Question of the Week: Have you found any love letters or personal correspondence in your research?

+24 votes
926 views

Let's get those romantic vibes going for Valentine's Day and share the stories of love birds we've found in our tree. :-)

in The Tree House by Julie Ricketts G2G6 Pilot (481k points)
retagged by Abby Glann
I came into possession of the letters my father wrote to his mother when he was a prisoner of war at Hong Kong during WW2. A valued family possession that shall be passed on to the next generation.
My father had a cake tin full of correspondence sent to him while he served overseas, Most of them were from our mother and started with My dearest "Red", Others were from Mum's brothers and brother-in-law, as well as a set of letters from the primary school he attended and from his mother.

28 Answers

+5 votes
My cousin has my great grandmother's autograph book including a poem her future husband wrote her.

When my grandfather passed I found a box of letters, some from family, replies from family about my grandfather's unknown father, and several from different girls he was courting.  One was an excellent artist with several drawings.  Hope to find a descendant some day.
by Catherine Ryan G2G6 Mach 3 (32.9k points)
+5 votes

Yes!!!, sent to me by a distant cousin to "transcribe" --  full-page, from the soul "wedding vow" poems from Abigail Andrea Colburn and Newell Bowman Adams.

Marriage 28 Sep 1842 • Moriah, Essex Co, New York.

Written in pencil, poetic style and handwriting were difficult; they arrived folded into a tiny square inside a tiny leather purse, possibly carried in Abigail's skirt pocket for over 40 years until her death as a widow in Nebraska.

.

by Marj Adams G2G6 Mach 4 (44.0k points)
+5 votes
Not letters as such as the space was so small just endearments or messages under the stamps of postcards, back and forward across town as mail was delivered several times a day it was an ongoing progress then.
by Heather Douglas G2G6 Mach 1 (17.4k points)
+5 votes
I found a telegram sent during WWII to my mother from a young man who wanted to marry her.  She later married my father, but she kept the letter and his photo all her life.
by Jill Cohen G2G Crew (900 points)
+6 votes
I have recently received the letters my father wrote to a girl (who became my mother) and members of his family whilst he was a POW in Germany from 1941-1945. Of necessity they are brief but poignant. Here was a young man of 19 who had the remainder of his youth taken away never to be recovered.

I also have a book 'The Love Letters of Paquita and Douglas Mawson' which contains dozens upon dozens of letters written by both to each other. This was purchased during my (unsuccessful) research to find a connection between Sir Douglas's family and my own Mawsons.
by David Walley G2G4 (4.6k points)
+6 votes
Yes I did. I found a carton of love letters from my mom and dad back in 1950 when he was in Korea.

I also found love letters from my father-in-law to my mother-in-law before they were married. Every sentence he wrote, began and ended with "dear".
by Cheryl Hess G2G Astronaut (1.8m points)
+3 votes
After my mum passed away I had the chore of going through her collection of greeting cards...from the 1920's on...one box appeared quite recent and was tempted to just dump into recycling when I noticed a plastic bread bag with envelopes. Turns out it is 25 letters from my Uncle Tom home to family. They were written from various places he was stationed and end early in 1944. He was killed in action in August that year so these letters are so precious. I am trying to decide how to mount/store them so that the rest of the family can see, read them without risk of damaging them.
by
What an incredible find, Catherine! I'm so glad you were able to rescue them.
+3 votes
My sister produced letters my father had sent to my mother when I last visited. Fortunately, I had my Flip-Pal with me and I have scanned them.

I also have a letter my gt grandmother wrote to my grandfather on Christmas Eve when he was away in South America. He worked on the Royal Mail Steamship Company ships that sailed between Southampton and Argentina.

https://gadsbyfamilyancestors.blogspot.com/2016/03/a-letter-from-mother-at-christmas.html
by Hilary Gadsby G2G6 Pilot (313k points)

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