My dear Cousin
I know it is not proper to write with a lead pencil but I can get along so much better with it that I thought I would use it this time
I meant to have answered your letter right away but I had so much to do there for a while that I did not get much time and then Annie I must own up that I forgot all about it, it is so long since we have
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written until lately that I am afraid that I do neglect to write more than I ought to but I do dislike to write to tell the truth but I know if I do not do some writing I will not get any letters. I don’t hear from Hermon’s or Emmit’s very often have not had a letter from them since I was there but Ray is down there this winter so I hear through him how they all are
Well Annie do you like to be call Grandma does it make you feel old or not. I think you are getting too far ahead of me you had better stop a while now
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We have had quite a cold winter with a good deal of snow but it is about all gone now it is more like ice than any thing else with dirt on top. the dust would blow with the snow and when it thaws it mud then the ice cannot melt very fast it keeps every thing nasty so long to
I expect to begin house cleaning this week if it keeps as it is now. I want to clean the upstairs at least when the winters are so cold one cannot do much
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in the way of cleaning so it gets terrible dusty if nothing more than that and our chamber is pretty cold when it is cold if I want to scrub the water would freeze as soon as put on the floor
Deette’s oldest boy you know is out here and was married New Years Day! They were here to day he has got a nice woman I think, I like her ever so much they are keeping house have been for four weeks now they live about 5 miles from us we have always known her folks but not her until lately
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Well I guess it is my bed time so I will have to stop if I can find time I will write a little more in the morning. I must try and write to your mother soon but it is hard work to write when you do not know any one here for me to write about but I try to do my best so if any letters are not very interesting don’t blame me
We have been well all winter with the exception of colds and no very hard ones at that our family are healthy that is a good
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thing and hey are healthy too it is not very often they miss their meals. I tell them I get tired of cooking but I would rather do that than to see them sick as a good many are.
Remember me to Joseph when you see him but perhaps he does not remember me but I can him not so very well but still I remember him
Give my best Respects to all and keep your share yourself
Good night
From Your Cousin,
Ella
I don't know why so many family members used their middle name instead of their first name. In Annie's case her name was the same as her mother's so it made it easier to distinguish who you was who. Annie's husband was Isaac Ashley Carlisle and he generally was called Ashley. There are many others and in this letter we have Donald Ray McKinnon. I wish Ella had said why he was staying the winter in Illinois. Was he working, learning a trade of just helping out?Annie's first grandchild was Clara Frances Carlisle, born 31 August 1902, the daughter of her eldest son, Francis Ashley Carlisle and his wife Mary Frances Carlisle.Can you imagine sleep in a room so cold that water would freeze? I whine if we turn the thermostat down to the upper 50's!Deette's son, Earl R Bullen, married Edith Myrtle Taylor. Now I know when and where!For more see:Carlisle - Wisner LettersFamily of William WisnerDescendants of Maryetta WisnerDescendants of Sarah Ann WisnerMcKinnon, Ella Hall (Mapleton, Minnesota) to “My dear Cousin” [Sarah Ann Camfield Carlisle]. Letter. 3 March 1903. Digital Images 1-4. Privately held by Apple, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Snowville, New York. 2008. [Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, 1903-1904, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. 2008.]
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