W.W. Kyle retires as Weston mail carrier

The Weston Chronicle, Dec. 24th, 1965, p. 6

Around Weston 28 Years Ago...

J. W. Scott popular and highly efficient teacher of the seventh and eighth grade, has been appointed to the position of rural mail carrier to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of W. W. Kyle last spring. In the interim, Maurice Vaughn has been carrying the mail.

Lynn's note: The retiring mail carrier was my great-great uncle. Uncle Willy is the reason my grandfather left his dad's home in Kentucky and came to Missouri. He helped Uncle Willy with his apple crop shipment and a few years later came back to Missouri to stay. W. W. Kyle was Grandad's father's brother; also originally from Kentucky.

Weston distillery has ties to St. Joseph's Missouri Valley Trust

From The Weston Chronicle, Dec. 24, 1965, p. 4

Ancestors Worked At Distillery

Although only 18 registered at the local museum on a recent Sunday there were some very pleasant visitors and exciting moments for the hostesses, Mrs. Ida Allison and her guest, Mrs. Nettie Miller.  Mrs. Miller is not a native but is far more interested in Weston, its history and its museum than some who are closer to the 'good earth' of their home town. She interviewed several persons, among them Carl R. Wellenkoetter of St. Joseph, who was seeking information about his great-great grandfather, Abbott Porter Goff.

Goff, according to his descendant was at one time an investor and a bookkeeper at the Holladay Distillery forerunner of McCormick. Mr. Wellenkoetter thinks it was about 1860 Goff was also one of the first directors of the Missouri Valley Trust Company, oldest bank west of the Mississippi today. He owned vineyards and a winery on Lovers Lane in St. Joseph.

From the name it is assumed Goff belonged to the German population of Weston and with most of them moved to St. Joseph when the steamboat fiasco occurred here and the handwriting on the wall indicated Weston's doom as a commercial center.

(end of my transcription...more in the paper of the women assisting them along with a thank you note.)

Services Monday for E.R. Kyle, Weston Chronicle 1965

I've inherited old newspapers and finally am getting around to storing them correctly. Of course, I read them as I put them away and have found genealogy material that should be shared. This obituary is from The Weston Chronicle, Weston MO, Dec. 24, 1965.

Services Monday For E.R. Kyle

Egbert Railey Kyle, 80, prominent farmer and tobacco grower of Platte County died Saturday at the Atchison hospital after being a patient there about two weeks. Mr. Kyle was a native of the County and of the Iatan community and was born and raised on the land homesteaded by his grandfather, Matthew Kyle. He was a son of William and Melinda Krusor Kyle and was born April 16, 1885.

He was a member of the Mt. Bethel Presbyterian church and of the Weston AF and AM Lodge No. 53. He was married to Miss Carrie Ditto on Feb. 5, 1913 and she with a daughter, Mrs. Kenneth Myers of Excelsior Springs survive. He also leaves three grandchildren.

Rev. John Cox of the Iatan Church of the Nazarene conducted services Monday at the Vaughn Chapel in Weston. L.R. Vaughn was at the organ adn Mrs. C. R. Hall sang.

Pallbearers were Ora Palmer, Nelson Smith, J.C. Page, John G. Kyle, Floyd Smither and Tom Bishop. Burial was in Mt. Bethel cemetery.

Antiques Roadkill, Book Review

Antiques Roadkill, Barbara Allan

 

The first in the Trash 'n Treasures series...no recipes this time but an end of section tip on antique hunting at estate sales or shops.

 

Brandy moves back home with her mother after her divorce that resulted from a drunken night at a reunion with her HS boyfriend. Her mother has a mental problem that requires medication and when she is off the medication wild and weird things can happen. So when Brandy walks into a house devoid of the family antique furniture she knows what has happened. An unscrupulous antique store owner has purchased all the expensive heirlooms. This story builds on what this dealer has done to the town's elderly and sick population with no one surprised when he turns up dead. Brandy and her mother are suspects in the crime and in typical mystery fashion set out to solve the murder.

 

The authors of this book are husband-and-wife writers Barbara Collins and Max Allan Collins.

The Darling Dahlias and the Confederate Rose, Book Review

The Darling Dahlias and the Confederate Rose by Susan Wittig Albert

If I find an author whose books I enjoy I will search for anything else they may have written or might be writing.  Albert’s series of China Bayles mysteries has been a favorite so I picked up this book hoping for good things. Reading the book jacket and finding that this is a new series set in the Depression had me second guessing my choice. But Albert pulled it off.  Her research into the time period created a highly believable 1930s small Southern town. The people inhabiting her book are characters you might almost know from oft-told family stories: the spinster librarian, the assistant who knows more than her boss, and the small town newspaper man looking for a big story.

Albert’s 1930s world seems pretty close to what my grandparents and others have told me about it. So I was able to suspend belief and enter her world rather easily. The Darling Dahlias is a garden club. The Confederate Rose is a common name for a hibiscus and the name of a female Confederate spy during the Civil War. The weaving of the two into a cozy mystery of earlier times had me turning pages and enjoying the experience. I’ll be reading the first book in the series as soon as it arrives by request to my library.

Cake on a Hot Tin Roof Book Review

Ok, heads up alert on this one...it's just for fun. Just as I can't resist a good dessert, I can't resist clever titles for summer beach reads either. Cake on a Hot Tin Roof follows A Sheetcake Named Desire by Jacklyn Brady. The premise is a bakery chef inherits a pastry shop from her late, almost ex-husband in New Orleans. There is a mystery involved, as in her first of this "A Piece of Cake" series. However, it's the inner workings of the pastry shop that interests me the most. New owner Rita Lucero who is still trying to earn her spot as the boss of the shop finds her visiting uncle a suspect in the murder of one of New Orleans prominent businessmen. Several families' secrets are revealed in the course of the book and a view of Mardi Gras a few years after Katrina keeps things interesting.

As in many books lately, recipes are included in the back of the book.  None for the fancy cakes made up for the pastry shop but some recipes for brunches and other meals. Only one appealed to me but then I'm not a fan of New Orleans style food.

Have fun as you get an inside glance at a business most of us will not see in daily operation.

Objects of My Affection Book Review

The premise of this book hooked me. Lucy Bloom is an organizer given the job of clearing out an artist's house with a deadline that is an important part of the plot. The artist is a hoarder and refuses to let go of her stuff creating most, but not all, of the tension in the story. I like my 'stuff' too so I picked this up to discover how the cleaning out goes. Along the way I found myself guessing as to what happens to the hard working organizer who has recently lost her job, her boyfriend and sold her house to pay for her drug addict son's therapy.

I crave happy endings so this book pretty much tied up the storyline the way I wanted with a few surprises along the way. I'll be reading Jill Smolinski's earlier book, The Next Thing On My List, now that I've enjoyed Objects of My Affection.

Delusion in Death Book Review

J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) is either one of the most prolific writers working today or has a host of ghostwriters working for her. Either way she is selling a ton of books and I read everyone of them. With that statement you know I'm a fan and will not be writing the usual book review, but instead will just recommend any of her books for escapist reading as they pull you in and keep you with her till 'the End.'

Delusion in Death is perhaps a little more fast-paced than usual as Lt. Eve Dallas works almost around the clock with her detective team in 2050 NYC to prevent mass murder via mind blowing chemicals. Her team is made up of returning characters with a couple of those characters getting more exposure this time around. I guess I like her books because of the dialogue. She does it with quips and threats and humor between characters. I don't have to skip over paragraphs and paragraphs of introspection or description that makes me impatient when reading these days.

I would suggest if you're new to Robb's 'Death' series to start with the first in the series, Naked in Death, 1995. It's not mandatory but you'll have a vested interest in the characters and understand more of the insider comments if you do.

The Afterwife Book Review

Sometimes not reading the book cover turns into a pleasant surprise. I had my doubts about Gigi Levangie Grazerat's book in the opening pages but enjoyed the surprise as I finished the book. 

The doubts came as the beginning of the book had the protagonist's husband dying. A deeply loved husband killed in the first few pages is not my idea of escapist reading. However, it paid to stay with it as I did enjoy the book and its unexpected curve into unforeseen territory. I don't want to spoil this for anyone else so let me just say that there is a play on words with the title.  Think Afterlife and you'll have a clue what's ahead.

Grazer has a host of characters that are fun, pathetic, and believable supporting the widow. Her subplots also take side trips that are surprising and entertaining. I even laughed out loud at some of the antics in the book. For something that starts out with a sad premise, she turns it into a book that's both engaging and amusing.

