In previous posts, I’ve mentioned that my mother was one of twelve children.
Recently, in going through some old family papers, I uncovered a letter written by my Mom’s sister, Mattie, the firstborn of the twelve. The letter was written to their brother, Thomas, the ninth born.
In this photo, Mattie is the girl in the dark dress, standing in the center. Thomas is the baby being held by his Papa in the upper left corner of the picture. Mattie was 13 when Thomas was born.
The letter is dated June 18, 1990, and tells how Mattie “met” Thomas on the night he was born. It’s a little difficult to read, so a translation follows the images.
Page 2
We (the other siblings) was there to greet him when he arrived July 2, 1920, about 9 pm. A very hot night. I remember the night very well. The mid wife, Molly Shivers, came upstairs to get me. I was sound asleep. Wanted me to come downstairs to fan Mama and run a wash cloth over her face, her arms to help keep her cool. Also fan her. She was almost bleeding to death. Papa had gone to get Dr. Brock to come to see her. He had been there earlier to deliver (you) the baby. He gave her strychnine. This helped to save her life. I wasn’t old enough to be scared.
Molly Shivers said to me when I came downstairs, if I wanted to see my little baby brother. She had (you) Thomas laying at the foot of the other bed in the same room. He was looking at the lamp on the mantle. The blue eyes.
That was my greeting of (you) Thomas. I got to know him that night. There were 8 of us sisters and brothers to greet him: (me) Sister, Mattie, Lucille, Donnie, Andrew, Charlie, Bob, Martha and Margaret. We all loved him. I love him.
I thought this letter shed light on the hardships faced by that generation. In June of last year, I featured a letter written from another sister, Martha, to Mattie. Not only are the difficulties faced by families of that era evident in these letters, so is the love they had for each other.
70-odd years after Thomas’s birth, this photo was taken at a family reunion. That’s my mom in the wheelchair, Thomas standing, and Mattie on the far right.
(My mom died in 1995, at the age of 85, Thomas also died in 1995, at the age of 75, and Mattie died in 2002, at the age of 95. )
these days of mine 
What a wonderful thing it is to have those letters and how great to have you share this with us. I believe it is so important to understand what our ancestors had to deal with just to survive. Thank you!
How wonderful that this letter was still there for you to discover it…..bits and pieces of our history are so wonderful to have. I have a couple of my Mom’s old letters to family but that’s it. A rich family history must be a truly wonderful “gift” to have Dianna – thanks for sharing this. There’s so much love in the old photo and the letter……..
Pam
Such a neat post. Thanks
Such a loving family.
Beautiful, beautiful post. What a treasure to have those letters .. and you to preserve them in this way.
Hugs
MJ
These letters and pictures are in good hands with you to organize and present. I think you have a digital family book in the making.
You’ve got a treasure trove in those letters to preserve your family history. I only have a few such items, one being a diary of my Mom’s. I’d love to have family letters like this.
For a family so large, the love for each other was more than large enough to encompass them all! I feel so fortunate to be part of that still loving family.
what a great piece of family history and heart. 🙂
A very grand story from your family history! I wonder what your grandfather did for work that he was able to support such a large family. I bet everybody worked in the family garden and went berry pickin’. Thanks for sharing your pix and letter!
So nice to have these pictures and letters Dianna. I feel fortunate to have the letters my Mom and Dad wrote to each other when he was in Europe during the war. I have tons of pictures of people I can’t identify and no one to ask. I miss that family connection and having a family member to talk about my side of “family”. Wonderful photos to treasure.
Wow, 1 of 12! And I thought, since I am 1 of 7, that I had a big family 😛
Great story 🙂
This is so special! My dad calls me the ‘family historian’… seems like your family has one in you! Such rich treasures of knowledge and understanding lie in these words and photos!
I love reading old letters that show how different life used to be, not terribly long ago. Thank you for sharing this and the wonderful photos too.
What a lovely gesture to our family to be highlighted in another of your blogs(especially my Mom). I have heard that story many times, but still love to hear them all. Today, would have been Aunt Marthee’s birthday. Miss them all greatly…..Thank you–thank you….
This is so interesting! I just love reading words written years ago! True, their lives were so difficult, but I think families were more closely united too. With all the technology we have today, will there be any written letters for future generations to read? We should save our blog writings!
I felt privileged to be there the other morning as you pulled this out and read it .. It reminds me of Uncle Bennie’s trip to the Castle that day, and how it was advice in it’s own way : write these things down !!!
And that picture of Thomas is -exactly- as I remember him from the reunions!
What a treasure your letter is and of course all the photos and memories. My mother died when I was 31 but her sister, my aunt, is still living and is the only relative I have left. Other than my hubby and children, of course. I really wish I had written down things my mother and grandmother told me about days gone by. My memory isn’t that good and I’ve lost so much information. Not many letters were seen as important enough to save back then. And sadly, not many letters are written today so I wonder what our children will have to remember us by? Text messages and emails? Hmmm.
Enjoyed this post, Dianna, have a nice weekend!
What a lovely post Dianna. How great is it that you have the letters and pictures. They are a family treasure,
I love picturing the people I knew when they were old…back when they were little children.
I just love posts like this! Everyone should be so lucky to have such family treasures.
Precious memories.
Beautiful tribute to the memories and special people in your life. You are truly blessed to have the photos and letters to document the snippets of life of your family’s heart. 🙂
What a beautiful post — warmth of childhood, family, love and growing old together. It makes me think of all the folks in my Dad’s generation, all now sadly passed on. Thanks for bringing back folks I love to the forefront.
Those handwritten letters are just priceless. What treasures. Makes me feel a little sad for the future generations who only have internet communication.