Family History by Robert Monroe Fleming (Sr.)
Another Grandma Causey Letter from Portland
Transcribed by Robert M. Fleming Jr.
Dear Iva: I got your little note & the dough & Alices letter. I wrote two pages yesterday & finished the letter this morning. & went to fix it up to send & couldnt find the first two pages. so & am writing it over all I can think of. I may write some over that I have writtin on the letter that I am sending . we have had lovely weather here this winter. No snow. & not half as much rain as usual. & I havent hadR except my foot. & its not near as bad as it was last winter. I told you on page that that last Monday was 22 & no school. & Guys all came but all & Geo brot their dinner. & had a fine visit & did me so much good. I told you in th?e about Betty being so sweet. she would stand on Guys lap & put her little hands on each side of his face & kiss him a dozen times. & every time she did it she stuck the point of her toung out. & we nearly hurt our sides laughing at her. well this Sat afternoon & the mail it had came & brot a card from H. & it had terrible bad news. Betty fell out of her high chair yesterday & broke her arm between her elbow & wrist. said she was feeling pretty bad but she slept well that night. well I am not surprised for I thot Cora could climb but Betty beat any one I ever I hope to see saw. she was so quick too. she fell lots of times while I was there. but didnt get hurt bad. now she will see now what I had to go thru with C. I pitty H. she has so much to do by the time she gets well H will be plaid out. if all was like Alice. but she isnt. & poor little Betty will be learning on my lap. the kids were all good. didnt bother a thing. Bobby & Billy helped set the table. Guys spent the day last fall at Wandas. & she said they were wild but good. & smart & she liked them. well I havent said any thing about the estate for a long time. I wrote you about a Geologist [she has to mean genealogist]wanting to hunt up our names. & make a clear record so we could prove up. before we could get any of the estate.
he wanted $100. to begin with. & would hunt up our emigrating ancest- [it appears from the discontinuity that there is one more line beyond the last one partially visible, but legible, at the bottom of the page] up all of the rest & make a clean record so we could prove up for another $100. he told me how to divide it up so it wouldnt be hard on any of us. so I wrote & told him this all. Grand F left 7 chil. who let a family. & I counted up & told them each one could pay $15. each family & it would make it cheap. there are 5 of us. would be $3. each. so Effie sent $3. for them.& Pearl sent $3. & Titia said she wouldnt havea thing to do with it. said she was too sick. & Aunt Thuesa & John & Raymond sent $15. & that was all. I got no more now. well in the mean time Mr L had found Grand F name & all his children on the court records in Tenn. & had found where G F was born & raised & found his Mothers family the Bonifiels. & can introduce me to some of them who are still living now. he did all of that. without a cent. then he wrote for me to send all I had on hand & they would begin the hunt. so I sent him $25. was all I could send. & now I am anxious to see what he can do with money. he did so much with out it. last Spring when I beganto write about it all the Allens said for me to go on & do all I could & the would send money to help with the expense of writing. & they wrote to Titia to see if she could give us any information to help. they was 3 months getting her to ans. then she said she couldnt tell a thing. then she said that would help. she was an invalid & had to stay in bed her heart was so bad. said she couldnt help with money either. she wrote to Tuesa to ask me so many things. so I acted a dunce & answered it. & she never ans mine or theirs. & last fall or summer Mr. Loeber held a meeting in N C & had all the Jennings there that he could get. & he was at the Pickwick Hotel. & one day two women & a man came up there to see him.
& sat there & just the same as told him he lied. he showed her the U S census of the familys names he had got so far. & she said she knew better. that it was all wrong & of course it was Titia & Cecil & that cheap John Lawyer. & shemade him awfully mad. he says she thinks she is the only one who has inteligence enough in the family. & she said there was no records of marriages in Mo. & he said he had found them from 1806 to 1930 just that morning there in N C. he said that she is going to try to get that estate & keep it. he said he might be mistaken but that was the way she talked & acted. he said for me to not worry. she would not injure me. he said he & his helpers were going to see that I got that. she wouldnt do one thing to help me. & turned right around & is doing every thing she can to get it herself. I had Alice copy his letter. ?? sent it to the Allens & T sent the letter to H & G. he always asks every one to write their names in his diary. but he didnt want their names. he wrote to me three months ago that there was some one in my family who was using their influence against me. but didnt know who it was. & Hazel said its Titia & she is jealous of you. I saw it all thru that letter she wrote to Aunt Thuesa. well I couldnt believe it. & when I read his letter & saw it as her I cryed to think my Father & Mother were the fine lovely people they were to have such a daughter. I said she must be crazy. F said she isnt. she is just a damned fool. he said they were what they call educated fools. well I believe it. if they ever had any sense it is all knocked out of them now. I feel so ashamed to tell him she is my sister. He dont know who they are he said. all he found out was she was a Dr wife & the girl her daughter. & the La her husband. I said well if educa makes such fools as that I am glad I am a greenhorn. you know when one is educated too much they call them blue stockings. & Francis says thats what they call Cecil. Mr Loeber is a consulting engineer. & you can tell by his letters that he is. somebody. & to think she would go up there in his office & tell him she knew better. that the gov records was all wrong. I am glad she dont live out here. she cant get any more of that estate than we can. if its ever settled the court settles it. I will send the letter & let you read it as soon as I can.
now I am going to tell you some more news. I have heard of another big Estate. here in America. there is a woman who does nothing else but hunt up estates. & she was hunting up for some one & saw the name of Samuel Jennings. & she had heard of Wm J Estate in Eng. so she looked up this one. & found it had been there since 1700. & she is finding out all she can & will write as soon as she finds any thing to write about. & I have to keep still about it. she says there some lawyers there that are working watching. & she thinks some one is claiming it & dont want any one esle in there. she says if we can prove we are some of the heirs the will can be set aside. I cant tell even you where it is. but it is in one of the richest states in the U S. part of it is in Eng. but not much. it is not my G F because he was only here in 1787. unless it was left to him. I amanxious to hear from her again. Mr Loeber has been on G Pas trail for months. so I told him about this. & we will see if he finds it. I have an invitation to visit Emma McClintock. Uncle Kenedys daugh over in Idaho 300 miles. I may get a chance to go. they live on a ranch. & I hat towns. Just she & her & her husb & a son. his wife died last year. it would do me a lot of good just to see some of my cousins that I was raised with there in Ill. she was going to send $15. for me to send to that Geol. & she fell on the ice & put her left shoulder out of place. & sprained her write wrist. & had to have a Dr & a woman to take care of her. & pay her $1.00. Ray did all of the work & when she was able to let the woman go the bills were $80. so she has to wait untill she saves up some before she can send anything. she writes nice letters. & seems to be very nice. they own this ranch. she is 73 & her H 78. & he is an invalid but helps a lot around the house. they have cows, hogs, poltry. & I guess are better fixed than some of us. I cant imagin what can be the matter with Florence. she wrote a long letter just after they went to Wenatchee. said she was taking care of two child & keeping house for a woman. we understood it for her & C board. & C was working in the apples. well will rite. love to all. Mother
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©2010 Robert M. Fleming Jr.
This page was last revised on 3 January 2010.