"Written by Grandma Gould (Rebecca Morrill) at 77-78th yr.of age. George was 11 yrs. old."
(This is Oda's handwriting.)
Janesville Apr. 2, 1883
Dear George
I was very pleased to see your hand writing ?? man dear love I did think you had forgoten me you have improved very much in writing since you laste wrote me you say that you are having the dispepsia you had beter come weste we do not have any such complaints here I should be very happy to see your fried ?? by has a stove pipe Hate (hat) he looks like a young man of twenty frank goes by with his poney two or three times a day Mrs Williamson oldest boy has had the Mumps ben summer only a few spects of snow to be seen your Aunt Lib [Mary Elizabeth Gould, unmarried] has not ben very well for some time not much appetite to eat anything she is growing poor I think george wish to be rememberd to your dear Mother tell her I should be very happy to see her and all the reste did you get told Mr. Bostwie is going to be married this week. David has you often Mr. Blas?? you two weeks or more tell the girls I thinke tha all have ben very kind to write to me so often I hop you will like your blind Man george I want you to write as often as you feel like it I do like to get a letter from thay little ?andy when I get so I can write as well as you Read th if you can will write often.
Grandma Gould
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"Grandma Gould"
Janesville Sep 22
dear Daughtr. I have ben thinking it hade ben a long time since I wrote to you I have not felte very well for three weeks had the Hadack everyday I never hade so much pain in my Head in all my life and so longe befoar it is feeling much [better?] to day we have got alamoste don cleaning House and it lovely weather not quite so warme as it was when here I would like to have you come in and see how Lib has gote the chambers fixt up and the Hall so you can have a nice place to sleep in when you come to see us if she only had some ?? fixing to put in it a very handsome room you would not hardly know Lib she has grown so poor she looks like a sklitan she had the dysentery down in town the folks does not know her ask her if she is Miss Gould want to
know if she is sick she wente to Elbride Fifields to a very longe party this week tha asked her if she was sick she look so frail wish you would tell George he wrote us a lovely good letter when I get so I can write so nice a letter as he does I will write to him hope you have a good girl do you ever see any of Mr. littels family David helth is abou the same is ellen little ?? these a living do you hear from Northfield often how is Ann and its [Asa's?] helth does Ella Claget ever write to you has the girls ben pretty well since tha went home expect tha one going to school every day close with love to all dear friends R. Gould
Note: As you can read, her spelling & punctuation was not good. I tried to figure out the
sentences and spaced twice where I thought a period should be. David Fifield was her son-in-
law, married to Harriet who died in 1873 at age 40. Fifield kids Edwin, Hattie, Walter.
Ella Claggett was I.B. Howe's brother Asa's daughter who married Dr. William Claggett. Ann is Lucy Ann, Asa's wife.
Lib was her grown daughter not married, age 51. "Grandma Gould died Apr. 14, 1888. She was born
Aug. 1, 1806 in Salem, Mass, and married James Gould Nov. 10, 1831. ---Tana (& Mark)
Chicago, June, 9, 1885
Envelope says: "Written two weeks after birth of Alden Eaton White" (May 25, 1885) in Daisy's (Margaret) handwriting. Addressed to: Mr. A. P. White, Danvers, Mass. Daisy is age 15. Perl is 30, Mary 20, they have been married one year and Mary is dying.
Mr. White,
Dear Sir,
Will you please have the kindness to tell me if my family in Danvers are dead or alive. If so please answer by return mail and address to Miss Daisy Howe, Janesville, Wis. If they are dead, as they seem to be, I will try to arrange my business so as to attend the funeral.
Please attend to this at once and oblige your obedient servant.
Daisy Howe
On same letter the following:
Dear Perl, [Best guess, they are in Chicago visiting at Mrs. Campbell's who must be a relative. May have been there for a while. They have visited Clinton and are going to Janesville before going home; miss Baker is seamstress, Jessie? Jeanie?]
What's the matter with you all out there? I haven't heard a word from you for almost two weeks. I had three letters a week ago last Thursday while I was in Clinton and I haven't heard a word since then. Now young man, (excuse me I expect you feel very elderly now days) if you don't write me a letter or see that someone else does, I shall just go for you when I get home. Miss Baker wants me to ask you if she isn't an Aunt and Mrs. Campbell says she is a Grandma. Mrs. Campbell and I are going up to Janesville tomorrow morning. She is going to stay a day or two with Grandma. Miss Baker is spending a few days here sewing for Mrs. Campbell.
