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."

 

 

WWI Blog Follows 100 Year Old Journey

George Stevens Sherwood

Almost a year ago I came up with the idea for a second blog  that chronicles as much as possible all the postcards and letters of my Uncle George sent home to his family while he was "Somewhere in France" until he came marching home as they say.  He joined the 108th Army Engineers as was part of the American Expeditionary Forces fighting the Germans in the Great War.  The goal is to post them 100 years to the day that he wrote or mailed them.  That blog is dedicated to his experiences in and around that war.  I decided to post part of that information here but to expand some of the family history not elaborated upon there.  A trickle of posts have been done but the wave of missives will begin in earnest in September of this year.  

*     *     *     *     *

George Stevens Sherwood's mother, Ella Jane Richardson Sherwood, had been born Julia Eldora Welch to Mary Elizabeth Richardson and Evi Welch both of Vermont.

Mary Elizabeth Richardson Welch Dexter

Evi died before their daughter was six months old.  Mary Elizabeth later married Martin Dexter and they had five more children two of whom died young (apparently from lung disease - possibly cystic fibrosis). 

Ella Jane Stevens/Julia Eldora Welch was likely taken at the time of her adoption.

Mary Elizabeth's sister, Rosina Jane Richardson (who went by Jane)  and her husband David Eastman Stevens, had no children.  When Julia Eldora was six years old, she was adopted by her aunt and uncle Jane and David.  Her name was changed to Ella Jane Stevens.

 Rosina Jane "Jane" Richardson Stevens

David Eastman Stevens

  Ella Jane Stevens later married William Sherwood and they were the parents of George Stevens Sherwood.   

 

At the same time that he was considering a future in the Army, George's great uncle Robert Richardson was writing to his sister, George's great aunt Eva (known as Nellie).  Robert and Eva were the only two remaining of 8 siblings, and were the eldest and youngest siblings of Jane, George's late grandmother.

Robert Fletcher Richardson II.  This Robert was not a Jr. because the former Robert Fletcher Richardson was his grandfather.  His father was Robert A Richardson

This is Eva (Nellie) Richardson Thompson with her foster daughter Myrtilla.

 



Robert had lived his entire life in Vermont. Eva, born and raised in Vermont, married, moved to Minnesota, divorced, remarried, moved to the Dakota territories, took on the foster care of three children,  moved to Washington Territory (Palouse) and lived there until her husband George  Thompson died in 1914.  In 1915 Nellie as she had become known, moved back to Wisconsin to be near her dear niece, Ella Jane, George's mother. 

When I came across this letter today while working on a future WWI post I realized that this letter did claim its place in the posts dedicated to WWI.  Robert, and his wife Rosetta Dexter Richardson (who added a long postscript) were also serving their country in their own way struggling to keep their farm going when all the young men who might  have helped them were going off to war.  I love hearing the voices as their words of 100 years ago are read, knowing that they had weathered the storms of war before and knew of what they spoke. 
 

1917-0624 – Robert & Rosetta Richardson to Eva (Nellie) Richardson Thompson

Washington, VT, June 24, 1917

Dear Sister Eva[1],
            I realize that I have owed you a letter for a long time but I find but little time for aught else only to do the necessary work on the farm; had had only one days work since last fall.  No help to be hired at any price.
            12 young men from our town have enlisted within a few days, are gone and other are soon to follow.  Charles Henry[2] has enlisted as chemist and mineral expert ready to be called on at any time for government work.  This is a terrible war and peace seems to be a long ways off.  I do not expect to live[3] to see the close of the war, for old people in Vermont are fast passing away. We have had the coldest winter and spring in Vt. that has been known since 1843.  The season is five weeks behind times, a short season unless a late fall.
            Mother and I are fast growing old, cannot expect to stay here much longer.  How are you and do you feel that you are growing old faster than when younger?  Henry’s widow Lilla[4] is expecting to get a pension[5] in a short time. Do you get more favorable news from your pension[6] of late?  Government works slow in all matters of late.  Your birthday is near at hand and hope you will enjoy it and many more.  Please write us often and I will try to answer.     
                                                          With much love,
                                                                        Robert

---

[1] Eva was the youngest sibling of the Robert and Rosina Richardson children.  Robert F Richardson was the eldest of the 8 children, six of whom reached adulthood. 

[2] His son.

[3] Robert F Richardson did, however, live until 1922.

[4] Lilla M Keyes was the fourth wife of Henry Carlton Richardson, Robert F. Richardson’s brother, who had passed away on August 15, 1915.

[5] Civil War pension as Henry Carlton Richardson was a veteran of that war and had been wounded twice. He enlisted on December 2, 1861 and was discharged on July 17, 1865. 

[6] Eva (Nellie) was the widow of George Thompson who was also a Civil War Veteran.

June 24, 1918

Dear Sister Eva,

            I will try to write a few lines to add to Robert’s letter, he wished me to address his letter to you and I take the liberty to write a few lines.

            If I have not addressed it right please tell me how to address letter to you when you write next time. My memory is getting treacherous and I am forgetting how to spell the words, also how to shape some of the letters.  Do you wonder when you think that I shall be 85 years old if I live to the see the 2^nd of next December.  I can hardly realize that Robert and I have lived together 60 years the 9^th of this month.

            I have not been very well for more than a year.  I got through the winter alone but I had a neighbor come in and help me one forenoon and two afternoons this spring.  I have done my washings alone thus far but do not think that I can much longer.

            Henry was home for a few days but is now doing geological work in Vt is to return to Syracuse NY to teach a summer school before the college opens in Sept.  I think he is working too hard.

            My brother Avalyn and his wife spent the winter in California, but are now visiting relatives in different states.  He wrote me that he should be here this week.  Walter Burgin has bought my father’s old farm with much other land; he has two boys grown up to help him.

            Brother Lewis spent the winter in Fla for his health.  His trouble is a leakage of one of the arteries of the heart.  I expect him here in a few days.  He does not think he can ever do any more pastoral work. 

                                    Your loving sister, Rosetta

Please kindly remember me to Ella Sherwood.  I should dearly love to step into her home for a few days visit.  It is raining hard here just now. 

 

*     *     *     *     *



Heartfelt Birthday Greetings George to His Father, Will Sherwood

George's father - William Richard Sherwood

 

In 1920, a little over a year after coming home from fighting in WWI, George Stevens Sherwood was making his way in the world.  He had not stayed long at home after returning and seemed to feel a restlessness and a need to find his own way.  His sister Susan and her husband were co-farmers with their parents and would later take over the farm (buying out their siblings interest).  His half-sister, Dora, and her husband Guy Lindsey, were in Utah.  He headed West with many others during this era and worked at several different jobs.  At the time of this letter there was still a year to go before he met the love of his life.  At this particular time he was working for the Mutual Coal Company in Rains, Utah.  He penned this missive in honor of his father's 61st birthday (he was born August 28, 1859).  This coming week will mark Will Sherwood's 154th birthday anniversary.

 

Rains[1], Utah – Aug 24 -  20

Dear Dad,
            While I’m not exactly in a nice frame of mind to write a cheerful birthday letter, it’s about the only chance I’ll get I guess, so here goes.  Now I’d better explain why I’m on the peck, so you’ll know none of you are in any wise to blame.  Guess I’ve told you all from time to time about our trouble with the Gen. Man of the company butting into the Engr end of the game.  Now, not having learned anything in the last botch he made, he has come around this afternoon with another change.  Of course as per usual it is the eleventh hour when the whole thing is laid out and work started on it.  I’m afraid my nervous system won’t stand much more of this.  Wish I knew how the drill proposition would turn out, so that I knew where to jump to and I’d quit tonite.  It may look foolish to you as long as it’s not my money or my layout that is getting balled up, but after helping in my small way to get the work laid out right, its more than I can stand to see a bull-headed, pot-bellied hardware merchant come up here and make a mess of it.  It’s killing my interest in the work entirely so I’ll be glad to get out.  I’m seeing clearer every day that I’m too set in my way to work for someone else, but in this case I know we are right, and that’s the appreciation we get for it.  That old bird ought to be in a home for feeble minded instead of Gen Man. Of a new company.  Well, I got the money you sent O.K. and sure hope the drill is a success.  Thank you for your promptness. 
            And now for the Best Wishes for your Birthday.  Wish I could be with you, but in my absence just think of me as you celebrate for I’ll be with you all in spirit if not in flesh.  And “Dad” just remember as you pass this milestone that I’m trusting you will take good care of yourself so that you will be with us for many more.  I’m a little inclined to believe from what sis and mother write you are kind of forgetting to ease up, and I need you, Dad, I sure do.  Are money matters getting so tight you have to work so hard?

