Letter from Theodore (Barker FitzSimons), 'Dear Sister,' 1 October 1918 — opening leaf
Book 1, Page 342 ·1918
Transcription
A single sheet of a handwritten letter mounted to the album page; the opening leaf of a letter that continues on pages 343–344 and is signed Theodore at its close.
Oct 1st, 1918
Dear Sister,
We got our first mail yesterday and I got two letters from home, one from Dad and one from mother. Dad’s letter was written on July the fifteenth and mother’s on August the thirteenth so the news was old when I got it, but it was very welcome nevertheless. You don’t know
AI Notes
Opening leaf of a handwritten letter dated ‘Oct 1st, 1918,’ opening ‘Dear Sister,’. Brown-ink cursive on plain stationery, mounted near the upper edge of the album page so the lower edge is free. The letter is signed ‘Theodore’ on page 344 (and continues across the bifolium on page 343), so the writer is Theodore Barker FitzSimons (b. 8 July 1890), Amy’s younger brother. Theodore served as a corporal with the 464th Engineers Pontoon Train, A.E.F. in France in 1918 (see the censored Soldiers Mail envelope on page 340). ‘Dad’ and ‘mother’ refer to Samuel Gaillard FitzSimons Sr. (1856–1930) and Mary Anne Perry FitzSimons (1859–1934). The July 15 / August 13 date references reflect overseas wartime mail delays.
The sheet breaks here mid-sentence; the letter continues on page 343 and is signed ‘Theodore’ on page 344. The writer is Theodore Barker FitzSimons (b. 1890), corporal with the A.E.F. in France; ‘Dad’ is Samuel Gaillard FitzSimons Sr., ‘mother’ is Mary Anne Perry FitzSimons.
The 1 October 1918 dateline places the letter at the opening of the Meuse–Argonne Offensive (26 September – 11 November 1918) — the largest American operation of the First World War and the campaign that ended it. Theodore’s pontoon-engineer unit would have been laying bridges across the Meuse and its tributaries for the advancing infantry; the six-to-eight-week lag in receiving mail from home (a July letter arriving in October) was characteristic of A.E.F. service.