A Thread to Follow

In the next letter, Kathryn mentions only one name on her side, “John also is enjoying the best of health. He is taking his after dinner nap.”

They are obviously living together, and there seems to be an air of intimacy reserved for family, so I assumed that John was her husband and made a note to search “John Lorenz”.

The next letter was written in September of 1920. This letter feels much more personal than the first one. The second line of her letter says, “Not a day passes but what I think of you both.”

Much of the letter is newsy: “I took an eight-week course in nursing”; “we had a picnic for the benefit of the school. I had an Ice Cream stand and sold about $107 worth. John also had a stand and sold soft drinks and smokes.”; and “I have about one hundred quarts of fruit and vegetables out up now and not through yet.”

And later, she tells Lou, “Well Lou, my dear boy I see by your letters that you are faithfully going to Church every Sunday that you can and I sure am glad to hear it. I pray for you every day that you may be better able to decide on that question which is so very important. And hope the day is not far distant. My dear boy the day when you make your profession of faith will be one of the happiest in your life and take it from me you will never regret it.”

When Kathryn mentioned Lou’s siblings in her first letter, I assumed that Kathryn was a relative on his side of the family, but I didn’t know if it was his father’s or mother’s side. In the third letter I have, from September of 1921, Kathryn mentions a cousin in Wisconsin. 

That only served to confirm that Kathryn was somewhere on Lou’s “Winney” side. Wisconisn never came up in my extensive research of Mabel’s “Wallberg” family. This made it easier knowing which side to focus. But, I was detoured momentarily when I falsely assumed which of Lou’s grandparents I should research first.

What I couldn’t have known was that one envelope would lead me to discover more than who Aunt Kathryn was. I would find loss and heartache for three women: Mary Heuertz, and her two daughters, Kathryn Lorenz, and Elizabeth Wellman.

I would also find eventual joy and contentment for Kathryn and Elizabeth as they overcame the struggles of their early lives. You can read more about Elizabeth Wellman’s journey here.

Click here to read Part 4 of Kathryn’s story.