An Episode from "THESE NEW ENGLANDERS" (began from MNKraft typescript)

"Cornering Contextual Clues" (by Robert A. Kraf with Alan Russell)

Sometimes, in genealogical work, you just get lucky. Sometimes the luck
is facilitated by taking advantage of clues that, in retrospect, are
both obvious and logical, but initially were anything but that.

My mother was a collector of things pertaining to her family and the
west-central Connecticut area around Waterbury in which she spent
her entire life until the past four
years. Her mother was the same, and her mother before her. The family
on my mother's side was "old New England" and humbly proud of it. They kept
records, and also some associated objects.

My mother also had ambitions as an author. Probably her main project, at
least for the past quarter century if not more, has involved collecting
stories and samples from her relatives and friends into a work she titled
"These New Englanders." Much of the content was to consist of descriptive
letters relating episodes in the lives of her characters, especially from
the periodic "round robin" family updates that circulated in various
branches of her genealogical world.

I've inherited my mother's files -- and have long shared her interests --
now that she has had to downsize to a
small retirement community apartment after the death of my father and
the sale of the house in Wolcott CT that they built in 1938. As
time permits, I hope to work through as many of the files as possible
in search of family and other lore that might be considered
worth passing along to our posterity.
I already have created a large genealogical electronic sub-structure into
which much of this material can be incorporated
or with which it can be linked.
Much of what she had compiled
is in scannable typescript, but there are intermixed
original letters and related
materials that require some deciphering and culling.

In going through a box of such items, I came across an innocent looking
modern business envelope with my mother's brief pencilled notations on
the outside: "By great grandma Pierpont's brother, Lavinus Warner," etc.
My genealogical work on the Warner side of the family is in its infancy --
my mother's grandmother was born a Pierpont, for which family I have masses
of information, but Mary Ann Pierpont's mother was born Mary Anna Warner
(my great-great grandmother, who married Charles Joseph Pierpont),
and I could go back only another
generation or two, and that very sketchily, in the Warner line. So this
innocent looking envelope held special interest for me.

Of course I opened it -- it wasn't sealed (but I would have opened in
in any event!) -- and found a large 9"x16" page of
well preserved paper of reasonably good quality (only slightly discolored,
and completely intact) that originally had been folded in two,
and used for writing
four consecutive pages of relatively neat but tightly compacted text in
brown ink with lots of blotting, bleed through, and irregularity
caused by the frequent
need to reink what must have been a somewhat crude fountain pen. My
mother had begun to transcribe the text onto a typescript,
but had only done about half
of the first page (which contains 50 lines in its 9 inch depth, with room
for about 4 more such lines in its blank top margin! Page two has 55 lines,
page 3 has 66, and the last page is only half used with 36 lines) -- adding
the comment that "the letter is often undecipherable."

As a historian who works with ancient documents written in various languages,
I was undaunted by the challenge of deciphering this modern one
written in reasonably
literate American English, and decided to take the time
necessary to transcribe it fully. My mother's brief introduction led me
to believe that I might learn some things about dear lost great-great-uncle
Lavinus Warner, who lived near where I was raised in the Waterbury CT
area, never married, and was remembered as a somewhat strange person who
walked around barefoot often mumbling to himself -- he was reported to have
explained that in doing so, he wanted to talk to someone who knew something.

The document was not a "letter" in any formal sense -- it did not open by
addressing anyone, nor close with the author's name following a sign-off.
I would
call it a report. Fortunately it was dated at the outset -- "Friday June 15th
1849" -- and continued with references to named people and events
consistent with the goldrush era in which it claimed to be written. That
my mother is no historian is obvious from even the lines she had deciphered,
for they quite clearly refer to the author's daughter Dorinda and her new
husband "Smith," which suggests either that this is a fiction devised by
the strange and unprocreative Lavinus Warner, or that Lavinus actually had
fathered at least one child, or that the document was not by the mysterious
Lavinus at all.

It took me some hours to reduce the entire 207 blotchy and tightly packed lines
to readable electronic text, but when I reached the final sentence, the
writer's self designation as "Silas" lept out at me. Was it a pen-name
being used by the cryptic Lavinus, or should I search genealogical records
for some "Silas"
with a daughter "Dorinda" who married a "Smith"? Obviously the latter
needed to be done before the former hypothesis could be embraced. But
what "Silas"? A quick shot across the bow of the internet through my
favorite search program showed lots of Dorindas and Silases,
even lots of Dorindas
associated with a Silas and a Smith. More precision would be helpful.

Since the material had reached my mother as an artifact connected
with Lavinus Warner,
it was sort of intuitive to search for a Silas WARNER with a daughter named
Dorinda and a son-in-law named Smith. Had I thought more about it, this was
also quite logical -- how did my mother come into possession of the text
and its accompanying story? Doubtless from her mother or grandmother, who
in turn must have received these things from a Warner ancestor. Silas, if
he was real, must have been significant to the Warners, else why would
such an item and accompanying story survive? Of course, Silas could have
been significant without being a Warner, but it made sense to start
with the hopes that we are dealing with a Silas WARNER.

