A letter from Orville Hungerford (SH90) to Henry Warren Smith (US1843spouse1) being offered on eBay caught the eye of THFFI member Richard W. Hungerford Jr. (US26) who bid on it and won. Richard noted there were other Henry Warren Smith (US1843spouse1) and Elvira Lorrain Foster Smith (US1843) letters for sale. Unfortunately a lot of other people noticed as the seller did a good job of describing the letters as Henry corresponded with a lot of historically significant military figures from the 1820s through 1847 when he died at Vera Cruz. Some of those letter writers went on to become Civil War generals. Winfield Scott was a frequest correspondent. The prices ended up being fairly high. Richard documented the auctions and what the prices were for future acquisition efforts for those not won by him. He also reached out to the seller to get the provenance. (A copy of this exchange is attached to the letters he won or was able to document from the seller's scans.) Here is that exchange:
Hello. I am thrilled you are offering these Henry Smith letters. I am a great nephew of congressman Orville Hungerford. Orville's sister married a Jacob Foster and had Elvira who was Smith's wife. FYI. I was wondering what the provenance was for these letters? Also--do you have anymore that mention, were written by or to Orville? I am the president of a non-profit Hungerford family group (THFFI.org) and will attempt to win as many of these as possible--but I would also like to put a little background history to them if possible. Thanks in advance on any information you are willing to share. Richard Hungerford
He replied:
New message from: armoryantiques (15,514YELLOW_SHOOTING_STAR Star)
Hi Richard, I acquired these letters from a woman in Providence, Rhode Island. Apparently, she was a Smith and these letters had been passed down through her family. I have a friend that has an antique business in Providence (RI) and he had buying jewelry and other antique items from the family and when they offered him the letters, he brought me in. It is a great collection of letters starting in the early 1820's running through the Mexican American War. I don't know if I have anymore that were written by or mention Orville but if I find any, I will let you know. I think I do have letters to and from Jacob Foster. I have dozens of letters by Elvira. I believe I have some listed now that were written by Elvira.
Fred Schroeder
Richard sent a follow-up message thanking Fred for scanning the letters because he wanted to ensure they were captured for future family members. Richard pointed out that Fred, when doing a multiple letter offers, wasn't as thorough and Richard asked that he continue his scanning procedure he was following on the single letter offers. Trying to find the request for this entry it appears eBay may have disallowed the communication as Fred did not acknowledge the request with a yes or no and Richard can't find a record of it. There were two multiple offerings he didn't win that sadly means a loss of family material to strangers that wouldn't appreciate some of the information being conveyed in those letters. Richard did capture what Fred scanned and perhaps one day THFFI can come across them with the data the scans impart. This document is not quite final as there are more letters being added every so often. The final document will be added when the offering end. (The date today is 17 Mar 2023)
Submitted by Richard Hungerford at 8:01 AM on March 17, 2023.