crop failed, causing food prices to rise, before in 1845 the blight hit the offshore potato crop. England was itself facing famine unless it could import vast amounts of alternative food but didn’t grab Irish food merely to save itself. It took this food in part in order to decimate the population of Ireland. Queen Victoria’s economist, Nassau Senior, would express a fear that the plan would “kill only one million Irish, and that will scarcely be enough to do much good.” Treasury Chief Charles Trevelyan refused entry to an American food ship and, when an eyewitness urged a stop, responded, “We must not complain of what we really want to obtain.” Thomas Carlyle exulted: “Ireland is like a half-starved rat that crosses the path of an elephant. What must the elephant do? Squelch it, by heavens, squelch it.” “TOTAL ANNIHILATION,” offered a London Times headline of September 2, 1846; and in 1848 an editorialist exulted that “A Celt will soon be as rare on the banks of the Shannon as a red man on the banks of Manhattan.”Here, however, we have a new theory as to how the blight microorganism which caused the Irish Potato Famine originally made its way to Ireland, and this new theory does not allege English purposefulness and therefore does not allege English genocide. It merely ascribes something to the English which we all know to be, anyway, utterly characteristic of them: unconsciousness.We know that epidemiologically, the microorganism came from Mexico or Peru to the Eastern seaboard of the United States to the Low Countries to England and Ireland. That’s a given, extrapolated from the years in which the microorganism began to destroy potato crops in these various areas. This is evidence that it seems unlikely, will ever be challengeable.We believe we know, on the basis of the movement of infected potatoes, how the microorganism made its way from Mexico or Peru to the Eastern seaboard of the United States. We believe we know, likewise, on the basis of the movement of infected potatoes, how the microorganism made its way from the Eastern seaboard of the United States to the Low Countries of Europe. That historical research has been done. What we don’t have much evidence for, what to this point we have never bothered to research, is specifically how the blight microorganism then made its way across the English and Irish channels, to infect crops on these islands north of Europe. The only existing theory is that the microorganism was wafted across these bodies of water on the cool winds. That is, the culprit was a cool season.Nobody’s fault.The only thing that this theory has had going for it, is that it has been the only theory in existence. This must have been what happened, we say, because there’s no other available explanation. The blight was blown by the wind. Nobody’s fault.What has recently been noticed, however, is that the potato plant and the tomato plant, both Solanaceas, are both carriers of the microorganism. The microorganism blights potatoes but has no noticeable impact on tomatoes. Nevertheless, it is at least as easy for this particular microorganism to be carried from place to place, by the human transportation of tomatoes and of tomato plants, as it is for it to be carried from place to place, by the human transportation of potatoes and of potato plants. In fact, it is more likely that during the time period in question we would have indulged in the transportation of the blight microorganism by our relocation of healthy-seeming tomato materials, than that we would have indulged in the transportation of noticeably infected and inferior potato materials. We have seen a situation in which there was an isolated potato farm in the backwoods of Maine, that for years during the potato blight was free of the microorganism. Then the farmer went to town and got some tomato plants and took them home in his wagon! The next year his potatoes turned to mush and he wondered why. (We know of this because Henry David Thoreau made a note of it in his journal of his trip to Maine, preparatory for his writing the series of articles we know as THE MAINE WOODS.)During the period in question the potato was bulk food for the most vulnerable classes but the tomato was in an entirely different category of alimentation. The potato provided calories, vitamins, and minerals for the needy. The tomato was, however, a mere specialty food, a salet item relatively lacking in calories and in vitamins (yes, tomatoes are low in vitamins), a comestible for the delight of the well-to-do and easily bored. Roughly, that social distinction between the needy and the bored correlates, in the context of Ireland, with the gross social distinction we think of as — the Irish versus the English. If some well-to-do, easily bored English resident of Ireland had imported tomato plants to be grown in his or her
garden on his or her estate in Ireland, either from the Eastern seaboard of the United States or from the Low Countries of Europe, during the period in question, that could have been an alternative vector for the transmission of the microorganism across the channels of water that isolate England and Ireland.Therefore we now have two competing theories, not one unchallenged theory, for how the blight microorganism made its way to Ireland. The original theory, that the microorganism was wafted to Ireland on the cool winds of an unusual season, nobody’s fault –a theory that has never had any real evidence to support it, a theory that has stood unchallenged because it has been the only theory available– no longer stands alone and unchallenged.We badly need to do historical research into the movement of tomatoes and of tomato plants during the period in question. Did some English resident of Ireland import tomatoes or tomato plants into Ireland just prior to the Irish Potato Famine? Was the Irish Potato Famine induced among the poor Irish, unbenownst, merely in order to grace the tables of the English with a novelty salet item?I myself take no position in this matter, other than to insist that further historical inquiry is now indicated. I make no accusation that, if tomato material was indeed the vector for the intrusion of this blight, and if English residents of Ireland brought this tomato material, that they did this on purpose to destroy the improvident Irish who, they were commenting at that time, were such a bother to them. (In such a case, the totality of the comment which I might personally make would be: “How convenient it can be when we happen inadvertently to strike two birds with the same stone!”)
YOUR GARDEN-VARIETY ACADEMIC HISTORIAN INVITES YOU TO CLIMB ABOARD A HOVERING TIME MACHINE TO SKIM IN METATIME BACK
ACROSS THE GEOLOGY OF OUR PAST TIMESLICES, WHILE OFFERING UP A GARDEN VARIETY OF COGENT ASSESSMENTS OF OUR PROGRESSION. WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP! YOU SHOULD REFUSE THIS HELICOPTERISH
OVERVIEW OF THE HISTORICAL PAST, FOR IN THE REAL WORLD THINGS HAPPEN ONLY AS THEY HAPPEN. WHAT THIS SORT WRITES AMOUNTS,
LIKE MERE “SCIENCE FICTION,” MERELY TO “HISTORY FICTION”: IT’S NOT WORTH YOUR ATTENTION.
George A. Thatcher “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
August 24, Thursday: The barque Ocean Monarch of the White Diamond Line burned on its Liverpool/Boston run, off the Great Orme’s Head of North Wales at 53° 25′ 40″ N, 3° 35′ 27″ W, and out of a total of 398 passengers and crew, 178 perished (mostly emigrants). The captain would place the blame on smoking by some of the 322 passengers in steerage because, he said, he had been forced to confiscate some tobacco pipes down there.
Henry Thoreau wrote to George A. Thatcher.