The internet is a wonderful starting point for such detective work, and I
was very lucky to discover, quite rapidly, that there were indeed several
Silas Warners, a couple of whom lived at the right time and in the right
places. What time? The report was penned, if we can believe the author, in
mid 1849, and from the contents of the report it is by an older man (he has
a married daughter, and also refers to "sons") -- probably born no later
than 1800 and possibly significantly earlier -- and probably somewhere in
south-central New England (several relevant
place names are mentioned -- Cummington,
Worcester, Shelburn Falls, Boston, Windsor). Lavinus lived in the
right part of the world, but was born in 1809 (died in 1890),
and thus is virtually disqualified by that fact alone -- if the
text is not an elaborate fiction.

What about the Silas Warners, with or without associated Dorindas and Smiths?
Bingo! Staring at me from the screen was reference to a Henry E. Smith,
son of Erastus and Mary (Polly) Dickinson, born in Hadley MA,
who married on 12my1859 Dorinda Warner, daughter of Silas Warner and
Sarah __, and born in Cummington MA! Everything fit nicely except the date
given for their marriage, which should have been 1849 not 1859 if my text
is to be believed. Silas might have hallucinated about the date, although
it did check out that June 15 1849 was a Friday -- and that date was at
the height of the gold rush (see www.sfmuseum.net/hist/chron1.html).
In genealogical recording, such misprints (1859 for 1849) are not rare,
so I proceeded with the hypothesis that these are the people of the text.
Indeed, another hit gave me a Silas Warner who had married a Sarah Buzby at
about the right time (the information was at best vague). Perhaps that is
the lost mother, to whom one anonymous reference is made in the document.

The document itself is quite revealing. Silas has been confined to a
protective institution which he considers to be a prison. It is obviously
an asylum for those considered "crazy" or similarly socially marginalized.
He is a man with intense religious convictions that keep him from agreeing
to abandon the sort of conduct that has contributed to his "incarcaration,"
and going to live with his daughter in Windsor.
He complains at length about mistreatment, and even names some villans
and reformers in the adminsitration of his case; the situation has
improved recently with a change of personnel, but he still feels imprisoned.

Apart from his religious obsessions, Silas sees himself as an inventor
whose devices could help save a struggling world. He describes in some
detail a land leveler of his design (although he complains that they
confiscated his models
and plans) that would facilitate the laying of rail tracks across the
nation and help feed the hungry, heal the sick, etc. He is knowledgeable
about cutlery and blades, and his "sons" and son-in-law deal profitably
with related materials. It is not clear whether he once made a living in
such business, but it seems to me possible, perhaps also in connection
with farming.

Why was this document preserved? Silas would seem to be a "black sheep"
type, similar, perhaps, to Lavinus with whom it came to be associated.
And for whom would Silas have written it? To whom did he give or send it?
How many people were able to read it, or cared to do so once it was received?
Although the finished bi-fold paper is creased in a manner consistent
with being mailed or
stored in a normal sized business envelope, no original envelope has
survived. In accord with the Lavinus "legend," probably this material
was transmitted by my great-great-grandmother Mary Anna Warner Pierpont
who died in 1911 and whose father Jared Warner (1785-??) was probably a
brother of Silas. This would make Silas an uncle to Lavinus,
and to his sister Mary Anna Warner.
The Silas document can be seen as a call for help, perhaps
sent to his brother Jared, or to his family in general. A closer
identification of Silas and his immediate family may help answer such
qustions. Meanwhile, the text of his "apologia" must speak for itself.
It is an unusual survival of information about some of "These New
Englanders" that have captured the fascination of my mother, and my own.

In the following transcription I have edited the original in various ways:
capitalization of proper nouns and normalized spelling and punctuation
have been introduced -- Silas did not use capital letters, and made few
sentence divisions, while at the same time frequently inserting commas
or dashes to interrupt his flow of consciousness style. He also
uses the ampersand regularly for "and" -- thus juxtaposing phrases
almost indiscriminately at points. I have sometimes substituted "and"
when it seemed visually appropriate, as at the beginning of new sentences.
I have also
appended some explanatory notes as well as a faithful line by line
transcription of the original, for comparative purposes.

