PROFESSOR T.S.C. LOWE
BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR
Library of Congress - Special Thanks to Steve and Patrice Demory
Consoling Letter from Percival to His Brother Thaddeus - September 30, 1860
Consoling Letter from Percival to His Brother Thaddeus - September 30, 1860
Consoling Letter from Percival to His Brother Thaddeus - September 30, 1860
L worth City, KT
Sept 30./60
My Dear Bro,
Your letter informing me of your misfortune with your baloon & also enclosing a
letter from your wife is recd. Many thanks for both letters & accept my
heartfelt sympathy for your misfortune. In todays paper I saw - a telegram
announcing that the balloon had again collasped just as you were on the eve of
starting. This may all prove for the best in the end, so don't be too quick to
curse your bad luck. It may all have a tendency to make success doubly sure - at
least I hope so.
Many thanks for the instruments you sent me. The Roadmeter is just what I want.
I start tomorrow morning for Denver. I may come in this winter - if I do will
try to call on you if you are in NY. I hope to be kept posted about your
movements. Write me often & direct in care of Curtis Clayton Leavenworth City KT
and I shall be sure to get your letters. I will write your wife this evening.
May Success attend you. Truly, P.G. Lowe
Notes from Steve and Patrice Demory
These two letters were written to
Thaddeus Lowe by his brother Percival Green Lowe. One on September 30th from
Leavenworth, Kansas, and the next one from Denver City, and addressed to
Thaddeus' home at No.12 Rose Street in New York City, even though Thaddeus was
in Philadelphia at the time. The envelope of the September letter is also shown.
To put it in context, here is some of the background on the events discussed.
The letters are transcribed with all punctuation, abbreviations, spelling and
grammar as they appear. They were examined and photographed by Steve and Patrice
Demory in Nov. 2010, at the Manuscript Division or the Library of Congress in
Washington DC and is part of the "Lowe Papers" in the collection of the American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Both letters refer to the unsuccessful flight attempt, in Philadelphia, of
Thaddeus' renamed balloon "The Great Western". More can be read on this in the
book Military Ballooning by F. Stansbury Haydon, pages 157-162.
Percival discusses his business in Denver City, "Clayton, Lowe & Company" which
was a mercantile business selling supplies to miners and prospectors. Percival's
part in the business was the transportation of goods, purchased in the East, for
sale in Denver. As such, the "roadmeter" mentioned is an early odometer to
record miles traveled. Percival sold his interest in the company in December
1860 to start his own freighting enterprise. Details can be read in
Percival's book Five Years a Dragoon, pages 277-280.
KT in the address below stands for "Kansas Territory."
Also, the "roadmeter" mentioned is an early odometer to record miles traveled.