# Unexpected Treasures: Letters From The Past **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 8, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-treasures-letters-from-the-past/624550 "2012-06-08T20:40:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-treasures-letters-from-the-past/624550/1 "2012-06-08T20:40:38Z")
Back inthe mid/late 70’s, after the success of the TV series _Roots_, my Mom got interested in the family history. She didn’t get far with any of the research before losing interest, but she did get a letter from my great-uncle Owen from my Dad’s side of the family. In this letter, Uncle Owen detailed as much of the family history from his side of the family as he could remember. I met him once in '78 or '79, when he drove from Denver to St. Louis, and I recall him as a fairly spry old guy in his early 90s, wearing an old but dapper gray suit and hat, with a walking cane from having broken his hip a few years prior. When my Mom died in 2004, I came across the original letter, and had it laminated, but it disappeared about the time my brother went back to Idaho. Just about a year ago I was visiting with my Dad, and he mentioned that he got a photocopy of the letter from my brother, which confirmed my suspicions that my brother had taken it. After pestering my Dad persistently for a copy, he finally copied _his_ copy and got it to me. So, I’m working from a bad copy of a bad copy of a letter written by a 90+ year old man in 1977 or thereabouts. I tried to “copy” (type into Word) the letter as faithfully as possible to the way it was originally written. If it seems like your typical illegible net-speak, please bear in mind it was written by a man in his early 90’s or thereabouts who probably never had much formal education. Anyway, here’s the letter: Page 1 > [@](#): > > Hi Jane. Il try and tell you about our family tree as > My Grandmother and Mother told it to me. Im the > oldest one left now of my Grandfather and Grandmother > Suttons family. The 1st of our clan of Suttons come > from North Iriland some time before the revolutionary > war. Wm Sutton and wife and 1st born boy also a younger bro. > come from Virginia to Missouri in the year 1844. > and they brought 2 of the old musket guns with them > that his great Grandfather used against the British in > the revolutionary war. Wm Suttons fathers name was > Thomas Sutton and his mothers name was Marie Duffy > Down to Wm Sutton they had been Scotch Irish arriegan > But Wm Sutton (my great grandfather) wife was a Mary > Biddle who was raised in Pennsylvania of Dutch descend- > -ents better known as Pennsylvania Dutch. So that > would make my grandfather a mixture of Scotch Irish > and Dutch blood. So while Wm Sutton & family was > waiting on the Ill side to be ferried across the Mississippi > river near St Charles Mo. a family named Taylor was there > also to ferry across. The mans name was John Taylor > and his wife was a French women, They had a large > family of 8 girls + 4 boys. The 2 families got across the > 2 rivers (Miss and Mo) about together and both drove > south to the Village of St Louis, and stayed there until > the next winter. Grandmaw was 6 years old or 8 I dont > remember but she used to tell me that Polke was Elected > U.S. presedent that fall, That would be 1844. Both the Page 2: > [@](#): > > familys then moved on south to what is now the > town of ‘Bonne Terre Mo.’ It was just the St Joe had > mines at that time. Bonne Terre means rich earth in > the French lengo. The Taylors moved on into Wash- > -ington County and homesteaded near the Village of > Caledonia, later the Suttons followed to Wash. County. > So the Sutton kids and Taylor kids growed up around > Caledonia. Thomas Sublet Sutton and Nancy Jane > Taylor got married, I dont remember what year they got > married but they started out at Iron Mountain Mo. And > my father was there 1st born in 1859. Now then the > Sutton clan was all Scotch Irish until Wm Sutton married > the dutch girl that made my grand father a mixture of > scotch Irish + dutch. Then grandfather Sub Sutton married a > girl of English + French desent and that would make > my father ‘what?’ You figure it out. Grandmaw Suttons > grandparents come from France the year 1813 or 14, any > way it was the year the English put Napolian on the island > and lots of the people were leaveing France. There name > spelled in the English sounded like LaDiddles to me. > I dont know if grandmaws mother was borned in France or U.S.A. > > PS. Il get to Mothers side of the house tomorrow. Page 3 (on this page, the stuff in parenthesis was added as a “superscript”): > [@](#): > > Grandpaw Seamonds name was Simmonds when he > served in the war as a soldier (against Mexico) in the (late) 1840s or early 1850s > I dont remember which but Grandmaw received her > pencion check every 3 months and thats (the) reason I saw > the name on them. But when the family moved from > Mayfield Kentucky to the Viilage (of) Desarc, Iron County > MO, in 1870, there were 3 different sets of Simmonds lived > there and on occount that Grandpaw wrote to publishing > and news meadies\* in St Louis he got lots of mail > and quite often the other Simmonds got his mail so > he changed the spelling to Seamonds. So all the family > kept spelling (it) that way. Now thats what Mother told me. > Grandpaw was born and raised in Tennessee. His family > was a large one I supose for he had 4 brothers who were > ordained Ministers of the Holy Bible. I think from what I > have heard from from Mother and my Aunts that Grandpaw > might of been the so called black sheep of the family, because > they said he often come home to full of the sperits > which was whisky+hard cider mixed. Grandmaw Seamonds > was born and raised on a tobacco farm which had been a > very little way from Mayfield Ky. Her ancesters had > homesteaded there when they moved from Carolina to Ky. > Her name was Mary Carmon or Carmen I don’t remember which > and she had 2 middle names between the Mary and the > family name of Carmon. When Mother died Lavern got > the old Bible with Grandmaws name and other histry of > her so if you can get a chance to visit her look it up. \*I think that words is medias. Last Page: > [@](#): > > Both the Seamonds and Carmons familys were colonial > stock. If the name Carmon had been spelld with a K instead > of C it would sound like they were German blood but Carmon > or Carmen could be eather Scotch or French. > But all of Mothers people ive seen were short of stature > with blue eyes and brown hair so I should think they eather > oregenated from Scothland or Gearmany. Grandmaws > father was a tobacco grower and Babtist preacher. He > lived to be 104 years old. Thats about all I know about > my mothers ancestors. The way I look at it that my ances- > -tors are mixed up in the North American Mellton pot of the > early years of this Nations caucasian people. How > ever I dony know of any on eather side who was above > or below of presedent A. Lincolns comon people. > > P.S. The only one of our ancestors that I know that > wasent colonial stock was Grandmaw Suttons > Grandparents on her Mothers side of the house > come over here in 1813 or 14 and I dont remember which. > So hopeing you all can figure it out. Il close > up. So with best wishes as ever, > > ``` > Unk Owen. > > ``` ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-treasures-letters-from-the-past/624550/2 "2012-06-08T22:25:28Z")
It’s always interesting to come across things like that. I have a lot of my father’s letters to my mother when he was away in the 70s. I haven’t read them as I feel I’m too close to the time period. I also have a collection of my great aunt’s letters from her husband from WWII. They are interesting and I’ve read them. A lot of it is just ‘I miss you darling’ and things like that. Since they had no children I plan on donating them to the local historical society. I have made scans of them so I can have copies. I also have letter from my great grandmother to her children. We were always told that she left her children and never talked to them again. I’ve found out that’s wrong since she wrote to them at least a few times. I know there were plenty of other letters as she talks about what she wrote in them. I wish I could find them but I don’t think I will. Today someone let me borrow some letters that he bought that came from the 1920s. I was thinking on buying them, depending on how much he wanted, but I can’t see to find the people in the letters in the census records just yet. I would either donate these letters to a historical society or try and find a family member that might want them. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-treasures-letters-from-the-past/624550/3 "2012-06-08T22:29:30Z")
I recently came across a bunch of papers from my grandparents. Unfortunately, they’re all in either Polish or Czech, so I have no iea what anything is. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-treasures-letters-from-the-past/624550/4 "2012-06-08T22:32:14Z")
I once read transcribed copies of letters that men in my (ex)husband’s family wrote home, and to each other, during the Civil War. They were Confederates. I remember one writer telling about seeing Union observation balloons, calling them “flying fools” Following one letter the transcriber/editor made a notation “by the time this letter was received the writer was dead.” Near the end of the war one man wrote of all the sickness in his camp, and how many fellow soldiers in his unit were hoping that their pay would be late again, as it would give them an excuse to desert. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-treasures-letters-from-the-past/624550/5 "2012-06-09T04:04:26Z")
I find old letters fascinating. After my Great Aunt passed away I found a stash of letters she had kept dating to WWII. It appears that she had fellas from just about every branch of service writing to her. I never had any idea she was so popular! The most interesting letter was on stationary covered in swastikas with numerous bits cut out of it - by censors I’m guessing.