1848
Concord Aug. 24[,]th 1848. Dear Cousin, If it is not too lateI will thank you for your letter and your sympathy. I send you with this the Third Part, as they have chosen to call it, of that everlasting moun-tain story. I presume that the other two have reached you. They had bar- gained, as I thought to send me many copies for distribution, but I have received none. It should have been printed all together in some large newspaper — and then it would have gone down at one dose by its very gravity. I was sorry to hear that you came so near Concord without coming here. It always does us good to see you. Mr Emerson came home on the Europa 3 or 4 weeks ago, in good health and spirits. I think that he has seen English men, such as areworth seeing, more thoroughly than any traveller. He has made them better acquainted with one another and with Americans.
NEVER READ AHEAD! TO APPRECIATE AUGUST 24TH, 1843 AT ALL
He had access to circles which are inaccessible to most travellers, but which are none the better for that. He has seen the elephant — or perhaps I should say the British lion now, and was made a lion of himself. He found Carlyle the most interesting man —as I expected he would— Stone-henge the most interesting piece of antiquity — and the London Times Newspaper the best book which England is printing now a days. Travelling is so cheap at present that I am tempted to make you a visit — but then, as usual, I have so much idle business that cannot be postponed— if any will believe it! The probable failure of the melon crop this season is melon-choly—but fortunately our potatoes do not rot yet I feel somewhat encouraged at the political prospects of the country— not because the new party have chosen such a leader, but becausethey are perhaps worthy of a better one. The N.E. delegation seem tohave managed affairs in a bungling manner— If they had gone preparedthey might have had their own man—
THE TIMES
But who is he? It is time to be done selecting available men; for what are they not available who do thus? —Father desires to be rememberedto you & to Mrs Thatcher — and to the last named does also. Yourssincerely Henry Thoreau
[Address: Geo. A. ThatcherBangor Me.Return Address: Henry ThoreauAugust 1848]
ONE MUST APPRECIATE IT AS A TODAY (THE FOLLOWING DAY, TOMORROW, IS BUT A PORTION OF THE UNREALIZED FUTURE AND IFFY
AT BEST).
December 26, Tuesday: The founding, by Robert Morrison, John McMillan Wilson, Robert Thompson Drake, John Wolfe Lindley, Ardivan Walker Rodgers, and Andrew Watts Rogers, at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity (ΦΔΘ), under the immortal sentiment “One Man is No Man.”
Ellen Craft had impersonated an invalid male slaveholder, while her loving husband William Craft had acted as her manservant, in one of the more dramatic and extended slave escapes –this one from slavery not in a border state but in Georgia– and they had gotten clean away with it, and were safe in their freedom (or, they were as safe as they might ever be here, as self-stealers and as fugitives from justice).
Henry Thoreau wrote to George Augustus Thatcher:
I hear that the Gloucester paper has me in print again, and theRepublican — whatever they may say is not to the purpose onlyas it serves as an advertisement of me. There are very fewwhose opinion I value.
THE TASK OF THE HISTORIAN IS TO CREATE HINDSIGHT WHILE INTERCEPTING ANY ILLUSION OF FORESIGHT. NOTHING A HUMAN CAN
SEE CAN EVER BE SEEN AS IF THROUGH THE EYE OF GOD.George A. Thatcher “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
George A. Thatcher “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
February 9, Friday: An arbitrated decision was recorded in Boston in regard to the dispute between Pierre Jean Édouard Desor and Professor Louis Agassiz, by Thomas B. Curtis, John Amory Lowell, and D. Humphreys Storer — the decision involved Agassiz paying to Desor the sum of $100.
Because Pope Pius IX had fled south in disguise from the Papal States to Gaeta, Italy, republican strugglers were able to form a new government under the motto “Dio e Popolo” (God and People), a new government under which any religion, not merely Catholicism or Judaism, might be freely practiced. Rule was to be by a triumvirate under a constitution. The constitution specified the abolition of capital punishment. The Pope was asked to return, as the head of the Holy Roman Catholic Church (without temporal power).3
Henry Thoreau wrote to George A. Thatcher.
Concord Feb. 9th 1849
Dear Cousin,
California, mad dogs, and rail-roads are still the great topics here as everywhere. About half a dozen are gone and going to California from Concord. Mr Hoar’s second son Edward, who was a lawyer in New York, has just taken leave of his friends here to go to the new Ophir. Many are going from the neighborhood of Boston of whom one would not have expected it. For my part, I should rather have gone before the gold was found. I think that those who have delayed thus long will be prudent if they wait a little longer and hear from their acquaintances who went out early. It is impossible yet to tell what is truth. After all we have had no quite trustworthy and avail-able report yet. We shall have some rich stories to read a year or two hence.I am interested in George’s progress in Engineering. I should say let him begin with Algebra at once, and soon, or at the same time, if convenient, take up Geometry–it is all important that he be well grounded in this. In due time will come Trigonometry & Nat. Philos-ophy.— A year hence he might profitably commence Surveying. I talked lately with Samuel Felton, Chief Engineer and Superinten-dent of the Fitchburg RR, and brother of Prof. Felton of Cambridge, with reference to George. He considers “Davies’ Surveying”–a West Point book–the best. This is the one I used in teaching Survey-ing eight or nine years ago. It is quite simple & thorough–and to some extent national or American.I would have George study without particular reference to the Sci-entific School and so he will be best prepared to suck its whole me at in the shortest time–There is “Bigelows Technology” a popular and not expensive book in 2 vols. used, recently at least, at Cambridge. I am sure that it will
