FINDING A LETTER FROM MY GRANDMOTHER–Florence Bowden Milne 1888-1986

As genealogists, there are many things that make us go WOW!  But, for sure one of the biggest ones for me is finding correspondence from one of my beloved grandparents.  In fact, the ONLY correspondence that I have in my possession happens to come from my maternal grandmother, Florence.  I do remember that she and I wrote back and forth quite often in the 1970’s and early 1980’s.  I sure wish I’d have saved every letter.

Here’s a screenshot from my Legacy tree.  You can see that I have a HUGE problem on my grandmother’s paternal side.  I used to ask her questions about her family.  Trouble is, I didn’t write everything down.  One of her responses to my question about her father, Robert Bowden’s parents was that she didn’t know their names.

 (CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT)

However, my grandmother, Florence, was our family historian and left me a LOT of ancestor information.

Anyway, while cleaning out boxes in our garage yesterday I did come across a letter from my grandmother to me.  The other letter I have from her is dated 1978, this one is 14 Sep 1980.  AND, it’s in an envelope!!  Future DNA testing may be possible from the envelope so I’m thrilled with that find.



NOTE:  Still having trouble inserting images as Open Live Writer is not working properly and using Blogger directly is less than satisfactory.  So forgive any misaligned images etc.


Here’s the letter itself.

Here’s my transcription of this treasured letter.  I explained a couple of things, which I’ve highlighted in red.

hands shaking and writing awful (my grandmother wrote this at the top of the page)
                                                                                Sept. 14, 80
Dear Diane: – You must think I am a very neglectful grandmother but it just seems like so many things come up and people coming in. So, if you can forgive me I will try to do bettr.  Joan (she is my Aunt, Florence’s daughter) is slowly recovering then just as we are having a breathing spell she over does and she gets the shaking inside again.  You know that the last bad time in hospital she stopped breathing and in their efforts to revive her they broke 3 ribs. So that complicated everything but it is all coming out well.  We have a very nice apt. in a big complex, quiet and beautiful grounds.
I don’t know if I shall ever get rested but the Lord provides the strength we need.  I used to knit bed socks for Red Cross in Houston but Red Cross (she means in Livonia or Detroit) has no such thing so when the most of the confusion etc. died down I didn’t have a project on hand but Joan’s church has a lady has 3 homes orphans and others she supplies with bed socks, but told church members she needed knitters.  She supplies the money for yarn!  So I am in business again.  I finally got toenails & eye glasses fixed but need to have lower plate repaired.  Joan can drive now so my gson does not have to do my needs.  I finally got a letter from Pat (Pat is my mother, Florence’s youngest daughter). I was worried about them and in the letter very little news but – Bless you my dear for writing.  Love for you and Norman
Grandma

I tried to leave the transcription exactly as the words on the page are written.

My Aunt Joan died 5 years later on 2 Dec 1985.  I don’t have her cause of death and need to ask my cousin if he has a copy of her death certificate.

The letter has a return address of 31189 Morlock Apt 519, Livonia, Michigan.  I looked on Google Earth and found that the apartment complex still exists, at least according to Google Earth’s view.
 

3119 Morlock, Livonia, MI - courtesy of Google Earth

The ancestor surnames associated with my grandmother Florence’s family are: BARROWCLIFF, BOGGS, BOWDEN, BOWEN, BURGESS, CRITCHFIELD, DEAVER, DENSLER, FRAMPTON, GAYDON, GILLEN, GILLESPIE, HUDSON, HUNTER, LUNSFORD, MARTIN, MILNE, RITCHIE, RUMMELSPACHER, WUNDERLICH

To see more items from my grandmother Florence, you can click on this tab on the top of my blog My Grandmother's Journal.

PLEASE CONTACT ME AGAIN IF YOU HAVE ANY CONNECTIONS TO THE SURNAMES I’VE MENTIONED.  
Let’s see if we’re cousins.

Happy hunting, 
Michigan Girl

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