#hit me up if curious
Talk about hitting the jackpot. 20 love letters from the 1870s to a young woman named Mary from her later husband, Sam. Also; a photograph of her father, a copy of his will, and his SCHOOLWORK FROM 1811, as well as a photograph of Mary’s older sister/his other daughter Catherine in 1920 when she was an old lady. I am DELIGHTED.
So I’m slowly working my way through the letters and so far, it seems to be that Mary and Sam desperately want to get married, but her father won’t grant them permission. Sam seems to be well off financially (he talks about house hunting for them, and finding a property that is £55 to rent, with two receptions, a bath room - very fancy in the 1870s - about 5 bedrooms, etc, and taking housekeepers and staff) but he also seems to have several young children, so I think he is a widower, a little older than Mary, and for some reason her father doesn’t want her to marry him (William, her father, seems to only have 2 daughters, Catherine and Mary, Catherine who I believe is married, so far be it from me to speculate, but I think he wants to keep Mary at home as a housekeeper/carer as was often the case with unmarried daughters)
Sam is very religious, but he also seems pretty chill about it and talks about how he loves the ‘wonderful diversity of beliefs’ in his local community, and writes long letters (18 pages!!!!) about his love for Mary, day to day life, but also musings on religion (there’s a long one on death, the soul, the Future State of Man etc, very interesting!)
I’ll update you as I go!
