It's raining hard and there will be no fall golf today. As we look out the window toward Belle Plaine and Jackson Township, the dreary afternoon provides a perfect excuse to light a fire and dip into recently acquired family archives.
Here's a letter written on Jan. 7, 1864 by our great-great grandmother, Nancy William Ives, married name, Mrs. Peter Jackson. An honest-to-goodness pioneer, she was married near Mankato. We told that story in an earlier post.
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In 1857, Peter Jackson married Nancy Ives near George Lake near what is now Mankato (Stan's brother, Steve, lives there today) The groom returned with his bride to St. Peter then they made the last leg of their journey to Belle Plaine on a steamboat. Nancy was a nurse, and became known throughout the community for her caregiving. They raised our great grandmother, Ella Belle (1858 - 1918). Nancy died in 1881 in Belle Plaine. Stan and Kathleen are still looking for her tombstone.
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A 34-year-old Nancy writes this letter from Belle Plaine to her family back East in Russell, New York. Her sister there was recently married. Nancy has never met her new brother-in-law. She writes a letter addressed as "Dear Brother and Sister." In it she laments the loss of a child "He has taken your darling to his mansions where she is singing the song of the redeemed." Nancy's daughter, Ella, [our great grandmother] "cried all the evening," upon hearing the news.
Nancy continues:
"Peter [our great great grandfather] is sick with a cold... A great many children have died with diphtheria, some have lost as many as four out of one family. Many homes have been made desolate by the war.
"I hope this unhappy war may soon end and peace again reign in our land. Jeff Davis is sending forth a doleful groan, may he see the error of his ways and run for France or Canada...
"... you have no idea how lonely it is to have no relatives besides my own family in this state."
But there is an addenda to the letter -- a private attachment apparently intended only for the eyes of her sister.
To Mrs. Sophia Scoughton
Dear Sister Sophia,
I must talk to you a little as well as the rest. I can hardly make it seem as if you were married. It seems as if you must be the same little curly-haired sis that you were when I saw you last. But I think it is better for you to have a home of your own than to be a slave to everybody as I have often been since I came to this territory. I've worked til my feet are blisters but that was nothing -- I was nobody but a hired girl. I find it very different now. Our family is small and the work very light. I have every convenience that I need to work with. I suppose your work must be harder than mine as you have a sick mother to take care of. I have done considerable sewing the past summer and fall. I have made up about 100 yard of cloth and pieced 4 and quilted 6 quilts. I enjoy life very much yet I often think of my childhood home and the happy days I have spent there. I sometimes think that you have all forgotten me because you do not write to me. I can excuse Ann. She has so many little ones to attend to but you and Eliza have either forgotten or don't care enough about me to write. Do not forget me but write and tell me how you are getting along. Was you married at Mother's or did you take a ride? And tell me what you a looking husband you have got. Mine is a little taller than Alvin, has black hair, blue eyes and light skin. By the way, I sent you and Eliza each a magazine. I directed yours to Sophia Ives, I did not know that was your name. Give my regards to your husband.
Nancy William Jackson
(This letter was transcribed from the original letters by our grandfather, Paul Brown. We have many other letters written by this strong, talented woman. We'll share them if there's interest.)
