Wel Anna I suppose you wonder why I do not write we have talked about it enough to have written 40 letters but that did not do any good so I will try and write a little we are as wel as usual we have got our building done at last our Carpenter was so slow and it rained so much it did seem as if we never would get done we got done 2 weeks ago and I got the prettiest wall paper that could be and got the rom papered and my best carpet down and I did feel proud of it we got windows with 4 glass in a window it cost 2 dollars and 1 shilling to get the paper put on and
page 2
it is all cracked to pieces come loose fromtop to bottom you never saw any thing like it I feel so bad about it but that dont help it
we built a new barn it is small 18 by 20 and fixed the house over we have a room 14 feet 15 and a kitchen and wood house and 2 bedrooms below and quite a chamber it want some fixing we are very comfortably fixed we are as warm as toste thes Cold days
we butchered last week so I have my work pretty well along I hope for I am tire out I have had no help 1 year ago last august I have done all alone harvesting thrashing building
upside down, top of page 2
and all now the last 5 weeks I have had aboarder and done
upside down, top of page 1
S A Camfield
his washing as well as our own
margin of page 1
will try to write again son
I think Mike was working hard too!
Shoddy contractors in the 1880's, who'd have guessed?
For more see:
Camfield Family Letters
Descendants of Sarah Ann Wisner
Michael Camfield
Camfield, Sarah Ann Wisner. (Noble Center, MI) to “Wel Anna” [Anna Camfield Carlisle]. Letter. 10 Dec 1885. Digital Images 1-2. Privately held by Apple, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Snowville, New York. 2009. [Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, 1884 - 1886, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. 2008.]
3 comments:
Sounds like nothing's changed with contractors! :D
I hope you and your family have a happy new year! All the best for 2009 :)
The ups and downs of home remodeling. :-) It sounds like it's a win in the long run, but how disappointing to have the wall-paper fall off the wall.
The other thing I always think about is how hard it is for me to move around early in the day before my arthritis meds kick in. It makes me all the more grateful to live in the days of central heat and supermarkets.
These letters have provided insight into everyday life from this period as no other source could. Thanks again for sharing them.
Happy New Year to you and yours.
I felt so bad for Sarah when I read this. In later letters something happens and they are no longer "warm as toaste." I whine about the cold here all the time and thinking about how things were back then puts things in perspective.
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