1849
3. Leona Rostenberg, “Margaret Fuller’s Roman Diary,” he Journal of Modern History 12.2 for June 1940, pages 209-220.
interest him if he has a taste for mechanics. He never need study it, but only read it from time to time, as study and practice make it more intelligible. This is one of the best books for him to own that I know of. There is a great deal of interesting & valuable matter for his or any body’s reading in the Penny Magazine–the best periodical of the kind that was ever printed.In the mean time he should improve his opportunities to visit ma-chine shops of all kinds. It should be a part of every mans education today to understand the Steam Engine. What right has a man to ride in the cars who does not know by what means he is moved? Every man in this age of the world may and should understand pretty thor-oughly–the Saw and Grist mill– –Smelting–casting–and working in iron– –cotton and woolen machinery–the locomotive & rail-road–the Steamboat–the telegraph &c &c A man can learn from a few hours of actual inspection what he can never learn from books–and yet if he has not the book-knowledge to generalize & illuminate his particulars he will never be more than a journeyman & cannot reach the head of his profession.I lately spent a day at the repair shop of the Eastern RR. company, East Boston, and at Hinckley & Drury’s in Boston– the largest Lo-comotive manufactory in this country. They turn out 7 a month worth from 8 to 9000 dollars apiece. I went into it, and knowing the prin-ciple before, saw and understood the use of every wheel & screw, so that I can build an engine myself when I am ready. I now read every paragraph in which the word locomotive occurs with greater inter-est and profit than before.I have no news to send respecting Helen She is about the same that she has been for some months, though it may be a little weaker, as she thinks; Her spirits are very good and she is very comfortable for a sick person. Sophia & Mother would perchance be sick if Helen were not.I look wishfully towards the woods of Maine, but as yet I feel con-fined here.Please remember me to Rebecca Jane?? Cousins Charles & Mary &c yrs trulyHenry D. ThoreauPS.— I have just received your letter for which I thank you. I should be glad to come to Bangor.— I hope that I shall so conduct as to de-serve your good wishes— Excuse my business like scroll.
“MAGISTERIAL HISTORY” IS FANTASIZING: HISTORY IS CHRONOLOGY
George A. Thatcher “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
February 16, Friday: Henry Thoreau wrote to George A. Thatcher.
Concord Feb. 16th 1849Dear George,I am going as far as Portland to lecture before their Lyceum on the 3d Wednesday in March. — By the way they pay me $25.00 — Now I am not sure but I may have leisure then to go on to Bangor and so up river. I have a great desire to go up to Chesuncook before the ice breaks up — but I should not care if I had to return down the banks and so saw the logs running; and I write now chiefly to ask how late it will probably do to go up the river — or when on the whole would be the best time for me to start? Will the 3d week in March answer?I should be very glad if you would go with me, but I hesitate to ask you now, it is so uncertain whether I go at all myself. The fact is I am once more making a bargain with the Publishers Ticknor & Co, who talk of printing a book for me, and if we come to terms I may then be confined here correcting proofs — or at most I should have but a few days to spare.If the Bangor Lyceum should want me about those times, that of course would be very convenient, and a seasonable aid to me.Shall I trouble you then to give me some of the statistics of a winter excursion to Chesuncook?Of Helen I have no better news to send. We fear that she may be very gradually failing, but it may not be so. She is not very uncomfortable and still seems to enjoy the day. I do not wish to foresee what change may take place in her condition or in my own.The rest of us are as well off as we deserve to be —
Yrs trulyHenry D. Thoreau
Thoreau was written to by William Davis Ticknor of Ticknor & Co in Boston:
Boston Feby. 16 1849Henry D Thoreau EsqDear Sir, In reply to yourfav. of 10th inst. we beg to say that wewill publish for your a/c — “A Weekon the Concord River.”—The following general Estimatebased upon a vol. 1/3 larger than Emerson’sEssays. first series (as suggested by you) wepresent for your consideration—Say — l000 Cops. 448 pages — like Emerson’s Essay. 1st seriesprinted on good paper @ $4.00 pr reamwill cost in sheets— $381.24.The binding in our style —fine cloth—12cs pr Copy — or for the Edn 120.00 $501.24In the above Estimate we have included
for alterations & extractions say $15.— It may bemore — or less. — This will depend on yourself.The book can be condensed & of coursecost less. Our Estimate is in accordancewith sample copy. As you would not,perhaps, care to bind more than1/2 the Edn. at once, — You would needto send $450. — to print 1000 cops. &bind 1/2 of the same.—Yours Very TrulyW. D. Ticknor & CoConcord.H.Mass
NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT
March 16, Friday: Some damning letters had washed ashore in the skipper of the Franklin’s valise, and had been discovered by one Captain Isaiah hatch of Wellfleet (whom Henry Thoreau interviewed), and these papers were delivered on this date to the US Commissioner in Boston. The letters, which were apparently the correspondence of shipping officials, appeared to be conclusive proof of the existence of a conspiracy behind the sinking of the ship Franklin, which had gone onto Cape Cod at 9 AM on March 1, 1849 with the loss of nine or ten members of its crew (see CAPE COD excerpts above). These papers would lead to the indictment of the owners of the vessel, James W. Wilson and Charles W. Crafts. One of the papers stated: “Dr. Sir this will be the Eternal Making of us all, if not it will damn us forever.” (Result: Wilson was allowed to turn state’s evidence and thus acknowledged his guilt without being punished; yet when Crafts was tried using evidence supplied by Wilson, the jury was not convinced of Crafts’ guilt.)
Henry Thoreau wrote to cousin-in-law George Augustus Thatcher.
Concord March 16th 1849Dear Cousin,I shall lecture in Portland next Wednesday. It happens, as I feared it would, that I am now receiving the proof-sheets of my book from the printers,so that without great inconvenience I cannot make you a visit at present. I trust that Ishall be able to erelong. I thank you heartily for your exertions in my behalf with theBangor Lyceum — but unless I should hear that they want two lectures to be
George A. Thatcher “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
read in one week or nearer together, I shall have to decline coming this time.Helen remains about the same.Yrs in hasteHenry D Thoreau
NO-ONE’S LIFE IS EVER NOT DRIVEN PRIMARILY BY HAPPENSTANCE
March 22, Thursday: Annie, the 5th child of Anna Murray Douglass and Frederick Douglass, was born free.
Henry Thoreau wrote to George Thatcher in Portland, Maine revealing his intention, “I shall advertise anoth-er, ‘Walden, or Life in the Woods,’ in the first...”.
Portland March 22nd –49 Dear George,
George A. Thatcher “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
The first thing I sawon being introduced to the Portland Lyceum last evening was yourletter lying on the desk, but I had already received your first inConcord, and moreover had written to you, so that this note oc- casioned me no disappointment, I had a good audience, consider- ing the weather, or not con- sidering it, it seemed to me [ ]Mr Emerson follows me here.I am just in the midst of printing my book which is likely to turn out much larger than I expected. I shall ad-vertise another— “Walden or Life in the Woods” in the first, which, by the way, I call “A Week on the Concord and Mer- rimack Rivers.” When I get through with this business, [If] nothing else occurs to prevent
Page 2I shall enjoy a visit to you and to Maine very much, but I do not promise myself as yet, nor do I wish you orMaine to promise yourselves to me. I leave for Bostonin a few moments. Remember me to all friends— Yoursin hasteHenry D. ThoreauPS. I thank you again and again for you exertions in my behalf.
