Learning More about My Cousin Billie

I've written previously about the photo bonanza that my sister sent to me after her niece had scanned thousands of photographs that were left in the house after our father passed away.  I've made many discoveries and unearthed several childhood memories by going through the photos, and I still have a long way to go to identify all of them.

Now that bonanza has to compete with another one.

About a year and a half ago, I was contacted out of the blue by a woman named Wendi Shaw, who looks for family items for sale in auctions and the like.  She called herself an heirloom hunter, which she does as a hobby.  She goes through the items, puts them in binders, does some research, tries to find family members, and offers to send the items back to them.

She told me she was trying to reach the Brainin family, because she had acquired several of Billie Brainin's items.

I recognized the name right away.  Billie was the daughter of David Brainin, a younger brother of my great-grandmother Sarah Brainin.

Wendi included four photos of the pile of letters.  Three photographs were visible in the collection.

So I shouted out loud, jumped up and down, did the genealogy happy dance, and told her I would love to have the items.

I discovered that she had found me through my blog (this one!), where I had written about Billie a couple of times.

I sent her my address and looked forward to receiving this new family history bonanza.  I even posted the photo of Billie that she had sent me.

And I waited.

After several months, I sent another message, asking if something had happened.  Which it had:  Real life had interfered.

But Wendi was glad I had written again, because she apparently had lost my contact information.  And said she would be sending me the items soon, with one catch:  She wanted me to confirm when I received everything (I already did that) and to let her know when I blogged about this discovery.  And hey, that's what I'm doing now!

It was clear when I started looking at all the items that Wendi had already done some sorting and that they were not in the order in which they had been in the storage unit; she had told me that she had gone through them and put them into plastic sleeves.  So I did not feel compelled to keep them in the order in which I had received them, something that should be considered from an archival perspective.  Since the original order was already lost, I have chosen to put everything in chronological order as much as possible.  So far I have found six items with no dates on them.  Two of those (a music program and a piece of a newspaper) I have determined the dates by searching for text that appears.  That leaves me only four undated items:  two cards and two letters.  Maybe I'll be able to figure out where they fit by context.

The earliest item is a funeral bill from 1924.  The most recent so far is a letter from 1964.

I've only begun to go through the items and actually read them.  Some of what I have found already in this amazing gift:

I learned that Billie, the only name I had ever heard for my cousin, was not actually her given name at birth!  A couple of the letters were addressed to Mildred Brainin, and when I looked for that name in the New York City birth index on Ancestry, I found her.  Totally news to me!  I had not searched for her birth previously because Billie was born late enough that I know New York City won't send me a copy of her birth certificate, even though she died more than 30 years ago.  They're just not a friendly jurisdiction to work with.

Among the letters were four from my cousin Sam Brainin (whom I knew personally) to Billie, his sister, while he was in the Navy.  I have been in contact with Sam's children for several years, so I wrote to one of them to ask if she would like to have the letters.

I'm looking forward to reading all of the letters and learning more about Billie.  I don't know yet how personal any of the information is, so I can't tell how much I might feel comfortable posting.  But it's going to be a fascinating adventure, I'm sure.

Armistice Day, November 11, 1918

My friend's grandfather Zalmon Orloff served in the U.S. Army during World War I.  He was in Saumur, France when the armistice was signed.

Zalmon wrote letters to his girlfriend about every other day while he was in the Army.  For some reason, after he returned to the States and was mustered out of the service, Zalmon had his girlfriend type up the letters he had written and send him the typed copies.  This means that a hundred years later, my friend has copies of the letters Zalmon wrote, including the one he wrote on Armistice Day.

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S.A.S.

Saumur, France

Dear Sarah:

I don't know how to begin my letter.  The beginning though, does not matter anyhow.

The main thing is that the population of France, Saumur included, is gone stark mad with joy on account of the armistice signed this morning.

French and American soldiers, men, women, boys and girls are embracing one another and the words "GUERRE EST FINIS" were on everybody's lips.

