J.J. Moore to Washington Tharpe 14 Dec. 1862

Liberty Wright Co, Iowa Dec 14 '62

Dear friend

I imbrace the present time to inform you of our health. we are as well as usual. I had the good luck to get home on Thursday night and found all well. I stoped in Iowa falls and went in to a store to buy a plug of tobacco. well who do you suppose I met there. well I will tell you it was our young war widow that come to Munsons to stay all night withe us. She appeared to be as glad to see me as if she had found a straw. She conversed quite freely about matters and things. Well I got my tobacco and left for Popejoys where we fed in the bank barn. they thaught the chaps was quite handy. I kept dark never told them that I was one of them. they also wanted to know if the fellows fed there own grain. I told them that I was quite sure they fed their own Corn for I knew that they had corn in their waggons.

Now I suppose you would like to heare something else. well Eliza and me got into the buggy the next day and went to see that land. well it is good land a good building place on the N.E. Corner of the 80 acre lot with shelter on the north. you can have a bank barn on the county road leading south. The land is mostly dry. the timber lays just 80 rods north of the prairie. the timber is better than I had calculated it was. there is quite a young groth of timber besides a number of large trees and a quantity of fire wood. There also is 20 acres of good timber being the west 1/2 of the 40 acre lot that lays between the prarie and timber which can be had cheap. it belongs to a man by the name of Alexander. he had a chance to sell his prarie and keep the timber now he wants to sell the timber. Now I should rather have the unimproved prarie than the improved with the improvements on them tho the upper timber is the best. Now if it was not for the disputed title of the Sill farm and the farm South of the lain I should like to have them.


Now if you folks trade for the Hannan [?] land Eliza wants to give you a swap. Now this is all that I shal write at the present concerning the land matter. I had a good time to get home. Eliza sais the weather was fine all the time that I was gone. Friday it rained some in the evening Saturday was quite a fine day and this morning the snow fell to the depth of 3/4 of an inch on a level. 


We went to preaching today. I will stop writing until I get a better pen as I want to write some to father. write soon as you get this.


J.J. Moore
Washington Tharp.
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I'm sure Dad will be horrified that I had to google what a bank barn was.