==

Friday, June 15th, 1849:  My dear daughter Dorinda & my
new son Smith, her husband, greatly rejoiced me by a visit to me
in prison.
Dorinda said that Roxa {?}, Silas's widow, taught school at
Michigan City {Indiana?} & her daughter aged near 16 years & Silas Franklin
Camson her son, 14, & both uncommon gifts, & Jeremiah had experienced
religion & tilled much soil at the mouth of {the} Columbia river {in}
Oregon & sold produce to gold men for much money; & his filing
out at Burlington {Iowa} cost 2 thousand dollars & he had
near $10 thousand
dollars besides to cross the mountains with, so in all he had about
twelve thousand dollars worth when he left Iowa.  His loss by 
being bound for Silas of ten thousand in trouble & cost & other
great losses was not told & would {?} had been prospered at
Burlington Iowa to get 25 or 30 thousand dollars; & since he has been buying
and selling soldiers land rights given to them to tempt
them to go to kill men,
he has made much more money & he has a daughter over a year old by
his last wife. & Dorinda said her mother said she was coming to see
me, & all my kin at Shelburn Falls are well, & son Smith said he was agent
to sell snaths, & he thought my sons might gain about $50 thousand
in the 152 thousand snaths sold the year past to April & they are
trying to do more in time to come, & they sold goods at their store
at Shelburne Falls to the amount of $40 or $50,000 - or else it was 70
to 90 thousand dollars and they were doing more at the cutlery work
& were about to do much at table cutlery; I thought in all sorts of
crafts by the description they might gain a hundred thousand dollars
a year besides, besides the rent of their building &c to make a show and do
sacrifice in high ways, & keep me & my brethren in Christ hid & stop
us to work my many useful discoveries to have some millions gain
yearly in comon with saints to save men's lives. - & Dorinda was
so spoiled by philosophy, & vain deceit after men, & not after Christ that
she said to me you can go to Windsor & live with us if you will promise
to not go from there. - & I said to her i know not but I should love to live
at thy house all the time my father's business led me nowhere else to set
in order the things of the kingdom of heaven needed to be cut short right
to save men's lives easy. - I told of models of some of my new discoveries
that i had made at Washington city d c & at iowa, some 9 years since
& before then some at Cummington, Worcester, & other towns, & since
at Boston City -- all improvements to ease life ought to be prefected
& the use secured to be spent right to ease life, & not for vain shows
that profit nothing, nor to support meetings not for the better
but to support testimony against meetings that devour widows
houses for a show
make many prayers lifting up unholy hands to vote {?} and kill saints
in prisons, by sword famine and sickness as is now done to all nations -- and if it
pleaseth thee and my new son to go with me, & aid to set in order the
things needed to save the use of my discoveries in the hands of
saints to save men's lives that none die by war, famine nor
sickness, but all remember the good & wholsome words of the Lord Jesus
to work, and in some useful work to save life easy ----
In our talk Dorinda told of trouble she should have, if I went about
as I did before I was put here & that I was old & had done enough to
be content to do no more, & let folks take care of themselves. & I said it
is right now, ever has been right, & forever & ever will be right, for me
to remember the wholsome words of Christ, to work good works cut
short right to save mens lives, & go & sell that I have, & lay in store
at evening on the first {day} of the week in a third loft of a house of
chosen saints, to see that none are neglected in the daily ministration.
 -- & as to thy concern & fear of my suffering abuse & cruel treatment,
if I go about doing good in deed & telling folks how they by these
vain show meetings, rob & kill by war, famine, & sickness, & if the
priests should be exceedingly mad, as some Millerites have been in Boston
City, & kick & cast me down two flights of stairs, & beat & drag me into
the street, and leave me half dead, the thieves leave me in the street, show
more mercy, than to hide me with such a den of thieves as this,
for there, I always
soon saw one or more stop to aid, like the Samaritan, & Paul, when he was
thrown out of the city & left dead he arose & went his way with friends.
-- But
here a friend is not allowed to be near the place to visit, and do mercy,
even {I}
was threatened, & beard torn out for saying at the iron barred windows
"I am in prison," and if thou knew the deception & cruelty of this sort of
secret jails, thou would be far more concerned for me than if thou
knew that I was beaten robbed & left half dead in the street.
  & she amazed
said, "I hope you are not treated bad here." -- & I said Dr Holman who is now
watching, is, as yet, so ignorant, as to be sold to take part with men of
like ignorance, of those who blindfolded & smote Jesus for fun, &
he knows in part how soldiers & prisoners were hired to choke, bruise,
& tear out my beard for fun, as they said, & it is good exercise for
you. & Holman said it's not now allowed; its not been lately done.
& I said, it has not been done so much by keepers, nor prisoners, but
