This is one of my favorite postcards from my collection. It was sent or post marked from Litchfield, Connecticut on April 11, 1913 at 6:30pm. It’s amazing that I can get that close with the date and time. It was sent to Mrs. Lyman M. Husted, also known as Lucy Lamb Husted. Lucy is my great-great-grandmother and this postcard was written by her mother Adella Bunnell Lamb. This post card also looks beautiful, it has a ridged texture. Here’s a picture of both sides of the postcard and a transcription of the writing:
Dear Luci (?)
Not receiving a letter from you this week as yet, will drop you a card instead of a latter. Naturally you are disappointed in not seeing Roy. He thought when we went away he couldn’t afford to go to both places. I think the experience has showed him some things. He is at home + at work again. All are well, Mamma
In all of the letters that I have from Adella to her daughter, Adella always talks about how Lucy doesn’t write. Even Lucy mentions it in her letter to Adella. Maybe Lucy didn’t like to write letters, or perhaps she was to busy to write, as she explains in her letter. When Adella wrote this postcard, Lucy was 23 years-old with one child and another on the way.
The Roy in the letter is most likely Leroy W. Lamb. He was born in 1894 so at the time of this post card, he was around 19 years-old. In a 1917 military census Leroy was still living at home and worked as a farm hand. He lists that he has a serious disability, “Breack”. I have no idea what that means.
I don’t know why Roy was traveling or where he went instead of visiting his sister, maybe other correspondence will shine the light on Roy’s travels.
Here’s another letter that I found among the pictures left by my great-grandmother. At first I had trouble figuring out who this letter is from and who it was written for. The letter starts off with “Dear Ones” and is signed from L.H. I had originally thought this letter was to Lucy Lamb Husted, my great-great-grandmother but after further review I think that this letter is from Lucy to her children, thus the “Dear Ones”.
There are some other people mentioned in this letter, the first is Nate, who I haven’t been able to identify. I’m assuming that Lucy when to visit her mother, Adella Lamb, who she mentions later in the letter, up in Litchfield, Connecticut. I will look more into who this Nate is because I also have many unidentified pictures taken in Litchfield and Nate might be in them.
Lucy also mentions a letter from Aunt Kate. This can be Lucy’s sister, Kate Lamb Osborn or Lucy’s Aunt, Kate Lamb Fuller. Seeing as this is a letter to her children “Aunt Kate” is probably Lucy’s sister.
Here is a scan of the letter, but I will also transcribe it below
6-11-23
Dear ones
Just a line I expected a line from you today but it was Aunt Kate’s in stead. I some times wish you were here there is lots of things toshow you & shure you will never know or rather never relise if I do tell you. I have my mind made up & that is pure & simple.
Nate is working today & I am alone here inthe house. If it has not rained by this time water the grass onthe lawn & the hedge yong ones
I suppose you have sprayed the patatoes by this time one – heaping table spoon full to every quart of water
How many chickens have you & do you change them 2 times a day dontput them on the new lawn
The sour cheries here are almost ripe. grapes are in blosomhere
I went over to the little church last night the one you have apicture of. It is now 4pm & Nate will be home for super at 5:30 will stop for to do the chores. Don’t you wish you were to ride fancy water & fed hur
Nate has only got 3 hens is or wants to set &another is blind with one eye
I made a cake yestuday & it urned out fine
Mama spoke of waren & North Ave I think she is mistaken Waren St does not go to North Ave. What did Mr Gill say about old lumber
Well I have bento see Mother once more I stayed with her about theee forts of an hour she did not talk much tonight she sed she felt like sleaping she told Me not to be mad but asked Me if I would gohome & let her sleap. She seam real good one day & them worse the next Well no for that report card of final report What shall it bewho has the best who is pasing this time
I canot dooall of the work Nate told Will look again tomorow & see what I can find. I will not say that I am geting fat but I am feeling fairely good but I am not satis fied Now May you hug Louise forme & be a good girl that is the kind that dady likes
Robert do you have much time after you get the hoeing done wellwe will all take a day of when I get home & have a ridee in the car to If itseams hot for that [?] let mr Brenon have it ask what they think of it
Ihave sed all for this time
Love to all hug Louise forrme
L.H.
