Posted 14 years ago
bahamaboy
(224 items)
This item is one of the neatest items if not "the neatest" I have. My "maternal grandma to be" had met Thomas John Collins once. They had written back and forth several times as she was staying out in the sticks near Callahan Fl and he lived in Waycross Ga about 60 miles away. She had heard through the grapevine that there was something very important he wanted to ask her. They had only met at a family party just recently. Several people knew of his up-coming proposal but supposedly didn't spill the beans to grandma. Evidently he had told her that there was an important question he had for her and it came within a week after he received this letter from her dated October 28th 1917. If you enlarge the pics above, take a minute and read her letter to him where she asks him about this question. This is tooooo cool. I knew I had this letter, but had to look for it. They were married before Christmas a month or so later and my grandma (Zettie Wainwright) became Zettie Collins and proceeded, at 4 foot 10 inches tall, to have 7 children of which Edith was born about a year after they were married (moms oldest sister) and then my mom was born in 1921. There were 5 girls and 2 boys of which all are gone but the baby girl (my aunt Julie). They owned a farm and a dairy in the town of Waycross Ga. and raised all those kids on that farm. I went there many times growing up and my most memorable (scariest) was they had a pair of geese that hated me and would chase me and bite me til I bled. I swore one day I would kill both of them (the geese) but they ended up on the dinner table before I got old enough to take them out. But sure enough please take the time to read this letter. I'm sure it won't affect you like it has me, but it's still pretty damn cool. I don't think many families have a piece like this. Oh and by the way, granddaddy Tom was 6 foot 4 inches tall and grandma was 4 foot 10 inches. I'm going to try and find an old pic of them standing side by side. It was something else for sure. But they stayed together their whole life and were married over 60 years before he died. She never re-married and died at age 91.