[Headlines from The New York Times (page 1, above the fold) to place the letters in context of the world around them.]
12/29/08
WILEY'S FOES THINK THEY'VE BEATEN HIM
Pure-Food Champion Placed in the Position of Defying His Superiors. WON'T YIELD ON BENZOATE Declines to Sign "Pacifying" Report in Place of Original Accidentally Published.
DAYS OF PATRONAGE OVER.
Duchess of Sutherland Says Poor Must Not Rely on Aid of Rich.
Editor's note
While this project is 99% letters home from John to Sue, as the years go on, I will sprinkle in the many letters between siblings as they go
off to college (all three girls attended Syracuse University in the 1910s while Frank was a Dartmouth man) move to Manhattan, Cleveland and Connecticut, date, marry, have children and divorce.
The letters span 1901-1940. From 1920 on, the letters are quite regular and sometimes three a week. I have yet to discover one from Sue to John and that makes sense. Her letters were going out from their home in Earlville, Morrisville, Sherburne and Cooperstown, across the Southern Tier of New York–where ever John was knocking on small business doors, hoping to make a sale. His letters were sent home, saved, and treasured, now for generations.
From 1901-1920
I've found just a smattering of letters but want to include them to provide context on this family's young life. After today, there are just a few left.
For today's installment, at the end of 1908, the children, Louise, Frank, Betty and Marion are 2, 4, 6 and 8 years old. John left the Earlville Standard in 1905 and has been a salesman with The Osborne Company for just three years. His letters to date indicate some disappointment with his performance. "My sales for whole week amount to only a little over $450."(September, 1908) [The history of The Osborne Company indicates a good salesman was pulling in $1500 a week in sales. Read more on The Osborne Company tab on the website] "I returned this evening with a heartsick headache."(October 1908) Susan is home with the four children, and, as the correspondence below indicates, is in frequent communication with John's employer.
And then, after their annual convention in Atlantic City and right after Christmas in 1908, The Osborne Company announces a contest for its salesmen.
December 29,1908
Mrs. J. A. Briggs,
Earlville, N.Y.
We have received your enthusiastic letter of last night, and it is a delight to get such from you. We know that Mr. Briggs is going at a swift pace, and if the Convention did as much for you personally as it did for us down here, that is, put you so heartily in sympathy with him and so much on fire with the opportunity, then your joy and delight in the success of the year will be as great as that of any of us. It's a great year. We have already received reports from twenty-eight men who on the first day have averaged nearly $400.00 each, and we haven't heard from Mr. Briggs yet either. That's the greatest "kick-off" we have ever had, and we are confident that Mr. Briggs will bring up his share.
With sincere thanks for your splendid letter, we are,
Very truly yours.
The Osborne Company
C. Miller
Sec'y
Undated
Dear Mr. Briggs:-
I've just read yours of the 11th about a slow start on Monday. Never mind one day. It takes more than that to stop you. We're not stopping either, in our ordering of that walrus stuffing for your bag and you have simply got to win it, for our sake, for your own sake, but I honestly believe, most of all, for Mrs. Briggs sake.
While I am writing, just as a word of news, the records so far indicate that last week is going to beat even that wonderful first week of the year. It ought to do it and I believe it will. It's simply a great year for Osborne men.
Yours sincerely,
C. Miller
Sec'y
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