Ella McKinnon to Annie Carlisle April 15, 1908

Mapleton Minn
April 15th 1908

My dear Cousin
I began a letter to you some time ago and never got it finished so thought I would try again. I do not know how I will make out but will and try and finish it at least.

We have one of the nicest springs to get our work done only the wind blows so hard nearly every day. I have not got any garden in yet on that account. I have some tomatoes up in a dish in the house so I can have some early ones.

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but we have some potatoes planted if it does not get so cold it will freeze them it is pretty cold tonight at noon yesterday it was 80 on the N. side of the house and this morning it had dropped to 35 so you see it is quite changeable here it is about 40 above zero now.

We have all of our small grain in that is the wheat and oats we do not sow any rye or barley but it is too early to plant corn yet for it is likely to freeze after it comes up

I just got a note from Belle she says she has 8 weeks more of school she has 33 scholars enrolled has about an average of 20

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I have 8 hens setting only one is just hatching she had 6 little chicks a while ago there will be a few more in the morning. I have two set on turkey eggs. so you see I will have something to do after a while as if I did not have any thing to do now

I have not got any house cleaning done yet I am waiting to see if Myrtle can get home to help me. I can not do it alone very well. she is helping a neighbor with her sewing I don’t know how long she will be there

Belle does not get home very often now since seeding began she is only about 5 miles from here either

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but we do not have time to go after her and so she does not come home she will maybe be home this week

I meant to have written to your mother but have not got it done yet but may someday soon but I have to feel like writing to write a good letter and hen some times I don’t make it much of a success

How did Joseph enjoy his visit at Hermon’s & Elizabeth’s last fall. I wish he could have come out and seen us too. I believe I should know him if I should see him & I have not seen him since I was 12 years old.

Oh Annie have you that first picture I sent you of myself yet. Will you part

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with it? Mother had one but it was stolen out of her album a good many years ago & I could not get it again & I wish I could have got it. I had one of me taken when I was 19 and my husband wanted it enlarged so I got it for him for Christmas and he thinks there is not another picture like it he say it looks as I did when he first saw me but some say they would never know it was taken for me but the artist said he could see it he done a fine work on it at least we are well pleased with it at least

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Well I must quit and read a little while and then go to bed
Well I will say Good night and write soon to
Your loving Cousin
Ella McKinnon


Belle is teaching school. I'm a bit surprised that she didn't walk home for the weekends if it was only five miles. In my younger days that would have been no problem for me.

Joseph was Annie's brother, Joseph Harrison Camfield. Sometime between 1900 & 1910 he and his wife, Rose Graham Camfield separated. (I may learn or about their separation in Rose's letters when I get to them.) I wonder if he went traveling after their split? He was visiting Ella's brother and sister-in-law, Herman H and Sarah Ann (Dayton) Hall in Lake Co, IL. Ella's sister, Elizabeth Hall Belden was living in Columbus Co, WI in 1900. I have been able to learn little of Elizabeth during this time period. By 1920 she was widowed (she may have been widowed as early as 1882) and living in Rock Island Co, IL so I have no idea where Joseph traveled to see her. I wonder if she was in Lake Co, IL in 1908?

I wonder if Annie still had the picture that Ella refered to? Knowing how Ella valued pictures it seems that Jake's Christmas gift to her would have been very special to her.

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. 15 April 1908. Digital Images 1-6. Privately held by Apple, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Snowville, New York. 2008. [Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, 1908, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. 2008.]

Backing up my blog

Miriam recently had her blog locked out for awhile, see her post about that here.

I have no advertising on my site so I am not overly concerned about this happening to me but my blog could still disappear or be blocked for reasons beyond my control. I sometimes write my posts in a word processing document that gets saved (all of the letter transcriptions are done that way) but many of my posts were simply written in the post editor, so no other copy was made.

Once a month (more or less) I have been copying all of my posts to a word processing file. This method does not save all of the comments unless I copy them also and comments that get left after I have made my copy usually don't get added. I also subscribe via email to both my posts and comments and therefore have a back-up in an email folder. However I did not start this until earlier this year so anything written before that is not there. The best thing about the email option is that it is automatic which is great for someone like me that suffers from CRS (Can't Remember Stuff.)

Miriam backed up her blog by using WordPress. I followed suit and now have another copy of my blog online. I have set it to private for now. Even though many of the templates offered are very nice, I don't think I'll be switching to WP in the near future as it is very limited in how you can layout your blog and what you can add. Most of the widgets I use here are not allowed there. I am happy to have another option and will probably stop copying to a word processing file.

Ella McKinnon to Annie Carlisle Aug 11, 1907

Mapleton Minn
Aug 11th 1907

My dear Cousin
I have waited to write to you to see if I heard any more about Uncle Henry’s death. I wrote to Herman and he said that was the first they had heard of it but the 4th of July they saw George Wisner & his wife & they had a paper same as you did and then I wrote to Uncle Wirt and he won’t answer my letter or at least he don’t so I wrote 3 or 4 weeks ago and have not heard from him

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I think he might write but he never would write to me since I was married he got spunky at me just before I came out to Minn and never would write Auntie used to write once in a while when she was alive but he never wrote me of her death

We have had a funny summer one week it will be cold and nice and the next it will be hot and showery. the week before last it was almost cool enough for a frost then last week was

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two warm for comfort & now to night it is cool & nice well it has been all day. I hope it will stay so until the harvest is over for it is hard work any time

Well I will have to quit until the little ones get to bed for I cannot write while they are all talking so much & so fast

Small fruit was quite plentiful here this year and some say there is lots of apples a few of our trees are pretty well loaded but not all of them

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Oh dear it will soon be school time it hardly seem as if there has been any vacation because there was so much I had planned to do and I have not done a single thing that I had meant to do I wanted to do some visiting and I have not been to a place and now I have some dresses to make for the girls & my self one beside other work. I have a pile of calico pieces I meant to have got pieced up into quits and I have not touched them yet

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maybe I will get more time when I am all alone again.

We have begun to cut the grain some have quite a little cut but did not rush any the men cut a while Saturday afternoon but it will be ready all at once so they had to begin with it a little bit green. It will not take long to get it cut if it keeps cool.

Well I will have to stop and write a few words to my boy Ray. So Good Night.
Ever you Coz Ella

Ella and Annie's uncle, Henry S. Wisner, was born 21 June 1826 in Onondaga County, NY and died 26 May 1907 in Eau Claire, Eau Claire County, WI. His brother, Marshall Wirt Wisner lived in Eau Claire so I guess that is why Ella had sent a letter to him.

Rose Camfield's letter to Annie in October 1906 indicated that Henry was expected to visit family in Indiana and Michigan but none of the letters tell whether or not he actually made the trip. At that time he was living in Lake County, IL. I don't know why he was in Eau Claire, WI at the time of his death.

I assume that the "paper" that Ella refers to had something to do with Henry's estate as he never married. It was not included in the file with the letters.

I sympathize with Ella, the summer does go by too fast!

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. 11 August 1907. Digital Images 1-5. Privately held by Apple, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Snowville, New York. 2008. [Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, 1907, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. 2008.]