- Letter to William Pryor Letchworth 1864 from J E Lee Lockport NY

Description

RARE Autograph Letter
To
William Pryor Letchworth
From J.E. Lee
Lockport, New York
1864
For offer, an original old manuscript letter. Fresh from an estate in Upstate NY. Never offered on the market until now.
Vintage, Old, antique, Original -
NOT
a Reproduction - Guaranteed !!
Interesting piece of history. ALS.
In good to very good condition. Please see photos for details.
If you collect Americana history, American 19th century Civil War era
, etc., this is one you will not see again. A nice piece for your paper / ephemera collection.  Perhaps some genealogy research information as well.
Combine shipping on multiple bid wins! 356
William Pryor Letchworth (May 26, 1823 – December 1, 1910) was an American businessman notable for his charitable work.
Early years
William was born in Brownville, New York on May 26, 1823, the fourth of eight children born to Josiah and Ann Hance Letchworth. Raised as a Quaker, Letchworth learned the values of hard work, charity, and development of the intellect from his family.
At age 15, Letchworth was hired as a clerk at Hayden & Holmes, a saddlery and hardware company. Letchworth succeeded at his tasks and in business in general, and by age 22 was partner at Pratt & Letchworth, a company involved in the "malleable iron" business.
Glen Iris Estate
Although successful, Letchworth found the day-to-day operations of business burdensome. He sought refuge from the business world and decided to build a retreat estate. He settled on a location in former Seneca territory in western New York. They were pushed out of the area following the American Revolutionary War, as they had been allies of the defeated British.
As a tourist, Letchworth visited the Sehgahunda Valley of the Genesee River in western New York. In 1859 he purchased his first tract of land near Portage Falls.
Letchworth hired noted landscape architect William Webster to design the grounds of the estate, and named it Glen Iris. In 1906 he bequeathed his 1,000-acre (4 km2) estate to New York state. It now makes up the heart of Letchworth State Park.
Charity and social work
In 1873, Letchworth was appointed to the New York State Board of Charities. "In 1875 he had inspected all the orphan asylums, poor-houses, city alms houses, and juvenile reformatories in the state which had an aggregate population of 17,791 children." Following his investigation, he recommended that all children under 2 years of age be removed from these institutions, which was accepted by the state. In 1878, Letchworth was elected as President of the Board. Letchworth resigned from the State Board of Charities in 1897.
He spent the next few years traveling around Europe and the United States at his own expense to explore the treatment and condition of the insane, epileptics and poor children. From this research, he wrote two books: The Insane in Foreign Countries and Care and Treatment of Epileptics. Many of his recommendations were later adopted by Craig Colony, a state epileptic hospital which he helped to establish in Western New York in 1896.
He served as President for the National Association for the Study of Epilepsy and the Care of Treatment of Epilepsy, and as President of the First New York State Conference of Charities and Corrections, as well as President of the National Conference of Charities and Correction, held in St. Louis in 1884.
Letchworth State Park is a New York state park located 35 miles (56 km) southwest of Rochester and 60 miles (95 km) southeast of Buffalo in Livingston (towns of Leicester, Mount Morris, and Portage) and Wyoming (towns of Castile and Genesee Falls) counties. The park is roughly 17 miles (24 km) long,[2] covering 14,350 acres (58 km2) of land along the Genesee River.[2]
Within the park, there are three large waterfalls on the Genesee River and as many as fifty waterfalls found on tributaries that flow into it; the deep gorge formed by the river, with rock walls rising up to 550 feet (170 m) in places and which narrow to 400 feet (120 m) across above the middle of the three falls, prompted the area's reputation as the "Grand Canyon of the East".[3]
The territory of the park was long part of the homeland of the Seneca people, who were largely forced out after the American Revolutionary War, as they had been allies of the defeated British.
In 1856 William Pryor Letchworth (1823-1910), an industrialist, bought 1,000-acre (4 km2) of this territory, and constructed his Glen Iris Estate. In 1906 he bequeathed the estate to New York, which later organized the park of which it is part.[2] Park entrances near the towns of Mount Morris, Perry, Castile and Portageville. A modern, well-maintained two- or three-lane road follows the west side of the gorge, allowing many scenic viewpoints for the geologic features.
The three major waterfalls — called the Upper, Middle, and Lower Falls — are located in Portage Canyon, the southern section of the park. The Seneca called the land around this canyon "Seh-ga-hun-da", the "Vale of the three falls";[4] the Middle Falls ("Ska-ga-dee") was believed to be so wondrous it made the sun stop at midday.[2]
The only trail bridging the Genesee River across Portage Canyon crosses a stone bridge just below the Lower Falls. The Middle Falls is the highest, and the Upper Falls has an active railroad trestle crossing immediately above it, providing an even higher vantage immediately above the falls.
The highest waterfall in New York is located in the park. Known as Inspiration Falls, it is a spectacular ribbon waterfall that is located on a tributary creek a short distance east of the Inspiration Point Overlook, 0.4 mile (640 m) west of the park visitor center. It has a total drop of 350 feet (107 m). While impressive in its height, it is seasonal and often appears as only a water stain on the cliff. The falls faces to the south-southwest and has a crest that is one foot (300 mm) wide. (215-foot (66m) Taughannock Falls, 100 miles east of Letchworth in Trumansburg, is generally recognized as the highest waterfall in New York, as well as in the entire Northeastern United States).
The bedrock exposed in the gorge is Devonian in age, mostly shales, with some layers of limestone and sandstone. The rock was laid down in an ancient inland sea, and it holds many marine fossils. The landform of the section of the Genesee River valley represented by the park is geologically very young, caused by a diversion of the river from the old valley by the last continental glacier, which forced the river to cut a new section of valley.
In 2007, Letchworth was named one of the top 100 campgrounds in the nation