My dear, the duty that devolved wholly on you in my absence of guiding and expanding the minds of our dear children is a laborious one and a responsible one.

There is nothing I have to reflect on that gives me more satisfaction than the fact that my life is insured for the benefit of my Dear Wife and children.

Yesterday I staked off the ground on the hill for an orchard. I want to get 1000 apple trees agrowing.

The summer of 1830 I... blasted the tunnel through the rock to take water from the dam above the falls for the mill... In 1831 we lowered the tunnel four feet, and built a new dam across the creek.

As for the Pope, I am too old to be frightened by his shadow, and am quite sure his shadow or Substance will do less harm to the liberties of my country than will a party, who seek to acquire political power by exciting religious bigotry in the minds of their duped followers.

Idleness is to the human mind like rust to iron

I have always considered that choosing a companion for life was a very important affair and that my happyness or misery in this life depended on the choice.