Bertha Shares Family News and Local Skeleton in the Closet



Ella Jane Stevens Atwater Sherwood, AKA Julia Eldora Welch

Ella Jane Sherwood, matriarch of our part of the Sherwood clan, was born to Mary Elizabeth Richardson and her husband Evi Welch on the 18th of June 1861and her birth name was Eldora Julia Welch.  Evi Welch died at 22 years of age (of consumption we believe) when Eldora was less than six months old on November 11, 1861.  In March of 1863 Mary Elizabeth married Martin Dexter.  Their first child, Eva Jane, was born in 1865 and lived six months.  Their second child was Ursula who was born in 1866 and their third child was Bertha in 1867. 

Bertha Dexter Tillotson, half-sister of Ella Jane

Their 4th child, Lizzie was born on Nov 11, 1868. Mary Elizabeth and Martin had one more son, Solomon King Dexter, who died as an infant in 1870.

Just days before Eldora Julia turned six years old in June of 1867,  she was legally adopted by her Aunt and Uncle, David Eastman Stevens and Rosina Jane Richardson Stevens.  Rosina Jane and Mary Elizabeth were sisters, David and Jane were ten years married and were childless.  They were generally prosperous, but by no means rich.  The story is told that Eldora's stepfather, Martin Dexter, held her on his lap all night the last day she was with them so that she would always know that she was loved.  Her new legal name became Ella Jane Stevens.

Ella Jane grew up in Wisconsin and Minnesota and a short time in Iowa as well, but mostly Minnesota.  When she was 18 years old she married Elmer Atwater of Wisconsin and they had one daughter, Dora, and then Elmer passed away in a logging accident on a river in 1881.Dora was not quite 2 months old.  There must have been a sense of déjà vu in  Ella Jane's heart and mind as she and her daughter faced the future husband and fatherless just as she and her mother had done two decades before.  A few years laterElla Jane met Will Sherwood in Minnesota (he worked for her parents at one time) and they were married in 1887.  The two of them moved to Kendall, Wisconsin and rented the family farm from his parents.

 

Sometime after they all became adults, Ella and her two remaining half-siblings began corresponding and getting to know each other.  She, Bertha and Ursula corresponded but mostly it was Ella and Bertha. They corresponded irregularly, but always managed to talk about all the relatives and what was happening in the extended family.  Because Ella's adoption has been a "relative placement" all the family connections had remained the same on the maternal side and she often heard news about the Welch or Dexter lines.  Ella's and Bertha's mom Mary Elizabeth passed away July 10, 1879 at 38 years of age.



Mary Elizabeth Richardson Welch Dexter



Ella had a note among all her paperwork that said "My mother died at the age of 38 of heart failure during childbirth."   I have found no record of another child born or otherwise acknowledged at that time. Perhaps the child could not be born quickly enough and they were buried together or it could be a family error in the story.  . 

        Bertha wrote this letter to Ella Jane in 1918 when they both had sons (Bertha's Martin was four months older than George) heading for the conflict in Europe.  Bertha wrote a very newsy letter, mostly about family but some  pretty shocking community gossip! 

March 5 – 1918

Dear Sister Ella and all:-

            I got your letter after it had been over to Uncle Roberts[1]. I read it and sent it all back to him writing him a letter also.  Then he read it and wrote to me and sent your letters back to me.  What do you think of that?


Robert Fletcher Richardson II; husband of Rosetta Dexter
Richardson of whom the post-script at the end refers

 
             I was going to try to go over and help them, but Sylvester[2] had gone into a job with another man to cut, saw, slab and pile 100 cords of wood and the weather has been against them, so they didn’t get it done in time for me to go over.

