Letter from Theodore, 1 October 1918 (continued, middle bifolium)
Book 1, Page 343 ·1918
Transcription
A bifolium of a folded letter sheet, brown ink in cursive, the writing badly faded and rubbed at the folds. The text continues from page 342 and is itself continued on page 344.
Left page:
…how much I miss you all, and the letters from home. Mother wrote that you were to move on the twelfth of last month, so I suppose you are settled down there by this time. It will be much better for you down there. You will be able to see more of your friends.
Right page:
If you have a chance to get some kodak pictures of the three youngsters be sure to send me some prints of them. Also send any home pictures you can get.
Mother writes that Virginia is with her and that Percy is in the Naval Reserve in Charleston. How did…
AI Notes
An inner bifolium of a folded letter, the four quadrants of a single folded sheet photographed flat. Brown-ink cursive, fading and partly rubbed; the writing runs top-to-bottom on each of two pages laid open side by side. This sheet continues a letter begun on page 342 (dated ‘Oct 1st, 1918, Dear Sister’) and signed ‘Theodore’ on page 344. The signature and earlier address suggest the writer is Theodore Barker FitzSimons writing from overseas service in the First World War; the addressee ‘Dear Sister’ is most likely Amy FitzSimons (later Mrs. James Pickens Walker), the album’s compiler. On the right page, the names resolve as Virginia, Percy, and Naval Reserve (Percy was serving in the Charleston Naval Reserve during the war). The reference to ‘the three youngsters’ fits Amy’s three living children in Oct 1918: James Pickens Walker Jr. (‘Pickens’/‘Pucci’, b. 1912), Emma Dee Walker (b. 1915), and the infant Mary Ann Walker (b. 8 June 1918, then four months old). The first Amy Walker had died in infancy c. 1911.
the right page’s hard-to-read names resolve to “Virginia,” “Percy,” and “Naval Reserve” — Percy was evidently serving in the U.S. Naval Reserve at Charleston during WWI. Letter continues on page 344.