Theresa Lambert; Hayward, Sept. 9, 1919

Dear Friends,

How are you? I'm doing good. Could be warmer but, it's the end of January what do you expect.
Well here is the next letter from Theresa. She was still in Hayward.

In case it's hard to read here is what it says.

Dear Friend,

I received your letter & was certainly glad

to hear from you. No we have not gone home

yet but are going to leave Wednesday. So 

next time you write address your letter to

Miss Theresa Lambert

3914 Greenview Ave.

Chicago, Ill.

Gee will I be glad when I reach the dear spot.

We had thrashing here last week. Gosh

we had some crowd to feed.

I have been going to so many dances that

I know pretty nearly everybody in town.

I have been in town every nite saying 

goodbye to every body. Well I guess

I will close now.

Hoping to hear from you soon.

Your Friend

Theresa.

It sounds like she really enjoyed her stay in Hayward. So the next time we hear from her she will be in Chicago.

Well I'm including two more pictures from the scrap book.

 This stretch in Waukesha county was too much even for
a snow automobile, which can be seen in the background. The
road is County Trunk P and shows how the wind drifted the snow
after plowing.

If you have never heard of a snow automobile, it was something they tried to make but it was not working out the way they imagined it would. But we do have snow mobiles.

This is the result of a single 71-mile run by a locomotive from

Marinette, Wis., to Iron Mountain Mich. This picture was made

at Bayley Junction. Mich., where the train arrived nearly on time.

There are still a lot more pictures from that winter. Some I may not be able to scan because they are a little on the big side and my copier can not make them look very good. But I'll do my best to try every thing I can to let you see as many things from the book.

Well that's about it for now. 

Till next time.

Your Friend,

Sandy

Kathryn Shirley Clary; Chicago, Sept. 5, 1919

Dear Friends,
How are you? I could be warmer. This letter is the first one from Kathryn.

In case it's hard for you to read here is what it says:

Dear Friend,
I suppose you think I'm a dandy for not writing
and thanking you for the good time I had at
your home & also for the pictures. But I've
been very busy. Would you mind sending me another set,
please. I've lost half the others already. Do you hear
from Theresa very often. Gosh I couldn't

camp up there on a farm it's too dead. I don't
see how people can live on them. How
is your mother, father & Tom & Elmer, and
of course yourself? Do you pick black berries up
there much? Well I guess I'll close now.
Regards to all.
Your friend
Kathryn Clary
3818 N. Ashland Ave.
Chicago, Illinois
Please answer.

I think I got it right. I think she was asking about picking black berries. It makes sense.
I've been trying to figure out who Elmer is. I asked my Dad and he's not sure. It could be one of his brothers but we are not completely sure.

Here is one of the pictures I think is of Kathryn and Theresa.

 I did manage to find a few more. I will include one with each letter where they mention pictures.

Well, I'm including a couple more pictures from the scrap book.

 It looks like the snow problems happened in 1936. I just wonder how long they were "imprisoned".

Maybe all police officers today should carry thermometers with them.


Well that's it for now.
Regards to all.
Your friend,
Sandy

Theresa Lambert: Hayward, Aug.14, 1919; Plus pictures from the scrape book

Dear friends,
How are you? I'm fine. I've got another letter for you to read. It's not a real long one but it shows more of a girl starting to open up with life.

Just in case it's hard to read I have typed it up.

Dear friend,

I received your letter and pictures.

I think the pictures are dandy.

I bet it was awful to carry an old schoolmate in her coufin.

We picked blackberries today. Gee whiz that's all we do is

pick berries. I went to a dance Friday and Saturday and I am

to go to another this Saturday. I am enjoying my vacation

much better than I did at first. I have an engagement for every night

and afternoon. Well I guess

I will have to close for this time. With best regards

to you and the rest of the family.

Your friend,

Theresa 

I'm thinking she meant coffin. I wonder who it was that died. It's kind of sad that I may never know who this girl was to grandpa and why he had to carry her coffin.

As for the pictures I think I found a few more that are the ones she is talking about. I'll post them soon, when I'm sure I have found most or all of them.

I've also decided to include a couple of pictures from the scrape book. With people complaining about snow and acting like it's never happened before I picked two that I thought just might make you shake your head.

This one shows men shoveling a path for the snow plow.

The bottom one is showing an ice field on lake Michigan.

You might have to click on them to get a better look. I'm not sure exactly what year this was but I'm guessing it's a round the middle of the 1930's. I do have more from this bad winter but I thought I'd start with these two for now.

I will close for now till next time,

Your friend,

Sandy

Theresa: Hayward Aug. 4, 1919

Dear friends,
How are you? Me? I'm doing good. I just wanted to tell you that I will try to post at least twice a week. I wish I could do more but. Well I do have a full time job, plus all the other things I have to do every day. Some days I have more energy then others. Today I feel motivated to  post. So here is the next letter.

So you can see this one is a lot longer then the last. In case it's hard to read I'll type it up for you.

Dear Friend,

I received your letter

for which I thank you heartly. 

You know I wrote to you the 15 of July.

The letter was returned to me 

yesterday as a dead letter. I had addressed it wrong, but

the second one I looked at the return.