Sylvester Luther Tillotson, husband of Bertha

We had all the help to board and I being alone, had quite a bit to do. I have had a very hard cold this [winter] which has not left me entirely yet.  Mary[3] also was having a bad time with her ears. She had three sores gather and break in her ear. Then she had a mastoid abscess back of her ear. All the same ear.  I took her to the doctor and he gave her chloroform and lanced it, taking out about one half tea cup of blood and puss.  We had to go back the next day and have it dressed.  She is all right now.  She hasn’t been to school this winter.  Leonard[4] had had a hard cold most all winter.  The older girls[5] are both in Meredith, N.H. They are all well.  Jessie has a pretty cute little girl we think. Sylvester is down with them now.  He will stay and work until he can work on the ground if he likes down there $18 a week, in the woods he can’t get that here.

The Tillotson Girls; L - Gladys, R - Jesse and Mary Elizabeth center in 1912

Well, I think Aunt Eva[6] would remember Lucinda Bixby[7] that lived just below grandpa’s place, it was her.  She was Lucinda Willey, married Frank Bixby after the civil war she left him and married Center Jackson. [They were married Dec 5, 1874 and he died May 30, 1907 of stomach cancer]  She stayed all winter with me and then she went to the village to live with an old man that she was as crazy to have as any young girl could be after a fellow.  She had about $2,000 she signed over to him.  After she did it and she found she had no money of her own, she and her sons found it out they went to see her, and; had a talk with her.  Well when the man that she gave her money to was getting ready to go to put it in the bank in his name she went into one of the neighbors a few minutes then went back and down across the garden and; into the river and was drowned.  It was some time before they found her as they didn’t see her go but they tracked her.  She must have known what she was doing because there wasn’t water above the waist, and hardly above her knees.  [She died June 6, 1917 and is buried at West Topsham Cemetery near Center Jackson.] Well she was a trial. 

Now Ella isn’t it hard to think of our boys going across the water to be a target for the German's. Martin[8] enlisted the 5^th of June. Was at Ft. Ethan Allen[9] until the 26^th of Sept.  From there to Westfield, Mass a little while and the next I heard was to be moved. I got a letter about a month after that he was in England, then got some letters from France.  He hadn’t gone into battle last I heard, which was written Jan. 21. I had one of his letters printed so will send you the letter.  This has been a hard blow for me. You having your only son go must be and; mean a lot to you. I saw Martin several times after he enlisted. He said that he would rather be “led than drove.”  I write and have written to him about every week, sometimes oftener. And the girls every week so I have quite a bit writing to do.  It has been a very cold, hard winter here.

            Will close hoping to hear from you again, remember me to Aunt Eva.  Would like to hear from her. I can remember her. I will just write a few more words as I want to say that I got a letter from Uncle Robert saying that he was getting along fine. I don’t think he ought to live there alone this cold winter with no one in sight, although he seems so smart for one as old as he is.  Don’t Aunt Eva ever think she will come east?  I can remember her when she lived with Alfred Thomas. Guess I shouldn’t know her now. Would like to see you all. I am not feeling very well this spring or soon to be spring.  Susie must be a lady now.  How old is she?  I shall be 51 the 15 of March.  Old enough to be good.                                         Love and best wishes to all.

                                                                        B

[Post Script]

Rosetta Dexter Richardson

 

            Aunt Rosetta[10] was nothing but skin and bones.  She asked me, when I was over to see her after she took her bed, if I thought she had anything to build upon[11].  She said that she had lived her time and hoped Uncle Robert would have as good care as he had given her.  How thoughtful.  I think she was a beautiful woman all through her life.

---

[1] Robert Fletcher Richardson II; born 18 Sept 1832 and died 17Jan 1922. He was recently widowed of Rosetta Dexter (Richardson) referenced at end of letter.  Robert was brother of Bertha’s mother and Rosetta was sister of Bertha’s father.

[2] Sylvester Luther Tillotson, born 4 July 1868 and died 3 May 1954.   Writer Bertha’s husband.

[3] Mary Elizabeth Tillotson (Avery then Bean), youngest daughter of Sylvester and Bertha Tillotson.  She was born 11 April 1908 and passed away Sept 25, 1991. Almost ten years old at this time.

[4] Leonard Tillotson was fourth child and second son of Sylvester and Bertha. Born 15 Nov 1898 and died 10 Nov 1955.

