May 1913 letter by MWN

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Here is another letter written in 1913 by Mary Ward Nichols to Miss Margaret Turner Holyoke.

This is a followup to the March 1913 letter already posted. 

See transcript (below) prepared by Peter Houston, grand nephew of Miss Holyoke. He had found these letters among possessions of his late mother, Susanne Houston.

Peter also found an email that his mother had written to me in 2015 about family genealogy, so he emailed to inform me of her death, and to share these letters.

Hathorne, May 11th, 1913

My Dear Miss Margaret,

    I should have answered your note much earlier, but waited to find out from the Secretary of the Essex Institute whether there were any copies of the diaries to be had.  I was not able to see him until this last week and found that he had this printed circular , and copies of the book to sell, so I enclose it.  I want to tell you that I was most relieved to to find that your home was not among those that were destroyed by the tornado which caused such ruin.  I feared for your safety and I felt that I must wait to get a word from you.  It happened so soon after you wrote of your receipt of the book.  I thank you for sending me the pictures of your brother's children;  they are bright, healthy looking children;  the group of the three is very cunning.  I am glad to see such a sturdy-looking Edward A. Holyoke of this generation;  his little sister seem to me to have to have more of the Holyoke look.  Since writing you, I saw your aunt, Mrs. Davis, when she spoke in Salem at the North Church (which was the church the centenarian E.A. Holyoke attended, not the same building however, but the one your grandfather did).  She spoke at the union meeting of the three Salem Alliances.  I only had a chance to say a word that I had heard from you as there were so many wishing to speak to her;  she seemed well and had just returned from a southern trip.  I hope to hear her in Boston a week from tomorrow, May 19th, at a meeting.  I congratulate you on your fortunate escape which was wonderful, as it damaged your house and you were so near the heart of it.  I hope you received the photographs of your Aunt Bessie I sent you and the others of your great-grandmother.  I hope to hear from time to time from you and your family.

Cordially,

Mary Ward Nichols

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NOTE:

The name Edward A. Holyoke in this letter is well known in our families. When MWN refers to the "centenarian E. A. Holyoke" I know those initials refer to Dr. Edward Augustus Holyoke, a founder of the Massachusetts Medical Society and its first president. He lived from August 1, 1758 to March 31, 1859. He is the common link in our genealogies.

In 2015 Susanne Houston wrote to me, "I am delighted find a new cousin, especially one descended from Susanna, since the only direct descends from Edward Augustus I, the old doctor of Salem, Mass., are through his 2 married daughters, your Susanna and our Judith." 

I learned that her family line includes many others named Edward Augustus Holyoke, designated with Roman numerals to keep them straight:

(Dr.) Edward Augustus Holyoke (Turner) II. (1796-1855) In 1817 he dropped the family name 'Turner" at the request of his grandfather, the original Dr. Edward Augustus Holyoke.
Edward Augustus Holyoke III  
Edward Augustus Holyoke IV

Edward Augustus Holyoke V    etc. 

 

My awareness of this side of the family tree really began in 2015, with a phone conversation with a woman in Ontario, Canada. She enjoyed reading this blog. In an email in 2015, she wrote, "Mom is going to help me figure out our family relationship... The way my genealogy goes back to the "old doctor" (as Mom calls him) is as follows:

Laura Porter Houston (now Weaver)

daughter of Susanne Elwood Houston (and Alexander Clayton Houston)

daughter of Pleasant Mariah Holyoke (and Samuel Harold Elwood)

daughter of Edward Augustus IV (and Emma Maryann Whitbread)

son of Edward Augustus Holyoke III (and Maria Bassett)

son of Dr. Edward Augustus Holyoke Turner (and Mariah Osgood)

son of Judith Holyoke (and William Turner Jr.)

daughter of Dr. Edward Augustus Holyoke and Mary Simpson Viall"

Laura is of course Peter's sister. The 'old doctor' is their 6th-great-grandfather, and he is my 5th-great-grandfather.  I think that makes us 5th-cousins-once-removed or is it 6th-cousins-once-removed?  A simpler way to state this:  Laura and Peter are 6th cousins to my daughter Tonya Holyoke Ward (now Singer) and my son Chris L. Ward.