Letter from Minnie P. FitzSimons at Adams Run, October 12, 1905, continuation showing both interior pages of the folded sheet (page 2 of 3)
Book 1, Page 493 ·1905
Transcription
Left-hand leaf — continuation of page 492:
lightened and brightened by what she was to me at each time. So full of understanding for all of our weaknesses and mistakes, so willing to take us for the good in us, and to overlook the evil. — I count her the greatest blessing that has come to me in life, for she showed me how to live, and planted my feet in the only paths that lead to peace — God has blessed her in the good example she has been able to leave to all who knew her. I hope that she will be better when this reaches you, I pray that she may be, but Uncle Theodore’s letter was very apprehensive. I
Right-hand leaf — continuation:
thought. Sam went to Charleston this morning but will. Dear Ellen I was called just here to the telephone to receive your sad tidings, given in such a brave voice, the voice she had taught you to carry, no matter what the sound. I believe you knew how I loved her — and you know how I shall miss her — not the thousand helpful things the dear hands performed for me, or the many steps she often wearied [uncertain] for me, but the knowledge of the dear, pure, life lived near us, for us to look up to and try to imitate. I can not realize it, and [think?] how we are all going to get on without her. I did so long to see her before she left this
AI Notes
Middle page of the three-page letter from Mary Anne Perry FitzSimons (“Minnie”) to Aunt Louisa, dated October 12, 1905 from Adams Run, S.C. Shown as the two facing leaves of an opened folded letter sheet — the left-hand leaf is the continuation of page 492 (a tribute to the dying woman’s character), and the right-hand leaf records Minnie being called from her writing desk to the telephone, where Ellen herself rang to tell her the news had come — i.e., the elderly woman has died. The letter pivots here from being a forward-looking message to Aunt Louisa about the news in “Uncle Theodore’s letter to Sam” into a direct condolence addressed to Ellen. Continues on page 494.
The ink is faint but resolves end-to-end. The verb in the right leaf reads more plausibly as “wearied” in context (“the many steps she often wearied for me”) — marked uncertain. The phrase reads as “thought. Sam went to Charleston this morning but will.” — the previous page ended on “…thought” and the next clause is “Sam went to Charleston”. Per the letter’s date (12 Oct 1905) and Adams Run dateline, “Minnie” is Mary Anne Perry FitzSimons (the album compiler Amy FitzSimons Walker’s mother; b. 14 Jul 1859, d. 8 Jan 1934). “Sam” is Samuel Gaillard FitzSimons (Minnie’s husband or eldest son, depending on which Sam — the household head). “Uncle Theodore” is Theodore Gaillard Barker (1832–1917), Minnie’s great-uncle through the Barker–Milliken line. The deceased referred to (“she”, “her”) is the elderly female figure whose dying Uncle Theodore reported in his letter to Sam; in family context she is likely a great-aunt of Minnie’s generation. “Dear Ellen” who rings on the telephone is Ellen Milliken FitzSimons (Aunt Ellen, Minnie’s sister-in-law).
Continues on page 494.