31 January 1874 Letter from George Kilgore to James Monroe Smith Submitted for the Union Parish Louisiana USGenWeb Archives by Robert S. Hendrick, 4/2006 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ Materials from the Personal Collection of Dr. Robert S. Hendrick, Jr. Transcribed and submitted by Robert S. Hendrick, Jr. ================================================================================= 31 January 1874 Letter from George Kilgore to James Monroe Smith Smith became the Union Parish Clerk of Court in 1879 and served until 1900, when he resigned to serve as a Louisiana State Senator. Kilgore was a close childhood friend and later married Smith's sister. ================================================================================== ================================================================================== January 31, 1874 New Orleans, LA Mr. James Smith Friend James, It is with much pleasure that I write you these few lines. This leaves me quite well and am in hopes that it will find you the same. I would like to have seen you before I left town; but it was a bad day and I was in a hurry to get on the boat, for I heard she was about to leave, so I stopped in town only a few moments. I had a very pleasant trip down; was six days on the way. Left Farmerville on Thursday night about 10 o’clock. I got on board the Ouachita Belle on Saturday evening and went up to Ouachita City and back to Trenton that night; and then left Trenton for New Orleans on Sunday evening. There are several of our schoolmates going to this school. There is Wash Boyd, Webber and one or two more that was at the University when I first went there that left before you came; and besides that I have met at least a half a dozen on the streets. Leiche 1st, Leiche 2nd, Mera, Edwards and several others that you are not acquainted with. I am very much pleased with the school, much better than I thought I would be, for I find the teachers so kind and most of the boys are very kind and polite. I would like it if you would come down, for I am sure you would like it. I have a very nice boarding house No. 139 St. Charles St. It is a private house. There are four of the schoolboys boarding there. We have a very nice room on the first floor. We are about four blocks from the College, a very pleasant walk. The college is on the corner of Camp and Common Streets opposite the City Hotel, only one block from Canal Street; so if any one comes down from up there you can tell them where to find me; either at my room or at the College. I have been at the Theatre twice since I arrived, once to the Academy of Music and once to the St. Charles Theatre, both of which are very fine. I was standing on the college steps yesterday evening when an old school mate of mine from Arizona came along. I stopped him and after talking a while he and I took a stroll up Canal Street and met several of our acquaintances. This young friend of mine is a student at the Medical College. His name is Baker. I met up with Judge Trimble a day or two ago and he and I went into the house of Representatives and into the Senate chamber which is a curiosity to one that has never been in one. School takes in at nine in the morning and turns out at three in the evening and then it takes in at six and turns out at half past eight at night; but you are allowed to come at any time and leave at any time that you wish. We have about one hundred and forty students in attendance at the present. There are some of the finest charts here that there is in the world; that is a broad assertion, but to my honest belief they cannot be surpassed. I must bring my epistle to a close, although I could tell you a great many more things. Write soon. I Remain as Yours Truly, Geo. A. Kilgore Jr. #####################################################