James Ord to James Placidus Ord., 07/12/1854-07/12/1854

Contains ALS from James Ord to his son James Placidus. Written from Grantsville, Allegheny County, Maryland to Saginaw, Michigan. Includes extracts of a letter he received from Edward bearing news of Pacificus, John Stephen, William Marcellus, and James Lycurgus, as well as Georgiana. There is reference to "Siffy...recovering from his grief," possibly the death of his first wife Maria Louisa Pogue. The "Mrs. Pogue" also referred to in this letter is the latter's mother who apparently arrived to look after the two children. Edward describes at some length the conditions in California: "I think I shall go to San Francisco and Benicia in a week or so on a visit, this place being almost abandoned and not a single fireside where one can hear English spoken by a young lady, and but three or four intelligent male associates in the town. This country is overrun with poor people..." Commercial and trading news given by Edward follows: "We have news of a treaty with Japan opening two ports and giving us exclusive privileges. This will be the beginning of the great Nation of California. We here (with the labor of coolies and a system of servitude adapted to their servile dispositions and unrestrained vices) can produce rice and cotton, coffee, tea and tobacco, dried figs, raisins, wine, corn and oil, etc. in fact anything that ever grew in Egypt or Syria, can be cultivated here; but there is as yet no one to buy these things; if we can but get up a continual intercourse with Japan, China, Manila and the other islands and the Russian and English coast north of us."