1911 Letter, SPIRIT LAKE IOWA to EAST CALAIS VERMONT

Description: This lot contains a letter and its mailing envelope, both dating back to 1911. Starting with the envelope, which is still sealed but torn open at the right side, it measures a little over 5" x 3", and is addressed to A. P. George, East Calais, Vermont. It has a red 2-cent stamp, and the postmark is partly illegible, but I can see the word "Iowa" as the place of origin, and the date April 12, 1911. Later postmarks on the back indicate it passed through Hardwick, Vermont, on April 14, and reached East Calais, Vermont, on April 15. The letter measures about 10" x 6", but is folded in half into a four-page booklet, with the first three sides written on, so the letter is actually three pages long. It is addressed to "Dear Niece and Husband", and the niece is later referred to as "Mary." The sender signs herself simply as "Araminta", and the dateline is "Spirit Lake, Iowa, April 11, 1911." The content is mostly family events, including references to the recent death of Araminta's brother (who is not named). Other family members mentioned by name include Vernon and Dan. Connecting some of the dots through FindaGrave.com (and speculatively filling in some of the gaps), I believe the sender is Araminta Hopkins, nee Araminta Wilbur. Born in Vermont in 1836, Araminta was the youngest of the six children of Reuben and Mary (Bruce) Wilbur, and she moved to Iowa in 1862 with her husband Gardner P. Hopkins (1831-1914). Hopkins, according to the obituary posted on Findagrave, was raised in Vermont by his grandmother, "who was a sister of Joel Smith, the founder of Mormonism." Setting aside the fact that the founder of Mormonism was Joseph Smith (not "Joel"), one of Gardner P. Hopkins' grandmothers does show up in Findagrave as Ruth (Smith) Hopkins (1781-1867). She does not, however, appear in the list of Joseph Smith's siblings, so there are a few dots I haven't been able to connect. The recipient of the letter, Araminta's niece Mary, is similarly identifiable through Findagrave as Mary (Wheeler) George (1861-1944), wife of Arthur Parley George (1852-1923), who is the addressee (A. P. George) on the envelope. Mary's mother, Asenath P. Wheeler, was born in 1828 as Asenath Wilbur, who, I venture to speculate, was probably Araminta's older sister. International Buyers – Please Note: Import duties, taxes, and charges are not included in the item price or shipping cost. These charges are the buyer's responsibility. Please check with your country's customs office to determine what these additional costs will be prior to bidding or buying. Customs fees are normally charged by the shipping company or collected when you pick the item up. These fees are not additional shipping charges. We won't under-value merchandise or mark the item as a gift on customs forms. Doing that is against U.S. and international laws. COMBINED SHIPPING: See our seller list for other interesting and unusual items, in fact bid on several and you might save on shipping and handling. If you buy multiple items, and if it's feasible and cost-effective for us to ship the items together, we will gladly consider requests to combine shipping at a reduced cost. Just e-mail us, and we can provide combined shipping cost estimates on a case-by-case basis. Depending on weight and other considerations, we typically offer full shipping rate for the first item, then 50 cents or $1.00 per item. And if you are purchasing multiple items, please make the payment as a single payment, rather than trying to pay for each item separately. Oh, and this may sound obvious, but we can't reduce the shipping charges for items on which we offer free shipping. INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING COSTS: If the eBay auto-calculator is not responding, or if you think our shipping costs are too high, please contact us prior to bidding to determine your shipping options and costs. Repeat, prior to bidding, please. FEEDBACK: Because of abuses we've experienced in the past, we have totally given up on the eBay feedback system, so we neither give nor expect feedback. Please, therefore, do not contact us after the auction asking us to leave feedback. If you ever have a problem with an item you purchase from us, please contact us directly about it before giving negative feedback or seller ratings, and especially before invoking eBay's dreaded Grand Tribunal in processes like "Return Requests" or "Opening an Item Not as Described Case." No one is perfect, and we occasionally mis-describe something, or an item arrives late or gets damaged in the mail, but we are always quick to respond to a problem and set it straight in the most mutually agreeable way.

Price: 12.34 USD

Location: Gorham, Maine

End Time: 2024-02-18T15:27:16.000Z

Shipping Cost: 5 USD