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Two Random envelopes

 File — Folder: 2

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

The first folder contains a mail-order book promoting two books form from the Women’s Christians Temperance Union along with the envelope that came with it.

The twelve letters have been split up into four groups. The first being a letter to Ellen Webster from her father Henry Vansyth (pretty sure that’s what it is) talking about how he had trired to visit her but was not able to find her home.

The second group is two letters to James Wilson from his brother Oscar and Charles. Charles is in the Union army talks about that his Brigades had about 3,900 casualties, and that from the original 4,500, only 600 are left. The letter from Oscar is a little more casual except that he informs James that their brother Albert had died at a Tennessee hospital. On the lighter side though, Oscar also informs James that his sister Caroline is getting rather upset the he has not written to her and wants James to write to her immediately.

The third group of letters are all to Ellen Vancise from her brother Abram who is a soldier in the 113th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company H, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 14th Army Corps. All the letters tend to focus on how he is, where he is, and other day-to-day routines.

The last group of letters is to Ellen Vancise and his father (name unknown) from Henry Vancise who is a soldier in the 15th Michigan Volunteer Infantry, Company C. The letters are similar in content to that of his brother Abram. An interesting side note about Henry was that he was underage when he joined the Union Army, but died on September 9, 1865 and is now buried in Detroit, Michigan.

Dates

  • Creation: 1892-1879

Extent

From the Collection: 6 folders

Language of Materials

English

Repository Details

Part of the Western Michigan University Archives & Regional History Collections Repository

Contact:
Charles C. and Lynn L. Zhang Legacy Collections Center
1650 Oakland Drive
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5307 US
(269) 387-8490