Series: 23 CC (Volume 23)
Scope and Content Note: Spencer Records narrative, 1842. Born in Delaware in 1762, Records was taken as a young boy to western Pennsylvania and migrated to Kentucky in 1783. Late in life at his home near Columbus, Indiana, he recorded for his children his recollections of his boyhood on the Pennsylvania frontier, his later experiences in Kentucky, and more briefly his life in Ohio and Indiana after 1800. Written from the viewpoint of a settler who of necessity was woodsman, hunter, and farmer, the narrative recounts the history of his family, the continuous conflict or tension between Indians and whites, the importance of the Ohio River as a highway, and the constant struggle for food, shelter, and clothing. Also included are detailed descriptions, almost instructions, for constructing a log cabin and a stockaded fort. Aside from a brief statement of his political and religious principles, the memoir contains little reference to political events in the Ohio Valley. The volume was probably acquired by Draper in the 1860s, and it bears occasional corrective annotations by him.