{written perpendicular to text at bottom of page:}H. D. ThoreauMarch, 1849To Geo A Thatcher
September 13, Tuesday-27, Tuesday: Henry Thoreau went on his 2d trip to Maine (Moosehead Lake, Chesuncook Lake, and the Penobscot River), by steamer on the outside route to and from Bangor, then by stagecoach to the town of Greenville on the shore of Moosehead Lake, then by steamer across the lake, then by ox cart to the Penobscot River, probably at the end of work on the E draft of WALDEN; OR, LIFE IN THE WOODS. He went with his cousin George Thatcher, and had Joseph Aitteon (or Atteon) as guide.
Supplies included a tent, hard-bread, pork, smoked beef, tea, and sugar. When Thoreau reached the mouth of the Ragmuff, a small stream flowing into the Penobscot between Moosehead and Chesuncook, several birds attracted his attention. Purple finches and myrtle warblers can be seen there. Canada jays, now called gray jays, often visit camps for food. Ruffed grouse and spruce grouse may be flushed by hikers. A male spruce grouse (Thoreau’s pinnated or black grouse) has been known to become so immobile when approached that you may make five-second exposures. Thoreau’s observations about the familiarity between lumbermen and wilderness birds are similar to those made of the birds on the Galápagos Islands, where humans have made a very recent appearance. On those islands visitors have sometimes lifted a hawk from its perch in a tree. Darwin noted that to collect such species as finches, wrens, flycatchers, doves, and carrion buzzards, he did not need a gun but could use a switch or even his hat.
[From CHESUNCOOK] I asked Neptune if they had any of the old breed of dogs yet. He answered,“Yes.” “But that,” said I, pointing to one that had just come in, “is a Yankee dog.” He assented. I said that hedid not look like a good one. “O yes!” he said, and he told, with much gusto, how, the year before, he had caughtand held by the throat a wolf. A very small black puppy rushed into the room and made at the Governor’s feet,as he sat in his stockings with his legs dangling from the bedside. The Governor rubbed his hands and daredhim to come on, entering into the sport with spirit. Nothing more that was significant transpired, to myknowledge, during this interview. This was the first time that I ever called on a governor, but, as I did not askfor an office, I can speak of it with the more freedom.
[From THE MAINE WOODS] While we were trying for trout, Joe, Indian-like, wandered off up theRagmuff on his own errands, and when we were ready to start was far beyond call. So we were compelled tomake a fire and get our dinner here, not to lose time. Some dark reddish birds with grayer females (perhapspurple finches), and myrtle-birds in their summer dress, hopped within six or eight feet of us and our smoke.Perhaps they smelled the frying pork. The latter bird, or both, made the lisping notes which I had heard in theforest. They suggested that the few small birds found in the wilderness are on more familiar terms with thelumbermen and hunter than those of the orchard and clearing with the farmer. I have since found the Canadajay, and partridges, [Ruffed Grouse Bonasa umbellus (Partridge)] both the black [SpruceGrouse Dendragapus canadensis (Black Grouse)] and common, equally tame there, as if they had not yetlearned to mistrust man entirely. The chickadee, which is at home alike in the primitive woods and in our wood-lots, still retains its confidence in the towns to a remarkable degree.… We saw a few wood ducks, sheldrakes,
and black ducks, but they were not so numerous there at that season as on our river at home. We scared the samefamily of wood ducks before us, going and returning. We also heard the note of one fish hawk, somewhat likethat of a pigeon woodpecker, and soon after saw him perched near the top of a dead white pine against the islandwhere we had first camped, while a company of peetweets were twittering and teetering about over the carcassof a moose on a low sandy spit just beneath. We drove the fish hawk from perch to perch, each time eliciting ascream or whistle, for many miles before us.
FIGURING OUT WHAT AMOUNTS TO A “HISTORICAL CONTEXT” IS WHAT THE CRAFT OF HISTORICIZING AMOUNTS TO, AND THIS NECESSITATES
DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN THE SET OF EVENTS THAT MUST HAVE TAKEN PLACE BEFORE EVENT E COULD BECOME POSSIBLE, AND MOST
CAREFULLY DISTINGUISHING THEM FROM ANOTHER SET OF EVENTS THAT COULD NOT POSSIBLY OCCUR UNTIL SUBSEQUENT TO EVENT E.
THE MAINE WOODS: There was the usual long-handled axe of theprimitive woods by the door, three and a half feet long, — for mynew black-ash rule was in constant use, — and a large, shaggy dog,whose nose, report said, was full of porcupine quills. I cantestify that he looked very sober. This is the usual fortune ofpioneer dogs, for they have to face the brunt of the battle fortheir race, and act the part of Arnold Winkelried withoutintending it. If he should invite one of his town friends up thisway, suggesting moose-meat and unlimited freedom, the lattermight pertinently inquire, “What is that sticking in your nose?”When a generation or two have used up all the enemies’ darts,their successors lead a comparatively easy life. We owe to ourfathers analogous blessings. Many old people receive pensions forno other reason, it seems to me, but as a compensation for havinglived a long [Page 690] time ago. No doubt our town dogs stilltalk, in a snuffling way, about the days that tried dogs’ noses.How they got a cat up there I do not know, for they are as shy asmy aunt about entering a canoe. I wondered that she did not runup a tree on the way; but perhaps she was bewildered by the verycrowd of opportunities.
CAT
DOG
George A. Thatcher “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
February 25, Saturday: Henry Thoreau wrote to his cousin George Thatcher in Maine:
Concord Feb. 25th '54Dear Cousin,I should have answered you earlier if a wood-merchant whom I engaged hadkept his appointment. Measuring on Mr. Hubbard's plans of '36 and '52, which I enlarged, I make the whole area wanted for a cemetery 16 acres & 114 rods. Thisincludes a path one rod wide on the north side of the wood next the meadow, and is all of the Brown Farm north of the New Road, except the meadow of about 7 acres and a small triangle of about a dozen rods next the Agricultural Land.The above result is probably accurate within half an acre; nearer I cannot come with certainty without a resurvey.9 acres & 9 rods are woodland, whose value I have got Anthony Wright, an old Farmer & now measurer of wood at the Depot,
Page 2to assist me in determining. This is the result.
Oak chiefly 4A 53rd 156 Cords at $2.75pr cordlarge &
standingsmall
429
[Whit]e & Pitch Pine 3A 30rd 143½ Cords 2 287Pitch Pine 146rd l6½ Cords 2 41.25Young P. Pine 100rd 5 cord 2 10.
