Ella McKinnon to Annie Carlisle Feb 6, 1906

Mapleton Minn

Feb 6^th 1906

My dear Cousin

I am not going to write you much of a letter this morning but thought of something I wanted to tell you so thought I would write it before I forgot it again.

I had a letter from your mother a while ago and she asked me very particular if about Uncle George and I told her what I knew about him then but a few days before that I had written to Hermon & asked them about him so

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after I had sent my letter away I got a letter from them and they said that Uncle George was dead they went out to Oregon no it was Washington state years ago and I guess were doing well but last spring he caught a cold and it never left him & on August 10^th he died that is what Itha (Hermons girl) wrote me and Mamie lives in Providence R.I. Rena is in Chicago I believe that is where she was the last time I heard & the oldest boy Lawrence lives near Waukegan on a farm Rents one. & Guy the youngest was with them out west Uncle Henry was down at Waukegan when they wrote Itha said he would

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go out to see your mother only he did not like to go through Chicago he was not very well when he first went down there but went to doctoring & was better when Itha wrote but he is getting old he will be 80 next June I believe If I had a little more room I would have him come out here and stay with me as long as he would be contented he don’t seem to be contented very long in any place I maybe

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will write and see what he will say about it he always seemed to like me pretty well

Well I think I will have to stop now and get my sweeping done or if I have sat down before I got my mornings work done. The girls are washing dishes.

We have had two or three very cold days now and that is about the only real cold snap we have had this winter it is the coldest at least

Well I will have to say Good Bye Write soon

Ever your Cousin

Ella

Added to page 3, written upside down

I thought you could tell your mother of Uncle George’s death better than I could write it

A cousin gave me a death for George Wisner of 10 August 1905 and this letter confirms that. I did not previously know that he died in Washington or Oregon so I will follow up on that. In 1910 his son, Guy, was living in Tenino, Thurstin, WA so I will start my search there.

Lawrence S. Wisner may have still been in Waukegan, Lake, IL in 1906, however by 1910 he is found living in Elkhorn, San Joaquin, CA. George's widow, Julia Ann Barto Wisner, was also found in Elkhorn in 1910. She was boarding with her sister and brother-in-law, Harriett and Julius Arnold.

The names of George's daughters confuse me. The information I have from other family members and census records gives their names as May and Mattie. From a previous letter we know that May E. Wisner Jackson lived in Providence, RI so she would be Mamie. Mattie I. Wisner I know next to nothing about. Rena is a very different name than Mattie. Was Rena, Mattie or was there another child I am unaware of? The 1910 census for Cook Co, IL lists six Rena's that fit the information I have.

Herman's daughter, Itha Glenora Hall married Frederick Cashmore in 1902. By 1910 they lived in Newport and Herman in Waukegan. It appears for this letter that in 1906 Itha & Frederick were still in Waukegan.

Lake County is just north of Chicago so I would think the family would be at least somewhat familiar with the city so I'm curious about Uncle Henry's reluctance to change trains there.

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

McKinnon, Ella Hall (Mapleton, Minnesota) to “My dear Cousin” [Sarah Ann Camfield Carlisle]. Letter. 2 February 1906. Digital Images 1-4. Privately held by Apple, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Snowville, New York. 2008. [Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, Jan – Mar 1906, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. 2008.]