The wine shops were doing a rushing business and the natural merriment was greatly increased by the artificial one.

Groups of Americans and French gathered around every corner and sang the Marsellaise on the top of their voice.

Every nook and corner was full of children, who, waving the tricolor or the Stars and Stripes, sang their favorite songs and exploded fireworks in your very face.

The French and American buglers were blowing every tune imaginable and I doubt whether Saumur ever witnessed a similar scene.

Have read in the papers the conditions of the armistice and about the revolutionary movement spreading in Germany.

Why, Sarah, it seems as if it were a dream and I have to pinch myself to realize that I am wide awake and the wonderful news is a real, genuine unadulterated fact.

I never expected that the end of the misery will come so soon.

Hurrah!

Zalmon

Treasure Chest Thursday: A Second Letter from Adrienne La Forêt

As with last week's letter, this piece of blue paper is 21 cm x 26.8 cm.  It also has faded along the lines where it was folded into quarters.  It has the same watermark as last week's letter, but this time I can read the entire thing:  SANDRINGHAM DUALIS PP (with the P's linked) PARIS.  I can't find a reference online to this paper manufacturer, but progress has been made.

This letter is again handwritten in French, addressed to Mon cher Papa, and signed by Adrienne.  Jean La Forêt's older daughter wrote him a second letter that he kept.

The envelope in which the letter was contained is 14.2 cm x 10.2 cm, as with last week's.  Its blue is a little darker than the stationery.  It is again addressed to Monsieur Jean L. La Forêt at 615 Indiana Street in Vallejo.  It cost 150 centimes to mail, although this time Adrienne used three 40 centime stamps and three 10 centime stamps, as opposed to last week's two 75 centime stamps.  But this envelope has something last week's didn't:  a legible postmark!  The postmark says "MANTES A PARIS", which I have not yet been able to determine the location of, but I have found references online.  It does seem to be in Paris.  The postmark date looks like 24 August 1926.

I will again transcribe and translate Adrienne's letter.  The envelope is easy enough to read.

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Lundi 23 Aout 26

Mon cher Papa,

Je voudrais bien recevoir de tes nouvelles et savoir que tu vas de mieux en mieux a que je souhaite de tout coeur.

J'espère aussi qu'Emma et soeurette sont bien.  La petite Rosita devait lui m'ecrire un peu, elle est en vacance en ce moment et doit avoir plus de temps a elle, cela me ferait tant plaisir.

Je vait très bien en ce moment et me sens forte pour recommencer la lutte quotidienne.  Mais celas(?) c'est un grave problème maintenant que d'arriver a vivre, tant est hors de prix!  on va t-on?  on n'on sait rien, que les pauvres comme moi tant malheureux!  enfin j'ai du courage, pourra que j'ai la santé j'arriverai bien tant de mème a gagner mon pain.  Heureusement j'ai un tant petit loyer et suis petite mangeuse.  En dois voir sur les journeaux ce que tant coute en France!  Et dire que c'est pour ce resultat que nous avons laisser tuer des ètres cheris, et nous avons gagni la guerre, nous avons eu la victoire!  triste victoire si les ètres qui ne sont plus voient, ils doivent fremir dans leur tombeau et regretter leur sacrifice.

Mais je ne veux pas t'attrister plus long temps au contraire je veux te rassurer, le dire que j'ai du courage et que je veux arriver a me refaire une petite situation si ???? me donne un peu de santé.

Lorsque toi ???? mon cher Papa donne moi souvent de tes nouvelles, dis a Rosita de m'ecrire, embrasse les bien fort toutes deux par moi et pour toi recois les plus affecteureux baisers de ta fille qui t'aime et pense a toi

Adrienne

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Monday, August 23, 1926

My dear Papa,

I would like to hear from you and know that you are getting better and better, which I wish with all my heart.

I also hope that Emma and little sister are well.  Young Rosita should write to me a little, she is on vacation now and should have more time, it would make me very happy.

