"My Dear and Only Son" Letters to a Heartland Pioneer

History contains more than just the stories of the wealthy and well-known. It encompasses the narratives of the countless men and women whose experiences have created the dynamic backdrop of national and world events. The Albert Williams' collection provides an intimate portrait of a family populated by ordinary people challenged in many ways by extraordinary circumstances.

"My Dear and Only Son," Letters to a Heartland Pioneer documents a non-fiction letter collection kept by Albert G. Williams of Cornish, New Hampshire, Grinnell, Iowa, and Campbell, California, consisting of 35 letters and two documents dating from 1853 to 1872, plus three historic appendices. Born in 1840 in New Hampshire, Albert's life - divorced parents, binding out, pioneer settlement, nursery and orchard businesses, retirement in California, and subsequent judgeship - reflects atypical situations that will garner interest among academic historians of numerous specialties, while general readers will be drawn to the narrative history and memoir. A comprehensive introduction delineates Albert's life in detail not recorded in the letters and explains the influence of Albert's uncle, New Bedford whaling captain Worthin Hall, in Albert's life. Divorce was exceptionally rare in the 1850s, and the collection interrogates power injustices of the time which gave fathers control of their children after divorce, providing an historical perspective currently lacking in scholarship. Most of the letters originate from Albert's divorced parents, Stephen Williams, Jr. and Melinda (Hall) Williams. Their pain, as expressed in the letters, is palpable. His divorced mother's voice is unique in the literature from the mid-1800s. As intimate primary source material, scholars with interests ranging from women's and children's history to middle west settlement, feminist studies, and New England's manufacturing role in the Civil War should benefit, as well as readers drawn to the era and locations.

The book contains a preface and introduction to the collection, transcribed letters, two additional historic documents, added footnotes with explanatory information, bibliography and index. An appendix recreates Williams' daughter's memories of the Grinnell, Iowa farm during the 1870s and 80s, adding context to the middle west settlement experience. Two additional appendices showcase Albert's business and adult life.

This collection adds to the rich social history of ordinary Americans arguing less for individualism over familial ties as a driving force for re-settlement. Albert Williams moved to Iowa at 16 years old; one of the area's earliest settlers. His divorced parents in New Hampshire independently contributed most of the letters, and subsequently independently followed him west. Taken as a whole, these letters transmitted cultural values, offered solace, and helped to maintain familial ties; foundational for the development of a teenager in a distant setting. Twenty photos accompany the book.