Nellie's Short Story - the beginning
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| 1877 Letter written from school by Nellie G. Lothrop to her Mother |
Eaton
Corner Feb 19th 1877
Dear Mother
I
am going to scribble a few lines before it is time to go to school. how did pa
get home that day I suppose all-right school did not keep last Wednesday the
Master was sick with the earache so I went down to [?] awhile they were cooking
for the ball they were making fruit cakes, the day before they made 26 mince
pies they are going to trim their cakes to day I am going in after school and
see them I do not think they went after Ada [?] yesterday she would have fits
if she did not get up here to the Ball. I shall look for you and Pa up if you
can not come make Pa come Mary Jane was asking me if you was not coming I went
to singing school Friday and Saturday night – Jennie, Aubrey and Emma &
myself went up to Mr Lindsays Saturday afternoon it is a splendid place to go
visiting the girls are so lively How is Lucena getting along. My Birth-day was
yesterday and I never thought anything about it until after I had gone to bed
if Pa comes over have him bring some of those trockee’s (1) last
night I coughed so I could not go to sleep I have got an awful cold they have
not kept the Academy very warm lately most all the Scholars have got cold.
Wilbur
has not got home yet has he. did Ada come home Monday I did not go to Church
yesterday they offered to carry me if I wanted to go I have been into Mr Algers
a number of times lately Ella does not seem to get any better they do not ring
the Church Bell only a few minutes on her account I went to the young folks
prayer meeting last Tuesday night at Dr Powers Ada [Ida?] played on the piano
How
does Herbert get on with his school O it was splendid sliding last Friday night
I wish Herbert could have been over here the roads were all icy there was any
amount out sliding I am going to singing school to night there is going to be
only a few more
The
Band is going to give a concert at Sawyerville week from next Friday night and
a dance, after there is a lot going up I guess I will not write any more this
time. I shall expect you up Wednesday write soon
I
want to hear how how all the folks are
from
Nellie G. L
I got a letter from Persis the other day she
told me all the news
Nellie
G. Lothrop
I
introduced Nellie to you in my first blog post. It was her story that gave me
the idea to record and share the stories of the ancestors, and Nellie’s begins
in 1861. She was the first born to Allen and Elvira (Webster) Lothrop at her
grandfather Galen Lothrop’s farm in Westbury, Quebec. Six siblings came along: Herbert,
Frederick, Ernest, Annie, Bertha, and Henry. Bertha is the sister from whom my
Hunting cousins are descended. I found this in the bible Nellie gave her sister Bertha:
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| Family record in Bertha Lothrop's bible |
It’s funny
how from a distance of over 140 years, we don’t realize that our ancestors had
just as busy lives as we do. In her letter, Nellie sounds like she’s having fun, in spite of being sick with a bad
cold. There were singing groups, parties, sliding on the ice and snow (in the winter), visits
with friends and family. Even a 19th century version of FaceBook:
daily letter writing and delivery!
Nellie turned 16 at the time she
wrote this particular letter from the Eaton Corner Academy at Eaton Corner,
Compton County, Quebec. The Academy was the equivalent of today’s high school,
where most scholars (as they were called then) would train to be teachers. As
Nellie’s younger sister Bertha did become a teacher, I suspect she went to the
Academy too (it’s on my list of questions to research).
You can still visit the Academy and walk on the creaky floorboards
Nellie would have walked on. Going up the stairs to the second storey you will
see a display which includes a mock up of what the school would have been like.
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| Where Nellie went to school: Eaton Corner Academy, Eaton Corner, Quebec |
When I visited, I pictured Nellie writing this letter sitting on a hard wooden bench at one of these desks, her long woolen skirts tucked around her, and probably a
heavy woolen shawl around her shoulders. (As she says, “they have not kept the
Academy very warm lately.”) She used a dip pen (pre-cursor to a fountain pen), dipping it periodically in the ink well as she wrote.
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| Desk display at the Eaton Corner Academy |
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| Example of the dip pen Nellie may have used. (Source: www.earlyhomedecor.com) |
In pre-computer days, the scholars would write lessons in notebooks or on slates
(little chalkboards). They would also learn how to hold a pen properly and perfect their penmanship, by writing the same lines over and over to get the shapes of the letters
right. However, by the way Nellie’s letters are written, it appears that
punctuation was not high on the learning priority!
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| Example of Penmanship Lesson at Eaton Corner Academy |
If you ever get to visit a place where an ancestor lived, or hold an
artefact that they held, it’s a magical sensation. Like my grandfather used to
say, you can feel those who have gone before (in a good, comforting way, not a
spooky way).
Nellie had a very short life, but it seems from her own words,(2)
that she was very close to her family and friends, was very social, interested
in new things (even contemplating going to California!), and happy. I’m glad I
found her story.
(1) You too may have wondered what the
word “trockee” is, and if it’s correct. On a hunch, I looked it up, and though
Nellie misspelled it (troche), it is a “small medicated lozenge designed to
dissolve” (according to medicinenet.com). Hence Nellie would have wanted trockees for her sore throat!
(2) All of Nellie’s letters, as well as
the collection of other Lothrop letters and artefacts, and Hunting letters and
artefacts, that have been carefully saved and passed on generation to
generation, are being donated later in 2020 to the Eastern Townships Resource
Center Archives, at Bishop’s University in Lennoxville Quebec. All the family
and interested Townships scholars will be able to see them.
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