Ella McKinnon to Annie Carlisle Aug 18, 1918

Mapleton, Minn
Aug 18th 1918

My dear Cousin,
Please excuse a lead pencil as I can write faster & Better with it.

Yes Anna I am certainly busy these days. besides my housework I have knit about 3 pairs of sox for for the Red Cross in a little over a year and this summer I have done all of my housework all alone a good deal of the time since about the middle of May at least Hermie the youngest girl is helping Myrtle this summer as she has a little baby boy not quite 3 months old yet and that makes her _ so could not get along alone very well but it keeps me busy. Ella

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is at work at a store here in town so she is only home at meal time and they have to be on time so it makes me jump on wash day at least. My husband is not able to help me any or least I do not let him unless he peels potatoes or something like that.

Yes Anna two of my boys are soldiers Neil and Walter the two youngest boys. Neil the oldest of the two was at Paris Island S. C . since last March. he joined the Marines so he was on both land & water until last March. he was home then for 10 days then was sent to the Non Commissioned Officers school at Paris Island then was made Corporal and lately was made Company Commander but last week had orders to get ready for oversea so he may be on the water going to France now I do not know just where he is. Walter has been at Camp Grant. Ill. But he has had his orders to send his things home and has his overseas equipment given him so as to be ready. They only had about 24 hours notice either one of them they have both liked their work but Neil especially felt as if he was not doing much it is about 15 months since he enlisted but Walter was in

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Class 1 of the draft so has not been gone from home 2 months yet. I have written and received letters from them both nearly every week since they went away but now I cannot get them so often I suppose.

Thanks Anna for you kind wishes and if I feel as I do just now I will likely see quite a few more as I am well and feeling good most of the time for my age at least.

We have had so much rain I wish you could have had a part of it We have had to much but everything has done well but not many apples this year garden good Ever yours Cousin Ella

Myrtle's son was Gordon Birchard Cumming, her third child.

Tragically, Hermie died 22 September 1918 at the age of 22. I have not yet discovered her cause of death.

For more see:
Carlisle - Wisner Letters
Family of William Wisner
Descendants of Maryetta Wisner
Descendants of Sarah Ann Wisner
Margie's Ancestors - McKinnon Pictures



McKinnon, Ella Hall (Mapleton, Minnesota) to “My dear Cousin” [Sarah Ann Camfield Carlisle]. Letter. 18 August 1918. Digital Images 1-2. Privately held by Apple, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Snowville, New York. 2008. [Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, 1918 – 1919, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. 2008.]