Paris My Sweet Book Review

I've always considered memoirs to be written by older people. Paris My Sweet, A Year in the City of Light (and Dark Chocolate) does not fall into that category. Amy Thomas lived in Paris for two years in her thirties and shares that experience of loving Paris and all things dessert but eventually returning to her home in New York City.

This isn't a recipe book although she frequently shares how the dessert is made and its inspiration if in New York or Paris. She shares her work experiences, her loneliness and her love of the city that claimed her heart when she first visited during a semester of college. I enjoyed her writing style and living vicariously in Paris through her experiences. I certainly enjoyed reading of the dessert treasures she consumed with verve and passion. If you've ever dreamed of bicycling through ancient streets and architecture, visiting the Louvre whenever you wanted, eating multi-course meals each served with great wine, then you'll enjoy Thomas' adventures in the City of Light and Dark Chocolate.

Paris My Sweet, A Year in the City of Light (and Dark Chocolate), Amy Thomas, Sourcebooks Inc,. 2012

The Checklist Manifesto Book Review

I'm becoming more of a list maker all the time. Lists make me more efficient and keep me from forgetting things I really want to accomplish in a day. So finding an online recommendation for The Checklist Manifesto, How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande intrigued me enough to order it from my local library.

It wasn't the consummate way to create and complete to-do lists that I expected, but took off in quite a different direction. The author uses some of the best checklists known to make a case for using them in any arena where safety and efficiency is warranted. We all realize pilots use checklists before flying airplanes. Gawande gives examples of how these checklists save lives. His stories keep the reader's attention on what he's going to say next. The take away from this book is how checklists used in hospitals are preventing mistakes in surgery and elsewhere. If I have to have surgery I want to ask the doctor if he uses such a checklist. Gawande convinced me that, although often times checklists seem to be rote, the times they save lives is worth the effort involved.

Gawande builds his case for checklists with case histories that are page turners and research data that convinces instead of glazing over the eyes of readers. This is a nonfiction book I can recommend.

The Checklist Manifesto How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande, Metropolitan Books, 2009.

Civil War places Platte County woman in Harm's Wayx3

The case of Barbara Greenwood of Platte County during March of 1865 aroused my curiosity as to her final fate. This is her story adapted from Provost Marshall's records. 

Evidently while out scouting for enemy soldiers one day, Sgt. Cyrus M. Reid, M.S.M, stopped at Mrs.Greenwood’s house with Weston City Marshall Monroe. Sgt. Reid stated Mrs. Greenwood believed he was a rebel and told him that if a bushwhacker (a man named Kirkpatrick) had taken her advice he could have avoided the soldiers who killed him.  Reid testified that she sent her grandsons to warn the guerrillas of Federal troops in the area.

A Robert Lampkin testified that in September of 1864 while he was with scouts posing as Confederates, Mrs. Greenwood had her grandson bring a man in from the brush that had been in a fight against the Union and wanted to go with them (the supposed Confederate scouts.) The man was arrested as a bushwhacker as he had "stolen goods."

During the gathering of statements to determine Mrs. Greenwood's actions, Nathaniel A. Monroe stated that Mrs. Greenwood "is disloyal." He said the Federals had killed James Kirkpatrick (a Confederate soldier) near her farm. He stated she had kept Kirkpatrick hidden and helped him avoid Federal soldiers by sending her grandsons to see if soldiers nearby at Lampton’s were Federals.

Her response to the charge that she had harbored guerrillas was that a man came to her house wanting directions to Liberty. She wanted to get rid of him so gave him directions, but he returned the next morning.  She did admit to begging Federal soldiers not to kill Kirkpatrick on her place but stated she never warned or fed guerrillas.

Her official story ended on April 5, 1865, with a letter from the Provost at Weston requesting that the district provost attend to Greenwood's case as she is “very aged and the confinement is killing her.”  Four days later, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse.  I can't help but wonder what happened to Mrs. Greenwood.

Who Are Those People? And What Are They Doing in Your Closet?

A sight that immediately saddens me is finding stacks of family photos for sale in antique stores; discarded because no one had a clue as to who the people were in the photos. So let's get those photos out of your closet, out from under the bed, or out of your digital shoebox...and label them!

