(Source: Dalton Cemetery)
(Long Branch, New Jersey – 1872)
Written by Susan Maria Swain (Mm. Van Nostrand)
How do you confirm ages of your relatives? What do you do with the non-direct descendants? Do they get added to your tree? Let me know in the comments!
In this letter, my ggg grandma Susan is on a trip for a family reunion by herself and with her daughter (my aunt) Grace J. VanNostrand. According to ancestry, Grace is the eldest child, born in 1864 and would be 8 years old at the time of this letter. However, in this letter she appears to be the youngest child. My grandmother Susan writes, “Grace is delighted with sea bathing she screams with delight every time we put her in the water.” The act of helping Grace into the ocean does not seem keeping with an able-bodied 8-year old, especially when their 6-year old daughter Hattie (Harriet) is walking to school solo in the July sun.
The information I have suggests that Grace married a George W. Smith. Ancestry says she died in 1946, and other than the photo of the grave above suggesting a daughter (named Georgia), I can find no further information. Even Ancestry’s little leaves are silent. The unfortunate truth of not having children means that in the egocentric process of genealogy, almost no one will have kept good information for “miscellaneous relatives.” They exist on trees for completeness, to denote the fun-fact of how many siblings a direct relative had, or if they did something note-worthy. But, Grace merely lived.
I could not locate her in the Short Tract Cemetery, only Grace’s grandmother who was her namesake. However, in the Dalton Cemetery I found a stone that seems to combine her with the rest, but no dates.
Are you related to me? Do you know Grace J. VanNostrand or George W. Smith of Dalton, NY c. 1860-1940s?
The letter is transcribed exactly as it is presented in the original document.
Long Branch New Jersey
July 7th
My Dear Husband,
You can never tell how glad I was to get a letter from you. Cousin Debbie’s husband went to the P.O. last evening & I thought I would sit up till he returned but I was so afraid I should be disappointed & not get a letter I went to bed & got up early & found the letter awaiting me. We came down here to Long Branch last Tuesday I have been down to the beach every day & had some good dips in the ocean.
Grace is delighted with sea bathing, she screams with delight every time we put her in the water. We can sit here on the stoop & see the great Ocean steamers [?sloops & ] go by. Jennie came down here from Red Bank on the 4th. It was very quiet here, we did not leave the house except to go & bathe. They are very busy here harvesting their grain. Their haying is all done. the hay crop was very light on account of the drought. They had a fine shower on the night of the 4th. I never saw such a storm in my life. I was so frightened I went to bed. The thunder storms are terrible here on account of its being so near the sea you know.
Grace is getting fat & I never saw a child eat as she does. I think the sea air has done me good, but your letter does me more good than all the sea baths I have taken. We are about three miles down the beach from the principal Long beach hotels. but there is one large boarding house close by here on the south & two miles down the coast is a new watering place called Ocean [?Gaze]. We are going there to church this P.M. Aaron took the girls in the carriage to Long Branch village this morning to church. I thought I would rather stay & write to you & not go to church till this P.M.
You know the President (Ulysses S. Grant) has a cottage here on the beach, the family are there now, we rode past it once & are are going to see it again before we leave.
(Source) -Ulysses S. Grant and Family at their cottage in Long Branch
(Source) – demolished in the 1960s
They say the people at Long Branch [?mils Fish] this summer. he made such lively times here They think here that [?Stokes] will be hung. We shall leave here for Middlesex Co. the first of the week nearly all of our relatives are living there. The girls say they are going to keep me here as long as they can, but I don’t think they will be able to keep me longer than [?first] to get around & see our relatives. I would like to see them all as I never expect to come again. I felt some home sick before I got your letter but that has cheered me up so much. You say I must not think of home more than I can help. Well I won’t think of home my dear only all the time I can enjoy myself here & think of house if I know all is well there.
Will I think this trip will do me worlds of good, I have made up my mind that home is the best place in the world especially with such a dear good husband & such sweet babes as I have got. No matter where the home is, if the heart treasures are only there. I never shall leave home again without you. My trip here has cost me more than I expected. It has cost considerable to have our baggage carted around. I have only about a dollar (2014 value: $18+) left of what you gave me. I have felt bad & worried a good deal because I am here spending money when you are working hard at home. But I think I shall get the worth of all I spend, if you can spare it, I would like to have thirty or fourty dollars (2014 value: $600-$788) as I wish to make some purchases in New York before I come home but if it will [? embarraf] you to send it let me know & I will not ask so much. It has made me feel so good to hear you are getting along so well. Time flies fast I will soon be home to help you. I think our luck has turned & we shall get along nicely & come out all right before the year is out. Be careful about fires. I think this trip to Jersey will make me a better wife than I have ever been.
Our P.O. will be at Jamesburg when we are in Middlesex Co. & we shall stay there the longest of any place so it will not be inconvenience please sent the money as soon as you can. I think you will see our faces coming along soon as we get somewhere I can get them taken cheap (six CDV’s were advertised for ~1$ in the 1870’s). We had made up our minds to come home on the Eric road. We shall have to come up on number one & stay in Hornellsville all night- I can go to Annie Campbells you know. I must write some little letters to Hattie & Ray (Daughter and Son). As I send my last letter on monday & [?reeewed an ous] saturday. I shall look for one from you by Saturday night. Write all you can get time to anything will interest me coming from home. I think you had better take hattie out of school it is so far to go in the hot sun. If the girls have not written before you get this tell them to send the letter to Jamesburg. With [?much] love I am your own true loving wife Susie M. VanNostrand.
(INSERT)
Will you can send money by [?El jeref] to Jamesburg Middlesex Co. New Jersey in care of John L Selower also your next letter, remember John L. for there are two John Seloners. Sue.
Of the North Shore 