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 If you are NEW HERE be sure to read the beginning of the journey I am on transcribing my family's 19th century letter collection! “I feel best in my everyday duds but one has to do different from that when there is young gents around” -Susan Virginia Chapman (age 24) circa 1872 N ow let’s jump right into the next group of letter writers shall we… M y Chapman ancestors are on great great grandma Emma's maternal side of the family tree. Her mother's sister, Rachael Ann Pidgeon , married one George Washington Chapman . I have correspondences from both Rachael Ann  & George   W. and also their oldest child Susan Virginia in the letter collection. They are who I will focus on in this post. So here we go... George W. (1817-1862) worked in the  Grain Mill industry.   He married Rachel Ann  (1821-1889) on October 11, 1847, in Frederick, Virginia  when he was 29 and she 26. A few years later, the couple and a few kids la...