——————
$767.25
Merchantable green oak wood, piled on the cars, brings here $4.75 pr cord.Pitch Pine 4.25White 2.50
An acquaintance in Boston applied to me last October for a small farm in Concord, but the small amount of land & the want of a good house may prevent his thinking of the Dutch House place, & beside circumstances have transpired which I fear will prevent his coming here; however I will inform him at once that it is on the market. I do not know about the state of his funds, only that he was in no hurry, though in earnest, & limited me to $2000.All well-YrsHenry D. Thoreau
3Postmark: CONCORDMASSAddress: Geo. A. ThatcherBangorME
(Miss Sarah Bartlett of the Concord Free Public Library indicated, in the 20th Century, that the land Thoreau surveyed was probably land intended for Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and that it was probably the plan of Cyrus Hubbard that Thoreau had accessed. She indicated that the farm in question was that of Deacon Reuben Brown.)
IT IS NO COINCIDENCE THAT IT IS MORTALS WHO CONSUME OUR HISTORICAL ACCOUNTS, FOR WHAT WE ARE ATTEMPTING TO DO IS EVADE THE RESTRICTIONS OF THE HUMAN LIFESPAN. (IMMORTALS,
WITH NOTHING TO LIVE FOR, TAKE NO HEED OF OUR STORIES.)
George A. Thatcher “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
July 11, Tuesday: The 1st “Pioneer Day” celebration in Salt Lake City, Utah was interrupted by news of the approach of a US federal army, indicating that a military occupation was about to begin. President James Buchanan, as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States of America, had sent a 2,500-soldier Utah Expedition under General Albert S. Johnston to subdue the Mormons and bring them into compliance with US laws (such as the law against polygamy). The result would be that Brigham Young, who had been appointed as governor of the territory by President Millard Fillmore in 1850, would be forced to resign in favor of a non-Mormon, Alfred Cummings.
Henry Thoreau wrote to Eben J. Loomis and to George A. Thatcher.
Concord July 11th 1857Mr LoomisDear Sir,I am desirous of making an excursion into the Maine woods forth-with. I do not meditate anything very adventurous, since I am still a good deal of an invalid, but having been there twice in September, I now wish to go in a leisurely manner at a considerably earlier sea-son, notwithstanding the flies &c. Would you like to make one of a party of three to go in a canoe, about the 20th of this month, (excuse this short notice) via the Piscataquis from Oldtown, (or, perhaps, via the Kennebec from Norridgewock, as we may find most practicable) through Moose Head Lake, to the head waters of the St Johns, and, if we choose, return by the latter river a good part of the way. I cal-culate that we must have at least a month at our disposal, and 30 dollars each in our pockets.I do not know when your vacation occurs, but I fear that it will be too late. For a third man I have in my mind a young sailor cousin of mine in Bangor, (to whom I write today) or possibly an Indian.I can go at once to Bangor, be with my friends there a few days, and purchase a canoe &c before you arrive, so that there need be no de-lay.Let me hear from you as soon as possible, &, if you can go, make what suggestions occur to you. Or perhaps you can take a ride to Concord & talk it over.I take this occasion to thank you for your note about the turtle, of which more when I see you.
Yrs trulyHenry D. Thoreau
Concord July 11th 1857Dear Cousin,Finding myself somewhat stronger than for 2 or 3 years past, I am bent on making a leisurely & economical excursion into your woods — say in a canoe, with two companions, through Moosehead to the Allegash Lakes, and possibly down that river to the French settle-ments, & so homeward by whatever course we may prefer. I wish to go at an earlier season than formerly — or within 10 days, notwith-standing the flies &c and we should want a month at our disposal.I have just written to Mr Loomis, one of the Cambridgeport men who went through Bangor last year, & called on you, inviting him to be one of the party, and for a third have thought of your son Charles, who has had some fresh, as well as salt, water experience. The ob-ject of this note is to ask if he would like to go, and you would like to have him go, on such an excursion. If so, I will come to Bangor, spend a day or 2 with you on my way, buy a canoe &c — & be ready by the time my other man comes along. If Charles cannot go, we may find another man here, or possibly take an Indian. A friend of mine would like to accompany me, but I think that he has neither wood-craft nor strength enough.
Please let me hear from you as soon as possible —Father has arrived safe & sound — and, he says, the better for his journey; though he has no longer his Bangor appetite. He intends writing to you.
Yrs truly,Henry D. Thoreau
ONE COULD BE ELSEWHERE, AS ELSEWHERE DOES EXIST. ONE CANNOT BE ELSEWHEN SINCE ELSEWHEN DOES NOT.
(TO THE WILLING MANY THINGS CAN BE EXPLAINED,THAT FOR THE UNWILLING WILL REMAIN FOREVER MYSTERIOUS.)
November 12, Thursday: Henry Thoreau wrote to cousin-by-marriage George A. Thatcher in Bangor:
Concord Nov 12th
1857Dear Cousin,Father has received your letter of Nov. 10th, but is at present unable to reply. He is quite sick with the jaundice, having been under the doctor’s care for a week; This, added to his long standing cold, has reduced him very much. He has no appetite, but little strength and gets very little sleep. We have written to aunts Maria & Jane to come up & see him.I am glad if your Western experience has made you the more a New Englander — though your part of N.E. is rather cold— Cold as it is, however, I should like to see those woods and lakes, & rivers in mid-winter, sometime.I find that the most profitable way to travel is, to write down your questions before you start, & be sure that you get them all answered, for when the opportunity offers you cannot always tell what you want to know, or, if you can will often neglect to learn itEdward Hoar is in Concord still. I hear that the moose horns which you gave him make the principal or best part of an elaborate hat-treeSophia sends much love to Cousin Rebecca & expects an answer to her letter.
Yrs
George A. Thatcher “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
January 1, Friday: For the facilitation of trade and economic ties with its neighbor to the south, Canada began to issue coins denominated in cents, switching over to a decimal system of currency (during the previous year the US had discontinued its practice of long standing of accepting the Spanish dollar, a non-decimalized coin, as official currency).