            If so, let me know and will try to devise some scheme to ease up the situation.  For you promised to let me know if all was not well.
             It is a damp, chilly, rainy night as I sit here in my cabin writing this and thot’s of home are cheerful so I pen the following:

George Stevens Sherwood - during the time he lived and worked in Rains           

THOUGHTS OF HOME

 

When a fellow’s young and carefree

And the world is mostly joy
He takes his Home for granted
For you see he’s mostly boy.

But when you leave the old home tree

And round the world you roam
You get to dreaming more and more
 Of the love and peace of home.   

Even on shell scarred battlefield,

Crouched in a blood-smeared hole
There comes a fleeting moment
When you search your blighted soul.

Memories flit swiftly past you

As you crouch there all alone;
And the ones that grip you hardest
Are the memories of home

In your billet, tent or dugout

Sky above you painted red
With the flame of ceaseless battle
Gothes droning overhead

When you crawl into your blankets

Lice infested, damp and cold
You go to sleep a dreamin’
Dreams of home and days of old.

Life may toss you like a puppet

Into cities' sordid din
You may drift into a wilderness
Where man has never been

But when you’re feeling lonely

Sorter useless, down and out
And you try to feel more cheerful
Why - its home you think about.

Wherever you may wander

Whatever you may do
No matter who the fellow is
You’ll find this one thing true

Whenever he gets lonely

His thots turn evermore
To the lovin' warmth and comfort
Of the Home he’s yearnin’ for

                    Stevens Sherwood* -  August 24, 1920

                     [Copyright 2015 KSL]

 

            Well, if you have lived through that, I’ll ring off and give you a much needed rest.  Excuse the pencil, my pen faded out at the crucial moment, but I didn’t take the hint and lay off.

            Now I’ll close with Birthday Greetings to “The Best Dad in the World.” From

                                                                        His loving son

                                                                                    George

Love to all

* * * * *

*George Stevens Sherwood AKA Stevens Sherwood apparently liked the idea of using his middle and last names as an alternate pen-name.  Stevens was his mother's family name and his grand parents were David Eastman Stevens and Rosina Jane Richardson Stevens, both born in Topsham, Vermont and married there and then almost immediately moved to Wisconsin..

---

[1] Now a ghost town; http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/ut/rains.html

Honoring My Veterans Near and Far

I thought this would be a great day to honor my veterans who have served our country in a variety of ways. I do not include the names of my husband, brother or other relatives who are still alive -- for their privacy, not because I don't honor them as well!

My brother in AF years past -- alive and doing well!

The husband -- USCG a few years younger than now! 

Dad and Mom on their wedding day in  1944 - WWII

Robert S. Weber, WWII

Uncle William Weber, WWII.  While Uncle Bill was in fact a Conscientious Objector and did not join the military per se, he served his country very honorably and at great personal risk, being a Smoke Jumper in the US and being on site helping with the liberation of the holocaust survivors in Germany. 

Uncle Bruce Duane Tangen, WW II

Uncle -- may he continue to live and prosper!  WW II

Uncle Dean Ray Wilson, WW II

 Grandpa Ole O Tangen, WWI 

 Great Uncle George Stevens Sherwood, WWI

George, again, Right side of photo, WWI

Edward Byron Rhodes, WW I

While our relationship is distant, I don't want him to be forgotten.  His father and my Great Great Grandmother were first cousins.  His parents and widow took a trip to France after the War and traveled the route he had taken.

Great Great Grandfather David McIntyre AKA McIntire, Mexican War

Great Great Grandfather Philip Weber,  Civil War, Union

Great Great Grandfather Richard William Sherwood, Civil War, Union

Great Great Grandfather James Baker Vandervort, Civil War, Union

Vandervort Great Great Uncle Edwin Giles Kinne, Civil War, Union

Great Great Uncle George Thompson - Civil War, Union

Great Great Uncle Henry Carlton Richardson, Civil War, Union

Great Great Great Granfather David McIntire; father of the David McIntyre above; War of 1812

Great Great Great Grandfather John Robert Vandervort, War of 1812

Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather Church Tabor, Revolutionary War

Great Great Great Great Grandfather David McIntire, Grandfather and father of the two previous David McIntires above
Falmouth, Cumberland Co., ME;
Revolutionary War; promoted to Sergeant August 3, 1776

And lastly, at least at this time,
Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather John Van der Vort
Revolutionary War
My late sister bought this coat of arms.  I have no idea if it really is our Vandervort coat of arms, but it makes a nice stand-in for lack of photo of John Vandervort or his headstone.

