Sign-In
Cart
The Marlin Compound: Letters of a Singular Family
Paperback
ISBN13: 9780292741492
Publisher: Univ Of Texas Pr
Published: Jan 1 1968
Pages: 306
Weight: 1.05
Height: 0.73 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Written over a hundred-year period, the letters of Zenas Bartlett and his family and friends capture the vitality that marked the expansion and development of Texas during the nineteenth century. Warm, humorous, and illuminating, these letters and other papers record the changes in a family and in a region as bustling towns replaced clusters of log cabins and the hardships of the frontier were gradually mellowed by the luxuries of settled life.
The earliest letters describe the adventures of young Zenas Bartlett, who left his home in Maine and traveled first to Alabama and then to camps of the California Gold Rush. A new venture brought him to Marlin, Texas, in 1854. The transformation of a wilderness area into a prosperous community is the unifying theme of the rest of the collection.
Churchill Jones, Bartlett's future father-in-law, writes about his struggles to establish a cotton plantation at the Falls of the Brazos River. Zenas' antebellum letters perceptively reveal the poignancy of his partner's death and the joys of his own fulfilling marriage.
John Watkins, an associate in Bartlett's store, expresses the pride, loyalty, and eventual disillusionment of a soldier in the Civil War. Zenas' correspondence with his family in the East describes the privations endured by Marlin during Reconstruction.
Beguiling Mollie Dickson's schoolgirl journal and the letters of Zenas' large family depict happier times during the eighties and nineties. The last letters were written by Lottie Barnes, a former servant who recalls the tranquil years following the turn of the century. An epilogue brings the story to conclusion, and selections from the author's delightful collection of family photographs illustrate the book.
Frank Calvert Oltorf was reared on the Marlin Compound, the home where members of this singular family lived or visited and where many of the manuscripts included in this book were found. His comments bind the letters in a narrative of pioneering, which is also a humorous and human family history.
Also in
Regional: Southwest
The Lost Cities of El Norte: Coronado's Quest, the Unconquered West, and the Birth of American Indian Resistance
Stark, Peter
Hardcover
The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon
Fedarko, Kevin
Paperback
Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis
Blitzer, Jonathan
Paperback
The Case of the Autographed Corpse: A Medicine Man and a Mystery Writer in Pursuit of Justice
El-Hai, Jack
Hardcover
The Myth of Red Texas: Cowboys, Populism, and Class War in the Radical South
Griscom, David
Paperback
Friday Night Lights (25th Anniversary Edition): A Town, a Team, and a Dream
Bissinger, H. G.
Paperback
The Grand Canyon: Native People and Early Visitors
Shields, Kenneth D., Jr.
Stampoulos, Linda L.
Paperback
The Apache Wars: The Hunt for Geronimo, the Apache Kid, and the Captive Boy Who Started the Longest War in American History
Hutton, Paul Andrew
Paperback
Those Who Walked Before: How Ice Age Footprints in New Mexico Retell the Stories of the First Americans
Odess, Daniel
Bennett, Matthew
Bustos, David F.
Paperback
Ribbons of Green: The Rio Grande and the Making of Modern Albuquerque
Fleck, John
Berrens, Robert P.
Paperback
The Counter Revolution of 1836: Texas slavery & Jim Crow and the roots of American Fascism
Horne, Gerald
Paperback
Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis
Blitzer, Jonathan
Hardcover
Todos Los Que Se Han Ido Están Aquí / Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis
Blitzer, Jonathan
Paperback
Language of Blood: The Making of Spanish-American Identity in New Mexico, 1880s-1930s
Nieto-Phillips, John M.
Paperback
Friday Night Lights (25th Anniversary Edition): A Town, a Team, and a Dream
Bissinger, H. G.
Hardcover
Ladies of the Canyons: A League of Extraordinary Women and Their Adventures in the American Southwest
Poling-Kempes, Lesley
Paperback
The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon
Fedarko, Kevin
Hardcover
Mysterious New Mexico: Miracles, Magic, and Monsters in the Land of Enchantment
Radford, Benjamin
Paperback
It Happened in Oklahoma: Stories of Events and People That Shaped Sooner State History
Dorman, Robert L.
