In an October 15, 1856 letter to his friends, D. K. Fink of Clementsville, Tenn., writes about his friends and family as well as his thoughts on marriage, children, religion, and politics.

This manuscript is a transcript of a speech that William Curtis Stone gave in Celina, Tennessee to the Clay County High School Alumni Association on September 1, 1962. The majority of the document focuses on Clay County's early history and includes lists of prominent settlers. Stone closes his speech with excerpts from an 1876 letter by Captain J. R. Copeland, which gives a vivid description of life during Copeland’s childhood in what was then (early 19th century) called Overton County.