I apologize in advance for the probably myriad of others who should be included.  I'll be happy to add to this list as I become aware!

Thanks to all of you for your service so long ago and up until today.
Including our newest member ~~

94 Years Ago at Castle Gate

94 Years ago my Great Uncle George Stevens Sherwood had returned to Wisconsin from WWI and decided to seek his fortune out west where his older half-sister Dora and her husband were living in Utah.  George came west and worked in a variety of interesting places over the next few years including such romantic sounding towns as Winter Quarters, Raines, Castle Gate, Soldier Summit and Helper. The romance ended with the names of the towns, but the mines did provide work provided work for a time.  Just after Christmas of the same year he had come home from war, he penned the following lines to his sister, my grandmother,  Susan, her husband Herman and their son William Philip AKA Billy Phil.   The photo of George Sherwood below was taken in Raines before he left there. 

*********

 

Castle Gate, Utah

Dec. 26 – 19

Dear Sister, Brother and Billy Phil,

            We got your Xmas letter and were sure glad to hear from you to know you were all well and that all was going well.  Since I left Raines I have made several attempts to write to but each has been a failure for one reason or another.  I spent the better part of the week with daddy or alone procuring the little Xmas tokens we got for you folks and the few others we graced with more than cards.  I sent Grace a purse, one of those new back handle affairs and Norine a breakfast and boudoir cap.  Mother and I got father a pair of gloves and Father and I got mother a pair of gloves. We got Guy a pair of motor gloves as he drives a company Ford at times, wow.  That about completes the list except for the vacuum cleaner we all got Dora. I got a photograph from Norine, a handkerchief from Guy and Dora, a book from mother  and $20 from mother and dad, and best of all we got a long newsy Xmas letter from Susan and family and I got the letter with insurance dun that you sent to Rains.  I am enclosing a letter I got from Wash and the Dec receipt.  After reading letter you will see its importance so keep safe with regular receipts.  Oh, sister, while we all thank you all for the added joy our share of your gift of money gave us, can’t you realize that the chance to have the folks out here with us and the chance they have to be here is the greatest Xmas gift you could make us.  At what sacrifice you have made this great Xmas possible we can only guess.  We can only say a very heartfelt merry Xmas and Happy, Happy, New Year to the Weber family.  Thank you all many, many times.
            Let us know if the package fails to arrive with everything -- should contain Thermos Bottle, Baby spoon, mittens and jack knife.
            Tell aunty I’ll try to drop her a real letter soon.  I am working on the Tipple here now, spragging[1] and slowing loaded cars.  Pays $5.20 per day for 8 hour hours.  All young fellows work there as you sure have to be up on your toes and watching your step there.
            Well, I tried to step off a few last nite for the first time since leaving home, so I’m too sleepy to make this longer.  Besides, there is really nothing to say.  We sure are having a Gee-lorious time but are getting dead for lack of sleep. 
            The other nite I took Dora, Mother and the kids up to a movie.  Dad felt a little off feed so did not go. I thot I’d surprise Guy as he did not know we were coming but he is sure hard to startle for he only smiled when he saw us come in and came over and sat down with us as tho he expected us all the time.
            Paper is running out so bye by with love to all, a huge hug for W.P.W.  Make him laugh.

            Love again to all,        George

  

The photo above is of Guy Lindsey taken at Castle Gate while they were living there.  The houses are now all gone, moved all together to an area on the edge of Helper.  Today the coal mines are still there in Castle Gate -- creating electricity for the grid and to power electric cars (but I digress).  Castle gate today --

 A vein of coal along the highway

 The train then was the lifeline of these small mining communities. Years before Uncle Guy had been a detective for the railroads and had chased after notorious thieves.  Aunt Dora made him quit because of the danger.

 Castle Gate today producing it's share of the electricity for the energy driven nation.  

---

[1] http://www.dailyitem.com/sprecken/x1280778439/SPRAGGING-can-save-your-life-Part-1/print Here is a longer description of stopping railroad cars with wood for friction – or digging in your heals in a pinch!  Spragging can save your life!