some prisoners, like the thief on the cross, act after Dr Rockwell, &
his apostles, as if it was honorable to do so.
-- It is not long since I
was often bruised, beard, and hair torn.
-- but Sibley the new keeper
is not yet so hardened as to do it. & she, in supprise said, "Is it so?"
& Holman
assented, but said, "It is no more allowed."
-- & I said, a year ago last winter
I had a severe sickness & much pain which was made by the bruises
& tearing out my beard, in their play.
-- the tearing out my beard left
air holes to blow up the fire & make an inflammation in my jaws, & it rose
in my face & head & fell through my frame, made me sick, loss of
appetite, & the little flesh not worn off by suferings before.
-- & when
the cause of this sickness came to light the doctors & soldiers were
all ashamed of their play & sought to duck, and deny & lay all the
shame and guilt to the prisoners.
-- but it seems by certain speeches of
apostles of the chief, that he thought to convert me to their religion
of vain shows, by like cruelty, as is his way to make proselytes for I
have often been exhorted like this: "If i was you, I would shave, &
that will end the fun of pulling out your beard."
& Eason before the
great, thorofane {?!} play of the hired apostles of Rockwell, when I was
talking out at the window with shearer of the great wickedness, &
thefts, & murders done by this sort of secret prisons to hide stolen men
& women in to be made slaves, & of their being by far the worst
sort of persons & slave plantations known to me.
-- & Eason
at the time with his corrupt manners, received from the chief, threatened to
rob me of my beard, if i called this a prison before strangers.
\& said/ if I should say
this secret jail is not a prison, here where I am hid, to stop me from saving
mens lives, the bars of iron & locks tell the lie,
and the men who are now sold to the
priests, to say this is not a prison but
a place to cure sick & crazy folk, show
like blindness, both priests & soldiers of the priests
who gave great sums of money,
& the soldiers who took it for pay,
the disciples of Jesus stole his body while
we slept.
& I said to Eason by what authority threatenest thou me to
rob me of my beard, if I tell, that I am in prison?
-- & eason said I have orders
from head quarters Dr Rockwell.
-- & after this, Eason & Coughlan & others to
be apostles of Rockwell in deed, made a plaything of me, caught me by my
beard, tearing it out, & confined my arms behind me & stopped me from going
into my cell & bid prisoners to come to pluck beard.
& after this, brother
Bennet said he hated to do it but he feared trouble
if he did not come to pluck
beard, as bid, & be beat, & shunned.
-- & Sherwood said his pay was a chew of
tobacco a piede{?}, to pluck beard, & one pull counted 70 {?} & others, on up to a hundred
& some more.
& for sometime, I could not dine, but in fear of suffering the
bruises of my beard being torn out,
by the hands of one or more of the hired soldiere,
& prisoner.,
& the acts of some prisoners tell their ignorance by their free acts as if
they thought it honorable to take a part like the theif on the cross.
-- & but a few days
since the hands of Ormsbee and Austin was sudden upon me
with shears in one hand of Austin
& Ormsbee snached my spects from my eyes saying your beard shall come off.
&
their hands were quick to choke, & thrust
my hands from holding my beard & throat
from their grip, & cut, 'till the words spoke
to rob me of my beard,
is by far worse
than to rob me of clothes, for clothes can soon be had,
but beard i have to wait for it
to grow.
& afterwards they said, we had no notion of cutting your beard we only
for sport to see what you would do & say; it was good exercise for you.
& I said to Dorinda, no man in his right mind can be hired
to take a part to make
prisoners here, & thou art in a fault to ask me to go & stay
at Windsor to not be
martyred here for the testimony of Christ -
- if i should promise to stay at Windsor to
save being killed here, it would be confessing that I was in a fault
when I did in
meetings, & elsewhere, as the custom of Jesus was,
& that I will do & speak no more on
the way of Christ
-- it would be a promise that I will not let my light shine, & go &
teach all nations baptizing all who believe, as Jesus told me to,
& teach them to do
all things as showed unto me, & that he would show in me, & that he had shown
by his apostles
-- & at last my son, daughter, grandson, & dr Holman went
with me from their showroom to a cell at inner prison, where I was cast two
years ago, 20th of next Sept, from a loft above for a stall of bedbugs
to feed upon,
& lice was also very plenty at the time on many prisoners, & Rockwell
in great rage said, C. C. Bourne of New York city,
by request of his priest, sent to
him my writings, that Bourne was about to publish, his priest fearing the
loss of his gain, if my epistles were not secreted, which writngs,
double filled
ten or twelve large sheets, & Dr Rockwell robbed me of
about 10, or 12, large double full written sheets more,
& all my writing materials, models & working things to do
with,
& when he thrust me into this lower pit, said in his rage, you are welcome
to do all you can here, for time to come, & I had harsh treatment, & neglect
of things needed for health
-- & I showed some of my soiltiller models the