You did not say in your letter whether you received it or not

and I took it for granted that you did.

Oh well why get gray hair over that.

It is raining out here to beat seventy six. Ho! ho!

Time to laugh. We have lots of blue berries out here also.

Your not the only one. My mother preserved three gallons.

We have picked enough for six but we eat them with

sugar and cream. That's all we do is eat and sleep.

The hired man is getting peeved because we drink all his cream.

On top of all that we drink about ten quarts of milk every day.

I am certainly glad that I am not in Chicago.

You know Kathryn went home about a week after she was here,

she was home sick. She writes to me every day and lets me know

what is going on in Chic. She

says those race riots are a fright. All the police men carry regular

army rifles and all the reserved militia is out, and regular

machine guns in the streets down town.

Two ladies were killed right in front of the store

my father works in and a man had his throat cut right in front of the 

Tribune building. A little boy was stabbed and 100 killed and 

600 injured. Their having a big street car strike not one 

street car to take people to work. They all wait on the corners 

waiting for machines or trucks to take them to work.

A girl I know was found burned and buried in her own

coal pile. So you see it is quite exciting. All this news

come from Kathryn in Chic. Say! and about those pictures 

I wish you would make two more each of the pictures enclosed.

Please. Give my best regards to the rest of the family.

And don't forget the pictures. We were going to Stone lake yesterday 

but just our luck it had to rain. Well I guess I will have to close now

hoping to hear from you soon.

Your friend

Theresa

P.S. Did you get your developing outfit from Sears Roebuck& co? an.

Reading this letter for me was very eye opening. I don't remember if I ever heard of the race riots in Chicago 1919. So I looked it up on Wikipedia.( Go and check it out yourself and have your eyes opened up.) 

It started when a white man was throwing rocks at blacks in the water at a beach on the south side which resulted in Eugene Williams death. It got worse when a police officer did not arrest a white man but a black man instead. 

It was a mess, whites attacking blacks. Trying to burn the area where the blacks lived. One thing lead to another. After about a week the government deployed nearly 6000 National Guard troops.  

As for the pictures she mentioned., I do have one of them so I'll post it with the next letter where it is mentioned.

Well that's about it for now.

Your friend,

Sandy 

Theresa Lambert; Hayward July 21 1919

Dear Friends,
How are you? I'm fine. I was trying to figure out how to start showing you the letters. The best way I could think of was by woman and the oldest post mark.
The oldest post mark is 1919. There were two girls that were on again, off again friends. So what I plan on doing is to follow these two woman by post marks. You will see a story unfold with Grandpa hearing both sides.
They are Theresa Billy Lambert and Kathryn Shirley Clary. They are from Chicago but must have had family in Hayward as that is were the first letter is postmarked.
I think they were about 16 when they started writing to Grandpa. So without further ado, the first letter.

If it is hard to read here is what it says;

Dear Friend,

I think the pictures are fine. They couldn't be better. 

I have given Kathryn one of each picture. We are having a good time.

Could not have a better one. We were picking berries yesterday. Gosh but those little blue berries are awfully hard to pick. We picked four quarts any way. We are all drinking milk in place of water. We are all feeling fine and hope to remain that way. 

Hoping you are all well. 

I remain your Friend

Theresa

Well that's the first one. Short and sweet. And just the beginning of something good.

So till next time,

Yours always,

Sandy

Welcome!

Welcome to Dear Howard, A Fading History.
I thought it was time to share with anyone who is interested in history that is slowly fading away.
The history I'll be sharing is from my grandparents time.
My Grandpa was born in 1900 and past away in 1984.
My Grandma was born in 1909 and past away in 1980.
The things I'll be sharing are pictures and old portraits.

A lot of the pictures my dad does not know who they are.

I also have a basket full of letters that were written to my Grandpa from about 1919 to the early 1930's.

The letters were from a number of different women and one male cousin. My hope here is to maybe find the families of the women and learn what happened to them. This was a time when my Grandpa was looking for a wife. The only letters I don't have are the ones from my Grandma. They were buried with her when she past.

Reading these letters are very interesting and sometimes challenging. The hand writing and spelling can be very hard to decipher. Some letters are very newsy. Some are just brief notes. And some are written on index size cards. I just wish I knew what he wrote them.They make it sound like he was very good at writing.  Sometimes they tell him not to be so mushy. Others tell he to burn the letter after reading.

I've learn things about him that I never knew or thought he would do. It's hard to believe your Grandparents as young people. It's surprising to learn they could be, how should a put this, risk takers in a way.

As time goes by I'll fill in things I do know about or comment on different things.

I hope to encourage other members of my family to share things they have and stories from what they knew growing up.

I do have one other thing I will be sharing from time to time.And that's things from a scrape book someone kept in the 1930's.

It was about the time when those 5 baby girls were born in Canada and some really bad snow troubles. There are a number of other things in it also.

Well that's the plan anyway.

I hope you will enjoy the history I'll be sharing and maybe someday encourage others to share their history before it all fades away, never to be seen or heard of again.

Well that's all for now.

Yours always,

Sandy

 

Coming soon

This will be a blog dedicated to old letters and pictures from my grandparents time.
A better description will be coming soon.