Henry Thoreau wrote to cousin-by-marriage George A. Thatcher in Bangor:4
Concord Jan 1st
1858
Dear Cousin,Father seems to have got over the jaundice some weeks since, but to be scarcely the better for all that. The cough he has had so long is at least as bad as ever, and though much stronger than when I wrote before he is not sensibly recovering his former amount of health. On the contrary we cannot help regarding him more & more as a sick man. I do not think it a transient ail —which he can entirely re-cover from— nor yet an acute disease, but the form in which the in-firmities of age have come upon him. He sleeps much in his chair, & commonly goes out once a day in pleasant weather.The Harpers have been unexpectedly prompt to pay him — but oth-ers are owing a good deal yet. He has taken one man’s note for $400.00, payable I think in April, & it remains to be seen what it is worth.Mother & Sophia are as well as usual. Aunts returned to Boston some weeks ago.Mr Hoar is still in Concord, attending to Botany, Geology, &c with a view to make his future residence in foreign parts more truly prof-itable to him. I have not yet had an opportunity to convey your re-spects to him — but shall do so.I have been more than usually busy surveying the last six weeks run-ning & measuring lines in the woods, reading old deeds & hunting up bounds which have been lost these 20 years. I have written out a long account of my last Maine journey –part of which I shall read to our Lyceum–, but I do not know how soon I shall print it.We are having a remarkably open winter, no sleighing as yet, & but little ice.
1858
4. The manuscript of this letter can be checked as it is at the Berg Collection of the New York Public Library. The editors of the correspondence, Walter Harding and Carl Bode, would make out in 1958 that Thoreau, in recounting what was happening in the life of Edward Sherman Hoar a century before, had written: “Mr. Hoar is still in Concord, attending to Biology, Ecology, with a view to make his future residence in foreign parts more truly profitable to him.” Of course this wasn’t exactly what Henry had written as might be surmised from the factoid that Eddie Hoar knew precisely nothing whatever of the accommodations by which various species together inhabit and generate biomes, and over and above this, a general historical understanding that such a term hadn’t as yet been coined, even with the spelling “oecologie.” Thoreau had written the word “Geology” and thus we had interjected what was most decidedly an anachronism into this edition of his letters. Subsequently, because of the unforgiving nature of book publication, scholars have needed again and again to track down and scotch the persistent legends and reams of wishful thinking which this understandable error has, unfortunately, generated.
I am glad to hear that Charles has a good situation, but I thought that the 3d mate lived with and as the sailors. If he makes a study of navigation &c, and is bent on being master soon, — well & good. It is an honorable & brave life, though a hard one, and turns out as good men as most professions. Where there is a good character to be developed, there are few callings better calculated to develop it.I wish you a happy new Year —Henry D. Thoreau
The draft of “Allegash and East Branch” was announced.
January 1: There are many words which are genuine and indigenous and have their root in our natures,not made by scholars, and as well understood by the illiterate as others. There are also a great many words whichare spurious and artificial, and can only be used in a bad sense, since the thing they signify is not fair andsubstantial,–such as the church, the judiciary, to impeach, etc., etc. They who use them do not stand on solidground. It is in vain to try to preserve them by attaching other words to them as the true church, etc. It is liketowing a sinking ship with a canoe.I have lately been surveying the Walden woods so extensively and minutely that I now see it mapped in mymind’s eye–as, indeed, on paper–as so many men’s wood-lots, and am aware when I walk there that I am at agiven moment passing from such a one’s wood-lot to such another’s. I fear this particular dry knowledge mayaffect my imagination and fancy, that it will not be easy to see so much wildness and native vigor there asformerly. No thicket will seem so unexplored now that I know that a stake and stones may be found in it. Inthese respects those Maine woods differed essentially from ours. There you are never reminded that thewilderness which you are threading is, after all, some villager’s familiar wood-lot from which his ancestors havesledded their fuel for generations, or some widow’s thirds, minutely described in some old deed, which isrecorded, of which the owner has got a plan, too, and old bound marks may be found every forty rods if youwill search.5 What a history this Concord wilderness which I affect so much may have had! How many olddeeds describe it,–some particular wild spot,–how it passed from Cole to Robinson, and Robinson to Jones, andJones finally to Smith, in course of years! Some have cut it over three times during their lives, and some burnedit and sowed it with rye, and built walls and made a pasture of it, perchance. All have renewed the bounds andreblazed the trees many times. Here you are not reminded of these things. ’T is true the map informs you thatyou stand on land granted by the State to such an academy, or on Bingham’s Purchase, but these names do not
Whenever and wherever you see this little pencil icon in the pages of this Kouroo Contexture, it is marking an extract from the journal of Henry David Thoreau. OK?
Whenever and wherever you see this little pencil icon in the pages of this Kouroo Contexture, it is marking an extract from the journal of Henry David Thoreau. OK?
impose on you, for you see nothing to remind you of the academy or of Bingham.6
THE FUTURE IS MOST READILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT
August 25, Thursday: Henry Thoreau wrote to cousin-by-marriage George A. Thatcher in Bangor:
Concord Aug 25th ’59Dear Cousin,Mother unites with me in assuring Charles Benjamin & Caleb, that we shall be happy to see them, & trust that they will not be in a hurry to go hence to Peterboro, but will first exhaust at their leisure what-ever entertainment the dull town may afford. Accommodations will be provided for them at any rate, and such visitors as come later must take their chance. The prospect is that Concord will not be her-self that week. I fear it will be more like Discord. Thank fortune, the camps will be nearly 2 miles west of us; Yet the scamps will be “all over the lot.” The very anticipation of this muster has greatly in-creased the amount of travel past our house, for a month; & now, at last, whole houses have begun to roll that way. I fear that we shall have no melons to speak of for either friends or foes, unless per-chance the present rain may revive them, for we are in the midst of a severe drought. Sophia is on a short visit to Miss Swift in Roxbury. Please let aunts know that their letter to her reached us yesterday, & that we shall expect them muster week. We hope that Aunt Jane will be able to travel without inconvenience. I believe that the sol-diers will come over the road on Tuesday; & I hear that cars will be run between Boston & Concord at very short intervals on the days of the muster.I should think that you might have a very pleasant journey to New Brunswick, & for my own part, I would rather go to where men will be mustered less thickly than they will be hereabouts next month.Edward Hoar, with wife & sister, leave Liverpool for home the 27 inst.I know the fatigue of much calculating, especially of drawing accu-rate plans. It is the hardest work I can do. While following it, I need to go to Moosehead every afternoon, & camp out every night.Yrs truly
August 25, Thursday: Copious rain at last, in the night and during the day.A.M.– Mountain-ash berries partly turned. Again see, I think, purple finch eating them.I see, after the rain, when the leaves are rustling and glistening in the cooler breeze and clear air, quite a flockof (apparently) Fringilla socialis in the garden.