[5] Jessie Naomi Tillotson (Weeks), born 2 June 1892 and died 7 April 1959  and sister  Gladys Eva Tillotson Kimball, born 26 April 1894 and died December 1986_.

[6] Youngest maternal Aunt of Bertha.  Eva was youngest sister of Bertha’s mother, Mary Elizabeth Richardson Dexter.  Aunt Eva was born Evalina Irene Richardson and was first married to Alfred Thomas.  He was apparently prone to domestic violence and they divorced.   She later married a widower George Thompson who was a veteran of the Civil War and was always known to family after that as Nellie Thompson.  She was born in Vermont on 26 June 1847 and died in Kendall, Wisconsin in 8 December 1926.

[7] The 1870 Federal census taken at Topsham, VT,  shows Franklin Bixby, 34, with wife Lucinda, 30, and sons Ira, John and Walter, 13,12, and 10 in dwelling number 81. Bertha’s mother, Mary Elizabeth Richardson (formerly Welch) Dexter and her husband Martin Dexter were dwelling number 80.  Parker and Betsy Dexter, parents of Martin Dexter (and Rosetta Dexter Richardson, mentioned later) were dwelling 82. Joel and Sarah Bixby were dwelling number 83 and appear to be of the age to be parents of Franklin Bixby, so they all lived close together.  Carter Jackson was a household member in dwelling 81with Franklin and Lucinda Bixby and appeared to have a partnership in the value of the property.  Both were listed as being farmers and one had value of $1200 and the other $1400. 

[8] Martin Luther Tillotson, 3^rd child and first son born to Bertha and Sylvester on 2 Aug 1986 and died on 20 Dec 1973 in Waits River, VT

[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Ethan_Allen

[10] Rosetta Dexter Richardson, late wife of Uncle Robert Fletcher Richardson II had just passed away the month before.

[11] She was contemplating her life in light of the verse in 1 Cor 3:11-15 --   "For other foundation can no man lay, than what is laid, which is Jesus Christ: And if any one build on this foundation, gold, silver, costly stones;
wood, hay, stubble, Every one's work shall be made manifest;
 for the day shall declare it: for it is revealed by fire; yea the fire shall try every one's work, of what sort it is.
 If any one's work which he hath built thereon shall remain, he shall receive a reward.
 If any one's work shall be burnt, he shall suffer loss, but himself shall be saved, yet so as through the fire."

 

 

Visiting Castle Gate, Utah

Guy Lindsey in Castle Gate

I have had the amazing privilege of reading old letters from my Great Aunt Dora to my grandmother and my great grandparents Will and Ella Sherwood living in Wisconsin. Aunt Dora had married Guy Lindsey almost 105 years ago on February 15, 1912 in Pocatello, Idaho. She wrote to her parents ten days after that:

"I wish you could realize how thoughtful and good my boy is to me in every way. I am sure you will all be happy to know that I am no longer wandering alone in the world but that I can be guarded and cared for.  In spite of my years, Mrs. Cox and the regulars here have always called me their little girl and you have no idea with what interest they have followed the little romance of “love at first sight” which began with the Carlyle Fire Nov. 15 and culminated at the same Carlyle just three months later.  For the short time we have been here we both have so many friends here and those who know us both are so delighted.   At the same time we were able to go out together so little that our friends on the outside were greatly surprised.  I would not recommend that younger persons or those who had seen less of people and the world should be quite so hasty.  As Mrs. Cox said, you are both old enough to know what you want, and any one can see that it was a case of infatuation on both sides.  You who knew the “school marm” so sedate would scarcely recognize the unrestrained, carefree, girlishness of the bride in #22 and perhaps not wonder so much at her being called the “little girl.”

 

At that time Guy was a detective on the trains and spent his work hours protecting trains from attempted robberies or trying to get back things (most likely payrolls) that had been stolen.  Dora had a dream one night that one of the detectives had been shot so she wouldn't let Guy go to work. That day someone did get shot so after that he heeded her intuition.  Being a train detective was not a particularly safe sort of job and so I'm sure she added pressure in general to get out of it all together.

