This letter was from Thomas A. O'Neal to his son BIlly. It has been updated after reviewing the originals. Lucinda also added her comments to Billy. The letter talks about a land transaction, and an amazing find by Lucinda. This letter by far was the the hardest to read. I used a pen to trace over the words and they became readable. However, there are still a few unreadable areas that I will continue to work on. Also, it was very exciting to get a copy of a picture of the petrified mastodon bone that was in the O'Neal family. That picture is posted above. Per the new information I was able to read in the letter, it weighed 40 lbs and is sitting on top of a bucket
Clay County Texas May the 9-1880
Billy we have just received your letter and was glad to saw you and jo and also her(e) from you and to her(e) you was well. this leaves us well and crops looks tolerable well. but is small owing to being planted late. I am at plowing my corn the second time my was cut. I do not know whether it will even be worth cutting or not. We have had the windyest spring I ever saw. my wheat once lookt like it wud die but we had a rain and it has got to looking green but it looks like a slim show for wheat. I have no news to write you. the last I heard about the land I am on that the parties had agreed on the price but the title was not exactly all right tha (they) thought it would all be fixit up a(nd) the trade would be complete. I started to town Saturday a got to the creak and it was up so I had to turn back home. I will go in a few days and then I will her(e) from it and I will write you what I here(e). i think I feel determined to leave her(e). There is a great many dissatisfyde since we have had such a windy spring, the dust and sand got in my eye until one of them was as red as if it have had a good gouging but has got near over it. If I leave her(e) i do not know when I will gow. It would be owing to the way my pulse be at the strongest after I got shet (shed?)of what I have her(e) . I will write you something about a part of a petrifyed hed bone of Lew's unknown animal or some other huge head bone. There has bin but few to have seen it but no one had any idea of what it can be only that all pronounce it a hed bone of some unknown Beast. To them it is not (illegible) of the jaw. that it is from the shap(e) I do not know whether it is a upper or lower jaw bone. But resembles a upper most. I am a going to take it to town with me and see if I can find out what it is. Lou who found it in the mud near the spring we used when you was her(e). it was (weighed) 40 lbs. I will write you what i her(e) about it when I gow to town.
(Lucinda then adds her comments to this letter):
Well billy i will try to write you a few lines again but i wrote to you to weeks a go and i have nothing to write now more than we have had a rain and every thing looks fine. we have had several messes of salit and lettice lately. that is something new here. well billy, i have succeeded in finding me a petrified bone and now i am lady blunt (see my *note at end) i am going to be rich by selling it after while. i wish you could see it. i want you to take time and write oftener than you do. i will have to quit for this time. Besure and write soon so fare well for this time. Lular C. Oneal
(Thomas continues on another page)
I am at town and saw one of the parties that is trading for the land I am on. he is going to start to close the trade and sais he will cum up when he go to Bank to see me. The Bone is pronounst to be a tooth of a mastodon. I told Bacton Jones about it and see if he had any knowledge of such a thing. if I should have the luck to sell out I may be in that contry this summer or fall and will bring that tooth with me unless I get a big price for it - write often and give me the news. I will close now.
T.A. Oneal
*Note: After much pondering over this wording I firmly believe it says "now i am lady blunt". The "blunt" looked very clear, but i could not get a context for it. Finally, i "googled" "lady blunt" and to my surprise found much information on a "Lady Anne Blunt". She was born in 1837 and married Wilfrid Blunt in 1869. In the summer of 1873 they began their first adventure to the Middle East. They visited Egypt in 1875-76; after leaving Egypt they hired Bedouins and camels and traveled through the Sinai to Jerusalem. While crossing the desert, they ran out of water and almost died of third. However, they survived the experience and gained a rudimentary knowledge of Arabic and a determination to mount a major expedition into central Arabia. Lady Blunt was known as an adventurer and a writer, described as courageous, tough, resourceful, cool-headed, self-reliant, and adaptable. She was the first European woman to explore Central Arabia. This letter was written in 1880 and I think it is possible that Lucinda had read of Lady Blunt, known her to be an explorer, and thought of herself as an adventurer like Lady Blunt!
For more information about Lady Blunt see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Anne_Blunt
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