rotary dishing spadeshares so set in the beam, as to cut and
turn many furrows as they roll, also, clear, & grind themselves sharp.
& the weight, acts to help
cut the soil like the foot on a spade & a roller before helps draw lay the
straw, & mash the soil.
& the back roller acts its part, & the two rollers guide the
depth of the shares to cut & turn soil
-- also a bucket spade wheel, to strike in
the soil like steam ship buckets in water.
this also beats, cuts, & turns soil
& this, before the dishing shares, make all go,
with about half the force it
takes to move the first, without the last
-- & half will force the first, that it takes to move
the old sort of cotter plows
-- so, as all parts act to help others the machine goes with
small help, plows many furrows, crossplows as many,
rolls marks {?}, & drops seed
on them, & covers all an even depth, & the soil
may be left rolled even, or in ridges.
Add to these, my high lever shade, or bucket wheel,
moved by a band, cogs, or cams
on a balance wheel shaft, which men may turn by a crank,
& ride on the machine,
& it may go, by horse, steam, lightening, air, or any other power,
that will move any
thing else.
& I say not how many miles wide a stripe may be done as we and our
families ride on the self help rolling plow machine, sixty miles a hour, on
our way to the pacific, & level the hills & vales right for rails,
besides a few
minutes stop to bore some mountains.
Now the the high lever spade wheels may be made to fill cars, & the cars
emtied, till the way is level, & the things, & implements
of the old heavens, will sell no more,
when the things of the new heavens are cut short right,
& made perfect, & proved
by all.
-- Behold, the things of the old heavens are now being rapt together like a
scroll, & are passing away with a great noise, & will soon be
burned up by the fire of
the mouth of the one God and father of Christ,
so the \love of the/ goodness of the way of Christ, will keep
all in it, & make a new heaven, & a new earth, & the day of Christ.
& man will be
in the image of perfect love, \&/ when perfect love is come
in all things, that in part will
do away.
-- Behold only fifty years past, if we in pure love had not been robbed,
killed
& eaten up by the zeal of the despisers, & greedy dog house,
who can never get enough,
the railways with cars, would {have} been made safe to carry
all things needed to
the pacific, & dart them elsewhere to all, as every man has need.
-- the soil tilled,
to grow meat for man in its full strength, the gold gathered,
& made vessels of use,
to save pure, all seed of herbs, & root of plants, meat for man,
& man made of the dust
of the soil, to act in the image of pure love,
specially all who see the goodness of pure
love, to do good to save men's lives as Jesus did.
-- Just see the diference that fifty years
past, would have made in the earth, being replenished,
& men multiplied right, if all
men had done only good to save life as Jesus did
-- then all the cost of wars & vain
shows \acribices {?}/ would not {have} been
-- there would be no use for vain showshops in cities nor elsewhere,
there would have been no fools nor apes to buy, show dresses, prayers,
speeches,
nor to sacrifice time in high places.
-- When these things come to pass it will end
the swarms of priests, lawyers, doctors, & their lawmakers,
officers & soldiers who
are the devil, & go about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may eat up.
-- Now
these swarms of fools & idiots cannot abide such a devil as they now are,
when
they see pure love to be the one God & father coming out of the
tabernacle of God down
to the understanding of men,
& will be with men their God & they shall be children
of love, & not be the devil, to rob & kill men in prisons
by war, famine, & sickness.
By man came death, by man came also the resurrection from dead works;
-- so by
one man's hatred many were made murders, & these many who hate the way of
life are now the devil to {be} cast into prison
-- like as in the beginning of the devil when men
fell by transgression like lightening from heaven,
so when all are made right by the obedience
of one, there will be no devil to say to know ye right from wrong,
which is life eternal
-- all brethren when they begin to hate the way of Christ
fall like fire from heaven as Judas did & are children of hell,
& the devil is {or, in} hell, Jesus said to devils,
who did not {come} after him, how can ye escape
the damnation of hell if ye neglect so great salvation?
-- now if I had not done as the custom
of Jesus was, in the shops of hell, that the devils call houses of God,
& the sacrifice \of/ time
in them keeping the sabbath, & the worship of God,
I had not answered a good conscience in
the resurrection of Christ. but I, in the way of Christ,
escape the damnation of taking pleasure in
the vain shows of the Westminster divine's lies, who divined for money.
When men divine
lies for money, they are not like holy men, who shake free,
as the holy ghost gave uterance --
  I often before now told of cast iron scytheblades & other
implements of cutlery, & soil tillers being
made steel with slight cost & forged right for the best cutters,
then tempered without springing
-- a part of the flying roll written by me Silas
for the good of the world, to come, to help
children come up right. --

