Noble January 1881
Dear Children
we received you letter wednesday was glad to hear from you
I have been going to write you but have been butchering has so much to do and Father has had the Dotcor 3 times I have been about worked out again am taking medacine and doing the work have had no girl since september we got aletter from Rosy about Christmas they were well did you get the pictures I sent each of you one and Joseys each one and I have have 5 general and Lady Washington and 3 of the small ones 2 rosies and 1 lilly I think them very nice the 12 pictures and magazine 15 months 1 dollar
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about the coloring I hardly I had escract of logwood and copras you want to desolv it and put it back 2 or 3 times the milk was to keep it from crocking I dont remember about it being scalded it seems to me like milk and water I think we wet the cloth in soapsuds before puting it in the die
we had very cold weather espealy between Christmas and new year we had only that little stove that was in the parlor when you was here every thing froze the milk almost solid in the pantry the potatoes and apples in the cellar
the 8 of january we went to bronson and got a new stove
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it is a round oak it cost 15 dollars and 50 cts we can keep warm now I am siting by the father side of room sweat like a hot day in summer I am raising apet lamb and you cant think what a nuisance it is nor how much trouble it is most 5 weeks old I have got a new dress or wil have if I can ever get it made have it cut and am trying to make it but I dont get any tome to sew we have aman to do chores get 3 meals a day it takes me all the besides waiting on my pet
we expect Mr and Mrs B out next week they came last fall and papered the house and whitewashed overhead the sitingroom and kitchen and both pantries and bedroom
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O how I would like to come and see you all but cannot this winter
write soon
S A Camfield
I have not got anything from Illinois not one of them writs to me I have written 4 letters to Mary Ett since she has written to me I think I will write once more
When I photographed this letter I cut off the top with the date but it was with the 1881 letters and because of the talk of Christmas it seems likely it was written in January.
Sarah mentions talking medicine in many of her letters and I'm very curious as to what she was taking.
Logwood grows in South America and the extract is used to make a reddish dye. Copperas is ferrous sulphate and was used to set the dye. Now if only Sarah had said something about what Anna was making!
If I'd been Sarah I'd have been working on that dress every spare moment but I imagine "waiting on my pet" was more fun.
Mary Ette Wisner Hall was Sarah's sister who lived in Avon, Lake County, IL. I don't know if Sarah ever heard from Mary but Anna did hear from Mary's daughter, Ella, in Feburary. Ella says, "I am almost ashamed to send this after waiting so long before writing to you."
For more see:
Camfield Family Letters
Descendants of Sarah Ann Wisner
Michael Camfield
Hall Family Letters
Henry Bogardus, Shirt-tail Cousin
Camfield, Sarah Ann Wisner. (Noble, MI) to “Dear Children” [Anna Camfield Carlisle]. Letter. January 1881. Digital Images 1-4. Privately held by Apple, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Snowville, New York. 2008. [Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, 1881, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. 2008.]
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