Oregon-California Trails Association | Varner, Allen – Letter, 1849, Independence, Missouri

Varner, Allen – Letter, 1849, Independence, Missouri

Merrill J. Mattes Collection·

79 pages, typed transcript of handwritten letter

Letter written on 29 April,1849 by Allen Varner in Independence, Missouri, to his brother Elias Varner and his sisters in Indianapolis, Indiana

Later handwritten letters are included.

The collection was begun in 1991 by the late Merrill J. Mattes, a co-founder of the Oregon-California Trails Association. That original nucleus was a result of a generous donation from Merrill and reflected his many years as an award-winning National Park Service historian and also included works of his own authorship. The collection is housed at the national Frontier Trails Museum in Independence, Missouri. Here, you have access to many of the original trail diaries he collected in digital form.