Thursday, February 26, 2009
1877 Letter
I'm again needing help from my Old German Script reading people out there. My aunt sent my mother a letter that's dated 16 October 1877, but that's all I can read on it. We have no idea who it's from or who it's to and are hoping that someone out there can interpret it for us. My family would really appreciate any help we can get on this. (Edit: This letter was all on one sheet of paper, folded in half book style. I assumed that it was written book style, front and back, but I may be wrong. Pages 2 and 3 below were the center pages when the paper was opened and the 4th page would have been the left side with the 1st page when the letter was laid flat. One response that I have received questioned the writers fluency in German. I'm assuming that the person spoke the low German that my Mennonite ancestors spoke. I understand that there are enough differences as to make it difficult to be understood by someone that spoke the official German.)
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9 comments:
Ok lets try that comment written better, shall we? lol
I like the way this letter looks... with or without the translation... the stained paper, the handwriting...
Your playlist is awesome! I LOVE the Moody Blues... woke up the other morning quoting them in my head, the epilogue from Knights in White Satin - "Breathe deep the gathering gloom, Watch lights fade from every room..." That is really the only "poem" I've ever memorized, I can see in my head what he is talking about so vividly :)
LOL Anita! Now your comment makes no sense. I removed the "Comment Removed" before reading your post. My dear friend, Anita, isn't ditzy, she's just picky about how she says what she says and deleted her first post, which no longer exists because I deleted her deletion.
I'm getting lots of people looking at the letter and many people have offered bits and pieces. It's slowly coming back to life, I'm still not sure who it's from or who it was to.
Hi! You hold more treasures than the Queen of England and the Australian Cricket Team. I hope the translation comes through very soon. I'd love to know what it says!
Take Care,
Peter
Hi, Peter! Well, I don't think I have quite THAT many treasures, but how many people have a family letter that's 132 years old. Looks like this letter camer from Russia. So far I've learned that it's from Fuerstenwerder (that's where Abraham Klassen was born) and written to bil and sil in America. It tells of a mother's death and other family happenings, travels and how the crops are doing. But I don't have many specifics and we're not sure who signed it. There are to places that look like signatures, one is male the other female. More questions than answers! :)
Hi!
I can probably help you with the translation -- only the resolution of the pictures you've published is not high enough. Could you send me higher-resolution copies?
Rudi Aksim
rudi@aksim.org
Wow, very cool, make sure you post the translation.
Hi! Good to see Rudi Aksim helping you out. Like Bob said, make sure you fill us in on its contents.
Take Care,
Peter
Hi!
I'm German, my name is Klaus.
I can't read the gothic script myself, i printed the first side and showed it to a friend of my parents. So I have the Text in German for the first side. But if I understand right, Moonshadow already knows the content. Please let me know.
I tried to answer you in MennoLink, but the adress doesn't work.
"But I don't have many specifics and we're not sure who signed it. There are to places that look like signatures, one is male the other female. More questions than answers! :)"
Hi, its Klaus again.
The writer must be a female, because the letter sais: "You know already, that mother died from the letter of my husband".
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