Letter from 'Minnie' to 'little Mary Anne' for her eighth birthday, page 1 (of 3)
Book 1, Page 426 ·1926
Transcription
The opening sheet of a three-part birthday letter, in loose dark-ink late-life cursive on plain wove paper. Headed only with the day of the week.
Wednesday.
Dear little Mary Anne;
I have an idea that you have a birthday about due, so am enclosing your check. I hope you may enjoy your eighth birthday as much as I did mine. It was the happiest of all my anniversaries — a large party in a lovely garden — and so many dear girls and boys — and they behaved so badly. I
AI Notes
First sheet of the three-part birthday letter to ‘little Mary Anne’ continued on page 428 and signed ‘Minnie’ on the closing sheet page 427. Headed ‘Wednesday’ (no further dateline). The writer congratulates ‘little Mary Anne’ on her approaching eighth birthday and encloses a check, then reminisces about her own eighth-birthday garden party. The writer is Mary Anne Perry FitzSimons (‘Minnie’, 1859–1934), Mary Ann Walker’s maternal grandmother, identified by the ‘Minnie’ signature on the closing page 427. Recipient is Mary Ann Walker (b. 8 June 1918, m. Oswald Beverly McEwan 1940) — the compiler Amy’s only daughter and Hunter McEwan’s grandmother. The ‘eighth birthday’ dates the letter to June 1926. The ‘Ted Parker’ mentioned on the following sheet (page 428) — a ‘gentle simple-minded boy’ at Minnie’s own childhood party in the 1860s — is unrelated to the much-later Ted Green who married Nancy McEwan in the 1960s.
The page breaks mid-sentence. The letter continues on page 428, and concludes on page 427 with the signature “Minnie.” Mary Ann Walker turned eight on 8 June 1926, dating the letter to that month. The writer’s own eighth birthday — Mary Anne Perry FitzSimons was born 14 July 1859 — would therefore have been in 1867, in Charleston, S.C. or Adams Run.