I am doing well currently and feel ready to start the daily struggle again.  But this is a big problem now that to live, at what price!  Where are we going?  We know nothing, with the pitiable ones like me so unhappy!  In short, I have courage, and if I am healthy I will be successful in earning my keep.  Luckily I have low rent and don't eat much.  You see on the news how much everything costs in France!  And to say that it is for this that we have allowed dear people to be killed, and we won the war, we had the victory!  Sad victory if the people we no longer see must shudder in their tombs and regret their sacrifices.

But I don't want to make you sad any longer, I want to reassure you, to say that I have courage and that I want to redo a small situation if ???? give me a little health.

While you ???? my dear Papa, give me lots of news, tell Rosita to write to me, give big kisses to the two of them from me, and for you loving kisses from your daughter who loves you and thinks of you.

Adrienne

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I'm very frustrated that I was totally unable to decipher two words in this letter.  I have enlarged the high-resolution versions of these images on my screen and simply got nowhere.  Maybe someone else will be able to tell me what the question words are.

When you read this letter and compare it to last week's, it's hard to say whether Adrienne had heard from Jean in between.  This letter repeats a lot of what was in the first letter.  Maybe Jean was too ill to write to her.  And it doesn't sound as though Rosita had written to her, either.  She wasn't ill; maybe she was a flaky kid, or wasn't that crazy about her older sister.  Or maybe Jean didn't relay the message?

It's nice that Adrienne sent good wishes for Emma in this letter and sent her kisses also.  I doubt that Adrienne thought of Emma as her stepmother in any way, but she's maintaining good relations.

Adrienne didn't include her surname anywhere, so we still don't know if she was married or single.  At least with the postmark we know she was in Paris.  And it does sound like she was taking the traditional August vacation and was getting ready to go back to a normal work routine.

And this is the last item I have in my treasure chest for Jean.  I need to look at my documents to determine who is next up on the list to be analyzed.  In the meantime, I may take a break next week for Treasure Chest Thursday to make my plans.

The Season of Giving: Mississippi Midwifery, U.S. Civil War Coded Telegrams, Victims of the Grim Sleeper, and a Possible "Righteous" Couple

The end of the year is often called the "season of giving", when people are asked to contribute to worthy causes.  The worthy causes and projects listed below are asking not for your money but for your time, knowledge, and information.  Please read through them and see if you can help.

The American War Cemetery and Memorial at Margraten, Netherlands includes graves for 8,301 American soldiers and an additional 1,722 names listed on the Walls of the Missing.  The “Faces of Margraten” project, sponsored by the Foundation of United Adopters of American War Graves, has collected almost 4,100 photos of service members buried in Margraten or listed on Walls of the Missing since 2009.  The aim of the group is to remember U.S. soldiers buried in overseas American cemeteries and to commemorate the World War II liberators of the province of Limburg and of the Netherlands.

If you have a photo of a soldier buried or memorialized in Margarten, please consider submitting it via the site's contact page.  Information will be stored in the Fields of Honor database, where searches can be made for soldiers buried or memorialized in the American War Cemeteries in Margraten, Ardennes, and Henri-Chapelle.  The next public tribute will be in 2018.

Contributions of photographs are welcome at any time.  Photographs may also be submitted by mailing them to:
Stichting Verenigde Adoptanten Amerikaanse Oorlogsgraven
Loonsevaert 21
5171 LL Kaatsheuvel
Nederland

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Gunnar Pudlatz of Hamburg, Germany is looking for witnesses or testimony on actions by his grandparents in the years 1939–1945.  He has about 930 letters his grandparents wrote to each other in the 1930's and 1940's, in which they talk about people being hidden.