I’ve been a Creative Memories consultant for 20 years but long before that I was a scrapbooker. My first camera was a Christmas present from my uncle when I was eleven. My Brownie Instamatic and I took photos of Christmas Day, family, schoolmates and vacations and put them all in a scrapbook. A cheap, black scrapbook that years later I discovered was one of the worst environments in which to put my photos. The acid on the pages eventually caused the pictures to fade. Even worse, I attached the photos to the pages with small, rolled-up pieces of cellophane tape. Yikes! That damage was obvious a few years later when brown spots started appearing on the fronts of the photos where the tape was stuck on the back. All my documentation was on the scrapbook page so when the photos were removed to prevent further damage, there were no names or dates on the photos.

My grandmother had a different method of identifying people in her photos for posterity. She certainly had the right idea, but she wrote on the front of the photos with cheap pens. Within a couple of decades the ink had bled and names became hard to read.  Anything written on the back of the photo bled through to the front, effectively destroying the image.

We both loved our photos and tried to save them to enjoy in the future, but we didn’t realize what we were doing would damage the very things we were trying to save. Luckily, the photo album/scrapbooking/memory-saving industry has found ways to alleviate the problems my grandmother and I had with our photos.

The first, and most important, thing to do with photos after printing is to label them. Label them completely.  Use a photo-safe, soft leaded pencil and write on the backs of photos for documentation. This type of pencil won’t cause indentations to the front of the photo that a sharp, hard instrument will and it will not bleed to the front of the photo.

Doing this could save your photos from the antique malls of the future. And get those strangers out of your closet so you can enjoy your family photos for years to come.

Genealogy Family History Expo in KC July 29-30th

I've never been to one of these but they are held all over the country and I would love to attend.  See details at the link below.

http://www.familyhistoryexpos.com/viewevent.aspx?eid=35

Remember? I did say this blog was about genealogy, too! 

M. Jeff Thompson's letter to President Jefferson Davis volunteering his services

The following letter was sent to the President of the Confederate States by St. Joseph's former mayor, M. Jeff Thompson, to offer his services to the South. It pre-dates his discussion with the new St. Joseph postmaster (which I posted yesterday) by about three weeks and was sent immediately after the fall of Ft. Sumter.

Saint Joseph, Mo., April 15, 1861.

His Excellency Jefferson Davis,

President of the Confederate States, Montgomery, Ala.:

Sir: 

 

M. Jeff Thompson

Not knowing the name of your adjutant-general or any other proper person to make the inquiries of which I desire, I have taken the liberty of addressing you direct.

I am anxious to know whether the Confederate States desire volunteers from the border States, and if there is any regular arrangement for their reception, or whether it is necessary to have any authority from your Government before volunteers should be raised.

My object in asking is that, should Missouri refuse to join her Southern sisters, I desire and intend to move South, and I can, if acceptable, bring one, two, or three companies of as good and true men as the Southern sun ever shone on, if I can assure them that their officers will be confirmed and commissioned by your Government.

I would respectfully refer you to Hon. Luther Glen, commissioner from Georgia to Missouri, or Hon. _______ Russell, commissioner from Mississippi to Missouri, or his Excellency C. F. Jackson, Governor of Missouri.

Yours respectfully,
M. Jeff Thompson,
Colonel, Inspector Fourth Military District Missouri Militia

p. 684, Series I, Volume I, Official Records of the War of the Rebellion

St. Joseph MO postmaster reports on meeting Jeff Thompson in early days of the Civil War

Two weeks after Ft. Sumter fell, the newly appointed postmaster for St. Joseph, MO, chanced upon former St. Joseph mayor M. Jeff Thompson while traveling on the river. Mr. Thompson seems extraordinarily loose-lipped in this account, but here's the story of the meeting with its tales of Fort Leavenworth given over to Secessionists. It's taken from Series I, Volume I, p. 679, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1880.

Washington, May 2, 1861.

Hon. Secretary of War:

                Sir: Mr. J. L. Bittinger, recently appointed postmaster at Saint Joseph, Mo. Arrived here yesterday, and gave me information in regard to secession movements in that State, which I take the liberty of conveying to you.

