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Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech
Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries (0434)John M. Jackson
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The collection is open for research.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Oren Thoits Letter, Ms1989-047, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The Oren Thoits Letter was purchased by Special Collections and University Archives in 1989.
The processing and description of the Oren Thoits Letter commenced and was completed in January 2022.
Oren Thoits was born in 1820. In the 1860 federal census, Thoits appears as a 39-year-old farmer living in Fort Fairfield (Aroostook County), Maine. Also in the household is Jeanette Thoits, 39, and four Thoits children. Thoits enlisted as a private in Company I, 30th Maine Infantry on January 6, 1864. Following his discharge on June 26, 1865, Thoits returned to Maine, and the 1870 census shows the family living in Portland (Cumberland County), with no occupation given for Oren Thoits. The family continued to live in Portland through 1880. Oren Thoits died in Portland on August 3, 1887 and was buried in Forest City Cemetery, Portland.
Jennet Thoits, daughter of Bela and Mary Mitchell True, was born in Pownal (Cumberland County), Maine, ca.1821. Following the death of her husband, Jennet Thoits continued to live in Portland, where she worked as a dressmaker, through 1900. Jennet Thoits died in Auburn, Maine on June 18, 1910.
This collection consists of a single letter written by Oren Thoits, a farmer living in Fort Fairfield, Maine, during the American Civil War. Writing to his aunt and uncle on May 5, 1861, Thoits relays family news and local farm conditions and crop prices before discussing the outbreak of war and pledging to enlist if a local regiment is organized. The final page of the letter is written by Jennet, presumably Oren Thoits's wife, sharing and soliciting personal news.
The guide to the Oren Thoits Letter by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 ( https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/ ).
This writer of this letter had been originally identified as Oren Shorts of Fort Fairfield, Iowa, but a closer examination and additional research showed the writer to have been Oren Thoits of Fort Fairfield, Maine.