Independence Village letter exchange

[NanciG]

For two events now I have served the small community of Independence Village, Coles County, Illinois as poastmistress, with only a couple of letters to distribute to our residents.  Getting mail can be so fun and really make a person's event.  I have event sent letters back to those who wrote to me.  I hope that some of our kind Sewing Academy folks will send a letter to one of the village residents.  Below please find the event names and bios of those registered thus far.  Yes, some of the folks are using their real names for their personas.  Don't worry about period postage, as I have US stamps at the ready.  Now, if your letter has made it through the blockade...well then I will need your help on postage.  Our event will be taking place over Memorial Day weekend and will be set in May 25-28, 1862.

If you would like to participate in our mail exchange, please mail letters to my office address: Nanci Gasiel, SAE Foundation, 1856 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60201.  The Evanston post office is rather slow.  If you prefer a speedier post office, pelase PM me for my home address.

Thank you all in advance for participating.  You will probably make someone's weekend with  your letter.

Sincerely,
Nanci Gasiel


Mr. Victor Mueller is a skilled master carpenter with much work around the village.  He is Mr. Trent's employer.

Mr. Hank Trent is employed as a carpenter by Mr. Mueller and rents lodgings in town.  He is a former Alabama plantation overseer.  

Mrs. Hank [Mollie] Trent was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, and orphaned at a young age.  Her older half brothers took care of me working when they could, making money in other ways when they had to.  When Molly was an adult her half brothers moved, not by choice, and she relocated to an aunt?s home in Illinois where she was employed in all the menial labor things that her aunt could no longer do thanks to poor health ? thank God for the Irish washerwoman.  Her aunt passed away a few years ago and then Mollie met Mr. Trent They married after a short time and she moved to Independence.  From time to time Mrs. Trent receives a letter from her half brothers from, um, well... um, the Ohio State Penitentiary. One note, her brothers were never abusive towards Mollie nor did they allow anyone else to treat her poorly. She just doesn?t want townsfolk to get the wrong impression.  NOTE:  Mrs. Trent already anticipates a letter from her brothers in the Ohio State Penitentiary.  But, she welcomes letters from other friends and relations.

Sheriff Michael Comer moved with family members from Georgia to southern Illinois as a young man. Later he moved upstate a bit to where we are now.  He still has a lot of family ties in the South though, so the current troubles bother him greatly and may even cause some to question his loyalty.  Sheriff Comer was a miller at one time before moving here but his mill burned and he didn't have enough resources to rebuild so he bought a farm in the area, started raising mules and doing some gunsmithing, eventually running for public office.  He has lived in the area for about 13 years now and am currently serving his second term as sheriff.

Mr. Jeremiah and Mrs. Sarah Good are somewhat more prosperous than the rest of us, and live in the beautiful Bartholomew dogtrot cabin, which they share with Mrs. Good's niece and cousin, Mrs. John D. McKahin and Miss Jenny McKahin.  

Mrs. John D. (Arabella) McKahin has lived in Independence since 1855.  She moved there from Michigan City, IN with her husband, John, and step-son, William shortly after the death of her two daughters, Mary and Louisa, from cholera.  John is a cabinet maker by trade, but has taken up farming since moving to Independence.  Last summer John and William both enlisted in Co. B 21st Illinois Infantry.  Sgt. John McKahin is not much of a letter writer and charges Pvt. William McKahin to keep Arabella updated on their activities.  While her husband and son are away, Arabella McKahin lives with her aunt and uncle, the Goods, runs a dry goods store and serves as postmistress.  Since the farm is too much for her to keep up by herself, Arabella has rented it to the Smith family (no relation to Friend Mary Ann, below).  

Miss Jenny McKahin is Mrs. McKahin's niece who is visiting from Milwaukee.  Prior to the war, Miss McKahin attended an academy in Fredericksburg, VA.

Mrs. Lydia Little is a longtime widow with a totally rural background, two children who live back east (NC) and is of the working class. She sells eggs, butter milk, bread &c in addition to providing meals to some paying customers.

Mrs. Nicolette Sebastian lives with her son, Caleb.  

Mrs. Luke (Silvana) Siddal moved to Illinois from Connecticut in the early years of statehood, around 1818.  She was raised with New England ideas, and is a staunch pro-Union and pro-Lincoln supporter.  She is a respectable but politically opinionated widow, scraping by on her late husband Luke's small bequest and consigning a few things to Mrs. McKahin's store.  Her dear friend Mrs. Mary Ann Smith, a lady of the Quaker persuasion, is staying at Mrs. Siddal's home.  

Friend Mary Ann Smith, wife of Abraham Smith, is a member of the Religious Society of Friends of the Elwood Monthly Meeting near Ridge Farm in Vermilion County, Illinois.  The Smiths removed from East Tennessee to Vermilion County some thirty years ago and were the first family to settle on the ridge just west of the Vincennes Trace between Paris and Danville.  They have a farm and, in addition to her husband?s blacksmith shop, have been proprietors of an inn and a general store.  Their children are all grown now with their own families.  While Abraham is off on business, Mary Ann is staying with her Friend Mrs. Siddal.  They do not use titles in our conversations with others, so please call her Mary Ann, or ?Friend.?

Mr. & Mrs. Ragsdale reside with their five children.

