• Register

The text contained in this article is from a Web document that was formerly available at the Sevier County Library's Web site. The document is no longer on-line, but it was located in an Internet Archive. The actual source and transcriber were not identified in the document, nor was there any indication of whether the extraction was complete. Some minor, obvious corrections were made to the text because it appeared to have been mechanically converted (OCR). Additionally, paragraphs were created to make the text easier to read.

No copyright infringement is intended by posting the information here for the benefit of researchers.


Monday December 30, 1912, Flannigan, IL

Dear Mother,

I recd your letter today and was glad to hear from you but sorry to hear that Clementine was sick. We are all well and hope this will find you all the same.

Was sorry you didn't get any xmas presents. We went to a xmas tree. Joe got a tie and the kids got a handkerchief a piece out of it. Mrs. Wieckman gave me a handkerchief and Joe one and she gave Johnie a watch and Elbert a rattler and Johnie got a little cart off the the xmas tree and Elbert got a doll. Jim Webb's boss gave him $5.00 five dollar gold piece for xmas.

I wish you was here to help us eat milk and butter. I churn about five gallons every day and pass it out to the pig and make lots of butter. The man we got her from offered Joe fifty five dollars back for her but we wont take that for we cant get another one that cheap out here.

I have sent for me a big table and a rocking chair and a center table and a big lamp and couch and a set of silver knives and forks. It takes some money to buy things out here. I guess we will take all our things back there when we go.

I don't know when we will go thou for if we buy any land we will stay out here till we get it paid for. We couldn't pay for land and stay there. Does Levy Patty want to sell the place where he lives. Where is he going to live. I don't want his upper place. I wouldn't like to live there would you?

Yes, I had one tooth filled and one pulled. I had to give 7 bits to have a tooth pulled. We went to Manouk on the train and got our xmas things.. Old Santa Claus brought Elbert and Johnie a air rifle and a horse. 

________________________________

Notes

1. Letter was written by Martha Stalans Webb (1893-1983), d/o Marion and Nancy (Gibson) Stalans to her mother. There may be a page missing or my great-grandmother ran out of room. The last few words are crowded in on the last page.

2. Martha was 19 when she wrote this letter, and she and her husband Joe Webb had two sons, John and Elbert. They were living in IL where Joe had gone to find work.

3. Clementine was probably Martha Clementine Gibson who was married to J.C. Hawn. It could also be Clementine Narcissus Patty who was married to Stephen Gibson, but my great-grandmother usually referred to her as Grandma Gibson, not by her first name.

Main Menu

Tell a Friend!

Click the link below to share this site with your friends. A new window will open. (We don't collect e-mail addresses.)
For custom maps, graphics, self-publishing, and more ~~
For books and more ~~