Later Guy wrote to his in-laws that:  "My work isn’t the best in the world as I may be called out at any time and gone for days at a time.  And then there is more or less danger attached to it.  Because I know most every crook and box car robber from coast to coast and they all know me and something may happen some day.  Dora worries so, every time I step out of the house, that I have made up my mind to quit in a very short while."

While the event  of the placard above happened years before Guy started working in Castle Gate, I am sure that the community memory of the event of the visit of Butch Cassidy and friends to Castle Gate continued to make everyone nervous!  So Guy began doing a variety of things to make ends meet for his growing family.  I'm not exactly sure what his jobs were at several of these old ghost towns of Utah, but he and Dora at various times lived in Tucker, Castle Gate, Rains, and Price and maybe at Gillouly and Soldier Summit.  My husband and I took a trip a few years ago to try and find what was left of these little towns.  Tucker was completely gone, buried now  under tons of crushed rock carrying the highway high above where it used to be.  Gillouly is a bend in the road with no sign of prior habitation.  Rains is inaccessible on private land. Guy and Dora's daughter Margaret was born in Tucker.  Francis and Marjorie were born in Castle Gate.  We were happy to see that there was SOME sign of life Castle Gate even if no one actually lived there.  Now (2010 we visited)  it was a coal fired electricity station. 

 

 Recently I came across some photos from Castle Gate that the Lindsey family sent off to their family in Wisconsin.  It is a treat to actually see what Castle Gate looked like at the time.  Captions for each photo are on the back.   If I had these photos when we visited I would have tried to match landmarks and tried to figure out where the miner's houses were. Next trip!

This bit of terrain actually matches up with the photo above! We can picture the rail cars laden with coal laboring their way up the mountains! 

Another train coming through Castle Gate.  I always have feelings of nostalgia when I have occasionally heard a steam train -- an event becoming even more rare as time goes by.

It seems that this bit of terrain would have been easy to match up if we had known -- or had randomly faced the camera in the right direction!  We were told that the miner houses were all moved to Helper, Utah Although there is a blog that appears to be a pretty good description of the terrible mine explosion that took place in 1924. 

 (I'm not advocating hauntings -- but the blog seems to have a good description of the terrifying and sad events.)  Dora and Guy lost at least one family friend in the mine disaster, a  John L Davis, whose family moved to Salt Lake and Dora mentioned getting together with his family in June of 1927. Guy and Dora Lindsey had by that time already moved on to Price before they finally settled in Salt Lake City.

This same winter Dora's parents came out to visit (as they loved to do) and Grandpa Sherwood showed that he was still young at heart!

Little Margaret goes sledding behind their house in Castle Gate..

Castle Gate remains a part of our extended family history.  But Guy and Dora eventually moved on to live out most of their years in Salt Lake City. 

Uncle Robert writes to Aunt Nellie with help of daughter Florence



Robert Fletcher Richardson II when he was in his 50's. 

Robert Fletcher II was named for his paternal grandfather, also Robert Fletcher Richardson.

His father was Robert A. Richardson -- no Fletcher, so the name skipped a generation.

I would love to know where the Fletcher name came from!  This is a transcription of a letter.

 

Waterbury, VT, Jan 5, 1921

My Dear Aunt:

            Father was much pleased to get your letter and I will write for him as his hand trembles so he can’t write lately.  Don’t know when you heard from him last.  He went out to Washington [VT] a few weeks last summer.  My girl kept house for him, then he decided to come back here and stay.  Can only walk a few steps with crutches.  Early in the Fall he had a very sick spell but is a good deal better now. He stays in bed most of the time for he naps.  His hip pains him less when he lays quiet than when he even sits up.     

            He says his eyes are not as good as a little while ago but I think they are wonderful for one of his age for he reads his daily paper and about two library books a week.  Just sits up in bed with pillows back of him.

