Holograph, signed.

In this letter, Joseph Ricketson gives the news of the last illness and the death of Mrs. Emily Rotch; he tells of the illness of old Mrs. Channing, mother-in-law of Joseph Ricketson's classmate Fred Eustis of Milton; and he tells of the improved health of Louisa, wife of Daniel Ricketson. "Business continues to be good---people must eat and if we cannot get Southern wheat, we have been able to get some excellent Michigan wheat." The "Mercury" was sold to Mr. G. Baker and Col. Fessenden. Col. Fessenden "has been a democrat & Pro slavery---but he has wheeled right about & is making speeches, at Flag Raisings, violently against the South."