Correspondence, 1837-1851

This series contains eighty letters written by and to John and Margaret Hood Zug, arranged by recipient. The first of these groupings contains three letters John Zug wrote to Thomas Moore, a cousin of Margaret Hood Zug, between 1837 and 1841. Zug discussed his studies and graduation from Dickinson College, his courtship of Margaret Hood, the establishment of his school in Baltimore, the temperance movement, and his and Moore's health. The second grouping consists of a single letter John Zug wrote to Captain John Hoss in 1843. In it, Zug discussed his poor health and his plans to move his family into a new home and to begin the practice of law.

Thirty-three letters written to Margaret Hood Zug by John Zug between 1838 and 1843 comprise the third grouping of correspondence. Major topics include their courtship and marriage, financial concerns, John Zug's school and social life in Baltimore, travels on behalf of the Methodist Church and the Temperance Society, the condition of their health, family and friends, and their son Edgar.

The fourth grouping contains thirty-three letters written to John Zug between 1838 and 1843 by various correspondents, including Thomas Bowman and Fritz Alberti, former schoolmates from Dickinson College; his wife's cousin Thomas Moore; his brother Samuel Zug; Bishop Waugh of the Methodist Church; and Dickinson College presidents John Price Durbin and Robert Emory, as well as other individuals. The correspondents touched on a wide variety of subjects including life at Dickinson College during and after Zug's studies there, the active involvement of Zug and several of his friends in the temperance movement, and religion and the Methodist Church. In addition, issues such as courtship and marriage, early nineteenth century travel in the Mid-Atlantic region and further west, family issues, African-Americans and abolition, politics, the death of U. S. President William Henry Harrison, and health and financial concerns were addressed. The letters also described the Thanksgiving holiday, John Zug's school in Baltimore, and conditions in southern Pennsylvania, Baltimore, and Richmond, Virginia.

The fifth grouping of correspondence consists of ten letters written to Margaret Hood Zug by her cousin Thomas Moore and his wife Sarah between 1841 and 1851. The correspondence alludes to the death of John Zug, although it is not directly addressed. On 5 February 1846, Sarah Moore wrote: There was a Methodist lady called here a few days ago to see Mrs. Zug, she heard I was looking for you and saw a lady dressed in black with me and concluded it was you, she used to know your husband and thought a great deal of him.

Thomas Moore wrote the following to Margaret on April 5, 1849, soon after Sarah's death: "In a few months it will be six years since the dearest friend I ever had of my own sex [John Zug] was laid in the lonely dwelling place." In addition to spousal death, other topics addressed by the Moores include friends and family; life in Richmond, Virginia; health concerns; Margaret Zug's remarriage in 1847; and religion.