Letter to 'My dearest Ellen,' 12 October 1940 — describing her own 'funeral' (page 5)
Book 1, Page 541 ·1940
Transcription
[Page 5. Continued from page 540.]
finest sense immortal. The place and the occasion demanded a certain decorum, though the discussion often verged on the acrimonious. It was finally established that only a relatively unimportant Ellen had just been burried [sic], while the distinguished, charming, lovely Ellen was alive. The war gradually degenerated into a skirmish as to whether your and my great grand father Christopher Fitzsimmons [sic] had a brother from whom the dead Ellen was
AI Notes
Fifth sheet of the six-page Judge Hammond letter (pages 537–542), numbered ‘5’ in pencil. The argument over identities resolves into a genealogical ‘skirmish’ over whether the writer’s and recipient’s shared great-grandfather Christopher FitzSimons had a brother from whom the dead Ellen was descended. Hammond writes ‘Fitzsimmons’ (lower-case s, double m) and ‘burried’ — both preserved sic in body.