My Darling Emma 1857

Rachel Louisa Steer (1825-1896) Photo from The Waterford Foundation, Inc T here is only one single letter from her in my collection of heirloom handwritten correspondences.   Miss Steer here took me quite some time to figure out who she was and how she fit into the puzzle of this project! If you're new here -long story short- I inherited a few hundred 19th century letters mostly addressed to my grandfather's grandma named Emma born in 1857. I have been transcribing these letters since April 2025. Each blog entry is about a letter writer in the collection. Welcome to "My Darling Emma 1857!" Rachel Steer  and her   solo letter had no cover (envelope) BUT on the back had the name of Emma's much older half sister Rebecca Ann Keeler . This letter was signed “ Lucy R Schooley ” and I hadn't come by that last name before in my 20+ year genealogy research or in this letter collection. But a fter some late night snooping, I came to realize Lucy Schooley WAS Rache...

F or the family historians that have inherited a stack full of really old notes, receipts, letters and photos of your relatives, you know how exciting receiving these treasures can be! There is something special about putting a visual face to a name you've read over and over again in those late nights researching. I also find it kinda fun to see if you have any of the same characteristics of ancestors! Oh and I really like seeing their clothing and hairstyles too! In my "stack" of early 20th century family photos were 2 that have always stood out to me. Its 3 beautiful young sisters with a last name I'm not familiar with - Tanquary .  The Tanquary sisters photo taken before 1908 back says: "Children in group taken by Charles Hoffman" "Mollie, Lucy and Mildred Tanquary of Burnt Factory" was written on one of the photos and I took to the good ole world wide web to find out more about this trio and if or how they were related. Their farmer parents wer...

Welcome to... My Darling Emma 1857 I ’m starting this Blog (just as they are intended) to document my journey on a LARGE project that I began almost a year ago - I am transcribing 19th century family heirloom letters. Exciting right!?! Do I know anything about transcribing documents? No. Can I read cursive writing? Yes. Can I read 19th cursive writing? Eh. Why am I transcribing 19 century family heirloom letters? Simple, I thought they would help me in my (on & off hobby of 25+ years) genealogical research… BUT what I found in them was something much MUCH MUCH more than adding another “branch” on an internet tree! I have a hard time explaining what these letters are all about as each letter writer had their own journey and essentially their own  unique story to tell AND there are DOZENS of said letter writers within this collection. They pen of their day-to-day lives in the mid/late 1800s, family deaths, sickness, dating, marriage, kids, divorce (uncommon but it happen...