Karl Kessler in 1937

Gunnar's grandparents were Karl Anton Keßler (1912–1942) and Gerda (Bertram) Keßler (1911–1983).  They were pastors of the reformed church in Altlandsberg, east of Berlin, and were in Altlandsberg from 1939–1945. According to oral history they hid up to 50 Jews in their home at Bernauer Straße (street) 16.  Jews would probably have arrived through the back yard, entering the garden through a gate in the town wall, and were most likely hidden in the basement.  The garden was used to grow plenty of fruits and vegetables, so there was always enough food to share with those the Kesslers hid.  Karl and Gerda were well connected with other pastors in the area.  Karl had worked at Büro Grüber and was a member of the confession church, whose members helped each other through networking and evidently also built up a chain of shelters around Berlin, so people in hiding could be passed from one hideout to another.  Gerda said that sometimes they hid Jews for "longer periods."  Unfortunately Gerda never mentioned any names after the war, and because her house was one of the few in the city that had burned to the ground, she left Altlandsberg in September 1945.  The hope is that the photographs, names, and circumstances shown here will be found by survivors who spent that time around Berlin or anyone who has information about these people.

Gerda Kessler in 1942

Suche nach Zeugen und Belegen für Hilfsaktionen für Juden durch Karl Anton und Gerda Keßler in Altlandsberg (1939-1945).  Karl Anton Keßler (1912-1942) und Gerda Keßler (1911-1983), geborene Bertram, halfen in der Nazizeit/im zweiten Weltkrieg als junge evangelische Vikare der Bekennenden Kirche im Pfarrhaus der von ihnen betreuten reformierten Schlosskirchengemeinde von Altlandsberg (östlich von Berlin) mehreren Menschen, die als Juden verfolgte waren. Ihrer Tochter Johanna – meiner Mutter – hat Gerda Keßler nach dem Krieg davon erzählt. Karl Keßler arbeitete zusätzlich zu seiner Arbeit in der Gemeinde im Berliner „Büro Grüber“, wo bedrängte Menschen betreut wurden und von wo aus Ausreisemöglichkeiten vermittelt wurden. Während Karl in den Krieg zog und bei Stalingrad starb versteckte Gerda noch bis zum Kriegsende verfolgte Juden im Pfarrhaus in der Bernauer Straße 16 in Altlandsberg, unter ihnen gelegentlich auch Kinder. Gerda Keßler verließ Altlandsberg im September 1945. Sie erwähnte gegenüber ihrer Tochter nie die Namen der Versteckten. Sollte sich jemand an Hilfsleistungen der beiden erinnern, diese bezeugen, mündliche oder schriftliche Belege dafür haben, würde ich mich über Informationen und Kontakte sehr freuen.

For questions and more pictures Gunnar can be contacted via e-mail at schuwoe@gmx.de.

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Was your Irish ancestor a Mountbellow Workhouse girl who immigrated to Australia in 1853 aboard the Palestine?  The Mountbellow Workhouse Project is tracing the descendants of 33 Mountbellow girls who left on that ship.  The project wants to tell the girls' stories, establish from where in Galway they came, and connect descendants with their Irish cousins.  Some of the girls' siblings immigrated to the United States, so there are relatives there also.  Background information and the story of Mary Dooley, one of the workhouse girls, can be read in an article on IrishCentral; more information about Mary Dooley can be found in a follow-up article.  You can contact the Mountbellow Workhouse Project via its Facebook page.

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The Mississippi Link recently published an article about an effort to collect information and stories about the history of midwifery.  The oral histories conducted have included people who were birthed by midwives and women who used the services of midwives when they had their children.  The article noted that black midwives delivered white babies and white midwives delivered black babies, and the oral history collection will include stories of both races.  More stories of midwives are being sought, but it is unclear whether only stories relating to midwives in Mississippi are desired.  To share stories and for more information on this project, e-mail Alferdteen Harrison, Ph.D., at alferdteen@aol.com or call (601) 953-4060.

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Did you know that you can help decode and transcribe U.S. Civil War messages and telegrams?  Thomas Eckert, who was in charge of the U.S. War Department's Civil War telegraph program, saved almost 16,000 telegrams that helped direct the course of the war.  Eckert kept the telegrams, including many in code and the accompanying cipher books.  These have now been digitized and are being transcribed through a crowdsourcing effort.  The Huntington Library, which holds the collection, announced the project on its blog.  You can learn how to participate and sign up on Zooniverse, which is hosting the project.

