Submitted by: Cat Edwards
Santa Barbara, Oct 12, 1870
Province Sao Paulo, Brazil
My Son,
My last letter was the 13 June from which I have not hear a word from you
fearing it may have miscarried, I write again. __ some difficulty in arranging my business
___ so that I can close out, although since I bought negroes have advanced 100 percent
Lands have fallen and it is hard to dispose of lands at any price. Mules and cattle can be
disposed of at fair price. We finished planting cotton on the 11th and will have our corn
planted in a few days. The prospect of a crop is really flattering I suppose. If I do not
sell, I will have to make another crop here. It is the most productive country I ever
saw. Every thing grows well, corn cotton, potatoes, beans, oats, rye, & barley. Wheat does
not. The coffee crop this year wo;; be the heaviest ever made and the present prices is
yielding of an enormous amount land planters, but from your knowledge of Mexico, you
can appreciate the people. The poor are generally peons and the rich are very rich and
affiable, but the same treachery against foreigners as in Mexico. If this country had been
settled by the English instead of the Portuguese, with the soil, climate, production & the
best health in the world, it would not be so far below the other nations in energy,
education and what adorns and embellishes life. The Roman Catholic Religion here is the
government and the laxness of morals is truly astounding. A brother will marry a brother's
daughter by getting a disiplensation from the Bishop and then pay him according to the
family who calls for it. By such of amounts the Bishop or Priest amass a large sum of
money. (D. L. Boyd or Dr. Lloyd ?) who came form State of Mississippian is living out
here and doing well & is an old batchelor near 60 years old. We have a good many
Americans out here. You heard of the barbarous butchering of Colonel Oliver by his
negroes a year since. We miss him very much as he was never far from me and knew him
in the U.S. and you cannot appreciate as much as we do our old friends abroad and that
the government not acted so badly in confiscating every thing, I would not have left it. I
do not suppose there are any of my old friends about Trenton of my age. Benjamin
& Joseph Taliaferro and others of whom I remember. I am anxious to be able to educate
Lizzie's children and in giving them position in the world. We are all dependant
and need help. How are all your relations. I hope doing well. Give my love to Lizzie and
all the children, the same to yourself and wife and children - and all my sister in laws and
brother in laws and friends generally.
Affectionately, your father
John H. Crisp
