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As the earliest letter I have to him is dated 1918, Roger has obviously passed on (which would make him 92 if he had been born the day the letter was sent to him). I was unable to find an obituary for him as the Toronto Star's obituary records only go back to 2008.
What do I know about him? Well, I know that he owned a Drug Store called Bodkins Drug Store in Toronto, and he was married to a lady named Rita. As you read through the letters, you will learn more about him, his family and friends.
It's fairly clear to me that Roger was a very nice man and everyone who wrote him seemed to have only good things to say.
The letters, totalling 8 range from 1918 to 1952. Some are closer together than others. I'm going to post the letters in chronological order, and will post them rather sporadically (one letter per post), so please keep checking back to find the next Letter to Roger.
Please comment on writing style, ink, paper - anything that comes to mind. We're all interested to know your thoughts on the letters. The image files are huge, so feel free to copy, paste and then re-size to whatever size is easiest for you to read. Please do not post the letters anywhere else, though.
So, without further ado, I give you letter 1, dated March 11, 1918.
4 comments:
Oh what a lovely letter. I love that he says that the woman 'presented him' with a daughter. He uses great phrasing and words.
The person writing the letter seems wonderful and like someone I would have wanted to know. He speaks well of others and hates that the Germans in his country are treated with suspicion.
Thank you for posting this. Can't wait to read more!
WOW! That is so cool! I LOVE reading old letters, and I collect them when I can. This is such a great snapshot of the times. A few things I thought:
1) We take fax and email for granted. Imagine forwarding a document and having it returned via snail mail! Nowadays, you couldn't depend on anyone to send anything back to you!
2) People wrote such meaningful letters back then. Nowadays you can just go to someone's facebook profile and know exactly what they're doing, or txt message instantly. Makes the art of letter writing fade away, which makes these old letters even more precious.
3) There are hints about the depression and how the family is eating a lot of corn so their kid can have cake. Very timely to be reading this now, as we are in a modern version of it.
I love your blog, and the concept of it! I really hope you post more letters because I really love reading them! Definitely following!
Thanks!
Sharon (Fuzzinton on Swap-bot)
A lovely idea for a blog; I sell old postcards and get very involved with what's been written on them and the writers.
I wonder what the people who wrote them would make of us reading their private words?
how interesting! It is really neat to read old letters, even if you don't know the people there is something so fascinating about them.
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