DANIEL CADY EATON - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 11/09/1869 - HFSID 283589

DANIEL CADY EATON
Botanist Daniel Cady Eaton, one of the first professors of botany in the U. S., wrote this letter to his father, Major General Amos Beebe Eaton, from New Haven, Connecticut in 1869. In it, he talked about raising chickens.
Autograph letter signed "Daniel C. Eaton". Pencil notation in top right corner of page 1. 4 pages, 4¾x7¾, 1 sheet folded, front and verso. New Haven, Connecticut. Addressedto General A. B. Eaton, Washington, D. C. Nov. 9, 1869. In full: "My dear Father- Your vest came from N.Y. six weeks ago- nearly, & thinking you would come here soon I put in a drawer in your room,& there it lay till your telegram came today- I have sent by Adams Exp. Carrie says if you can take us in conveniently the first week of December she had much rather go to Washington then than in November- If it is not perfectly convenient to you & Nelly to do so , please tell us. We are all very well here ,&try not catch any more colds. Today Carrie & I have been to see a Poultry show- & were much interested- I saw some Light Brahma's rather larger than mine, but no hens handsomer than one or two of those you brought us- the cocks were rather ahead of mine- We get 40 to 41 eggs a weeks from our chicken,& find them thus far very little trouble- the all-white cock lost his head this morning in an endeavor to dull the edge of a hatchet- Feathers off he weighed six pounds. My Salt Lake plants are here-& I have poisoned them all- [illegible] 500 nice plants came from a Prof. of Botany in S.E. Africa! I have a letter from the Princess Mestchowsky of Moscow-asking for seeds of all our hardy trees& shrubs- I am sorry to have to tell her highness that I can't get them for her- Carrie has asked Aunt Sara[h] & Miss Fabes to visit with us next week- an unnecessary attention on my wife's part I think , but she said 'they looked as if they wanted to be asked,& it was very cold& windy waklign to them in the street.' With much love your affectionate son".Daniel'sfather AMOS BEEBE EATON (1806-1877) was made Commissary General of the U. S. Army upon Brigadier General Joseph P. Taylor's retirement in 1864 and was brevetted a Major General on March 13, 1865. DANIEL CADY EATON (1834-1895) was one of the first professors of botany in the U. S., as well as Curator of the Yale Herbarium for 31 years. His books include the two-volume Ferns of North America. Eaton contributed botanical accounts to a number of geological surveys, as well. These included the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey (1848-1855), which set the border between the U. S. and Mexico after the Mexican-American War; Clarence King's Geological Survey (1867-1873), conducted in a 100-mile strip of land along that parallel between California and Wyoming; the Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian, conducted by George Wheeler; and the Geological Survey of California. Lightly toned, creased and rippled. Show-through touches signature and body of letter. Light separation at top and bottom of spine. Otherwise in fine condition.