Hattie and John
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"Dear Sister May...I have been sitting around all day taking care of the children and feeding tramps there was one here a little while ago, and said Mrs'es will you plase griv a fellow something to eat. of coarst I had to give him something I was so fraid of him I had a notion to run out to the field and let him help himself but then you know that would never do so I put on a brave face and gave him what he wanted. I thought if he said any thing that I dident like I would take the gun to him."
In 1881, my great-great-aunt Hattie Briggs married John Buckland and they took up land in the newly opened Dakota Territory. Her letters to my great-grandmother, Lucy May Briggs, were recently discovered. They paint a fascinating portrait of life in the wild west ~ Dakota and Iowa ~ during the late 19th century. I'm currently transcribing Hattie's letters, along with others from May's stash.
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My niece Christy Slate has created a genealogy chart of her family tree including the Briggses, and also the Morrisons (Lucy May married William Morrison in 1886). Below are some of the letters Lucy May saved, which I find illuminating not only for my own family's history, but also for their general historical interest.
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Lucy May |
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