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As part of its 50th anniversary commemoration, the British housing charity Shelter is trying to make contact with children and families who appear in 1960's and 1970's photographs depicting postwar run-down housing conditions.  This article discusses the history of the original photography project and includes commentary from the photographer.  Images of all of the photographs are available online.

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Why do you want to research your family tree?  Dr. Tanya Evans of Macquarie University in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia wants to hear only from residents of Great Britain and Australia about this question.  She is interested in learning the motivations behind your research and the emotional impact of your family discoveries.  Evans has written a book on the history of Australia's oldest surviving charity and has acted as a consultant for the Australian version of Who Do You Think You Are?  You can contact her at Tanya.Evans@mq.edu.au.

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This is an update to an effort I have written about previously.  The Jewish Community of Nuremberg is in possession of the so-called Stürmer or Streicher Library, a collection of approximately 10,000 books the Nazis took from Jews, Catholics, Freemasons, and others.  The books were taken primarily from Nuremberg, Franconia; Strasbourg, Alsace-Lorraine; and Vienna, Austria, but provenance research has indicated that more than 2,200 owners were from other parts of Europe or from overseas.  The Jewish Community is asking for assistance in finding the former owners or their descendants so that the books may be returned.  Restitution is free of charge.  So far more than 700 items have been returned to ten different countries.

More background on the collection, a list of known owners, and photos of identifying information from the books are available on GenTeam.  Additional background information is available here.  Contact Leibl Rosenberg, representative of the city of Nuremberg for the Jewish Community, with questions and research results.

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Front:  Dawson, Gordon, Moss
Back:  McFaden, Taylor, Cooper

The Canadian Letters and Images Project, which began in 2000, is an online archive of the Canadian war experience—from any war—as told through letters and images of Canadians themselves.  Contemporary letters, diaries, and photographs are digitized, permitting Canadians to tell their stories through words and photographs.  This is the largest such collection online in Canada, about 20,000 letters and growing.

A YouTube video about the project may be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0g2VFdYfIg. To search the project site go to http://canadianletters.ca/search/site.

The project wants to borrow correspondence, diaries, photographs, and other personal materials connected to Canadians at war, on the home front and the battlefront.  The documents are digitized in their entirety, with no editing, and the originals are returned to their owners.  The project makes arrangements—at its expense—to have materials picked up and returned by courier to ensure the materials' safety.

If you are interested in sharing your family's war letters, diaries, etc. with the project, visit http://canadianletters.ca/content/about-us and scroll down to “Contact Us.”  The materials must be about Canadians, but anyone, whether in Canada or not, may contribute letters, diaries, and other memorabilia.

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Lonnie Franklin, Jr., was convicted on May 5, 2016 of being the serial killer nicknamed the "Grim Sleeper."  Part of the evidence that connected him to deaths that occurred in Los Angeles between 1985 and 2007 was a collection of photographs hidden in his home.  Franklin had apparently been in the habit of taking photos of each of his victims.  While the photos helped gain Franklin's conviction, not all of the women in the photos have been identified.  A page on the Los Angeles Police Department's site shows photos of 33 women whose identities are not yet known.  Some of the women appear to be unconscious or possibly dead, so his list of victims may be longer than is currently known.

Treasure Chest Thursday: An Envelope from Paris

This envelope is 5 1/8" x 3 1/2".  It's a yellowish, off-white color; it may originally have been white.  It has no return address but was mailed to Mr. Jean La Forêt, Vice Consul des Etats Unis, 30 bd Carnot, Alger.  The postmark is from Paris, XVI Arrondissement, Place Chopin, November 14, 1916.  The cost to mail it was 10 centimes.  In what appears to be Jean's handwriting, it has "Mason — Consular Reports, etc" at the top and "Answ'd 11/21-16" at the lower left.

The reverse of the envelope has "Mason" written in large letters sideways.  There is the barest hint of the postmark from when it was received in Algeria; "ALGER" can be made out (upside-down from this perspective), but nothing else.  The reddish-brown mark under the letter "a" in "Mason" feels and looks like a dried piece of rubber band that is stuck on the envelope.  I'm hesitant to try to pull it off in case it tears the paper.

And as with the four envelopes mailed to Jean from the "American Consular Service" earlier in 1916, this one is empty.

Looking at the writing on the address here, it is similar to that on the four previous envelopes.  Maybe they were sent by the same person.  And this envelope has what might be a name:  Mason.  Is that who mailed it?

Sometime between April 27 (the last of the four earlier envelopes) and November 14, Jean moved and/or the sender learned of Jean's new address.  And we've seen this address before.  Someone named Mason (I still can't read the first name) sent a postcard to Jean at boulevard Carnot.  I'm going to assume this is the same person.

So now I have five empty envelopes, from what I have to assume were letters mailed to Jean by Mr. Mason.  This time, however, Jean gave a clue as to why he might not have kept the contents.  If "Consular Reports, etc" referred to what was sent to him, those might have been filed and kept at the consulate.  If the previous envelopes held similar items, they also were probably kept at the consulate.  But then I have to wonder why Jean bothered to keep the empty envelopes!

I've discovered an interesting conflict about boulevard Carnot.  Google Maps told me it is the current avenue Taleb Messaoud, and that's what I posted earlier.  But French Wikipedia says it is now boulevard Zighoud Youcef in central Algiers.  On further investigation, avenue Taleb Messaoud is in the El Biar suburb of Algiers.  I'm leaning toward the location in central Algiers as being where Jean and Emma were living.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Four Envelopes

I have put these four envelopes together because they're very similar.  They all measure 5 9/16" x 3 5/8".  They are all a yellowish off-white, possibly white originally.  They all have "American Consular Service" printed in the upper left, in the return address area.  They're all hand addressed to Jean La Forêt — one to "Mr. Jean La Foret", two to "Mr. Jean La Forêt", and one to "M. J. La Forêt."  They all were postmarked Algiers and were sent to Jean at 6 rue Henricet (the address on Jean's business card), St Eugène (which we already know was a neighborhood within Algiers), at a cost of 10 centimes each.

And they're all empty.

The first envelope was mailed January 26, 1916 in Algiers and arrived in St. Eugène on January 27.  The second was mailed March 15, 1916 and postmarked "Alger R. P."; it arrived in St. Eugène on March 16.  The third was mailed April 3, 1916 in Algiers and arrived in St. Eugène the same day.  The fourth and final envelope was mailed April 27, 1916 in Algiers and arrived in St. Eugène the same day.

The "R. P." designation on a postmark appears to exist even today, but I can't figure out what it stands for.  My guess is that it was a name for a neighborhood.

The handwriting looks similar on all four envelopes, so I think it's a reasonable hypothesis that they were all sent by the same person.

So someone who was living or working in a different part of Algiers than St. Eugène, and who apparently worked for the American Consular Service, mailed four letters to Jean during the first few months of 1916.  It's possible they were all work-related.  If they were for work, the letters may have been filed.  But then why would he keep the envelopes?  And if the correspondence was personal, why did it disappear over the years but the envelopes remained?  I wish I knew the complete chain of who had all this material before it reached me!

Treasure Chest Thursday: Two of Jean La Forêt's Letters Go around the World

We're going to take a step back in time — otherwise known as I just discovered that I have earlier documents relating to Jean La Forêt that were hiding in the folder, probably because they're smaller items.  So I have rearranged everything in what I hope is now chronological order again.

These are two empty envelopes that are covered with postmarks on front and back.  I cannot read them all clearly, so I'm not sure I can trace the complete path of either envelope.

The first envelope is dirty white and is 5 1/4" x 4".  The original postmark seems to be June 23, 1906, when Jean mailed it from Cavite, Philippines.  His return address at the time was Headquarters, First Brigade, USMC, Depot Quartermaster's Office, Cavite.  The envelope was addressed to Mrs. and Mr. Edward Briam, General Delivery, Post Office, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.  The cost of postage was 2c.

The second envelope is a muddy buff and measures 5 7/8" x 3 1/2".  It was originally mailed on August 20, 1906, from the same address.  This envelope was addressed to Monsieur Edouard Briam, Poste Restante, Lyon, (Rhone), France. Europe.  Postage for this letter cost 5c.

Trying to follow the travels of the first letter, it has a second postmark on the front from December in Manila.  It indicates it was forwarded to Paris, France at some point.  It also has "Retour a l'envoyeur par" (Return to Sender), "ret Cavite", "Returned to Writer", and "From Dead Letter Bureau / Manila P. I."  At the top, in red, "Mare Island Cal." is written and the original return address in Cavite has been crossed through.

On the back I can read one on the 20th of an unreadable month in 1906, probably in Cavite; July 1906 somewhere; July 28, 1906, San Francisco, California; July 30, 1906, San Francisco; October 20, 1906, Dead Letter Office, F. D. U.S.A.; December 13(?), 1906 in another Dead Letter Office; December 19, 1906, Cavite; December 25, 1906, Cavite; December 25, 1906, Manila; February 7, 1907 in (I think) Vallejo, California; and a stamp in the middle that has "NON RECLAMÉ" (unclaimed).

So my best guess is that after Jean mailed this letter from Cavite to Edward Briam in San Francisco on June 23, 1906, it transited another post office in July, then arrived in San Francisco at the General Delivery office on July 28.  From there it acquired another San Francisco postmark on July 30, perhaps on its way out of the city to the forwarded address in Paris.  It was not claimed there by Briam.  On October 20 it was postmarked in a Dead Letter Office in the United States, then went to a second Dead Letter Office, which sent it out on December 13.  This is probably when it wended its way back to the Philippines.  It was postmarked in Cavite once on December 19 and then again on December 25, which I think came before the December 25 postmark in Manila.  The Manila postmark on the back has "1130 A", as does the second postmark on the front, although I don't understand why it needed to be franked on both sides.  The final postmark, February 7, 1907, would seem to be when the poor letter finally made its way back to Jean, who had transferred to Mare Island from Cavite.  This also matches the information from Jean's journal, where he wrote that he was in Mare Island from November 1906 to December 1907.

Sometime between when Jean wrote the first letter in June and the second letter in August, he apparently learned that Mr. Briam had moved from San Francisco, and so the second letter was mailed to France.  It has a second postmark on the front, January 7, presumably 1907, from Manila.  It also has markings of "OVER", "Returned to Writer",  "From Dead Letter Bureau / Manila P. I.", "Retour a l'Envoyeur" twice, and "Mare Island Cal."

The back has Jean's return address in Cavite at the top and bottom, which has been crossed through in both places and "Mare Island Cal." written beneath it.  Above the address is something in pencil.  I can read "100" and a word after it that starts with a "G", but the rest is very light.  It kind of looks like Guam, but that doesn't make sense.  The postmarks are August 20, 1906, Manila; August (probably) 22, 1906, Rhone; November 20, 1906, Dead Letter Office, F. D. U.S.A.; January 4, 1907, Dead Letter Office, Manila; January 8, 1907, Cavite; January 9, 1907, Cavite; January 9, 1907, Manila; and another "NON RECLAMÉ" stamp in the middle.

This letter didn't have as many postmarks because it didn't take a detour through San Francisco before it went to France.  Otherwise its travels were similar to the first letter's.  Jean mailed it on August 20, 1906 to his friend, whom he thought was in Lyon, France.  It went through Manila on the same day, then arrived in a Rhone post office on August 22.  As with the first letter, it was not claimed.  It went to a U.S. Dead Letter office, which postmarked it on November 20.  From there it traveled back to the Philippines, where it was received January 4, 1907.  It went back to Cavite on January 8, was sent back to Manila on January 9, and probably that same day was routed to Jean in Mare Island, although this envelope does not have a postmark indicating when it was received in California.