            Tell Ella I received her card. Wish I might know her and the rest of my unknown relatives out your way. We haven’t heard from Aunt Julia for over a year.  Then she was very poorly and living with Fred’s wife.

            Father says tell you that he was 88 years old last September.  Think you must have forgotten his age by this time.  It has been very warm so far this winter for which I am very glad as it takes less wood and is better for me to be out.  I have so much barn work to see to every day.

                                                Your loving niece,
                                                            Florence Wallace

Florence Ida Richardson was the youngest of the five children born to Robert Fletcher Richardson II and Rosetta Dexter Richardson.  Florence was born on March 2, 1875 in Washington, Vermont.  Florence married James Moses Wallace and they lived in Waterbury, VT. At the time of this photo, taken on the occasion of her parents 50th wedding anniversary in 1907, they already had four of their seven children. Their eldest, their daughter Lelia, was sitting in front of her grandparents when the photo was taken and is not in this photo.  The ones in the photo are their first three boys, Robert, William and George.  Many thanks to my cousin Barb for this photo!  Florence was about 32 years old when this photo was taken and in her mid-40's when she penned this letter for her father.  Her husband had died in October of 1918 a little over two years before.  His death certificate notes that he died of Influenza and pneumonia. 

It appears he was one of the victims of the severe flu pandemic of 1918. 

This is Florence when she was a little girl.

The recipient of this missive was the youngest and the only remaining of Robert's siblings, his sister Eva Irene Richardson.  Eva married George Thompson and was always known as Nellie from that time on.  Nellie was also born in Topsham, Vermont and later lived in the Dakota Territory and later  yet in the Washington Territory in the Palouse.  When her husband died she returned to Wisconsin to live near her niece,  Ella Jane Stevens Sherwood. It took quite a while to figure out that Nellie and Eva were the same person as she was referred to as Eva almost exclusively when young and then as an older adult was  always Nellie.  At the time this was written, Robert and Nellie were the only two siblings left of the original eight.  

A Happy Thanksgiving to All!

 This postcard was sent to Rosina Jane Richardson Stevens -- date is hard to read but it looks like 1910.  From someone named Anna.

 This postcards was sent on November 28, 1911 from Darian, Wisconsin.  This was sent by Myra Gulvin to her cousin William Richards Sherwood in Kendall, Wisconsin.  Cancelled at 2:00 PM!

 This postcard was sent to Rosina Jane Richardson Stevens (Mrs. D E Stevens) in 1909. It was sent to her mother by E Sherwood (Ella Jane Stevens Sherwood) and Dora Sherwood.  Great-grandmother Ella Jane was in Denver, Colorado because her daughter Dora had had surgery and Ella Jane was caring for her during her convalescence.   This card is postmarked November 23, 1909.   She wrote "If not with you in body we are in spirit and thought."

This card was sent from Dora (Dora Atwater Sherwood Lindsey) and her husband Guy Lindsey to her mother, Ella Jane Stevens Sherwood. 

A VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2013 TO YOU AND YOURS!   MAY YOU FIND TIME TO THANK GOD FOR ALL YOUR BLESSINGS!

THEN AND NOW -- The home of Grace Gulvin Sherwood Doud

A few years ago I went to visit the address of my Great-Great-Great Aunt Grace Gulvin Sherwood Doud.  I had known she had lived at 3504 North Mason Avenue in Tacoma and wondered if the house was still there.   Grace Gulvin was the youngest daughter of Richard William Sherwood and Mary Ann Gulvin.  Grace was named for her aunt, Grace Gulvin and when young Grace was young Mary Ann died.   Richard William Sherwood then married his former sister-in-law Grace Gulvin and she was then both mother and aunt to the children.  She and Richard had three more children after that.  The younger Grace married Chester Doud and they were married from 1887 until 1921 when Chester passed away.  They had two sons, Roy (Royden) and Richard Doud.  After I had seen several of her letters I took a tour around Tacoma visiting the homes in which she had lived but I wasn't sure if it was the same house or if it was the same lot.  I thought it likely, but wasn't completely sure.  I took the color photos posted here in 2008 and discovered today the vintage photos mailed to her brother and sister-in-law, William and Ella Jane Sherwood in 1927.  Obviously it is the very home in which she lived.