[faithful, line by line transcription]

friday June 15th 1849 my dear daughter dorinda & my
new son Smith her husband greatly rejoiced me by a visit to me
in prison  dorinda said that vosca/rosca/roxa suds's widow taught school at
Michigan city & her daughter aged near 16 years & silas franklin
camson her son 14 & both uncommon gifts & Jeremiah had exper-
ienced religion & tilled much soil at the mouth of columbia river
origon & sold produce to gold men for much money & his filing
out at Burlington cost 2 thousand dollars & he had near $10 [?] thousand
dollars besides to cross the mountains with So in all he had about xxx=
twelve thousand dollars worth when he left Iowa  his loss by being
being bound for Silas of ten thousand [in] trouble & cost & other
great losses was not told & waud {?} had been prospered at Burling-
ton Iowa to get 25 or 30 thousand dollars, & since, he has been buying
and selling soldiers land rights given to them to tempt them to go to kill men
he has made much more moneys & he has a daughter over a year old by
his last wife, & dorinda said her mother said she was coming to see
me, & all my kin at Shelburn falls are well, & son Smith said he was agent
to sell snaths {?}, & he thought my sons might gain about $50 thousand
in the 152 thousand snaths sold the year past to april & they are
trying to do more in time to come, & they sold goods at their store
at Shelburne falls to the amount of $40 or $50,000 - or else it was 70
to 90 thousand dollars and they were doing more at the cutlery work
& were about to do much at table cutlery i thought in all sorts of
crafts by the description they might gain a hundred thousand dollars
a year besides besides the rent of their building &c to make a show and do
sacrifice in high ways, & keep me & my brethren in Christ hid & stop {?}
us to work my many useful discoveries to have some millions gain
yearly in comon with Saints to Save men's lives - & dorinda was
so spoiled by philosophy, & vain deceit after men, & not after christ that
she said to me you can go to windsor & live with us if you will promis
to not go from there - & i said to her i know not but i should love to live
at thy house all the time my fathers business led me nowhere else. to set
in order the things of the kingdom of heaven needed to be cut short right
to save men's lives easy - i told of models of some of my new discoveries
that i had made at Washington city d c & at iowa, some 9 years since
& before then some at Cummington, worcester, & other towns, & since
at boston city -- all improvements to ease life ought to be prefected
& the use secured to be spent right to ease life, & not for vain shows
that profit nothing, nor to support meetings not for the better
but to support testimony against meetings that devour widows houses for a show
make many prayers lifting up unholy hands to vote {?} and kill saints in pri-
sons, by sword famine and sickness as is now done to all nations -- and if it
pleaseth thee and my new son to go with me, & aid to set in order the
things needed to save the use of my discoveries in the hands of
saints to save men's lives that none die by war, famine nor
sickness, but all remember the good & wholsome words of the lord jesus
to work, and in some useful work to save life easy ----
in our talk dorinda told of trouble she should have, if i went about
as i did before i was put here & that i was old & had done enough to
be content to do no more. & let folks take care of themselves. & i said it
[[2]]
is right now, ever has been right, & forever & ever will be right, for me
to remember the wholsome words of christ, to works good works cut
short right to save mens lives, & go & sell that i have, & lay in store
at evening on the first of the week in a third loft of a house of
chosen saints, to see that none are neglected in the daily minis-
tration -- & as to thy concern & fear of my suffering abuse & cruel treat-
ment, if i go about doing good in deed & telling folks how they by these
vain show meetings, rob & kill by war, famine, & sickness, & if the
priests should be exceedingly mad, as som millerites have been in boston
city, & kick & cast me down two flights of stairs, & beat & drag me into
the street, and leave me half dead, the thieves leave me in the street, show
more mercy, than to hide me with such a den of thieves as this, for there, i always
soon saw one or more stop to aid, like the samaritan, & paul, when he was
drew {?} out of the city & left dead he arose & went his way with friends -- but
here a friend is not allowed to be near the place to visit, and do mercy, even
was threatened, & beard torn out for saying at the iron barred windows
i am in prison, and if thou knew the deception & cruelty of this sort of se-
cret jails, thou would by far more concerned for me than if thou
knew that i was beaten robbed & left half dead in the street, & she amazed
said, i hope you are not treated bad here -- & i said dr holman who is now
watching, is, as yet, so ignorant, as to be sold to take part with men of
like ignorance, of those who blindfolded & smote jesus for fun, &
he knows in part how soldiers & prisoners were hired to choak, bruise,
& tear out my beard for fun, as they said, & it is good exercise for
you. & holman said it's not now alowed. its not been lately done,
& i said, it has not been done so much by keepers, nor prisoners, but
some prisoners, like the thief on the cross, act after dr rockwell, &
his apostles, as if it was honorable to do so -- it is not long since i
was often bruised, beard, and hair torn -- but sibley the new keeper
is not yet so hardened as to do it, & she, in supprise said, is it so, & holman
assented, but said, it is not more allowed -- & i said, a year ago last winter
i had a severe sickness & much pain which was made by the bruises
& tearing out my beard, in their play -- the tearing out my beard left
air holes to blow up the fire & make an inflammation in my jaws, & it rose
in my face & head & fell through my frame, made me sick, loss of
apetite, & the little flesh not worn off by suferings before -- & when
the cause of this sickness came to light the doctors & soldiers were
all ashamed of their play & sought to dauk {?}, and deny & lay all the
shame and guilt to the prisoners -- but it seems by certain speaches of
apostles of the chief, that he thought to convert me to their religion
of vain shows, by like cruelty, as is his way to make proselytes for i
have often been exhorted like this. if i was you, i would shave, &
that will end the fun of pulling out your beard. & eason before the
great, thorofane {?!} play of the hired apostles of rockwell, when i was
talking out at the window with shearer {?} of the great wickedness, &
thiefts {sic}, & murders done by this sort of secret prisons to hide stolen men
& women in to be made slaves, & of their being by far the worst
sort of persons & slave plantations known to me -- & eason 
at the time with his corupt maners, received from the chief, threatened to
rob me of my beard, if i called this a prison before strangers, \& said/ if i should say
this secret jail is not a prison, here where i am hid, to stop me from saving
mens lives. the bars of iron & locks tell the lie, and the men who are now sold to the
priests, to say this is not a prison but a place to cure sick & crazy folk, show
like blindness, both priests & soldiers of the priestswho gave great sums of money,
& the soldiers who took it for pay, the disciples of jesus stole his body while
[[3]]
while we slept. & i said to eason by what authority threatenest thou me to
rob me of my beard, if i tell, that i am in prison -- & eason said i have orders
from head quarters dr rockwell -- & after this, eason & coughlan & others to
be apostles of rockwell in deed, made a plaything of me, caught me by my
beard tearing it out & confined my arms behind me & stopped me from go-
ing into my cell & bid prisoners to come to pluck beard, & after this, brother
bennet said he hated to do it but he feared trouble if he did not come to pluck
