Thomas Rotch Letter to Nathan Guilford Regarding Settlement in Ohio

In this letter to Nathan Guilford of the Western Emigrant Society in Cincinnati, Thomas Rotch acknowledges innumerable obstacles that new settlers encounter in the new frontier. He suggests that settlers who were diversified in their skills were more likely to succeed in the unsettled country of Ohio. The Western Emigrant Aid Society was established to encourage emigration to the Ohio country and assist new settlers. The letter is one page and measures 7.25" x 8.5" (18.42 x 21.6 cm). Thomas Rotch (1767-1823), a Quaker and early settler of Kendal, Ohio (now Massillon), was active in the abolition movement and conducted slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad. He also served as a correspondent for the Committee on Indian Concerns. The Rotch-Wales Collection comprises several thousand items, including Quaker and abolitionist materials, household remedies and recipes, weather reports and machinery plans, and personal letters of Thomas and Charity Rotch and their family. It contains personal and business correspondence, diaries, documents, accounts, ledgers, and daybooks. A large portion of the collection consists of the personal and business correspondence, documents, and business papers of Arvine Wales I (1785-1854), who accompanied Rotch from Hartford to Ohio in 1811, worked for him, and carried on Rotch's business interests after his death. The papers of his son, Arvine C. Wales (1827-1882), a lawyer and civic leader in Massillon, are also part of the collection