Sunday it was so hot here that we almost roasted. Monday it was so cold that we almost froze and today it is about between. I read in the paper about the great fire you have had there or I shouldn't have benown anything about it. Wish I had been there. Miss B. Jessie and I are going through the Foundlings Home this afternoon. Miss Baker is going to spend the day tomorrow with Mrs. Osgood and is going to Elgin either this week or next. She is disgusted with Chicago and I am in love with it. We all took a splendid walk last night and Miss Baker and Jessie made a call on Lettie Ware at her school and Jeanie and I stood out on the sidewalk and threw pebbles at the window trying to get them started up. Oh! Perl we act like the old scratch ["Old Scratch" - name for the devil] all the time here. I had a splendid time out in Clinton and I was so tired when I got back here. Chicago is just as easy to get around in as pie. Mrs. Kelsey has _______Oh! but there I shan't tell you.
Now Perl you mustn't think that I am lonesome, for I'm not, or that I wish I was home for I don't, only I am anxious to hear from Mary and little Perl. Ask George why he hasn't written to me, I haven't had a single letter from him. Are you having warm weather there? Jeanie and I are planning on a nice trip home. Kiss Mary and Baby for me,
Daisy.
Note: The reason no one had written her was because Mary was very sick from septicemia (infection) due to childbirth of Alden. She never recovered and died August 4, 1885. Tana has the memorial book that Perl wrote to little Alden all about his mother Mary and detailing her sickness that led to her death.
(old handwriting: "from Aunt Net Scott, written after Mary's death~' died Aug. 4, 1885 from childbirth (septicemia) of Alden Eaton White born May 25. Perley was Mary's husband who lived for awhile after her death with the Howe's in Danvers. Tana
Clinton, Jan 16th, 1886
Dear Oda,
It is almost night and I have my week's housework done all but washing the milk pails.
Uncle George sits in the rocking chair reading. He is very unwell. Charlie and Charlie Wilkins are out milking. My old gray cat stands by me with his hands on my knee thinking it strange, I guess, for me to have my work done before dark. It is not very cold but the wind blows and the snow flies like a blizzard. Charlie Wilkins has been here a few weeks helping Cha's do chores and Uncle Geo. has not been able to do anything for three weeks. He is very small and seems afraid to speak or move. Mr. Kelly has just called with our mail and says Mr. Coan is dead. He had not been home from a drive in the country more than ten minutes when he died, apoplexy. Capt. Dick Lzand has sold his place. I do not know where he is going. George Morris has had a daughter but it only lived a few days. I pity his wife. He is an unprincipled dirty scamp. They live up on the seed farm. Mr. Morris owns it. Aunt Han. has been real sick with growing sore throat and does not seem to get over it. She is able to be about but not to do her work. I rec'd baby's picture Wed'y night. Dear little boy. (speaking of Alden) Please kiss his lips and his hair where the light shines on it for me.
We rec'd a very agreeable surprise in the visit from cousin George and Perley. [George Howe Peabody, 50 & Alden Perley White, 31] There seems something very genuine about Perley. I wished he could stay till we could get better accquainted with him. Did you have a pleasant journey home from Janesville? How much I thought about your getting home, how glad you and Daisy and Georgie would be to see each other but how you would miss that other dear welcome that had always greeted you, how many things you would think to tell her things that would awaken her warm sympathy, or her keen sense of humor, how the deep, deep, pain would be so hard to bear and how my heart ached for you my darling. How much you all are in my thoughts but I fear you think I do not give much evidence of it, by the way I do not answer letters --- but writing has grown to be such a task to me that I write 'tomorrow'.
I believe I have answered yours and Daisy's letters to??[Annie] mostly though to one of you is to all.
But I think of her so much in the still hours of night when sleep brings peace and rest to young hearts, but to her the great sorrow steals in with the silence driving sleep and health away, and I so long to help her. But I feel that God has spared her great comfort in her remaining children for I know that you do all you can to comfort her. You must be very careful of your health, I think being out in the bright days is good for you all. Kiss the Dainty Darling and that boy that I want to see more than any other in the world for their Aunt Net.
I cannot tell you how much good your letters do me, do us all for we love to talk about you just as if time and distance had never separated us. I hope we shall see you next summer. Sunday morning mercury 10 degrees below. Last night at nearly bedtime Bert [Jones, 19] came in, walked out in the snow and storm alone. He is a good boy. Aunt Han is better. As ever,
your loving Aunt