An Old Letter

I don’t know if this would be interesting to many of you other than my mom and my grandma and maybe a few other relatives, but it’s interesting to me, so I thought I’d post it. While we visited my Grandma Bev in Missouri this summer I found and photographed quite a few genealogical papers and some old family photographs. And my mom and I spent some time this week reading through some of the old letters I found there. Most of the letters were from Charles Dick to his mother while he was serving in the war – Charles was my great, great grandfather’s brother. But there were a couple older letters from other relatives. One that I found especially interesting was from an Elenor Stewart (I recognized the surname Stewart, but had not heard of Elenor before), written in 1865 to her sister, a Mrs. Giffin (who I suspected was Lucinda Stewart Giffin, my fourth great grandmother). The letter talked all about Elenor’s first husband, who died leaving her with four young children, and then about her second husband who went to war and then died of typhoid fever, leaving her with three more young boys. I really wanted to find out who she was and how she was related to me, so we went to the census records. I didn’t have much luck finding an Elenor Stewart (but I didn’t know when her husbands had died or if she had remarried a third time, so I didn’t know what her last name would have been at the time). But I finally found the family by looking up the name of the youngest son, because it was a rather unusual name – Ancil Mino Stewart – and all of the other family members fit in just right with the information from the letter. (Elenor was listed as Ellen on that census, which is why I hadn’t found her right away). Anyways, after finding the family on several different census records I happened to check the family tree records that have been submitted by other people about their ancestors on Ancestry.com, and I was very excited with what I found. Not only had several people submitted information confirming what I had found on the census records, and showing that Elenor Stewart’s second husband, Thomas Stewart, was the brother of my 4th great grandmother, Lucinda Stewart Giffin, but also several pedigree charts showing ancestors for Lucinda Stewart Giffin going back quite a few generations on some lines – some going back to Scotland, Wales, and England. It is not often that you come across so much information with so little research in original sources, so I was very excited. I still have to go back to Ancestry.com and type up all the info I found, since it was about 1am when I found it and I had to go to sleep. I just had to share that little success.

I typed up the letter from Elenor Stewart, and am attaching it here for any family members who might be interested in having a copy. This letter was old and had torn along all the creases in the paper, and it seems like there was one section of the letter that was missing, which I noted with ‘. . .’ when I typed the letter. (I did not correct any of the spelling or other errors from the original letter).
Enjoy!

“August the 20th 1865
Pratt office Shelby Co Ohio

Mrs Giffin
Dear Sister i Seate My Self this Sabbath Morning to Converse with you by way of pen and ink in the first place we are all well hoping those few Lines May finde you and family well and All of the friends the Same
I receive your Cind and Welcome Letter it was thankfully receive and read with Pleasure i was truly glad to hear from you Alltho Strangers to me but i hope we May become a quainted it is a . . .
i reading them it Seems to pass away My Lonesome ours as you may imagine they are Many you Stated in yours you had Lost Seven of your Children well i Can Sympathise with you altho i have not lost a Child [I] know it would be a greate trial to Lose One of Mine but yet i have waded through Severer trials you know ive Lost two kind Companion My first Husband Diede Leaving Me with four Little Children one Girl and three Boys the youngest was a babe Nine Months Old i was a Widow over four years When i Marraide Thomas he was Cind [to] Me till Death
after the war Comnced he felt it his Duty to go and help to put Down the Great Strugle but i pervaild on him not to go as his health was rather Delicate i told him he Could not Stand the hardships of a Souldier Life . . .
[ve]rry Mutch a gainst My will i thoug[ht] their was plenty of young Men to go he thought he Could Endure as Mutch hardships as the young Men but poor Man he Could not Endure all they [___] to pass through he Caught a Heavy Could witch Setteld on his lungs he was verry unwell when he Came home the typhoide fever Set in and when the Docttor was trying to break the fever he Said he was working a gains his other Disease we had too Doctors Call they Councild together but with all they Could do and all of the good Nursing i Could do we Could not restore his Life Thomas was gone four Months in the Army he Live five weeks after he arrive Thomas was So glad when he got home and we was all glad to Se him but Sorry he was Sick
i am Left with three Little Boys the youngest was three years years old . . .
Son Milliard fillmore next Ancil Mino the youngest
Dear Sister i must tell you that all of my Souldier Boys is home now Safe and Sound as i had three of my Sons in the Sirvis and Lutter is the 4th you may immagine my feelings i feel thankful they have got home there is Several of our C[___]ection that is filling Souldiers Grave
Mr Giffin is a cguainted with Mr Dodds he has too Sons a filling a Souldiers Grave they fell before Atlanta poor [___] how we miss them
our Cropps is pretty Good the Corn Look well their was wheat injured by the wet wheather the Oats is good i will Leave you for this time and if you think this worthy of answering pleas do and i will try and do . . .
Give My Love to all Enqiuirings friends if any their be
Lucy is well and the babe is also
Henry is not verry well
_________________________
Ma[_]vans family is well as far as i know poor W[_]L is not home yet
_________________________
your friend
Elenor Stewart”

