Bloomington Polk Co Oregon Territory September 6th 1858

Dear Brother

We received your letter inclosing a draft, in due time but we have
delayed writing because we have been so busy since the reception
of your letter, we received a letter from James C. Hutchinson
containing the sad news of the death of your beloved wife we all
sypathise with you in your great loss

Elijah D. Butler had a long & painful illness and died on the 24th
of January we feel his loss very much his only son a fine boy died
a few weeks before Elijah did. Sarah is going to live in Monmouth
she is getting a house built there

We bought a store house in Monmouth 18 X 36 feet we have made
an addition on one side of 12 X 36 feet we are building 2 more
houses there to hold our lots our 10 acre lot is fenced with orchard
of some 200 trees houses rent well at Monmouth The University is
up and will soon be finished it 40 X 60 feet 2 stories (24 feet) high
with a bellfry it will be a fine building when finished We will move to
Dallas next month as it is the County seat of Polk Co, as I am the
Clerk of U.S. District Court for this county

Mother is in good health she keeps a horse and a good easy saddle
and rides around among her children and friends. She stayed with us
a good deal this summer

Isaac is going to move to Monmouth he has gone in to partnership to
sell goods with D.M. Boone, our old partner he has finished assessing
the county and his health is some better than it has been for some time

Eliza has another fine boy it was born on Saturday the 28th of Aug. she
and babe are doing well Mother is staying with her at this time. Isaac
Smith's folks were all well the last time we heard from them Ira's family
are well they have a fine young daughter she is about a month old.We
are all well and the friends are all well as far as we know. We want you
to pay the ballance which we owe to E. Jane Hutchinson if you can
collect enough money which is due us Samuel Hutchinson will pay part
of it. If you think any improvement on our farm necessary please have it
made as fast as you can get the funds. We are well pleased with all you
have done for us, for which you have our sincer thanks you must keep
enough out of our funds to pay you for your time and trouble At any
time if there is any money on hand of ours that you do not need for
improvement or other purposes you may send it to us by drafts or some
other way as we need money as we are building so much Our stock is
doing well although grass is getting scarce owing to the great amount of
stock in the country

this has been a better season for grass than common We have the finest
yearling horse colt that I ever saw he is as large as any 2 year old that I
ever saw in the states and he is as fine as he is large some have valued
him at one thousand dollars

The school at Monmouth is doing well and the town is growing very fast
It is a beautiful place

Tell William C. Butler that we send our respects to him and family, and
that we will write to soon We received a letter from him with a lock of
his hair and a lock of the baby's. Tell Joseph and James that we send
our respects to them and their families. We have never received any
letter from Joseph and have not got any from James a year or more
tell them to write us

Thomas H. Hutchinson

[to]John M. Butler, Esq
Monmouth Illinois