 

He states that while descending the Missouri River he met with a Mr. Jeff. Thompson (right), who informed him, not supposing that he was in favor of the Union, that Lieutenant Cooke, now at Fort Leavenworth, had told him (Thompson) confidentially that the dragoons stationed at that post had pledged themselves to co-operate with the secessionists in whatever schemes they might determine upon, and he remarked that he himself—their commander—intended to head them in the project. Lieutenant Cooke further observed that it was his determination, in case Missouri seceded, to do all he could to transfer the Government property in his charge to the State authorities, and in the event that Missouri did not secede, that he would resign his commission and offer his services to the South.

Mr Bittinger says that the disunionists in Saint Joseph are organized, have possessed themselves of Government arms, and are meditating the capture of Fort Leavenworth. There are now in Saint Joseph, he states, three hundred and seventy-four Union men, who form four companies, which will be placed at the disposal of the Federal administration. They have no arms, however, although they have applied for some—to Major Van Vliet, I believe; but they were refused on the ground that the persons applying had no order from the Secretary of War. The Union volunteers of Saint Joseph beg that you will give them such written authority as will enable them to procure the necessary arms and equipments without any further delay.

Having fulfilled what I deem my duty in imparting to you the above information, I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

John R. Atkinson.

Frank James New Venture-from a newspaper clipping

Found in the same newspaper clipping as a family obituary dated 1894. The Smithville paper copied it from the Kansas City Star.

Childhood stories of Frank and Jesse James

I grew up hearing stories of Frank and Jesse James and how ancestors on both sides of my family had known him. I thought that highly unlikely, but as I grew older and asked more questions I found out it was mostly true.  Frank and Jesse had friends in Platte County who helped them when they could. When I asked an older resident why Frank and Jesse frequented this area he told me, “I don’t think they were hunting them too hard here.” 

Frank James New Venture

Kansas City Star.

St. Louis, Sept. 25.--At the door of the Standard theater last night taking tickets was Frank James, the once noted outlaw. He said:  "I have abandoned the race course forever. There is no money in it. It has ceased to be profitable. I have a son who is 17 years of age, and it is natural to suppose that if I had continued in the business he would have drifted into it also.  I do not say that the business is disgraceful; oh, no, not that, for I have met hundreds of gentlemen on the track. Some of my best friends are there. But of course, there are bad ones to be found on a race course, and somehow or other, you can't tell why exactly, but these are the kind a young man generally falls in with.  I have, therefore, forsaken a following that has afforded me much amusement and entertainment for his sake.  In the future I will be in the theatrical line--not on the stage, but in the business office, or at the door, or somewhere near about where the money is taken in.  I have commenced at the bottom round, and expect to work my way gradually up. There is money in the business when you work it right."

"So you will never go on the stage?"

"Never. I have no merit in that line and no sort of practice would make me an actor. I have had plenty of opportunities to go before the footlights.  Immediately after my acquittal and vindication I was offered $52,000 a year by a New York company, but declined it. In the future my home will be in St. Louis. I am tired of roaming around. I shall try to find my son a place in a commercial house and we will live together. To make a quiet, steady, sober man of him is now my highest ambition.”

Smithville Herald, pg. 1 

Herald Supplement
Sept. 28, 1894

Martha Jesse Fletcher obituary 1894

Taken from the Smithville Herald of Sept. 28, 1894

Obituary.

Died. At her home, in Smithville, on the evening of Saturday, Sept. 22nd, 1894, of hemorrhages resulting from typhoid-pneumonia.  Mrs. Martha, wife of G. W. Fletcher, Aged, 31 years.

"The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

It seems hard at times to become reconciled to the will of the Lord, and especially when one loses a good, kind, and estimable wife, or a loving mother, as in this case, where Mr. Fletcher has lost as kind and loving a wife as ever man espoused; a good mother, an esteemed neighbor, and one beloved by all who knew her.

She leaves a sorrowing husband, and five little children to mourn her departure from this life.

 

Sorrowing father, try and forget your grief in the performance of the double duty which now devolves on you--that of being both father and mother to your bereaved little ones, Do you miss her? How much more will your children miss the one who was accustomed to minister to their every pleasure and desire. Make their less as light as possible, and may the God of peace lighten you burdens, and smooth the pathway of life for the little ones.

---------------------

This scanned clipping from a northwest Missouri newspaper was among the papers of my grandmother.  I wanted to share it with family members interested in genealogy.

