Fearless Females: Diary, Journal or Letters?

Women's History Month Fearless Females blog prompt: Did one of your female ancestors leave a diary, journal, or collection of letters? Share an entry or excerpt.

Here's a photo of just a small portion of the collection of family photos, letters, and information that was compiled by my mom, Eucebia Jane Thomas Abbate. Yep, she's the one who started this whole "family history" thing I've got going here. She and I made some pretty interesting discoveries about her family over the years.

I find myself wondering if our descendants will get as much enjoyment reading back over our emails and text messages as we get reading over our ancestors letters? Hmmm, there's something about the handwriting, the old stamps, the kitschy stationery...

Here's an excerpt from a note my mom received from an aunt in 1989. Her aunt would have been about 70 years old at the time. The handwriting is perfect but she must have been having a rough week:

"I got these right away (copies of an obituary) and lost them even faster. I found them in this very envelope. Yesterday Grace brought some chicken and dressing for my lunch. Fifteen minutes later I couldn't find it. How would you feel if you walked into the bedroom and found your food sitting on an old hassock? That's exactly how I felt. Love you, Henrietta"

I think that rather than complaining, knowing this aunt, she was probably laughing at herself as she wrote because I remember that she had quite a sense of humor. I am not sure her age had everything to do with losing her lunch...I bet many of us who younger than she was will admit that we have walked out of a room wondering where we left something too!

P.S. The cute little girl in the picture above is my mom and the aunt was the wife of my mom's uncle, John Owen (Pap) Silas.