Grandma Bev

Also on our move, after stopping in Nauvoo we drove down to Kansas City, Missouri to visit my Grandma Bev. It was good to see her again, and to talk about genealogy together. We had a lot of fun, and the boys especially enjoyed hearing her stories that she used to tell us about “Freckles” the squirrel. Thanks, Grandma!

We are moving!!

This has been a week of packing and moving. Monday, Memorial Day, was a day filled with packing. Luckily we were invited to a BBQ that night at Ken and Monica Theriot’s, so we had something to look forward to. The weather was perfect and the Theriots have a very nice fenced-in backyard that was perfect for kids to play in.

I was getting so tired of packing as the time got closer to move – it is what we were doing from the time we got up in the morning until the evening. This move was more difficult than previous ones because we had to split everything into two groups, one for Utah and the other for New York. Our goal was to get all of it to fit into 2 pods. That is why we have been selling most of our bigger furniture. We finally got the last sofa sold on Monday, and the guy came to pick it up Thursday morning. We made about $800 selling the furniture, which we can put into savings for furniture in Rochester, and we figure that we will be saving about $1000 by not storing that furniture for one year, so we have been pretty blessed in trying to make things work.

Packing continued all day Tuesday. Thanks to Amanda Hansen and Jill Hunter for watching the kids for a few hours so we could get more packing accomplished. The pods arrived Tuesday morning. They were not very big – only 6 x 7 x 8 feet, and we had to get everything to fit into just 2 of them. I was a little worried. We had some people come from church to help us pack the pods Tuesday night, and as boxes were placed out on the lawn, I started to panic, thinking that we were not going to make it fit, and we would have to use the 3^rd pod. But miraculously, at least in my mind, we were able to make it all fit how we had planned. That felt so good. We were both exhausted after that long day.

Originally we had planned to leave Milwaukee Friday around noon, after the pods were picked up. When the pods were dropped off on Tuesday, we learned that we didn’t have to be there for them to pick up the pods. And after getting so much done by Tuesday, we decided that maybe we could try leaving late Thursday afternoon. Wednesday ended up being a little more of a lazy day as far as packing. We took our time getting up and ready for the day and then had several errands to run with all the kids. We dropped off a van load of things at the salvation army. Then we sold my old nintendos and games and were able to get enough money for 2 new games for our Nintendo Wii – Super Mario Galaxy and Zelda: Twilight Princess.

We met up with Jason and Amy Hymas and Jason and Marcela Maas at Hoyt park that night in order for the kids to play together and say goodbyes. It is still so weird to me that we may not see some of our friends from Milwaukee again after this week. I’m just glad that there are blogs for us to continue to stay in contact with our friends. After the park we took the kids to Peter and Cynthia Hedgecocks to play with Jordan and Carter again before leaving. We are really going to miss our family from Milwaukee. Please stay in touch and let us know if you will be near Salt Lake City over the next year.

Thursday we were able to finish getting everything packed and into the pods. Amy Hymas, Jill Hunter, and Amanda Hansen all volunteered to help Steph with cleaning the apartment, so I took all the kids (7 total) to the park to play on the playground and in the sand while the moms cleaned – thanks to all of you for your help. We were so blessed to be friends with all of you.