beard, as bid, & be beat, & shouned {?} -- & Sherwood said his pay was a chew of
tobacco a piede, to pluck beard, & one pull counted 70 {?} & others, on up to a hundred
& some more, & for sometime, i could not dine, but in fear of suffering the
bruises of my beard being tore out , by the hands of one or more of the hired soldiere,
& prisoners, & the acts of some prisoners tell their ignornce by their free acts as if
they thought it honorable to take a part like the theif on the cross -- & but a few days
since the hands of ormsbee and austin was suden upon me with shears in one hand of austin
& ormsbee snached my spects from my eyes saying your beard shall come off &
their hands were quick to choak, & thrust my hands from holding my beard & throat
from their grip & cut, till the words spoke to rob me of my beard, is by far worse
than to rob me of clothes, for clothes can soon be had, but beard i have to wait for it
to grow, & afterwards they said, we had no notion of cutting your beard we only
for sport to see what you would do & say. it was good exercise for you.
& i said to dorinda no man in his right mind can be hired to take a part to make
prisoners here, & thou art in a fault to ask me to go & stay at windsor to not be
martyred here for the testimony of christ -- if i should promis to stay at windsor to
save being killed here, it would be confessing that i was in a fault when i did in
meetings, & elsewhere, as the custom of jesus was, & that i will do & speak no more on
the way of christ -- it would be a promis that i will not let my light shine, & go &
teach all nations baptizing all who believe, as jesus told me too, & teach them to do
all things as showed unto me, & that he would show in me, & that he had shown
by his apostles -- & at last my son, daughter, grandson, & dr holman went
with me from their showroom to a cell a iner prison, where i was cast two
years ago, 20th of next Sept, from a loft above for a stall of bedbugs to to feed upon,
& lice was also very plenty at the time on many prisoners, & rockwell
in great rage said, c. c. bourne of new york city, by request of his priest, sent to
him my writings, that bourne was about to publish, his priest fearing the
loss of his gain, if my epistles were not secreted, which wriings, double filled
ten or twelve large sheets, & dr rockwell robbed me of about 10, or 12, large dou-
ble full written sheets more, & all my writing materials, models & working things to do
with, & when he thrust me into this lower pit, said in his rage, you are welcome
to do all you can here, for time to come, & i had hash {sic} treatment, & neglect
of things needed for health -- & i showed some of my soiltiller models the
rotary dishing spadeshares so set in the beam, as to cut and turn many fur-
rows as they roll, also, clear, & grind themselves sharp. & the weight, acts to help
cut the soil like like the foot on a spade & a roler before helps draw lay the
straw, & mash the soil. & the back roller acts its part, & the two rolers guide the
depth of the shares to cut & turn soil -- also a buket spade wheel, to strike in
the soil like steam ship bukets in water. this also beats, cuts, & turns soil
& this, before the dishing shares, make all go, with about half the force, it 
takes to move the first, with out the last -- & half will force the first, that it takes to move
the old sort of cotter plows -- so, as all parts act to help others the machine goes with
small help, plows many furrows, crossplows as many, rolls marks {?}, & drops seed
on them, & covers all an even depth, & the soil, may be left rolled even, or in ridges.
ad to these, my high lever shade, or bucket wheel, moved by a band, cogs, or kams.
on a ballance wheel shaft, which men may turn by a crank, & ride on the machine,
& it may go, by horse, steam, lightening, air, or any other power, that will move any
thing else. & i say not how many miles wide a stripe may be done as we and our
families ride on the self help rolling plow machine, sixty miles a hour, on
our way to the pacific, & level the hills & vales right for rails, besides a few
minutes stop to bore some mountains.
now the the high lever spade wheels may be made to fill cars, & the cars em-
tied, till the way is level, & thethings, & implements of the old heavens, will sell no more,
when the things of the new heavens are cut short right, & made perfect, & proved
by all -- behold, the things of the old heavens are now being rapt together like a
scroll, & are passing away with a great noise, & will soon be burned up by the fire of
the mouth of the one god and father of christ, so the \love of the/ goodness of the way of christ, will keep
all in it, & make a new heaven, & a new earth, & the day of christ. & man will be
in the image of perfect love, \&/ when perfect love is come in all things, that in part will
[[4]]
do away -- behold only fifty years past, if we in pure love had not been robbed, killed
& eat up by the zeal {?} of the despisers, & greedy dog house, who can never get enough,
the railways with cars, would been made safe to carry all things needed to
the pacific, & dart them elsewhere to all, as every man has need -- the sail tilled,
to grow meat for man in its full strength. the gold gathered, & made vessels of use,
to save pure, all seed of herbs, & root of plants, meat for man, & man made of the dust
of the soil, to act in the image of pure love, specially all who see the goodness of pure
love, to do good to save men's lives as jesus did -- just see the diference that fifty years
past, would have made in the earth, being replenished, & men multiplied right, if all
men had done only good to save life as jesus did -- then all the cost of wars & vain
shows \acribices {?}/ would not been -- there would be no use for vain showshops in cities nor else-
where, there would have been no fools nor apes to buy, show dresses, prayers, speaches,
nor to sacrifice time in high places -- when these things come to pass it will end
the swarms of priests, lawyers, doctors, & their lawmakers, officers & soldiers who
are the devil, & go about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may eat up -- now
these swarms of fools & idiots cannot abide such a devil as they now are, when
they see pure love to be  the one god & father coming out of the tabernacle of god down
to the understanding of men, & will be with men their god & they whall be children
of love, & not be the devil, to rob & kill men in prisons by war, famine, & sickness.
by man came death, by man came also the resurrection from dead works -- so by
one mans hatred many were made murders, & these many who hate the way of
life are now the devil to cast into prison -- like as in the beginning of the devil when men
fell by transgression like lightening from heaven, so when all are made right by the obedience
of one, there will be no devil to say to know ye right from wrong, which is life eternal -- all bro-
thren when they begin to hate the way of christ fall like fire from heaven as judas did & are ch-
ildren of hell, & the devil is {or, in} hell, jesus said to devils, who did not after him, how can ye escape
the damnation of hell if ye neglect so great salvation -- now if i had not done as the custom
of jesus was, in the shops of hell, that the devils call houses of god, & the sacrifice \of/ time
in them keeping the sabbath, & the worship of god, i had not answered a good conscience in
the resurrection of christ. but i, in the way of christ, escape the damnation of taking pleasure in
the vain shows of the Westminster divine's lies, who divined for money, when men divine
lies for money, they are not like holy men, who shake free, as the holy ghost gave uterance --
  i often before now told of cast iron sitheblades & other implements of cutlery, & soil tillers being
made steel with slight cost & forged right for the best cutters, then tempered without spring-
ing -- a part of the flying roll written by me Silas for the good of the world, to come, to help
children come up right --

