My Darling Emma 1857

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! ... ANNNNDDDD the ONE missive writer  who penned  the MOST letters in the WHOLE My Darling Emma 1857   letter   collection is ... From the "Muse Family History / Charles K. Muse Collection" at Handley Regional Library in Winchester, Virginia Julia Marie Muse (1859-1940) Julia is Emma’s  childhood school friend born in  Frederick County, Virginia who when a young teen moves to a farm in Lindsborg ,  Kansas with her father and 2 bothers. Julia spends most of her life in McPherson County, Kansas . She is the namesake of Emma’s daughter, Julia Muse Childs (1885-1970) and often inquires about the younger " Jule " in her correspondences.  Julia  & Emma's  letters begin around 1875 when they were about 16-17 and wrote from “ Kauffmans School House ” where ...

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! S ometimes I wonder how (and WHY ) these letters survived a century, spending decades basking in a dusty barn and eventually ending up in my basement closet sitting decades more... Well, I don’t have an exact answer, but I do know for many years they were safe guarded by one of Emma’s  5 daughters, Elizabeth Ridgely Jackson (1897-1983) and she is who I want to write about. I wouldn't be writing this here today if Miss Jackson  didn't safe guard these letters!      Ridgely as she preferred carried on the family historian torch from her mother Emma and not only kept these family heirloom treasures, but she gathered & recorded family genealogy really earning her that historian title. I now have her hand-written family tree charts along with some notes and photos she compiled back in...