Then we got back, finished packing up the car, and left. We decided at the last minute to get a power inverter for my laptop so we could plug it into the cigarette lighter in the car and not run down the laptops battery. We also got a tape to hook into the car’s stereo system so the kids could listen to the movies. Then we got Mulan and Milo and Otis, since all of our other movies were already packed before we came up with this idea. We finally got out of Milwaukee around 8:30 and drove for a few hours. We had decided to try and sleep in the car to save money by not paying for a hotel, so we found a side street and set up camp for the night. The kids actually did really well and the weather was really warm for us. I probably had the hardest time just because I didn’t fit well into one seat to sleep. But at least I tried. :)

We got up Friday morning and finished driving to Nauvoo, Illinois. Our plan was to stay for 2 days and then head to grandma Bev’s Saturday night. We ended up doing just one day in Nauvoo. We took the kids to see the brass band; on a carriage ride with horses around north Nauvoo; to Wilford Woodruf’s house where we got to say hi to Sister Andrea Cartwright, one of Steph’s friends from high school who is serving a mission in Nauvoo; and to the family living center and outdoor pioneer games center. The kids really liked the outdoor play area. But they just had very short attention spans in the places where we would sit and listen to someone talk, and those were the things we had left to do. So we decided to leave after dinner and start on our journey to Grandma Bev’s house.

This time we were able to stay at a hotel where we were able to shower and bathe the kids, which was wonderful. Yesterday we drove the rest of the way to Grandma Bev’s and got here in the late afternoon. She had dinner ready for us, and then she took us to Culver’s, where Aunt Amanda works, and the kids were able to say hi. We also stopped at the store to pick up some Benadryl for me. I am already taking Zertec for my allergies, but Grandma Bev has a cat, and my allergies have been so bad since we got here. I took the Benadryl and after a while it put me to sleep on the couch until we went to bed. Steph was able to video tape a genealogy interview with her grandma, and then she found some old German documents that her grandma had misplaced, which she is going over today to hopefully find out more information about her ancestors.

This morning my allergies were really acting up. I didn’t want to take any Benadryl because I didn’t want to fall asleep at church, but I finally took some, which helped so much. I was tired at church but didn’t fall asleep. In the Sunday school class we talked about Alma’s discussion of things that we should do to become members of Christ’s church, focusing on being a witness of Christ at all times and in all places, and what that means, and how we can try to be better at being a witness for Him. We are having fun being here with grandma Bev. Our plan is to leave sometime after lunch tomorrow and take 2 days to drive the rest of the way to Utah. Our pod is supposed to arrive on Tuesday and then I start my internship 2 weeks from tomorrow.

We have been so blessed as we have been able to reflect on all the people that have touched our lives over the past 4 years in Milwaukee. Thanks to everyone who has been our family away from family, and we hope to continue to stay in contact. Here is our new address and contact information (I am changing my email address so take note):

Michael and Stephanie Bradshaw

4027 Market Street

West Valley, UT 84119

(801) 967-9974

michaelbbradshaw@gmail.com

stephanielbradshaw@gmail.com

Getting Ready to Move

This week has been a whirlwind of packing and getting last-minute things done before our move, with some fun thrown in here and there. On Sunday afternoon Michael’s parents and my parents each left, and on Monday Grandma Faun left too. We were so glad that they could all come for Michael’s graduation!

On Monday Michael got his graduation gift from me (and we used the graduation money from Grandma Faun and the money Michael had earned by helping give a test to the 2nd-years a couple weeks ago, and it was still a pretty big splurge – but Michael really, really wanted it and has worked so hard through school these last few years that I figure he deserves to spend some time just relaxing and having fun). So, I got him a Wii. I was always one of those people who swore our children would never play video games (although I do have a secret love of Tetris). But I do like that the Wii has fun sports games that get you up and moving, and that since it is wireless the kids can play too without accidentally stepping on the chords and turning everything off – Kolby is an expert at bowling already! So we have the sports games and Mario Kart, which is a fun racing game – as long as we steer clear of the killing games, I don’t think it’s bad to sit down as a family or with friends and play some games. Plus, Michael was excited to find out that he could play the games online through our wireless connection with his family and friends who don’t live nearby – he has already played the racing game with his dad in Boise, and with the Hymases. So, needless to say, Michael was pretty excited about that gift.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I went to the family history center and had the sisters there help me translate some of the German records that my parents brought back from their trip to the Czech Republic. I am so excited to sit down and figure out how all these ancestors connect, and my mom said she might even be able to come up to Utah once my brothers’ school gets out, and we can both spend some time at the family history center working on it together – it’s so fun that my parents are both getting interested in family history too now.