CHANGE IS ETERNITY, STASIS A FIGMENT
George A. Thatcher “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
March 31, Sunday: Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation Peter Pitchlynn notified the Leavenworth, Kansas Times of a resolution of the General Council of the Choctaw Nation, that should the southern states secede from the federal union their warriors would side with the secessionists against the unionists (it is to be noted that despite this there would be little cohesiveness, and in fact various individual Choctaw warriors and groups of warriors would join one side or the other).
Henry Thoreau made no journal entry on this day. He wrote to cousin-by-marriage George A. Thatcher in Bangor:
Concord Mar. 31st 1861Dear Cousin,I am surprised, butat the same time a little encour-aged, to hear that you havebeen imprisoned by a cold, like my-self, most of the winter. I amencouraged, because I should liketo discover that it is owing to somepeculiarity in the season, rather thanin my constitution. I hope that theknowledge of my sickness will be, atleast an equal benefit to you. I hear that throat complaints have beenvery prevalent and unmanageable oflate; but it is hard to come at the truth, for it is natural that we, havingsuch complaints, should hear muchmore than usual about them. Imay say that I have been a close prisonerever since the 3d of December, for the very few times I have venturedout a little way, in the warmest days, just to breathe the freshair, it has been against the ad-vice of my friends.
Page 2However, I may say that I havebeen unexpectedly well, considering howconfined and sedentary my life has been.I have had a good time in the house,and it is really as if nothing hadhappened; or only I have lost thephenomena of winter. I have been quiteas busy as usual, reading and writing,and I trust that, as warm weath-
er advances, & I get out of doorsmore & more, my cough will gradu-ally cease.My mother continues as muchbetter as she was, though it is not pru- dent for her to go about the house yet. Sophia, I think, has beenbetter than usual.I trust that Cousin Rebecca will be better soon, & will be able to makethe contemplated visit. We shall allbe glad to see you in Concord atthe same time, & perhaps the change of air will be of service to you.I am glad to hear that yourboys are getting along so well. Onewould say that the most a parentcan do, is to secure for his children, as far as possible, the opportunity
Page 3to become what they were intended to be;but the rest must depend on them-selves. The mention of the wilderness,where you say Benjamin is, & of moose- meat, is invigorating. But I feel a good way from these things now.The only excursion that I made lastyear was a very short though pleasantone to Monadnock, with my neighbor Channing. We built 2 spruce huts, andlived (in one at a time) on the rocky sum-mit, for 6 days & 5 nights, withoutdescending. It was an easy way to getan idea of the mountain.As for Charles, I shall be glad,and expect, to hear ere long thathe is the master of a vessel. Possiblysuch a position may open yet new fields of enterprise to him, suchas Navigation — Exploration, & Marine discovery generally. At anyrate, the Captain is always nearer shore than the sailor, if there isany advantage in that, because helooks beyond his present employ-ment.As to the condition of the country,though Lincoln has been president for
Page 4nearly a month, I continue to feelas if I lived in an interregnum, &we had no government at all. Ihave not heard that a singleperson, north or south, has as yetbeen punished for treason — stealingfrom the public treasury — or murderingon political accounts.If the people of the north thus come to see clearly that there can be no Union betwen freemen & slave-holders, & vote & act accordingly, Ishall think that we have purchased that progress cheaply by [this] revo- lution. A nation of 20 millionsof freemen will be far more respecta-ble & powerful, than if 10 millionsof slaves & slave holders were added to them.I am only afraid that they willstill remember their miserable partywatchwords — that Democrats will beDemocrats still, & so by their concessions& want of patriotism, keep us inpurgatory a spell longer.Accept these words from
Yrs trulyHenry D. Thoreau
THE FALLACY OF MOMENTISM: THIS STARRY UNIVERSE DOES NOT CONSIST OF A SEQUENCE OF MOMENTS. THAT IS A FIGMENT, ONE WE
HAVE RECOURSE TO IN ORDER TO PRIVILEGE TIME OVER CHANGE, A PRIVILEGING THAT MAKES CHANGE SEEM UNREAL, DERIVATIVE, A
MERE APPEARANCE. IN FACT IT IS CHANGE AND ONLY CHANGE WHICH WE EXPERIENCE AS REALITY, TIME BEING BY WAY OF RADICAL
CONTRAST UNEXPERIENCED — A MERE INTELLECTUAL CONSTRUCT. THERE EXISTS NO SUCH THING AS A MOMENT. NO “INSTANT” HAS
EVER FOR AN INSTANT EXISTED.
George A. Thatcher “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
November 15, Friday: For several days news of the forcible seizure of Confederate emissaries James Mason and John Slidell by Captain Charles Wilkes of the USS San Jacinto from the British mail packet RMS Trent a week earlier off Cuba, and their detention at Boston, had been being processed and reprocessed as sober minds considered its potential for defeat of the North in a war participated in by England. On this day the USS San Jacinto surrendered the two emissaries at Fortress Monroe, Virginia.
His Excellency the President of the Confederate States of America Jefferson Davis having set this day apart for fasting, humiliation, and prayer, the Reverend Henry Holcombe Tucker delivered a sermon “God in the War” before the legislature of Georgia, in the capitol at Milledgeville.
Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolationshe hath made in the earth.He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth;he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder;he burneth the chariot in the fire. — PSALMS 46: 8-9.
Henry Thoreau made no journal entry on this day. He wrote to cousin-by-marriage George A. Thatcher in Bangor:
Concord Nov 15th 1861Dear Cousin,We are glad to hear that you are in the neighborhood, and shall be much disappointed if we do not see you & Caleb.Come up any day that is most convenient to you— Or, if you stay so long, perhaps you will spend Thanksgiving (the 21st) with us.Yrs, in haste.Henry D. Thoreau
Waldo Emerson wrote in his journal:
BETWEEN ANY TWO MOMENTS ARE AN INFINITE NUMBER OF MOMENTS, AND BETWEEN THESE OTHER MOMENTS LIKEWISE AN INFINITE NUMBER, THERE BEING NO ATOMIC MOMENT JUST AS THERE IS NO ATOMIC POINT ALONG A LINE. MOMENTS ARE THEREFORE FIGMENTS. THE PRESENT MOMENT IS A MOMENT AND AS SUCH IS A FIGMENT, A FLIGHT OF THE IMAGINATION TO WHICH NOTHING REAL CORRESPONDS. SINCE PAST MOMENTS HAVE PASSED OUT OF EXISTENCE AND FUTURE MOMENTS
The news of last Wednesday morning (7th) was sublime, the pronunciation of the masses of America against Slavery. And now on Tuesday 14th I attended the dedication of the Zoological Museum at Cambridge, an auspicious & happy event, most honorable to Agassiz & to the State. On Wednesday 7th, we had Charles Sumner here at Concord & my house. Yesterday eve I attended at the Lyceum in the Town Hall the Exhibition of Stereoscopic views magnified on the wall, which seems to me the last & most important application of this wonderful art: for here was London, Paris, Switzerland, Spain, &, at last, Egypt, brought visibly & accurately to Concord, for authentic examination by women & children, who had never left their state. Cornelius Agrippa was fairly outdone. And the lovely manner in which one picture was changed for another beat the faculty of dreaming. Edward thought that “the thanks of the town should be presented to Mr [James??] Munroe, for carrying us to Europe, & bringing us home, without expense.” An odd incident of yesterday was that I received a letter or envelope mailed from Frazer, Pennsylvania enclosing no letter but a blank envelope containing a Ten dollar bank note.
