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 2017 holiday season renewed my interest in the vintage letters I had inherited. Visiting my side of the family for Thanksgiving, and my husband’s side for Christmas really hit home that I needed to share what I had with anyone who was related to the letter writers, no matter how distant.
Continue readingThe story of Aunt Kathryn will be told a little differently than my other family history blog posts because I think the story of how I “rediscovered” a relative, and in turn a completely new side of my family, is as interesting as the woman whose story I’m telling.
I stared at the envelope, trying to make sense of the unfamiliar name in the upper left hand corner, K.M. Lorenz. Who is that?
Among the names I’d become so familiar with during the decades of researching my family’s history, Lorenz hadn’t popped up once. The postmark from Remsen, Iowa didn’t ring any bells, either.
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This is a multi-post series about the Blessing Sisters. Anna Eliza Blessing Winney is my 3rd great grandmother. You can see all of the posts in the series here: Blessing Sister Stories
Although the farmland along the Mississippi River in the southwest corner of Wisconsin reminded her of home in Missouri, Elizabeth missed her brother and sisters terribly. Her father spent up to twelve hours each day in the mine, and when he returned home, he collapsed from exhaustion.
She distracted her mind by making the small cabin homey and ensuring Abraham was eating decent meals to keep his strength up for the grueling tasks. He had stressed his desire to bring her brother and sisters here, and she determined to have the house ready, no matter how cramped it might be.
The Women Who Gave Us a Legacy of Strength 