Will Dewey in
UTAH EDITED B Y C H A R L E S A. P O V L O V I C H , J R .
A little over a hundred years ago a young m a n named Will Dewey came to U t a h Territory after having worked his way west from Missouri in the summer of 1858. H e h a d left home under some sort of cloud; debts are mentioned in his letters and paternal wrath is hinted, but we cannot be sure now what it was that drove him to leave "with very little ceremony," as he expressed it. Between the summer of 1858 and the summer of 1860, Will wrote five letters to his older brother, Dr. Samuel J. Dewey, who lived in Daviess County, Missouri. 1 Dr. Dewey kept the letters and since nothing further was heard from Will after the last one, they furnish the only information we have regarding his adventures in the West. 2 Family speculation is, of course, of no value, but Dr. Dewey and the rest of the family always assumed that Will was killed by Indians. It is equally likely that he was killed by a claim jumper, or that he became a drifter and was ashamed to write home. His first letter to Dr. Dewey was by far the shortest of the five. It was simply a hurried note to explain his whereabouts and to request a clearing up of his debts. T h e reader will note that in his haste Will omitted a word or phrase after "Please." June 5th 58 Cravensville D e a r . Brother T o d a y I have hired to go to U t a h at 25 Dollars per m o n t h a n d everything found m e Please the instrument as I have m a d e nothing since I was here take my pony a n d pay off W h a t I owe to H u m p h r e y $60 Dr. Povlovich is professor of history at California State College, Fullerton, California. T h e letters which have been edited are in the possession of Mrs. N. H . Westlake, the mother-in-law of the editor. 1 Dr. Dewey was born on July 24, 1831, while the younger brother was born January 16, 1841; thus they were 27 and 17 at the beginning of the correspondence. (This information has been obtained from records in the possession of descendants.) 2 When Dr. Samuel Dewey died, the letters passed to his daughter, Mary Ann (Mrs. George Richardson), who is mentioned in the fifth and last letter. At her death in 1947, they became the property of her daughter, Georgia (Mrs. N. H . Westlake), who still owns them.
