Bernard Peyton letters to his wife 1856-1857

ArchivalResource

Bernard Peyton letters to his wife, 1856-1857

Bernard Peyton letters to his wife 1856-1857

http://archives.nypl.org/mss/2395

Bernard Peyton (1826-1906) of Charlottesville, Virginia and San Francisco, California, was an American businessman and entrepreneur. Bernard Peyton letters, 1856 June-1857 April, in typescript carbon copy, consist of eighteen letters written mostly from Russia to his wife Estelle at the Peyton family plantation, Farmington, near Charlottesville, Virginia. The letters relate to Peyton's two journeys to Russia and his plans to establish American commerce on the Amur River in Siberia. He describes voyages; his travels in Europe, Russia and Siberia; his activities in St. Petersburg and Moscow; his journey by sled from Moscow to Irkutsk with another American, Perry McDonough Collins; and a trip to Kyakhta to observe Russian-Chinese border trade. Peyton returned to Virginia for a brief visit in the Fall of 1856; his letters also refer to his wife's concerns over his absence, and to family matters at Farmington, including brief mention of the slaves there.

76 leaves

New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division