Today you tech­ni­cal­ly get mul­ti­ple let­ters, all wrapped into one!  On April 22, 1835, William Sub­lette start­ed a let­ter to Robert Camp­bell, who was at Fort William.  Sub­lette added to it on May 1.  He made one more addi­tion on May 2, before final­ly send­ing it to Robert.  The let­ter cov­ers every­thing, from busi­ness to fam­i­ly to gos­sip from home. One inter­est­ing and impor­tant ref­er­ence Sub­lette makes is to “Fontinell”.  “Fontinell” was Lucien Fontenelle, a well-known French-Amer­i­can fur trad­er who worked for the Amer­i­can Fur Com­pa­ny, run by John Jacob Astor and the Rocky Moun­tain Fur Co. and Sub­lette and Camp­bel­l’s biggest com­pe­ti­tion.  Sub­lette also tells Robert that “Vir­ginia”, mean­ing 13 year old Vir­ginia Jane Kyle, who Robert would mar­ry in 1841, is doing well and “Mrs Fox also lent Vir­ginia com­pli­ments to you”.  Enjoy this fas­ci­nat­ing look into Sub­lette & Camp­bel­l’s busi­ness and per­son­al lives!

http://campbellhousemuseum.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/this-week-in-history-november-5-november-11/
[Front Cover]
Mr. R. Campbell
Fort William

St. Louis MO April 22nd 1835

Dear Robert,
I received your let­ter from Colum­bia and also one from Lex­ing­ton dat­ed april 18th. I wrote you by the first mail after you left at Lex­ing­ton and also to Inde­pen­dence.  Enclos­ing those notes you wished [spelled wisht] Fontinell to Set­tle, as he refused doing so here but stat­ed [spelled stait­ed] he thought he would Set­tle them when you deliv­ered over the fort to him.  I have writ­ten all that passed between us to you in my let­ter to Inde­pen­dence which I pre­sume you will get before you leave the Unit­ed States although you did not state in your let­ter from Lex­ing­ton whether you had received mine or not.  Galio [?] sent a let­ter to you from your broth­er to Inde­pen­dence and I now also send one let­ter to Fontinell.  Fontinell has only vis­it­ed my room but twice since you left he appears too [spelled two] busi­ly engaged in court­ing or some­thing else that I can scarce­ly get to see him.  On yes­ter­day Mr Fontinell & Beret both came to my room.  I showed them both the part of the let­ter you sent me or so much as relat­ed to their [spelled there] mat­ters and they made [spelled maid] no objec­tions.  Fontinell told me he expect­ed to leave tomor­row but you know him, the peo­ple is all well here gen­er­al­ly, and not much change in affairs.  Since you left Capt. Fleise­he­man is dead and buried, mar­riages Marpy & Shan­ice is both mar­ried, Miss Bil­low also & Miss Cale­na is expect­ed to be in the same sit­u­a­ti­a­tion in a few days etc. etc.

[Pg. Break] There appears to be but lit­tle alter­ation in Mil­ton since you left Sis­ter Sophron­ice Cook is now in St. Louis and expects to leave shortly.

I have received a let­ter from Mr J.J. Car­pen­ter of N.Y. stat­ing our furst is still unsold and that sev­er­al per­sons has been lookng at them but will think them too [spelled two] dear.  The Saulaper­ans are all here as yes but expect to leave in a few days.  Bean Gar­den & Lane all let out short­ly up the Mis­sis­sip­pi sur­vey­ing.  I had word from Edmond Christy a few days since he is well and they say is doing well keeps him­self steady and atten­tive to business.

May the first I have this morn­ing received your let­ters with Andrew from Inde­pen­dence April 21 1835.

I have you will per­cieve by this com­menced [spelled comenced] this let­ter sev­er­al days since.  I have just called on Fontinell and he informs me he will start this evening or tomor­row morn­ing for a cer­tain­ty, Cabanne, came down last night Fontinell has been so busi­ly engaged court­ing gala­vant­i­ng etc. that he has hard­ly been to see Mil­ton but one time since you left (it appears to be fine times with him) Mil­ton has much mend­ed since I com­mence this let­ter I have had him rid­ing out and he is now bout on his crutch­es lest his leg is about the same the lig­a­tures still remain.  Mrs. Ash­ley has been quite unwell but is now bet­ter I have paid but one or two vis­its since you left and I can assure you I feel quite lone­some.  I expect to take Mil­ton to the farm in a few days where I shall stay principly.

[Pg. Break] I have received but one let­ter from your Broth­er but what I have sent you and I enclose it with this I expect anoth­er in a few days, Ran­dolph has vis­it­ed Mil­tons room sev­er­al times I expect there is some­thing on foot as he has been try­ing to get employ­ment and Mil­ton appears dis­sat­is­fied [spelled dis­at­is­fied] with Fontinells deten­tion here and have I believe expressed [spelled expresst] him self.  So I will fin­ish this let­ter by piece meals [?] whilst Fontinell remains.  Robt. this evening I received a let­ter from Hugh stat­ting he will deter­mine in a day or two whether he will vis­it St Louis or no if so he will leave about the first of June his stay will be short and he will return through Ten­nesee, Alaba­ma, and Ken­tucky.  He states he received a let­ter from Broth­er Andrew dat­ed 26th Jany last all friends was well at that date and noth­ing new.

I would send you the let­ter which is dat­ed the 17th of april only it con­tained a list of my fruit trees and a descrip­tion of them etc prinic­i­paly on that subject.

I was at Miss Kyle’s this evening all was well and wished I would remem­ber them in my let­ter to you.  Mrs Fox also lent Vir­ginia com­pli­ments to you there has noth­ing tran­spired since you left worth notice I am get­ting on with my build­ing and farm as well as could be expect­ed Mr Jack­son is now in St Louis I have had a set­tle­ment with him Smith & Ashley.

[Pg. Break, top of front cov­er] May 2 1835 Robert I have just been to see Fontinell he says he will leave pos­i­tive­ly today.  W & Mrs Stephan­son leaves to day for Gale­na.  Mgr Bean also Gor­don is gone.  Miss Cale­na is mar­ried and off to Illi­nois.  Miss Tharp is also mar­ried and so forth,  Beut and Sare­na is still here but will leave short­ly         Your friend W Sublette

[Sec­tion Break, upside down] I intend for­ward­ing our bill on for the goods spo­ken of imme­di­ate­ly I have been wait­ing to hear from you at Inde­pen­dence or I would have done so before now Mil­ton wish­es to be remem­bered & Sis­ter Cook has left and I feel entire­ly at a loss what to do or how to employ myself as you know I have been a bird of pas­sage the last twelve years yours farewell, W.L.S.