Forty years of old letters--from your old house?
My dad went to a yard sale yesterday, where he found three boxes of old letters (from 1900-1940s) that the seller had picked up at an auction some time ago. He brought the letters home, and after I got home from the RenFaire yesterday, we started to look through them.
There are probably hundreds of letters, from Emily Doughty to her betrothed, Walter E. King, from their children (Elizabeth King and Winnifred King) to their Daddy, along with pictures they drew (there's a particular adorable one that Winnie drew of her Daddy in one of the envelopes), Emily's brother George when he went to see the Paris Exposition of 1900 (he thought the World's Fair in Chicago was better, and he saw the Shaw of Persia (I don't think that's how you spell it, but that's how he spelled it) at the opera--he went to see William Tell.
There's one particularly poignant letter that Emily wrote to Walter in which she says that she is really not looking forward to joining him in Cincinnati, because her home in Greenville Tennessee is the only home she has ever known. And that she will miss it terribly, etc., but that she will get over it, because all women getting ready to marry must feel the same.
As far as we can tell, here is the house she spoke of: http://www.bbonline.com/tn/tanasi/index.html
It is a bed and breakfast now, which is cool. The coolest part, though, is the magnolia tree that her father and mother planted on their return from their Cuban honeymoon--the tree that is still living. Colonel John Harrison Doughty was Emily's father as far as we can tell (we have a letter from brother George to his father addressed to Col. John H. Doughty in Greenville, TN and there may be more--I only had an hour or so to look last night after I got back from the RenFaire.) There are programs for operas from 1910, a couple of deeds, letters and postcards, some photos, and bunches of other stuff. It will take a long time to sort through.
This kind of thing is like candy to me--I love finding history and this is definitely history. It is so cool trying to decode the flowery writing, and even more difficult to decode things when they misspell words as well. The letters from Emily's children to their Daddy are just too cute. They really saved everything!
If I came across a box--or even a letter written by one of the long-dead people who once lived in my house, it would be so cool. It would give me a connection with the past, and allow me to reach across the years like nothing else can. (We were speculating what ifs last night--what if George had been on the Titanic, for example? But he wasn't--I can't remember the name of his ship offhand, but I don't think it sank.
Did Emily--or whomever saved all these letters (I'm assuming it was Emily and Walter, because we have both sides of everything--reread these letters? We've found two or three that were mislabeled and never opened. Why weren't they ever opened? What happened to these people? What happened to Lizzie, who wanted to be an artist? What happened to Winnie? Did they grow up and prosper?
It's like finding a stash of old newspapers in the wall of your house, only better. And although the houses in question (because Walter and Emily lived in Hyde Park in Cincinnati--perhaps we can find that house too?) aren't ours, it's still neat.
I thought some of you would feel the same. :)
EDIT: And whew! Dad has been busy. He has a lot more information now!
There are probably hundreds of letters, from Emily Doughty to her betrothed, Walter E. King, from their children (Elizabeth King and Winnifred King) to their Daddy, along with pictures they drew (there's a particular adorable one that Winnie drew of her Daddy in one of the envelopes), Emily's brother George when he went to see the Paris Exposition of 1900 (he thought the World's Fair in Chicago was better, and he saw the Shaw of Persia (I don't think that's how you spell it, but that's how he spelled it) at the opera--he went to see William Tell.
There's one particularly poignant letter that Emily wrote to Walter in which she says that she is really not looking forward to joining him in Cincinnati, because her home in Greenville Tennessee is the only home she has ever known. And that she will miss it terribly, etc., but that she will get over it, because all women getting ready to marry must feel the same.
As far as we can tell, here is the house she spoke of: http://www.bbonline.com/tn/tanasi/index.html
It is a bed and breakfast now, which is cool. The coolest part, though, is the magnolia tree that her father and mother planted on their return from their Cuban honeymoon--the tree that is still living. Colonel John Harrison Doughty was Emily's father as far as we can tell (we have a letter from brother George to his father addressed to Col. John H. Doughty in Greenville, TN and there may be more--I only had an hour or so to look last night after I got back from the RenFaire.) There are programs for operas from 1910, a couple of deeds, letters and postcards, some photos, and bunches of other stuff. It will take a long time to sort through.
This kind of thing is like candy to me--I love finding history and this is definitely history. It is so cool trying to decode the flowery writing, and even more difficult to decode things when they misspell words as well. The letters from Emily's children to their Daddy are just too cute. They really saved everything!
If I came across a box--or even a letter written by one of the long-dead people who once lived in my house, it would be so cool. It would give me a connection with the past, and allow me to reach across the years like nothing else can. (We were speculating what ifs last night--what if George had been on the Titanic, for example? But he wasn't--I can't remember the name of his ship offhand, but I don't think it sank.
Did Emily--or whomever saved all these letters (I'm assuming it was Emily and Walter, because we have both sides of everything--reread these letters? We've found two or three that were mislabeled and never opened. Why weren't they ever opened? What happened to these people? What happened to Lizzie, who wanted to be an artist? What happened to Winnie? Did they grow up and prosper?
It's like finding a stash of old newspapers in the wall of your house, only better. And although the houses in question (because Walter and Emily lived in Hyde Park in Cincinnati--perhaps we can find that house too?) aren't ours, it's still neat.
I thought some of you would feel the same. :)
EDIT: And whew! Dad has been busy. He has a lot more information now!
posted by Jennifer at 10:08 AM
1 Comments:
I love old letters like that too. My grandmother, who passed away when I was 12, saved a lot of letters and newspaper clippings. I love going through them and reading them. I never met my grandfather, but I kind of feel like I know him from the papers. I'll bet that B&B would love to get a copy of some of your letters.
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