[transcribed by RAK (first half page by MNK), 23je2004]
[old notes]
Is this Sarah Buzby (c1800-), who married a Silas Warner about the right time?]
The locations mentioned also fit in with lower New England --
Shelburn Falls MA, Windsor (CT?), Cummington, Worcester, Boston;
this Burlington is in Iowa, and Michigan City is in Indiana.

[[MNK note: This letter was written by Lavinus Warner [but in it he calls himself
"Silas"; RAK], my Great Grandma Pierpont's brother [maybe uncle or cousin?],
who used to live in the very old house still standing (1981) at the corner of
Lakewood and Wolcott Roads, Waterbury, CT.  He is represented as a queer sort
of man who walked around barefoot, mumbling to himself. When askad about his
mumbling he stated that he wanted to talk to somebody who knew something.
Lavinus never married, nor fathered any children. [Thus the references to
a daughter and sons and grandson in the letter are fictitious??;
the letter is apparently written by someone in an insane asylum that he
views as a prison. Three things concern him -- failure of people to exhibit
pure love and to follow right religion, the confiscation or destruction of
his plans and models for a super farming soil-tilling machine, and his
persecution (beard plucking & shaving) by his keepers.

Our Silas seems closely connected to cutlery (mentioned several times), and
knowledgeable about the sale of "snaths" -- the handles to which scythe blades
are attached. He also has aspirations as inventor and author.

The reasons for his
incarceration are not stated clearly, but presumably have to do with his
habit/policy of disrupting "meetings" that represent objectionable religious
positions -- he mentions Millerites and Westminster Divines by name. He
resists rehabilitation to his daughter Dorinda's home in Windsor (CT?) if it
means compromising his Christian principles and calling. He also names his
tormentors and ameliators at the institution where he has been for at least
two years (Drs. Rockwell and Holman; keepers Sibley, Eason, et al.).

Lavinus Bronson Warner was born 12au1809 and died on 12ap1890 (see MAPM diary);
he would have been a relatively young man in 1849. But there was a
Henry E. Smith, son of Erastus and Mary (Polly) Dickinson, born in Hadley MA,
who married on 12my1859 (1849?) Dorinda Warner,
daughter of Silas Warner and Sarah __, and born in Cummington MA!
Is this Sarah Buzby (c1800-), who married a Silas Warner about the right time?]
The locations mentioned also fit in with lower New England --
Shelburn Falls MA, Windsor (CT?), Cummington, Worcester, Boston;
this Burlington is in Iowa, and Michigan City is in Indiana.

("The letter is often undecipherable. The spelling and punctuation are his."
MNK -- actually, it is easier to read with a xerox copy, and is especially
frustrating for his failure to capitalize anything [the S/s look alike, etc]
but on the whole it is carefully and intelligently written and laid out,
apparently by someone accustomed to writing.)]]