1893 Camden Point Missouri Christian College Student Writes Home to Her Sister

I thank Dick Williams, KC MO, for his permission to publish his mother's (Helen Williams) letters written by her mother, Nellie Moore Lewis. This has been linked from the Platte County Historical Society's Facebook page as it wouldn't all fit on PCHS's wall.

Letter #1

Camden Point, MO

Jan. 20, 1893

Miss Jennie Moore,

Dear Sister,

I will write you a few lines this evening. We have been moving this eve   have just got settled down. We moved in No. 5, on the north side of the building so we can see you all now when you come down.  

[Note: The first term was completed around the end of January and some girls left while new ones enrolled for the next session.  Which explains why the girls were moving to a different room.]

Well Jennie how is the Hackle(?) by this time  I rec. a letter from Ella Isray this morning. She said Charlie Lewis was married we were surprised to hear that but we hear of a wedding every time any of us get a letter.

Laura Jeffers said you all were going to have an entertainment at the school house. How is it getting along.  I expect it will be grand.

How did Pa and Anna’s mother get home last Sunday night? Anna is well now has been able to be in chapel nearly all week. I was afraid her mother was going to be sick she had such a head-ache but Pa would not stay all night.

I liked my new dress ever so much   it fits very well. What did you think of my pictures I did not like them a bit they looked too mad and they were too black. Did you go to Mrs. Bells party -Ella said she was going to have one I didn’t know whether it was Mrs. Albert Bell or not-I thought if it was you would go sure.

The military boys had an entertainment last Friday night. We all went and of course it was grand.  I guess you know about how boys would do just by themselves they had two or three pieces and a song. They came over here Sat. night to our Society and of course ours was the best or at least we thought so.

[Note: The military boys were the students attending the new Camden Point Military School on a hill across town. This was one of the first years it was in session. According to a history of the military school the first years were rocky without an experienced military officer to take charge of it. Once an officer was teaching in the school, it prospered for several years.]

Well January will soon be gone and we have five more months to stay here. There has been about five girls went home since Christmas and three new ones come in  the School is not quite as full as it was before Christmas but they think there are more girls coming after a while. I had never heard those two pieces you sent in your last letter but thought they were real good  think I will send them to Charley I told you I was going to have it put in the paper but you didn’t believe it Jennie

The Mary Allen Society is going to have an entertainment in about a month  You and Maud can come then I do not know when the teachers will have their entertainment. The Mary Allen Society is the one Nellie and I belong so you know it will be good. But you must come whether  we have anything or not Lulu Wiff? has been looking for Addie down the last two or three days but has not come.

Nellie Isray said to tell you she would answer your letter soon. Well I have written about all I know so I will close hoping to see you soon.

                                                                                                                 

Your loving sister

                                                                                                                

Nell

Tell John and Ben to write to me.

Letter #2

Camden Point MO

Feb. 20, 1893

Miss Jennie Moore

Dear Sister:

I rec. your letter to-night  will now try and ans it. I was very sorry you did not get the letter in time to come. We looked for you all day to-day.

The play was just grand  I know it would just  have suited you for it was a regular novel.

I guess you all went to the Commencement at the Medical College to-day.  Nellie got a card, I wouldn’t have cared to have been there myself so long as you all did not come down.

The Mary Allen Society is going to have an open session but I do not know when it will be  you can come down then if you will, I will try and let you know in time.

Mrs. Bell seems to be getting quite prominent.  She must have about three Balls a week don’t she  I am afraid she will run herself down as she is so delicate anyway.  I would love to see he(r) dance with Mr. Fisher  I imagine she would be quite graceful on the floor.

I rec. a letter from Anna the other day  haven’t answered it yet  She said she was going to send me the Ladies Home Journal soon, and she said they had their mail brought up to the door  now I should think that would be right nice.  I guess Charley must be working hard he never does write anymore.  Anna said to tell her brother to ans her letter  she wants to go to Perrin next Sunday.

Well all my examinations are over but one that is Physiology  the teacher is waiting on one of the girls to get well  she has been very sick. They sent for her mother yesterday.

Tell Pa they would like to have the money for our books as soon as possible.

Well I have written all I know so I must close  I will send you one of the bills of the entertainment.

                                                                                                                 

Write soon

                                                                                                                 

Nell