As I went through the letters, I had to decide what I was going to do with them. Some I have kept. Some I have shared with family. Some I have donated to a library since they involve coal mining and railroad history of West Virginia. Some of them were written on paper that crumbled upon touch. Those I tried to read as much as I could then I simply let the fragments fall into a waste basket. One of those was a letter from my grandfather to his mother in the 1927. My grandfather had been working in tree surgery in the northeastern U.S. and told of his opportunity to see the movie, "Ben Hur.".
The 1840 letter was written in May that year to my 4th Great-Grandfather, John Wylie, by his brother, Robert, who was living as a tenant in Hallgreen Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Robert had let communication languish between him and John - not answering a letter for 23 years. In his letter he poured out the events of fortunes and failures in their family in Europe that had occurred since they last communicated. Unfortunately, when he finally wrote and sent the letter - it arrived shortly before or after his brother died in September of the same year.
The 1856 letter and some closely following it were letters of affection written by John' grandson, Robert, to Elizabeth Blume, who he would eventually marry. They were written on very fine quality paper and have held up very well. Additionally, there were letters from Elizabeth Blume's father, Philip to his son-in-law discussing his health shortly before his death. In this letter he describes his condition as: "I have a severe cough and pain in my left side. My bowels are greatly disordered & I am still growing weaker." and "I am very anxious to see you all before I go hence. The way I am failing so fast I sometimes think the time is near at hand and I am daily trying to be ready." Philip, born in 1793, wrote that letter in July of 1872 and died four months later. There is no record as to whether the family made the trip to from Athalia, OH to Mountain Cove, WV within those four months.
The saddest series of letters occurred between 1891 and 1893. It begins with hope and enthusiasm by great-grandfather's brother, Cecil, as he discusses his hopeful expectations for his education at National Normal University in Lebanon, OH.
While home in Millers, OH for a break, he sent a letter to his brother in May of 1891 about upcoming examinations and that he would be traveling back to Lebannon on the Ida Smith then returning to visit him in Kenova, WV. He then spoke distantly of a macabre event where he says, "Sunny Dillons caught the Sarron girl who was drowned last Feb. Her folks came down after her on the Brown. She was all to pieces a horrible looking sight it is supposed that she has lain in the willows until this rain floated her out."
School work was beginning to wear on him because in October of 1891, he says about how much time he will need to spend in schoolwork, "It almost discourages me, but if See Miller can stand it why can’t I?" In that same letter he says about his ambitions, "I would like to stay at home all the time but I see that is impossible. Millers is no place for me or any other boy that intends to make anything out of themself."
In that same month he was not in school, but rather employed with his cousin as his letter to his brother he says, "...if Peck gives you a helper this winter I would like to stay with you. It would be much much nicer than this work if he will pay anything reasonable. I would not kick you need not say anything about it unless you think best. But if you should want me I would gladly except (sic). We are not getting along as fast with this work as Coleman expected we would when he took this work. I don’t think he will make much money. We will be at French Lick some time all while but so far they have been settled by Dutch and it was the same as being in Germany. Today we are with an English family but it is so crowded that I am in misery. There is 11 sleeps in the same room. A man and his wife in the same room."
There is no evidence that my great-grandfather found any work for Cecil - so the next summer, Cecil was working on a railroad contract job outside of Charleston, WV for C. A. Saber. There he applied his education toward keeping payroll for the company as he relayed in his letter to his brother on Jul 7, 1892. This letter was also full of hope for increased pay and responsibility. It was full of interests in the unique ways of the railroad contracting business. It included glimpses of his excitement for new sights, sounds, and experiences. Cecil spoke of absorbing those experiences while seemingly devoid of prejudice when he says, "We have a crew of Old Virginia Negroes here. They are a great set. All of them call me Captain James. It makes me think of the old man who had the boat above yours last summer."
It was a letter of hope, but it ended with an omen when he says, "Burr Sarber is sick with Typhoid Fever. He is very sick. He will have a hard time of it as he is so fleshy. I think that he will come through all right." Cecil, himself, died of Typhoid only one month later on the 8th of August.
In a November letter (page 2) the same year to my great-grandfather, their mother and my 2nd great-grandmother, Henrietta, wrote, "Twelve weeks today since we followed poor Cecil to his resting place. A sad day it was to and I will all the rest of my life – oh one so dear to me how can I ever give him up." and closes with "take good care of yourself, Vess, and don't get sick"
Among the letters some are of love and some are of hope. Some, though, are simply the last links to a loved family member. Today we don't often have those tangible letters to hold on to and reread as I imagine my great-grandparents did from time to time.
It is intriguing that I have letters that were last links to great-grandparents and uncles I never met. Simultaneously, they are a subset of the tangible things I have held on to remember my loved family member.
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