 On the back of this photo it says that it was received in letter Dec 13, 1927.  Grace Doud had written "View of back of my home   - Grace Doud." 

 Two nearly identical views of the same house approximately 80 years apart.  The garage was nicely added so it's not obvious it was not an original part of the structure.

On the back of the photo it reads -- "The front of house facing the east with 3 lovely fir trees on the south side.  Grace (Pautsch - neice of Grace Doud and daughter of Clara Sherwood Pautsch) took the pictures this summer just before she went back home.  It was early and I hadn't raised the shades as the sun shines in pretty strong so the windows don't look just right as athough it had a blind side."

On the back -  "The front porch showing the wicker table and chair Grace and I painted.  They are green and oranged and looked so gay last summer.  The house was new when I bought a year ago last October (that would have been October of 1926).  Grace Doud's Home." 

Baby Letha Lenore Sherwood in 1923

Letha Lenore Sherwood was born in October of 1922 in Utah (maybe Woodside, maybe Price), the eldest daugther of George and Atha Farnham Sherwood.   These are some of the earlierst photos I've seen. It says on the back that these photos were taken in Price Utah April 13, 1923. 

Letha was my father's first cousin and my father,Robert Sherwood Weber, was born ten or so days before the letter below was written and two months after these photos were taken. 

He is the subject of the comments about the "new boy" and "Dear Little Babe."  This letter gives a little insight into their daily lives. Top photos are George Sherwood and his daughter, Letha on the porch swing and then two  photos of Letha and Atha. 

"June 17, 1923

Dear Mother:
I suppose this letter will be at least two days late for your birthday, but am going to write it now anyhow and mail it tomorrow anyhow. Letha is teething and sure peevish, especially evenings, so with gardening operations and all have had no time this last week to get birthday letters off to you. Bless her heart, she has finally given up and gone to Slumber Lane by the sound. Or maybe it’s a false alarm.

Well, Mother O’Mine [Ella Jane Stevens Sherwood], wish we could be there to celebrate with you and that you had some of the lovely strawberries Atha canned last night to celebrate on too. But expect berries must be about ripe there by now too. How is Sister and the new boy. No news is good news we hope and trust but we anxiously wait a more detailed account as we have rec’d only your first hurried note. Well, I watered part of the company garden this A.M. and went out to Dora’s and cultivated a little this P.M. which is a heathenish way to spend Sunday and now I’m paying for it in being tired tired tired for we manage to keep on the jump from 8 AM to 6:30 PM at the Lumber Yard six days a week and I am well nigh held responsible for the loading and unloading as well as town deliveries now most of the time so it keeps me moving and planning.
Now with an earnest prayer that you may enjoy a birthday full of joy, health, and happiness tomorrow and on each succeeding June 18th for many years, I’ll close this letter of greeting and love to our dear dear Mother Mine.

[Changes to Atha’s handwriting]

Now I will add my little lines of Love and best wishes for a happy Birthday tomorrow and many more to follow. Wish we could all be together to make it more completely happy but as we can’t we can send our Love and Greetings by mail.

Well as it is late and the Baby finally gone to sleep I expect we better close this and sleep while we can as my Lover-Boy is very tired tonight.

Love to Susan and that Dear little Babe for us, also Daddy.

So much much Love to our Dear Mother from her loving Children.

Letha, Atha and George

Birthday greetings from 1893

Found among the letters kept by my grandmother and great-grandmothers,
a birthday note for Ella Jane Sherwood (nee' Stevens) to her parents. Ella Jane was in her early 40's at this time.