Paperback
Eating the Landscape: American Indian Stories of Food, Identity, and Resilience
Salmón, Enrique
Paperback
Voces del Pueblo: Artists of the Levantamiento Chicano in New Mexico
Hernández-Durán, Ray
Vásquez, Irene
Paperback
The Last Gunfight: The Real Story of the Shootout at the O.K. Corral-And How It Changed the American West
Guinn, Jeff
Paperback
Hispano Nation: The Rise and Decline of Spanish Identity in New Mexico
Gonzales, Phillip B.
Paperback
Cricket in the Web: The 1949 Unsolved Murder that Unraveled Politics in New Mexico
Moore, Paula
Paperback
The River Wild: A Celebrated Journey Down the Whitewater Rapids of the Grand Canyon
Kuhne, Cecil
Paperback
Black Wall Street 100: An American City Grapples With Its Historical Racial Trauma
Johnson, Hannibal B.
Paperback
A Big Mess in Texas: The Miraculous, Disastrous 1952 Dallas Texans and the Craziest Untold Story in NFL History
Fleming, David
Hardcover
We Fought Back: The Black Legal Struggle for Education in Oklahoma Territory
Doolittle, Sara
Hardcover
Enslaved on the Trail of Tears: Race, Removal, and the Transformation of Indian Territory
Ligon, Terry J.
Paperback
Enchantment and Exploitation: The Life and Hard Times of a New Mexico Mountain Range
Debuys, William
Paperback
Queen of All Mayhem: The Blood-Soaked Life and Mysterious Death of Belle Starr, the Most Dangerous Woman in the West
Huckelbridge, Dane
Hardcover
Denton Women's Interracial Fellowship: Leading a Texas City's Desegregation
Ramsay, Annetta
Hardcover
Enslaved on the Trail of Tears: Race, Removal and the Transformation of Indian Territory
Ligon, Terry J.
Hardcover
San Antonio and Its Missions: Three Centuries of History, Memory, and Heritage
Kitchens, Joel Daniel
Hardcover
It Happened in Texas: Stories of Events and People That Shaped Lone Star State History
Crutchfield, James A.
Paperback
Twelve Mighty Orphans: The Inspiring True Story of the Mighty Mites Who Ruled Texas Football
Dent, Jim
Paperback
Austin's First Cookbook: Our Home Recipes, Remedies and Rules of Thumb
Miller, Michael C.
The Austin History Center
Hardcover
Across the Tracks: Remembering Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre
Ball, Alverne
Hardcover
Forgotten Battlefield of the First Texas Revolution: The First Battle of Medina August 18, 1813
Schwarz, Ted
Paperback
Capturing Water: Puebloan Resilience and Agricultural Sustainability in Chaco Canyon
Fladd, Samantha G.
Vivian, R. Gwinn
Hardcover
Surviving Desires: Making and Selling Native Jewellery in the American Southwest
Lidchi, Henrietta
Paperback
Brown and Blue: Mexican Americans, Law Enforcement, and Civil Rights in the Southwest, 1935-2025
Behnken, Brian D.
Paperback
The Great Oklahoma Swindle: Race, Religion, and Lies in America's Weirdest State
Cobb, Russell
Paperback
When the Moment Chose Me: The Day ISIS Came to Garland, TX
Stevens, Gregory B.
Hughbank D. Mgt, Richard J.
Hardcover
Texas Ranger: The Epic Life of Frank Hamer, the Man Who Killed Bonnie and Clyde
Boessenecker, John
Paperback
The Water Cries: Uncovering the Slave Auction Houses of Galveston, Texas
Griffin, Anthony Paul
Paperback
Progress Denied: Quakertown, White Supremacy, and the Illusion of Democracy in Denton, Texas, 1850-1925 Volume 12
Teague, Hollie A.
Hardcover
History of Arizona: A Captivating Guide to Historical Events and Facts You Should Know About the Grand Canyon State
History, Captivating
Hardcover
War on the Border: Villa, Pershing, the Texas Rangers, and an American Invasion
Guinn, Jeff
Paperback
Unsolved Mysteries of Texas: Stories of Legendary Outlaws, Buried Treasure, and Hauntings in the Lone Star State
Jameson, W. C.
Paperback