A LETTER OF PERMISSION

Among the items my Aunt Dorothy gave me a few years back was this letter,
It reads:

Upton, Maine, October 8, 1925.


 Permission is hereby given to Floyd E, West of Cambridge, N.H.,
to hunt and trap fur-bearing animals on landed  owned by David Pingree
et al 2/3 and Estate of Thomas Upham Coe 1/3 in Errol, N.H. and in
Cambridge N.H., during the fall of 1925 and winter of 1925-26.


S.F. Peaslee.
aGent.


 My grandfather ran traplines for many years. He didn't do it to be cruel
to animals. It was a way to bring in extra income to help support first
his family and later himself after the children were grolwn up with families
of their own. I know it's a painful thing for many of us today who don't
like the thought of the how trapped animals suffer, but we have to look at
trapping in light of the times. In a rural economy where income was hard
to come by, trapping put food on the table.

My Dad never talked about it much but I know he helped tend the traplines
when he was a kid. It was while doing so that he managed to
accidentally shoot himself in the foot.

This picture is from  The History of Wilsons Mills and the Magalloway
Settlements Wilsons Mills, Me.: The Town of Wilsons Mills, Maine 1975.
When I look at it I remember that trip Dad and I took uphome on a
winter day. My grandfather brought in a fisher that had been on the
trapline. He looked pretty much like he does in the picture!