1893
May 1st and 5th
Greetings
To
Dear Father and Mother

I write you a birthday letter
Filled with hope and wish sincere
That with more of peace and gladness
You may each be crowned each year;
That Time, as with him you journey,
May touch you with gentle hand;
That friends may around you gather
A true and steadfast band;
That the love of God will make more smooth
Your way as it westward leads
That no day shall fleeting leave you
Unblessed by some loving deeds:
Deeds that to you from dear ones
Are signs of some loving thought.
Deeds that you do for others

With their double blessings fraught

HOW THE GENERATIONS PASS - Healy, Richardson, Stevens, Sherwood

This week I've spent a lot of time typing up the entries of an old journal of my great-great grandmother - Rosina Jane Richardson Stevens, who went by Jane. It's difficult to read some of her beautiful cursive writing, but definitely worth the effort. She began writing when her mother died in 1872 and seemed to only take pen to diary when one or another family member passed on or a similar tragedy occurred. She sounds rather pessimistic in her writings, but her narrative shows that life was not easy. Their family made many moves while trying to establish themselves in farming or business; she lamented business losses (e.g., fire in furniture store, financial debts, cyclones wreaking havoc on their farm, and the loss of siblings and children. Theirs was not an easy life in the late 1880’s for those lower to middle class families who were trying to make it in either business or farming the land.

It’s wonderful that she left this short 18-entry journal. Two of the last few entries give lists of events with places and dates recorded. The first is an outline of the moves of her early marriage. Only 19 moves in 18 years – you can hear the satisfaction in her voice as she mentions that they were still living in Elgin, Minnesota six uninterrupted years later. It appears she actually stayed there many years more.

In her journal she hoped that her life would have value to someone who she had touched and due to her experiences, was always reminding herself that we need to be ready because “we don’t know at what day or hour our call will come” to pass on to the next world. Considering her brother, Nathaniel Healy, died of Consumption, while in London and reportedly feeling better; her sister Mary Dexter died suddenly of heart disease and dropsy, and a little unnamed but not unmourned niece or nephew died at the ripe old age of 22 months, her anxiety in this regard was not unfounded or exagerated. Reading this 134 years later, I’m struck with how her life did have the meaning she desired it might have to those who followed – and how her jotted notes of decades past touch my heart even now. We’re not so different, she and I, but I do feel more optimistic. But on the other hand, my life is much easier, so why wouldn’t I be.

Our lives have intersected in another way as well. She and her husband apparently couldn’t have children and they later adopted their six year old niece, Eldora Julia Dexter who they named Ella Jane Stevens. So she is my blood relative in a roundabaout way, but being my great grandmother’s mother, she is my true great-great grandmother as well. She was the one who was mom, even though her sister was her daughter’s birth mother. I have a slight interest in those first parents, the Mary who died of dropsy and her first husband, Levi, who passed away when Ella Jane was an infant, but it is enough to see great-great Grandma Jane reflected in my grandmother and later my father. Both, including the two generations before them, had strong faith in God and looked for His help and comfort in time of need. I don't know what might have happened if Eldora Julia had grown up and lived her life unaffected by grandma Jane, but Ella Jane is person our great-grandmother became.

In 1883 Great-great Grandma Jane wrote

"Elgin,[Minnesota], Nov. 8th, 1883

No cyclone here Sept 21st as predicted but one passed over us eastward, striking [illegible] in Wis., doing much damage. My health is quite poor and I feel it s my duty to divide some precious things that were our mothers. I am growing old. Soon the places that know us now will know us no more." This "predicted" cyclone would have been the one everyone feared after the devastating ones of July 21st and August 21st of the two months previous. Little did she know that her life would become easier as time went on. In spite of her feeling old and her own "prediction," she lived almost three more decades until February 1912 -- a few months before her granddaughter, my grandmother, Susan Rosina, graduated from high school. She had a long time to live before it was her turn to be the one passing on.

I'm loving reading her words, feelings her thoughts and feeling our hearts reaching out to each other across the century. Perhaps from the gates of heaven now, along with Grandma Susan and her son, my Dad, Great-great Grandma Jane watches me read her words and knows that all of them, and the rest of the family who are already there, live on in my heart. As Grandma Jane said when her sister passed on, "I trust to meet you there with many loved ones gone before."