Verdant Grove          13 [15?] June 1847

Dear Addison
          Yours by your parents was gladly recd and read. I aßure you we have had a feast of friendship resiprocally [sic] enjoyed for the last two weeks
          I discover your Father is not so averse to the south as he was 20 years ago sometimes I flatter myself he will yet be a residenter of Tenn—
          [My brother] Edwin got a letter lately from [your younger brother] Quincy, in which he seeks a location in the south expreßing a determination to come hither. I think that the developments made by his uncle [Edwin Alexander McCorkle] in answer to his inquiries will secure his immediate migration--[“McCorkle & Roache,” a store in Newbern, was to result.]
          It certainly would be gratifying to your relatives here if any, or all of you, could be satisfied, and well situated in good old Tenn—
          Your father & mother both say we have the handsomest farming country they ever saw, and that it is more healthy than the Wabash—The only objection to it is its convenience to market. and in that I think they had misconceived it. it has very much improved and is still improving in that respect. Steamboats do run to Dyersburg, 15 miles from this during the winter & spring season; when this is not the case, we have to depend on small keal [keel] boats to run the Forked deer & Obion rivers in bringing up goods or groceries, or else we hall [haul] from Mills point on the Mißißippi 38 miles mind you that flat boats carry off the produce. again: in pork, or mule raising, we are very handy to a good, and sure, market with in varying from 75 to 150 miles drive to the south
          Memphis is an interesting place 100 miles from here affording great opportunities to enterprising men
          Tho’ our country has a good many men of your profeßion [lawyers], yet all that are worthy, are doing well

          As you are determined to move, seeking a healthier situation, I will not presume to advise, because you are certainly better acquainted with the world than I am. I am well aßured one can never get up and realize the great goods of the country far before humbug-ery is still ahead. Yet I am frank to admit, that there are some locations far preferable to others—I would just give you a friendly invitation to come and see our county before you determine on any location.
          There is one other subject I wish to lay before you, on which I desire you to give me your full conviction, taking all the circumstances into consideration—I am raising a large family of children. my means are limited. I will not be able to give them claßical education. I have two lovely daughters nearly grown [Sarah Elmira McCorkle (Algea) and Susan McCorkle (McNail)]. I want you to say what course they should pursue, what books they should study to give them the best accomplishments, at the least expense? in storing the mind with historical matter, what books are neceßary? Sarah Elmira [McCorkle Algea] is from home at school. I find it very expensive—I brought her home to see her uncle, aunt, and cousin—Their interview appeared pleasant—she has returned to school—
          Your parents can give you more satisfaction with regard to our situation &c than I can on a small scrap of paper—Don’t neglect giving me some instruction on education, at the same time considering my limited circumstances—be full, unreserved, and explicit, for which you shall ever have my warmest feelings of gratitude.
          with sentiments of regard, I subscribe my self—your friend & uncle

Notes

1. Addison Locke Roache, Sr,, a son of Elmira Sloan McCorkle Roache & Stephen Roache, M.D., did not move back down to Dyer County, despite the urgings of his uncle. Addison’s parents had moved from Rowan County, NC, to Middle Tennessee to Dyer County in West Tenn., then to Iowa and Indiana in order for their sons Addison and Quincy to attend the University of Indiana. Instead, Addison Roache was to become a justice of the Indiana Supreme Court, resigning that position to become president of the Indiana lines of the Illinois Central Railroad. In 1847, RAH McCorkle writes his letters from “Verdant Grove,” which his mother (Margaret Morrison McCorkle) had called “Verdant Plain.” Now, “Verdant Grove” lies in the community of “Churchton,” an unincorporated village in Dyer County situated about 2 miles west of the Gibson County border. Before the Civil War, RAH McCorkle’s letters were posted from the Yorkville post office in Gibson County. Addison Locke Roache’s younger brother Robert QUINCY Roache didn’t linger too long in Newbern. He moved on up to become president of Moniteau County Bank in California, Missouri. Sadly, still, even in 2006, relatively meager economic prospects continue the brain drain from rural West Tennessee.

2. Provenance of the above letter: Carol McCorkle Branz of Spokane, Washington, a great-great granddaughter of RAH McCorkle [m. Tirzah Scott], through their son Joseph Smith McCorkle [m. Miss Frazier], and RAH’s grandson Robert Jesse McCorkle [m. Vallie Gardner McCorkle], and great-grandson Robert Frazier (Bob) McCorkle [m. Val] . Carol McCorkle Branz’s brother, who lives in Texas in 2006, is Robert Joseph McCorkle (Bob McCorkle). Carol McCorkle Branz kindly sent this letter to Marsha Cope Huie, aunt of Hunter Huie Cashdollar, who transcribed it.