Seymour Manufacturing Company
Incorporated
Scythe Snaths, Grain Cradles
Post Hole Diggers, Etc.
Established 1872
Seymour, Indiana
March 21, 1940.
Mrs. Sarah Johnson,
1506 Y Ave.,
LaGrande Oregon.
Dear Mrs. Johnson:
I received your letter of March 10th some time
ago and have been intending to answer it more promptly. Answering some of your
questions, my father’s name was Julius and his grandfather and your grandfather
were brothers. His grandfather was one of the younger children in the family.
Someone in the Oklahoma branch of the family wrote that they thought their
family was largely Irish, meaning that the Birges had married people f Irish
descent. This is true of our family as my mother’s name was Mary Patrick. In my
own family I have five children and six grandchildren.
I notice that your grandmother wrote the family a letter in
1875. There seems to be some little confusion as to the name of your grandfather
Elijah’s wife, possibly because he married twice. I am trying to clear up this
part of the record but it is rather hard to do as no one seems to have a
written record of early dates or names. I am wondering if someone in your
family had records such as might be in an old family Bible. The trouble seems
to be that both your family and mine were pioneers and in moving about such
records were lost.
Some time before long I am going to try and get over to
Centralia, Ill, as I go near there quite frequent, and see if I can locate any
early records of the family while I am there. I will be glad to have the record
of your family and their children at any time that you can give them to me.
You ask about my being able to read your writing. I can do
very well in reading it and think for a person of your age that you have quite
a firm, legible handwriting. I do have some difficulty when it comes to names
as it is a little more diffcutlt to make out some particular name whereas words
are easy to read, depending on the word that comes before or after them. I am
S.J.
-2-
3/21/40
Not nearly as old as you are, yet my wife tells me that she
cannot always read my letters and I sometimes have to pass up some words in
hers.
Do you happen to know where I could locate any of Manuel’s
family, who was one of your youger half brothers, or where I could locate the
family of your brother, William? I note that he lived in Centralia, Ill.
I note what you write about pictures of Mrs. Birge and me.
We do not have nay real photographs but I have some Kodak pictures that I am
going to have printed as soon as I can find the films and will be very much
pleased to send these to you.
Very sincerely,
Ernest N. Birge
ENB:DF
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