marriage arrangement letters, by troy

I recently found this great old photo of my great-grandparents with my grampa and great-uncle. The picture touched the core of me because of the buildings around which I grew up--I can understand the very spot where the photo is taken. Also I am not familiar with photos of my great grandfather but he sure looks like my uncles. My great-grandmother I knew but as a blind nonagenarian and not as a young mom. I always see me in my grandpa even though he looks a little more like some of my cousins.

The barn in the background is going to be featured in the Becker Park going up in that area.

But is a picture really worth a thousand words?

This couple, "Will" and Minnie, met over correspondence. In the early twentieth century, Will went west to gain his fortune. Jerome, Idaho was founded in 1907 and it was around this time he was working in quarters where Minnie's sister was a cook. Maybe she hooked up a bunch of guys with a number of sisters--I don't know. But the story goes that after some mail between Idaho and Iowa, a marriage was assembled. The marriage was made. They begat him. He begat him. And he begat me.

Hmm... to see some of those letters. I owe my existence to such!