CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS
WP DAILY PROMPT:
HELPING HAND: A HANDWRITTEN LETTER
The WordPress daily prompt for today, May 8, 2013 is Tell us about the most surprising helping hand you’ve ever received.
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Perhaps it isn’t the most surprising helping hand I’ve ever received. However, it is the first thought that comes to my mind.
The helping hand was one holding a pen, writing a letter, putting it in an envelope, stamping it and mailing it.
The letter dropped on the floor through our old-fashioned mail-slot. My husband Monte picked up the mail that day and handed me several pieces of mail. I sat down on the stairs to open it.
Davis was the name on the return address of one envelope.
Darn, I thought. “I just submitted my article on the Davis’s 50th wedding anniversary. The information in this letter had better be good if I am to recall the article and amend it.”
I slit open the flap and two pieces of paper fell out. This letter didn’t concern the newspaper article. It was from my father’s cousin in Florida and most likely contained something about my family genealogy.
I opened up one sheet. It was a genealogy, but I noticed the more recent section had more names on it than what I already had. What I read changed my perception of who I was and where I lived.
“Monte,” I said. “Bob is playing a trick on me.”
“Oh?” he questioned.
“Yes. Somehow he (more…)
To Reclaim a Family Farm—Or Not
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CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS
Feb. 22, 2011—3:22 a. m.:
Carolyn clicked the 90,000th hit
on Carolyn’s Compositions!
TO RECLAIM A FAMILY FARM—OR NOT
After moving to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, I learned that one branch of my ancestors were from Hempfield Township, and that one of their sons, Michael Rugh (married Elizabeth Raymer/Reamer) and moved to Blacklick Township in Indiana County (same state) (see link in ADDITIONAL READING below: You Mean This New Englander is a Westsylvanian?).
It wasn’t long before I arranged, with the current owners, to visit the farm where Michael and Elizabeth were raising their eight children.
The current day farm is merely a piece of the original property. It was obvious that modernization had taken hold. As I stood in the front yard, overlooking Rte. 119, with the cars zipping by, I could see the towers of the (more…)