Martha Hall to Annie Carlisle March 13, 1881

Fox Lake March 13

My Dear Cousin Annie

I was very agreeably surprised a short time ago by receiving a letter from yourself. We thought we had lost all trace of you, not feeling sure that either you or our folks being in the same place so did not know where to write. Mother has written twice since hearing from your mother and we thought they might have moved so waited for her to write. Oh dear such a winter as we have had especially the month of February snow! snow! snow! until there was no getting out of the house for two or three days at a time. One week I only taught one day

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of school and could not get there the rest of the time. I was teaching the Monaville school. The snow from here to the school house was from 1 to 6 feet. More shoveling has been done here than ever before. The mail stage from here to Waukegan could not get through from Wednesday until Tuesday.

Herman’s family are living here this summer. Herman and father are going to be very busy this summer. They have hired 3 more hands. It seems as though nearly everyone has something to build. Herman has two children, a boy and a girl. Emmit has two little girls. And now Ella has a boy though I suppose she will be hastening to tell all her correspondents before I have a chance.

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Eune lost a little girl last fall. Every since she has had attacks of Neuralgia of the stomach. She had quite a severe attack last week. Herman went to Hainesville for some medicine for her, the snow up to his waist in some places (no teams could get through). When he got there the doctor was snowed in within 2 miles of us, so there was labor lost.

Uncle William’s family have gone to Kansas. They went in February. Father has just found uncle Anthony’s folks, what’s left of them. There is only Aunt Cynthia and two of the girls left and one of those is a widow. Uncle George’s folks are still living in Waukegan. Aunt Fannie is living at Hainesville with Aunt

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Mary this winter. Deette writes that she had a letter from you a short time ago. We here from her quite often. Myrtie wishes she was there when peaches are ripe.

The measles are in this part of the world, in full force in Antioch. At one time there were 60 cases and the last day of my school there were 6 more scholars coming down with the measles. Have I told you we are all well? We are any how well. Well I must stop for I have 4 or 5 letters to write to night so by by.

believe me your Cousin.

Martha J Hall

Martha provides a wealth of information in a fairly short letter!

This letter was in the folder of undated correspondence. The reference to the birth of Ella's son provided the year. Donald Ray McKinnon was born 23 February 1881.

Martha's brother, Herman, lived in Waukegan, IL. Their father, William Hamlin Hall is listed as a Carpenter on census records and this letter confirms that. Emmitt was another of Martha's brothers.

Eune was Eunice Fenlon Wisner, wife of George H Wisner. I believe George was a first cousin to both Martha and Annie but I have this far been unable to lock down his parents. Prior to reading this letter I had no idea that she had lost a child.

William Abner Wisner moved his family to Washington County, Kansas.

Anthony B. Wisner died of disease during the Civil War and is buried in Nashville National Cemetery. He had settled in Barry County, Michigan prior to the war. His daughter, Sofia Wisner Valentine died in 1875. After Anthony's death it seems that his widow, Cynthia Casler Wisner, returned to Syracuse, NY. There she married George Carner. Anthony and Cynthia's daughter, Mary, married Andrew Lyke and settled in Liverpool, NY. Their third daughter was a widow named Alice Wisner Madden and she would died later in 1881.

The last bit of information I've found for Uncle George A Wisner is the 1900 census and he was still in Waukegan at that time. By 1910 his widow was living in San Joaquin Co, CA with her son. I do not know if George died in Illinois or if he went with his family to California.


Fanny was the widow of Prentice Wisner. In 1880 she was a boarder in the home of Isack and Mary Davis. At this point in time I do not know how (or if) Mary fits into the family tree.

For more see:
Carlisle - Wisner Letters
Family of William Wisner
Descendants of Maryetta Wisner
Descendants of Sarah Ann Wisner

Hall, Martha J (Fox Lake, Illinois) to “My Dear Cousin Annie” [Sarah Ann Camfield Carlisle]. Letter. 9 May 1880. Digital Images 1-4. Privately held by Apple, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Snowville, New York. 2008. [Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, Undated c. 1850-1899, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan]