AMERICAN REVOLUTION DESERTER?

Source: Bing clip art

AMERICAN REVOLUTION DESERTER?

If you have been doing family research for more than a few days, you have found interesting, funny, or ironic things. I recently ran across the "GRAFF" name in a book titled: He Loves a Good Deal of Rum...Military Desertions during the American revolution 1775-1783...Volume One 1775 - June 30, 1777 by Joseph Lee BOYLE. 

 The title alone caught my attention. Um...I had ancestors in the American Revolution. Would this book have anything about any of them? I flipped to the index and started looking for any familiar name: BOWMAN/BAUMAN, GROFF/GRAFF, BOEHM/BEAM, STOVER, WOLF, METZLER, MUSSELMAN, RESSLER. Some of the names I had to look for alternate spellings. 

Um....GRAFF, Jacob. Maybe a possibility?

The below had been published in the Pennsylvania Evening Post on May 13, 1777:

This is to certify that Frederick Shinkle and Jacob Graff, two militia men of this city, brought me a man named John M'Cartney, the 21st ult. 1777, as s substitute for them, agreeable to a resolve of the Hon. Continental Congress, but the said John M'Cartney proves to be a deserter from another regiment, and of course no recruit, there the said Frederick Shinkle and Jacob Graff can derive no advantage from the resolve of Congress - Joseph Wood, Col. Third P. R.

Could this be an ancestor? Maybe. There were Jacob GRAFF's in Lancaster County. But it will require more research and digging far deeper than I have time for right now.

Source: Bing clip art

However, it made me chuckle because I (actually all of us) have characters in our families that for one reason or another prove that people will try to get out of doing things they don't want to do.

As I dig around in family history, I find that a necessary tool is a sense of humor. While most of them are names and dates to us, they lived as real people with lives. Depending on the documents or memories available, I will never know how my ancestors thought or why they acted as they did. 

Our people were far from perfect. Neither am I. 

What happened to these two men after their "substitute" did not pan out? Would they fight in many battles? Would they just walk off and leave the militia behind? Would they get drafted again at some later date? Would they live thru the war and return home, or die forgotten in some field?

As for the book, it is a fascinating look at how people acted and descriptions of their clothing or personal items when they deserted. Many had rewards of a few dollars on their heads if found or arrested. Note: I found the book at a genealogy library, however, I found several books by this author, including this one, on Amazon.

Family history is not dry and dusty. It is full of people who have stories to tell us. 

All the content writing of this post is my own unless I state otherwise.

Update 03-04-2023 I checked the DAR website to see if Jacob Graff was there. There is a Jacob Groff listed as an ancestor from Philadelphia. Three of the five in the ancestor search are from Lancaster County, PA. This man is ancestor #A048820 with dates of 1751-1824. Probably not my direct ancestor, but he has been used by someone to get membership in the DAR.

CHERISHED RECIPES

CHERISHED RECIPES

 My sister recently finished going through the last of mom's possessions. Among the items she sent to me was a cookbook that mom used, but many of grandma's recipes were in.  It has been fun to look through the cookbook page by page and see familiar names, or at least familiar last names.

I thought that my readers would find the recipes interesting. But mostly I am pointing out that our ancestors had real lives. In this case, both sides of my family attend this church. Going to church at Covenant, even now, means seeing cousins, aunts, uncles, and other assorted relatives.

Source: my personal collection

I was hoping to share some history of the church here as well, but a five-minute search only turned up a book about the history of this church at the Lancaster History site. 

I do remember various relatives on both sides of the family saying that Covenant and Bethel merged in the 1960's which allowed Covenant to tear down that building to make a parking lot for Covenant. Up to that point, the paternal side folks went to Bethel.

Before starting on the recipes, I want to share page 2 of this book simply because of the handwriting. As family historians, we are always looking for examples of our ancestors' signatures or handwriting.  Here is a fun example simply because it has both my grandma's and moms' on the same page.

Source: my personal collection

The pencil writing "Pauline from Mother & Dad" is my grandma's handwriting. The rest of the handwriting on that page is my mom's. My writing contribution was the circle the names under the recipes. 

So on to the recipes:

The first is on page 21-22. I grew up eating this bread. I never thought about where the recipe may have come from until I saw grandma's name under it.

Source: personal collection

Source: personal collection
Notice that mom even wrote in her own note about this recipe.

The next recipe was contributed by six different ladies so it must have been one of those popular recipes for church dinners. Anyway, Aunt Darlene (GARNER) DOWLIN was one of those ladies. 

But notice there is also another person from the large and extended GROFF family too.

Source: personal collection

On page 63 is an icing recipe from grandma. I vaguely remember this one as being too sweet for my taste. But we were not allowed to waste food so I could not just scrape it off the cake.

Source: personal collection

Page 64 is another recipe from Aunt Darlene (GARNER) DOWLIN. I don't have any real memories of this one. Probably something we had at holiday meals and there was just so much food that we could choose our favorites.

Source: personal collection

Turn the page, and there is another recipe from grandma. I personally do not like these and tried very hard to avoid eating them. Avoiding these wasn't hard since they were a specialty item that only showed up for holiday meals - thankfully.

Source: personal collection

Page 103 contains the pie crust mom (Pauline) used and I still use.  I can remember when mom tried different pie crust recipes and had complaints about every one of them. She resorted back to grandma's recipe by the time I hit my teens. This is an easy recipe and turns out great every time.

Source: personal collection

This raisin pie is one of my favorites. Mom made it occasionally in winter and it was gone quickly. I make it a few times a year and enjoy it just as much now as many years ago.

Source: personal collection

On page 207 is a recipe that only asparagus lovers will like - certainly another one of those that I tried to avoid. No way would I make it, but both grandma and mom liked asparagus and this casserole.

Source: personal collection

I don't remember ever having this punch at all, but who knows! Anyway, I like mint so this might be something to try the next time I need punch for a church or family function. 

Source: personal collection

Enjoy the memories: 

If you are lucky enough to have family cookbooks or handwritten recipes, enjoy the memories that go with them. Maybe the food produced from the recipes is not your favorite - what about the memories that go with this food? 

Was it something that was only made for certain holidays, reunions, or was it something you ate regularly? 

Do you make the item now, or is it something that you would enjoy making? 

There are certain foods that are very "Lancaster County" and I like. Things like raisin pie, apple dumplings, cabbage slaw, and shoofly pie. 

Food is for eating but it is also for memories. Pass both the food and memories on.

Source: Bing clip art

All the post content writing and photos is my own unless I state otherwise.

USING FIND A GRAVE (FAG) IN YOUR FAMILY RESEARCH

USING FIND A GRAVE (FAG) IN YOUR FAMILY RESEARCH

 I have been asked several times recently what I think of the website Find A Grave (FAG)for helping with family research. Honestly, I think it is a wonderful tool. 

Plus if you have a desire to volunteer on your own schedule it is a great way to give back by taking photos in cemeteries or adding your own research.

However, just like on-line family trees, be careful.  Some people are very careful with the content and photos - others seem to just put anything on the memorials.  I personally think some people "collect" memorials like baseball cards.  Use the information on any memorial as a clue for more possible information.

I strongly recommend that if you will be using this site a lot to set up a free account.  While you can look around all you like without an account, if you want to add photos, request corrections, or ask that relatives memorials be transferred to you an account is necessary.  

This is how the homepage looks today (below).  The photos change based on the season. Beware that there are a lot of genealogy related ads on this site, which can slow down how long it takes to load.

Basic searching: 

Searching for a memorial can be done several ways.  I usually start with a name, death year (options are exact, before, or after) and a place (such as county and state).  Below is a very basic search for my grandfather, Ralph Groff GARNER.

This is what comes up from that basic search:

If I click on the listed memorial, this is what I see: 

This memorial has burial info, family info, photos, and connections to other family member's memorials.

Sometimes you will have to do a broader search and you will get a list of memorials instead:

If I am looking for John GROFF in Lancaster County, PA who may have died before 1840 the list will look like this. Remember this may not be a complete list as the list is based strictly on memorials that have been made based on gravestones or known people.  Not everyone has a gravestone or even a memorial.

 According to the above screen there are 6 "John GROFF's" buried in Lancaster County, PA who died before 1840.  Now I (or you) can look at the list and make some choices based on years or cemeteries. 

I (or you) look over the list and find the one "John GROFF" we are looking for.  Great! Check the info with what you have or know. Use the links to various relatives as clues for more research.  I tend to screen shot the images into a Word document and put with my research.  

What if I can't find my "John GROFF" in Lancaster County, PA?  I usually will drop the county out the search first and just do the state.  People tended to be buried close to home or at their church's graveyard which may actually be in another county. In the case of "John GROFF" when I searched for all of them in PA who died before 1840 I still only got the same 6 as the above screen.  

So I will broaden the search again to include all of the US:

This time I got 11 memorials. Besides PA, burials were in NJ, Maryland, and NY. So you can see that changing the search criteria may bring other results.  Keep trying different spellings, years, and locations.

Some tips:

• Try different spellings of the name.
• Remember that not everyone has a middle initial, or uses their first name (maybe he/she used a middle or nickname instead).  Be flexible when searching.
• Be generous with the years.  If you are looking for someone who you think died in 1842 put in 1845 and before. 
• Be flexible with locations.  There are options to search for actual cemeteries.  Or you can search by county and state, or just by state.  Thanks to volunteers around the world, there are also some non-US cemeteries on here now.  Explore and see what you can find.
• It is possible to request a correction to a family memorial.  Be polite, supply the correction, and  always explain the source for the info. 
• Remember that with the exception of the FAG staff, everybody else is a volunteer or a family member.  They have lives and may not get to your requested edit as quick as you would like.  Be patient.
• Also remember that the person who has your relative's memorial does not have to change the information on the memorial.  If you feel the info is important, it is possible to contact the staff at FAG and have them look into it.  Always be polite and patient.
• The more you explore FAG and learn, the more information you will find.

Happy Searching.

PLEASE NOTE: 
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

AUNT MARY GARNER – the scandalous relative we do not discuss

 AUNT MARY GARNER – the "scandalous" relative we do not discuss 

Every family has at least one. The relative we do not discuss…

 I recently had a chance to do some research on my Gr-Aunt Mary GARNER.  I did not find her to be particularly a scandalous person, but for her time I can just imagine the gossip.

 Mary’s parents were Ben & Cora (GROFF) GARNER, who married in April 1906.  (See my blog for that story: https://lancastercountyfamilyties.blogspot.com/2020/05/garner-ralph-hoopla-around-his-birth.html ). The children of this union were:

**Ralph 1906-1986

**Mary 1908-1966

**Ella 1910-1994

**Clyde 1913-1956

**Lester 1915-2012

I do not find many photos or papers for gr-aunt Mary in either my mom’s or grandma’s photos or papers.  However, my mom had a lot of memories of visits with her, so I did not get the feeling Mary was some sort of social outcast. At least not an outcast at my grandparent’s home (which should surprise no one considering the family gossip about my grandfather). Two siblings that were close in age, and both the butt end of gossip.

I only have one photo of young Mary.  She is among numerous other GARNER relatives at a reunion in June 1923.  She would have been in her mid-teens. She had a profoundly serious look about her.

Source: my personal collection

    Growing up I knew Gr-Aunt Mary was married to Ben KREIDER and that they had no children.  But anything else was hush hush.  She was dead before any of my own memories, but I can think of many questions I would have liked to ask her if I had had the opportunity.

According to a clipping from the Lancaster New Era, Ben KREIDER and Mary GARNER married on March 24, 1928 at the parsonage of the First Methodist Church by Rev. A. M. WITWER.

Source: Ancestry & Lancaster New Era newspaper

According to some military documents that I found on Ancestry; Ben was in the Army from at least 1941-1943. Was their union already in trouble prior to him going off to war, and this was the final straw?

Going back to the Lancaster New Era newspaper, Ben KREIDER filed for divorce in Oct. 1942 on grounds of desertion.  They separated in 1940 so I would have to say there were already obvious problems before Ben went off to war.

Source: Ancestry & Lancaster New Era newspaper

    Whatever happened divorce-wise, Mary took back her maiden name.  My impression from comments made was that Mary was truly angry and bitter toward Ben until she died.

The Ben GARNER family was together on the farm in Quarryville during the summer of 1943 and took time to pose for a photo.

Source: my personal collection

This photo was taken in the mid to late 1940’s at my grandparents’ home in Lancaster, PA. Obviously Mary was welcome (despite her scandalous behavior) and was part of the family group.

Source: my personal collection

Here she is with her parents, probably on the family farm in Quarryville, PA circa 1950.

Source: My personal collection

Ben & Cora GARNER celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in April 1956. The family had a professional picture taken.  Clyde was sick with cancer at this point and would not live out the year.

Source: My personal collection

Mary died in 1966, also of cancer.  She is listed in her obit as “Miss” Mary GARNER.  There is no mention that she ever married. She worked at Hamilton Watch Factory for many years.

Source: My personal collection

Obviously, Gr-Aunt Mary worked and supported herself.  She had gotten some education and was a member of a church.  She was welcomed by family for at least some family functions.  Why did she and Ben divorce really?  She deserted him why? I do not remember her name ever mentioned with another man when she was discussed.  Whatever happened between Ben Kreider and Mary was known at the time, but not discussed to those of us who had no reason to know.

Let’s face it, every family has those relatives we do not discuss.  Sometimes why is kept quiet, other times it is common news in the papers for all to see.  Let me encourage you to just keep asking questions and keep searching. 

Before social media, people tended to regard personal privacy as a normal thing.  The why of happenings is not going to be easily found, but that does not mean the answer is not out there.

As for Mary, I am going to keep looking on Family Search and Ancestry to see what other information is available.  I will also try to order the divorce papers from the Lancaster County Archives too – who knows what information will turn up in that……

PLEASE NOTE: 
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

GARNER, RALPH - Hoopla Around His Birth 1906

GARNER, Ralph - Hoopla Around His Birth 1906

It was certainly no secret in our family that "Pappy" (Ralph GARNER) had been conceived out of marriage by his folks.

So the story goes like this:

When Cora GROFF found out she was pregnant in the early spring of 1906, she told the father of said pregnancy Ben GARNER. His response was to take off for Ohio to hide with Mennonite or Amish cousins there. Cora complained to her parents, who complained to Ben's parents.  Ben's father (and possibly brothers) went to the cousin's home in Ohio and drug Ben back despite his protests and made him marry Cora.  Remember they were both minors and Ben admitted that the baby was his.

Notice on the below marriage license that both fathers had to give permission for the wedding to take place.

Source: my personal collection

While I never personally witnessed any unkindness toward my grandfather due to the hoopla of his conception and birth, from comments made in my hearing, it must have been quite the scandal at the time. Apparently it took my gr-grandfather several years to get over his snit at being forced to marry Cora, although as years went on that changed.

Ralph's early education suffered due to being shuffled around to different relatives and while in the 1910 census he is living with his parents, by the 1920 census he is living with his maternal grandparents.

My mom remembered her mom (with her 10th grade education) working with Pappy from the daily newspaper and family Bible to teach him to read.  I remember Pappy reading the Lancaster paper daily when I was around.

As an adult, Pappy told me that he only completed the second grade.

PLEASE NOTE: 
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

PHOTO: MARY, BEN, AND CORA GARNER

This photo is of Mary, Ben, and Cora GARNER.  No date written on photo but from clothing guessing in the late 1940's or early 1950's.  The scenery could be the Ben GARNER farm.

Mary was the oldest daughter of Ben and Cora (GROFF) GARNER.

Photo given to me by R. SCHNEIDER, who was the grandson of Mary (GARNER) SCHNEIDER, who was the sister of Ben GARNER.

PLEASE NOTE: 
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

GROFF, CORA M. 1887-1973

My gr-grandmother, Cora M. (Groff) GARNER was a descendant of "Swamp" John GROFF. Her parents were Joseph GROFF (1856-1926) and Josephine (MYERS) GROFF (1866-1934). It is believed they married about 1884 but I have not really looked for records yet.

Both my mom and I called her "Grammie GARNER" when talking to her or about her. She married Benjamin F. GARNER, the son of Charles and Elizabeth (MUSSLEMAN) GARNER in the April of 1906 per the marriage license #1625. As discussed on an earlier post:
https://lancastercountyfamilyties.blogspot.com/2012/01/marraige-certificate.html
Cora was pregnant and that child was born in Aug. 1906.

 I've noticed in Ancestry that at least one of the family trees lists the first child as born in 1907 - which is a mistake.  The oldest child was Ralph who was born in Aug. 1906.

 In the 1900 census for Colerain Township in Lancaster County, PA:

Joseph GROFF is 43 and Josephine is 34. The children listed are: Charlie (15), Cora (12), *Abram (9), Harry (7), Earl (4), and Clara (2).

I do not know the story of how Cora and Ben met, or even what their parents may have thought about the marriage.

* His death cert lists his name as Edgar Abram GROFF

PLEASE NOTE: 
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

LANCASTER "GRAEFF/GRAFF" IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Source: iStock

Being a patriot did not always involve going into battle - it also involved giving supplies, money, medical help, and general support to the Colonial troops or individual soldiers.  Many Mennonite and Amish non-combatants can fulfill the description of patriot because they helped in other ways besides actually killing the enemy. 

If I ever get around to gathering together the documentation to file for "supplemental" patriots for my DAR lines I am currently aware of 6 - 8 "patriots" within my own family line - most were Mennonite and refused to actually kill other human beings but they valued their personal and religious freedom and did contribute to the cause.

There is now a wonderful book available "Revolutionary Patriot's of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania 1775-1783" by Henry C. PEDEN, Jr. published in 1998 by Family Line Publications.

On pages 105-106 are listed these GROF/GRAFF/GRAEFF men with brief descriptions of their service.  I have chosen to simply list the names.

GRAEFF, Frederick - soldier
GRAEFF, Jacob - soldier
GRAEFF, Samuel
GRAFF, Andrew - soldier
GRAFF, G. - boarded soldiers
GRAFF, Garret - soldier
GRAFF, George Michael -
GRAFF, Jacob - soldier
GRAFF, Jacob Sr -
GRAFF, John -
GRAFF, John -
GRAFF, John - soldier
GRAFF, John - soldier
GRAFF, Mathew - soldier
GRAFF, Matthias -
GRAFF, Samuel -
GRAFF, Sebastian - soldier
GRAFT, Phillip - soldier
GROFF, Peter -


The above Sebastian GROFF is probably the same man who was elected State Senator in 1790.  This same man in 1787 was also a delegate to the convention to ratify the Federal constitution and was also a delegate in 1789 to amend the constitution of Pennsylvania (Source: A Biographical History of Lancaster County: Being a History of Early Settlers..... by Alex HARRIS 1872, reprinted in 1989.

PLEASE NOTE: 
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

GROFF MISCELLANEOUS INFO

My GROFF line goes back to "Swamp John GRAF of Martic".  I greatly admire people such as Clyde and Walter GROFF and Jane Evans BEST who spent years, money, and probably frustration trying to separate and organize the GRAF/GROFF/GROVE/GRAEFF lines of Lancaster County into a reasonable pattern. I have both Vol 1 and 2 of the GROFF Book.  

I understand there are some mistakes, and disagreements with exactly who some of the people are and how they are related. It is certainly not a project I would want to take on. If nothing else, these books give a rational foundation and starting place for anyone searching for GROFF roots in Lancaster County, PA.

According to the GROFF Book Vol. 1 (pg. 1): the GRAF family was recorded as living in Bettswil, Switzerland in 1469. 

Source: iStock

In 1541 there are three GRAF families listed as living there.  I have seen previous articles that the GRAF and BARR/BEAR/BAHR/BARE families were from the same area and very interconnected, even to the point of traveling to colonial America on the same ships.  I do not claim to have done any research on the family prior to their arrival in colonial America and to date have depended on other people who have more time and financial resources than I do.

They may have converted to the Mennonite faith in 1525  when a traveling Anabaptist named Konrad GREBEL preached in the town church. The GRAF men are listed as teachers in the town documents.

 In 1651, a Jagli GRAF moved from Bettswil with his wife and seven children to Sinsheim in the Palatinate. With Jagli GRAF went Hans Jagli GRAF (brother??) and his wife and one child. Along with them went another man named Hans GRAF.

In 1656  a document naming an Anabaptist,  Jacob GROFF, a resident of Steinfurt in the domain of the Pfalz.

Source: Free Images

On 2 March 1661 a group of Anabaptists attended an illegal meeting at Steinfurt near Sinsheim in the Kraichgau area of (now) Germany. According to the GROFF Book Vol. 1, there is no known surviving record that completely ties these GRAF's to those who later turned up in Lancaster County, but the same last names appear over and over again together in various documents. On the list for fines in regard to attending the above illegal meeting are found these Grafs:

Hans Jacob GRAFF of Venningen- church grounds keeper - with his wife and servant
Jacob GROFF of Steinfurt - five in all

Source for above: GROFF Book Volume 1 by Clyde GROFF, Walter GROFF, and Jane Evans BEST 1985

PLEASE NOTE: 
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

GARNER, REBA - HER LIST OF BIRTHDAYS

My grandma, Reba (RESSLER) GARNER was great about remembering birthdays and holidays of friends and family - she sent cards out for all of them.  I found this list among mom's papers, but it is Grandma's hand writing.  There is no date or greeting.

The list covers birth dates for my Pappy's (Ralph GARNER) siblings, parents, and paternal grandparents:

Benjamin GARNER & Cora Mae GROFF married April 14, 1906

Ralph Groff GARNER   Aug. 5, 1906
Mary E GARNER          Dec. 29, 1908
Ella Mae GARNER        Nov. 29, 1910  (my note: married name ROOP)
Clyde J. GARNER         July 25, 1913
Lester C. GARNER       May 28, 1915

Benjamin Franklin GARNER       Aug. 20, 1885
Cora (GROFF) GARNER                   Aug. 13, 1887

Ben's parents:
Charles GARNER 1863 - died 1943
Elizabeth Musser (MUSSELMAN) GARNER 1864 - died 1925  (my note: MUSSER was her mom's maiden name)

APPLEBACH, TAYLOR Z & MAY V or P (GROFF) - DIVORCE 1920

Taylor APPLEBACH & May V. GROFF married in 1909. I remember his nasty temper - it apparently did not improve with age.  In 1920, physical abuse was not a usual reason for granting a divorce to the woman, so my thought is that the abuse was very severe.  I find it interesting that his mother wrote a statement about the abuse he dished out to May.

I do not know all the details but one of Grandma GARNER's (Reba) first cousins and I went to clean family tombstones in the fall of 1986, and he told me that when Taylor & Jennie lived in Conestoga he lived across the road.  Apparently the APPLEBACH house had a large window in the living room and he saw Taylor push Jennie thru the glass window. So I have to think that abusive behavior to his wives (maybe children as well) was a normal action of his.

None of his children actually do use or have used the term "abuse" when describing Pop, however, they say or have said things such as "not nice", "mean", "yelled a lot", and "didn't love us" .  None of the children wanted to live with him and did whatever was necessary to leave home as soon as possible.  The daughters resented having to help care for him when he was older.

(Source of documents: Lancaster Archives)

Pg. 1

Pg. 2

Pg. 3

Pg. 4

Pg. 5

Pg. 6

Pg. 7

Pg. 8 - May's statement

Pg. 9 - Elizabeth Applebach's statement

Pg. 10

Pg. 11

Pg. 12

Pg. 13

Click on images to make them large enough to read.


12/7/2018: An interesting (at least to me) side note to this is that I have only been able to track down one Mamie GROFF and she was the daughter of Noah and Ella (WOOD) GROFF.  This Mamie was born in 1888 (so only 2 years younger than Taylor).  If this Mamie is the correct one, she is descended through Martin and Anna (KENDIG) GROFF who was another son of "Swamp" John and Catherine (ESCHLEMAN) GROFF  - meaning she would have been an distant relation to me on my maternal side.  Is Lancaster County the only place that family trees are so twisted and turned?

PLEASE NOTE: 
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

LETTERS FROM CORA GARNER

These 2 letters are the only ones that I found in among the papers and letters that mom kept that were from her grandma (my gr-grandma) Cora (GROFF) GARNER.  I just thought I would share them, if nothing else so others could see her handwriting.

Click on the images to make them big enough to actually read.

The first is dated Sept. 29, 1970 and was after a visit she made with Ralph & Reba GARNER out to see us in Idaho.  The cut off word at the bottom is "never" as in "and never expect to see again."  Pappy & Grandma drove out to see us and brought Grammy GARNER with them.

The second letter is dated Feb. 24, 1971. We saw her again on our trip to Lancaster in the summer of 1971, which she mentioned hoping we would make in the below letter.

PLEASE NOTE: 
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.