December: Aunt Maria Thoreau died at the age of 84 in Bangor, Maine. She left most of her property to the Thatcher family with which she had been living, and her in-law relative George A. Thatcher was the executor of the will.
Richard Henry Dana, Jr. began to write, in Rome, on international law.
YOU HAVE TO ACCEPT EITHER THE REALITY OF TIME OVER THAT OF CHANGE, OR CHANGE OVER TIME — IT’S PARMENIDES, OR
HERACLITUS. I HAVE GONE WITH HERACLITUS.
1881
HENRY’SRELATIVES
George A. Thatcher “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
July 12, Saturday: Amedeo Clemente Modigliani was born in Livorno in Italy on Henry Thoreau’s birthday.
Henry Knox Thatcher, 7th child of George Augustus Thatcher and Rebecca Jane Billings, had become a physician in Maine, a member of the Republican Party, and an attender at the Congregational Church. Dr. Thatcher had gotten married with Annie Ross of Bangor, Maine, and on this day the couple produced a child, whom they named Henry David Thoreau Thatcher in honor of George Augustus Thatcher’s friend and relative. This eponomously-named son would be educated in the schools of Dexter, Maine and in 1905 would graduate from the University of Maine at Orono, Maine. As a civil engineer Henry David Thoreau Thatcher would help design the sewerage of Old Town, Maine.
December 1, Tuesday: George A. Thatcher died, to be interred in Bangor’s Mount Hope Cemetery near the graves of Jane Thoreau (who had died in 1867) and Maria Thoreau (who had died in 1881 at the age of 84 as the last American Thoreau).
Somewhere in Virginia toward the end of the 19th Century, a doctor named Pepper had owned a drugstore. He had a beautiful daughter and a young man whom he was employing at the drugstore, Charles Alderton, was given to experimentation. When the young employee was caught experimenting with the beautiful daughter, the doctor had fired this ardent and creative employee. The experimenter had then gone off to Waco, Texas, where daughters hopefully might not be so well protected. On this day, having taken work at the Old Corner Drug Store, he served his “The Waco,” a pleasing concoction, for the 1st time, his guinea pig being that store’s proprietor, Wade Morrison. Morrison changed the name to Dr. Pepper® and put the drink on sale at several local soda fountains. (This introduction thus preceded by about a year the introduction of a cocaine-laced competitor, Coca-Cola® — eventually “Dr.” would need to become “Dr” in order to avoid the suggestion of a health benefit. The story has a happy ending the truth of which I very much doubt: ardent employee Charles Alderton would return to Dr. Pepper’s store in Virginia and obtain the hand of his daughter.)
HOWEVER, HISTORY’S NOT MADE OF WOULD. WHEN SOMEONE REVEALS THAT ARDENT EMPLOYEE CHARLES ALDERTON “WOOD” IN
THE FUTURE RETURN TO DR. PEPPER’S STORE IN VIRGINIA AND OBTAIN THE HAND OF HIS DAUGHTER, S/HE DISCLOSES NOT ONLY AN
INCLINATION TO STORYTELLING BUT ALSO THAT WHAT IS BEING CRAFTED IS NOT REALITY BUT PREDESTINARIANISM. THE RULE OF
REALITY IS THAT THE FUTURE HASN’T EVER HAPPENED, YET.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: In addition to the property of others,such as extensive quotations and reproductions ofimages, this “read-only” computer file contains a greatdeal of special work product of Austin Meredith,copyright 2016. Access to these interim materials willeventually be offered for a fee in order to recoup someof the costs of preparation. My hypercontext buttoninvention which, instead of creating a hypertext leapthrough hyperspace —resulting in navigation problems—allows for an utter alteration of the context withinwhich one is experiencing a specific content alreadybeing viewed, is claimed as proprietary to AustinMeredith — and therefore freely available for use byall. Limited permission to copy such files, or anymaterial from such files, must be obtained in advancein writing from the “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo”Project, 833 Berkeley St., Durham NC 27705. Pleasecontact the project at <[email protected]>.
Prepared: April 12, 2016
George A. Thatcher “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
“It’s all now you see. Yesterday won’t be over untiltomorrow and tomorrow began ten thousand years ago.”
– Remark by character “Garin Stevens”in William Faulkner’s INTRUDER IN THE DUST
Well, tomorrow is such and such a date and so it began on that date in like 8000BC? Why 8000BC, because it was the beginning of the current interglacial -- or what?
Bearing in mind that this is America, "where everything belongs," the primary intent of such a notice is to prevent some person or corporate entity from misappropriating the materials and sequestering them as property for censorship or for profit.
This stuff presumably looks to you as if it were generated by ahuman. Such is not the case. Instead, someone has requested thatwe pull it out of the hat of a pirate who has grown out of theshoulder of our pet parrot “Laura” (as above). What thesechronological lists are: they are research reports compiled byARRGH algorithms out of a database of modules which we term theKouroo Contexture (this is data mining). To respond to such arequest for information we merely push a button.
Commonly, the first output of the algorithm has obviousdeficiencies and we need to go back into the modules stored in
the contexture and do a minor amount of tweaking, and then weneed to punch that button again and recompile the chronology —but there is nothing here that remotely resembles the ordinary“writerly” process you know and love. As the contents of thisoriginating contexture improve, and as the programming improves,and as funding becomes available (to date no funding whateverhas been needed in the creation of this facility, the entireoperation being run out of pocket change) we expect a diminishedneed to do such tweaking and recompiling, and we fully expectto achieve a simulation of a generous and untiring roboticresearch librarian. Onward and upward in this brave new world.
First come first serve. There is no charge.Place requests with <[email protected]>. Arrgh.