Even more impressive than these letters' international travels, at least in my mind, is the fact that Jean kept the envelopes.  Both envelopes are empty, so the letters themselves might have eventually made it to Edward Briam.  But why did Jean consider the empty envelopes important enough to keep?  He not only kept them, he had them in their own envelope:

This envelope is off-white and measures 6" x 4".  I realize the handwriting didn't scan well, because the words are written in blue pencil:  "Briam letters around the world."  Maybe Jean and Mr. Briam laughed about the letters following Jean back to California.

Briam is not mentioned anywhere in Jean's journal:  no stories about him, not included in the birthday list, no address or other notes about him.  How could Briam be so important that Jean kept these envelopes, yet this is the only memento of him?

An interesting side note that occurred to me is that Jean mailed the first letter in June 1906, only two months after the earthquake and fire in San Francisco.  I wonder if the quake is the reason Mr. Briam was no longer living in San Francisco?

Transcription Mentioned on Television!

from Antiques Roadshow

I have written before about the importance of transcribing records so that they can be shared with more people.  Of course, one of the largest ongoing transcription projects in genealogy is FamilySearch's "indexing" work, with thousands and thousands of people around the world helping to create the searchable databases available on FamilySearch.org.  Genealogists are fortunate to have this incredible free resource.  Commercial sites such as Ancestry.com use paid transcribers to create their indices.

Families often have handwritten items that would benefit from being transcribed.  If you have your great-grandmother's diary, you're the only one who can read it.  If you transcribe her entries and put them in a word processor document, you can share the information with other family members.  The same goes for letters, bible entries, and other family items.

I've mentioned that I have written to Antiques Roadshow and suggested that their appraisers should bring up transcription to guests who bring items in.  Some of the letters and diaries that I have seen on the program have fantastic first-hand historical information, and I just know that almost all those people go home and lock up their heirlooms — and the information in them.  The items are preserved but no one can learn from them.  I received a response from AR saying my transcription suggestion was a good idea, but I hadn't seen anything come of it.

But on a recent episode of Antiques Roadshow, for the first time, I heard an appraiser tell a guest he should transcribe the letters he had!  Ken Gloss, of Brattle Book Shop in Boston, appraised a collection of Confederate Civil War letters that were found in an old house.  He asked the guest if he had ever considered transcribing the letters so he would know all the details in them.  Unfortunately, the guest's response was less than enthusiastic.  But I can hope that maybe after the episode aired and his lack of enthusiasm was broadcast nationwide he has had second thoughts.

Look at that sample up there at the top of this post.  That isn't hard to read.  I'll even start it for him:

Grenada Miss [probably Mississippi] June 14th 1862
... F. J. Sayle
Dear Sister
Yours of a late d [date, from complete image]
... to hand — While conveying the said
... –ie's critical situation, it gave grea [great, from complete image]

What family items have you transcribed and shared?

Civil War Materials from Michigan Online

McClellan and Group, 1860's

In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the Michigan State University Archives and Historical Collections staff started a project to transcribe and digitize material from their collections relating to the war.  The material is being posted online for free access and use by the public.  (Hooray for free!)  The Civil War materials are currently described on a dedicated page on the archives site.

In the archives are several collections of letters from Michigan families that the university has acquired over the years.  Students and volunteers have been transcribing the letters, and these are being added to the online material.  If you had any family in Michigan who served in the war, perhaps there's a letter in the collection.  An article from Michigan Radio has excerpts from some of the letters, including a "steamy" relationship (or what passed for steamy in the 1860's).

I particularly enjoyed browsing the photograph collections.  Among them were William Seward, John Fremont, Admiral David Farragut, John Wilkes Booth, and Abraham Lincoln with his son Tad.  There are several unidentified men; maybe you'll recognize someone from your family.