Dec. 26, 1858 Hattie Hutchinson to Elizabeth Benjamin

Beloit

Dec. 26, 1858

Dear Mrs. B,

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year .  Excuse our long delay in writing  you, we have had so much to do and so many of our friends to write to that we have neglected all other correspondents.  We are well and happy and like here very much.  Andrew has been away from home with Judson a good deal but will go no more.  We did think of you Christmas Eve, for one year ago we were with you.   Hope you are all well and have plenty of milk to eat and drink. 

Judson’s wife is with us yet and last Monday she and I called on your brother’s wife.  ___ had a very pleasant letter ___ with a great fat baby that looks like your Robby.  She calls it Hattie.   They live close by the railroad in a brick house just off of Bridge St.  We live on ___ St. in a yellow brick house nearly opposite a Mr. Blodgett, owner of a flour mill.  Tis a very pretty place where we live, a nice garden full of fruit trees and bushes so that we long for summer time to come.

Think Beloit must be a delightful place in the summer season.  We have from our front windows a fine scene of the beautiful Rock River and ___ as they cross it and enter the depot.   Wish you could come in and sit with me this afternoon.   I can talk very much faster than I can write.  Times are very hard in all the West, hope we away on time, get East where they are comparatively easy.  Judson and wife want us to go on with them, but we shall stop here for the present.  We are having a very open window indeed, have not had more than one day of decent laughing.  We have been out nearly every day but boys store is on Bridge St.  exactly opposite the __ __.  Perhaps you know well where that is. 

I would like some pleasant day to __ __ __ the good people of Hutchinson .  Please give my love to all who may enquire for me.  How do you like your area lounge cover?  Kiss the children for me and tell them I wish I could get to their stockings next Friday night.  Speak kind words to the little cow, and good old Blacks and the kitty too.

My kind regards to Mr. Benjamin and accept yourself a large share of my love,

Hattie Hutchinson

Note:
The Hutchinson Family Singers (John, Asa, and Judson Hutchinson) are credited with founding the town in November 1855. The 3 brothers heard of Minnesota from a New England friend, W. W. Pendergast, who spoke highly of the BIG WOODS west of St. Anthony.
The Hutchinson brothers’ party of explorers chose a setting on the crest of a hill overlooking the beautiful Hassan River Valley. (The river, originally given the Indian name Hassan (Maple Leaf), is now called the Crow River.)
The group wrote 13 “Articles of Agreement” for the town. These included articles setting aside 5 acres for the Humanities Church, 15 acres for parks – making Hutchinson’s park system the 2nd oldest in the nation, 8 lots for educational purposes and stating that Hutchinson women would have equal rights with the town.
The town was besieged during the Sioux Uprising in 1862. Chief Little Crow was shot by a farmer a few miles North and West of Hutchinson a year later.
The Hutchinson Family flourished in the mid-nineteenth century. They were famous for singing in remarkably close harmony. The group's material included controversial material promoting abolitionism, workers' rights, temperance, and women's rights.