Read the Letters
1901-03-08
To Rachel [Rate] Anderson from her friend, Effie Davis. Effie recently lost her sister and she is telling Rate about her death and how she misses her. She refers to Rate’s sister “Mate” who is Mary Anderson, the future wife of William Burris Gex.
1901-12-03
To John Anthony from Brooking. It appears that he has just returned to Missouri from a visit to Kentucky. He is writing his father in pencil, about the crops and about how “Willie” has been ill. He was a hired man who took care of the farm while Brooking was gone. It seems that both his son Will and daughter Loulie, are in Kentucky staying with their grandparents. Will is helping with the farm work and Brooking says that he is a good, dependable young man.
1902-00-00
To Loulie [Lou] from her mother, Bettie. I believe that this undated letter was written in 1902. Loulie and Will are both in Kentucky staying with their grandfather, John Anthony, who is apparently quite ill and their father Brooking is there too. Bettie writes that she is prepared to leave for Kentucky immediately if she gets a telegram that John Anthony is worse. She tells her daughter about how much she has been sewing. John Anthony didn’t die until Feb. 1907, so his health apparently improved.
1902-04-14
To William Burris Gex from his father, Brooking. Will is in Kentucky helping his grandfather, John Anthony, on his farm. Brooking is advising Will about the best place to buy the equipment to “sink a well.” I assume that this well is for the Kentucky home. It appears that Lou, Will’s sister, is still there staying with their grandparents.
1902-05-04
To John Anthony from Brooking. In half of the letter he is thanking his father for the potatoes that he sent him and in the second half, he is telling him about his visit to Uncle Luke and Aunt Charlotte and the death of their daughter Sallie [Sarah], who was married to David Lee Roberts. Although she died in Neosho, it seems she was buried in Paris, Missouri. He met many of his relatives there, nieces and nephews of his father and their families. He closes by telling his father about his children and asks after Will and Loulie, who are with them in Kentucky.
1903-12-28
To Loulie [Lou] from her mother, Bettie. This letter, written in pencil with very few punctuations, was very hard to read. Loulie is staying with her grandparents in Kentucky and her mother writes about the shocking story of her father’s cousins, Gallatin and Anderson, and how Gallatin is out of control and needs to be put in a sanitarium. Her father ended up having a physical fight with Gallatin and relates how he is sore and black and blue. She then tells Loulie about their Christmas and closes sending her love to both her and Will.
1940-11-21
To Harry Anderson from his niece, Mary Gex Brown. She writes to her uncle regarding the Anderson farm that apparently the families jointly inherited when her mother died. The letter refers to exchanges between them and “Aunt Rate,” the sister of her mother. This issue eventually gets solved and Mary and her husband, Wayne [Jake] Brown, move and live the rest of their lives on the Anderson farm.
KAREN GEX ASFOUR 