I have been quite busy this week also selling lots of our furniture and some other smaller things. This week we sold the entertainment center, the kitchen table, another table that we had in the basement, an end table, the breadmaker, and the car. Now we just need to sell the couch, and we will be set as far as the big things go. We’ve also been doing all the last minute things that come with moving – canceling our YMCA membership, getting transfer papers for WIC, getting the tow hitch installed on the van so we could tow the car on our move, making last-minute doctor’s appointments before we move and have to switch doctors, making big batches of soup to try to use up the meat in our freezer before we move, getting oil changes and check-ups on the cars before moving, finding out that the car had some major problems that we didn’t know about that made it un-drivable and would cost more than the cost of the car to fix, posting the car on sale for craigslist for $350 (hoping that we could get more than just $100 for it), having 30 or 40 people e-mail us about the car the night we posted it online, taking one last trip to the Chicago temple before we move, canceling our reservation to get the tow dolly from U-haul to tow our car to Utah, and having someone come to our house as soon as we returned from our temple trip and offer us $500 for the car and then paying us and taking it off our hands right away. Although we were not planning on having to get another car for Michael once we move to Utah, I guess if you look at the bright side of things, we will no longer have to tow the car on our drive to Utah, so that will not only save us a little gas money, but we will also not be limited to the 6 days that we would have had to get to Utah to drop off the U-haul tow dolly, so now we can choose to stay an extra afternoon or an extra day in Nauvoo or at Grandma Bev’s house on our drive out if we feel like it. Also, it was a little annoying that we had just paid to install the tow hitch on the van and we won’t be using it now, but I guess we will tow whatever car we get on our move to Rochester in a year, so the hitch won’t go totally unused.

We have also had some fun this week. Tyce came over and played a bit on Monday night after we put the kids to bed, and the Hedgecocks came over on Tuesday night after Kolby called and asked if Jordan could come play (Kolby and Eli get really excited lately when we let them call their friends on the phone). On Wednesday we got to go to a playgroup at Enderis Park, where we saw Marcela Maas and some other friends. Michael also took the three older boys swimming on Wednesday night while I repaired furniture to get it in good enough shape to sell it. At the playgroup that morning Marcela decided to organize a BBQ for the next night as a little going away party with some friends. She called everyone and got it all organized, and we were surprised at how many showed up since it was planned at the last minute. It was nice to be able to see lots of our friends and enjoy some time together, although people didn’t linger for long after dinner since it turned out to be a very cold evening. After the BBQ, the Hedgecocks stayed to play and Jana and Marie Wells came back over after dropping Keith off at the school to study. Michael figured out how to play the Wii with the Hymases on the internet too that night, so that was fun also.

And today will be our last day at church in this ward. I’m sad to be going, although I’ve kind of been getting used to the idea since Michael matched, so I’ve not been feeling quite as sad lately as I was at first. And this week will continue to be busy too. The pods arrive on Tuesday and we will have Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to pack everything and clean the apartment. The pods will be picked up on Friday before noon, and we will head out then. We are planning on stopping in Nauvoo, Illinois for a day and then stopping and visiting with my Grandma Bev in Missouri before driving the rest of the way to Salt Lake.

Oh, speaking of Salt Lake, I sat Kolby and Eli down the other day and explained all of our moving plans and answered their questions, and they seemed to understand and accept everything, except there was some confusion about moving to Salt Lake. Apparently Kolby thought we were moving to a place with water, since it is called ‘Salt Lake.’ I explained to him that there is a lake, but that it’s not right next to Grandma’s house, and the rest of the conversation seemed to go pretty smoothly. I think that the boys are starting to understand the idea of moving, although they keep asking me every once in a while if we are moving back home after we live at Grandma Faun’s house – I think Kolby thought we were going on another extended vacation until I recently told him we would have a new house in New York after we live in Utah. I haven’t mentioned to them that they won’t be seeing their friends again, though. I don’t know if I should say anything about that before we go or not – I’ll probably just tell them today that they need to say goodbye to their friends before we move. Hopefully that goes pretty smoothly too.