This letter was hard for me to transcribe. It was much lighter than the other letter, making it hard to read. There are some words that I could not figure out some of the words, even by increasing the contrast on the letter. The grammar and spelling mistakes make this a hard letter to read and understand.
I like the part of this letter that is clearly a mother making sure her children take care of their home. She gives instructions on how to spray the potatoes and to make sure that the chickens don’t go on the new lawn. She tells them that if it hasn’t rained, to water the grass.
I also find it interesting that Lucy asks to “hug Louise for me”. In 1923, Louise would have been just a year old. I feel like it would have been hard for a mother to leave her infant for a length of time. That’s what makes me think that Lucy went to see her mother because her mother was ill. Adella does make a comeback from whatever illness that she has because she lived at least until 1957 and the age of 94.
My great-grandmother Mae or in this letter “May” would have been nine years old and her brother Robert, thirteen. Lucy never mentions their father until the very end of this letter “be a good girl that is the kind dady likes”. I imagine a thirteen-year-old and a nine-year-old and a baby running a small farm but that is not likely. Lyman M., Mort as he is called in other letters, Lucy’s husband, probably was home tending to their farm.
I would like to know how long Lucy was away from her home, some of the things she talks about makes it seem like she was away for awhile, like how she baked a cake. I also don’t know how long letters took but I’m assuming they weren’t too fast.
Overall I think that this letter is an amazing thing to find. I love the fact that my great-great-grandmother sat down at a typewriter and I can hold in my hand the letter that she wrote. I think that feeling connected to my ancestors is one of the main reasons that I love doing this research. Even though Lucy never knew me, I can still feel like her granddaughter, even if it is her great-great-granddaughter.
In a box of pictures that belonged to my great-grandmother, I found some letters. This letter is from my great-great-grandmother, Lucy Lamb (highlighted in blue) to probably my great-great-great-grandmother Adella Bunnell (highlighted in yellow). She mentions “Mort” who is her husband, Lyman Mortimer Husted (highlighted in red). I’ve included a quick family tree to show these relationships.
I thought that this letter was really fun to read and gave a good glimpse of like back in 1923. Here’s a scan of the letter, I will transcribe it below.
Bridgeport, Conn.
Jue 3. 1923
Dear Mother – You wonder why Lucy dont write because she is doing Mort work in the garden The potatoes are up enough so the beans squash and other things are most in, Yes the early potatoes are rakes and the late potatoes as far as we have planted,
The car runs allright Frank says now you are out with your mother dont be in a hurry to come back he said he would help you here all he could but had a lot fo work to do, You have the fraim and saddle from Earnest England wheel they want $ 2. & told Robert they had the wheels ***** if you take it. Louise went from where mother sit when she was here out in the kitchen, Frances Vanderkruik can ride Marie wheel & robert think thinks he ou ght to have one,
The vegatables are up, We dont get any rain its is thundren now but the most of the rain went over just A little The black berries are in blossom some of them, Mays report card is a little better this time
Mr Brennen wanted to know how mother was * when is mMr Husted coming home,
DO you feel any better out there in that different air, Dave Gregory went to work since Red moved O Frank had a spill turning a round a car down in from front of the store when he came up & hurt his leg havnt seen him since. Robert made a wind mill & put it on the post the same as he had the other one
Robert liked to run the planter & got the rows pretty good for the first time Ma make Mort read this to you & tell him to help Nate the same as you made nate help
Mort here Hope you will get along alright I have written most of this to Mort but you dont care if he reads it to you doyou? May has said more then once I wish I would be out there with Daddy. Now I have said more then Mort We are all well & tired.
Yours, Lucy
P.S. Mr Gill came tonight saying if you wanted old house lumber they are tearing down the houses on North Ave and Warren St.
I know that “May” in the letter is my great grandmother, she would have been around 9 years-old at the time of this letter. I’m glad that her grades got better. “Robert” is my great great uncle, “May’s” brother. I’m not sure if “Mort” wrote this letter as Lucy dictated it. That would make the change in tenses more explainable. I also think that Mort is delivering the letter to Lucy’s mother, because she asks Mort to read the letter to her. I don’t know when Adella Bunnell Lamb died but perhaps she moved away from her family at this time, possibly with another one of her children, because Lucy asks her how she is feeling in the “different air”.
Hopefully as I post more pictures from my great grandmother’s box, I’ll be able to link those to the people mentioned in this letter.
My Origin Stories 