Mr. William and Mrs. Mary Warren also reside in Independence.  Mrs. Warren helps to keep the women of the community updated on the latest fashions and is the local dressmaker.

[Miss Lisa]

Hi!  What date do you need these letters by?  I have never done anything like this and would love to participate!
Thank you, Lisa Jackson (UK)

[BethT]

I too would like to participate!  I would like to know a few things, namely:

1.) Writing a letter I could do, however I don't want to do a pen pal thing so I'm wondering if you're talking about a one-time letter or a correspondence.

2.) Do I send the letter directly to the post office; or do I send the letter to you in an outer/inner envelope?

Thanks!

-B

[hanktrent]

I'll let our excellent postmistress Nanci answer in more detail, but since I'm sitting right here...

I don't think there's any need to worry about a penpal situation. Folks would be glad to get a one-time letter to receive and talk about or share with others during the event.

I'd say send the period letter inside a larger modern envelope to the Evanston address in Nanci's post above. That way the period envelope can be addressed to [persona name], Independence, Coles Co. Illinois, without any modern marks on it, while still getting to Nanci in real life.

Also, Nanci pointed out, and it's true, that there's not a whole lot of information about who I'm portraying. That's because most folks in the village wouldn't know a lot about him, since he's from out of state and doesn't say much. If anyone just happens to get inspired and is dying to write the man I'm portraying, send me an email and I'll let you in on what other folks don't know. 

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[NanciG]

Thanks so much for responding Hank.  That information is exactly correct.  I would like to have all of the letters by May 20 that would be great.  If you would be interested in a reply, and I make no promises that anyone but me will respond, please include a note with your letter of how to have a reply reach you. 

I'm so excited that I will have some mail to deliver!  Yea!!

Nanci Gasiel

[BethT]

Thank you!  Now off to do some research and read some real letters....

-Beth

[NanciG]

We have just recieved word that Sara Good's niece, and Arabella McKahin's cousin, Miss Katherine Lager, will be visiting her family at Independence, IL.  Below is some information about Miss Lager.

Katherine Lager was born July 18, 1836 in Tuscarawas County Ohio. Her mother Rebecca is Sarah Good?s sister. Her father is from a German Lutheran background and owns a saw mill in Dover, Ohio.
He met her mother while he was doing business in Maumee, Ohio back in December of 1830. He served in the Mexican American War. Miss Lager is the second oldest of five; two brothers and two sisters. She has come to Independence Village to help my cousin Arabella and my Aunt Sarah with
Mrs. McKahin's store and the Goods new rooming house venture.

[Thomas F]

I'm going to try and send you a letter or two before the 20th.

Thomas

[Thomas F]

Nanci, I sent you a PM requesting your address so I can mail the letter I wrote last evening.

Thomas

[NanciG]

Beth T,

Thanks so much for the letters that you sent.  I recieved them today at work.

Sincerely,
Nanci Gasiel

[BethT]

Oh YAY!!!! I'm so glad they got to you!  A friend of mine is also sending a letter (to your home address, since hers was one I was waiting for and I HOPE it gets there in time, but if not....we procrastinated too long) and her penmanship is TO DIE FOR. 

Hope you have a great weekend!

-Elizabeth

[Linda Little]

Hello to all,

Just wanted to say THANK YOU! to all who sent letters. It always fun to recieve mail. I, myself, recieved the most wonderful & unexpected letter from my "dear friend" in Michigan. News of family, weather & crop expectaions AND a spectacular new recipe for a new kind of cake - strawberries on a sweet kind of biscuit! And the handwriting was most impressive! Made quite a buzz in town. I will keep & cherish this as a fond momento. So thank you "Amy Smith", whoever you are.

Linda (AKA Lydia) Little

[BethT]

That's great!  I told a bunch of my friends about this particular exercise, including one who has been learning calligraphy for quite a few years, and she was just asking me last night if I knew if her letter arrived in time.  I'm SO glad it did, and so glad that you enjoyed her letter.  I'll be sure to let her know!

-Beth

[NanciG]

Beth,

I also received your friend's letter.  She has stunning handwriting, it was the talk of the town.

Thanks again to everyone who sent a letter.  I can't tell you how much they were appreciated!  I hope that we can all do this again.

Sincerely,
Nanci

[BethT]

I'd be happy to do it again!  I know that when I saw my friend's letter I wanted to learn to write like that, so she's going to (hopefully) lend me her books!  It's SO GORGEOUS!!!!  She had offered to pen my letter for me if I emailed it to her, and I wished I'd taken her up on it after I saw what she could do!  However, then it would have been a bunch of letters with all the same handwriting, so I guess it all worked out right anyway.

We had a lot of fun figuring out what to write, and we emailed our letters back and forth (my grandmother, sister, friend and I all wrote letters) and generally had a ball.  My grandmother actually learned to write on a dip pen, and she got a kick out of using one again. 

It was very enjoyable, and thanks for the chance to have some vicarious thrills.

-Beth

[Mother Dean]

Oh how fun.

Beth, What type of penmanship books do you have? I would love to learn this as well.

[BethT]

I don't actually have any penmanship books yet - every time we've met we've gotten sidetracked onto other subjects and I haven't actually collected the books yet, however she showed them to me online, and I have a link:

http://www.johnnealbooks.com/prod_detail_list/s?keyword=blackwell

It's the Spencerian handwriting that she's doing, along with the fancied up bits.

-B