Treasures in a Wall

My great-great-grandmother Susan Spaulding’s life might only have been remembered by her descendants by the few photos that exist today if it had not been for two letters written by her in 1865.  These letters were found inside the wall of the house which she had lived at Corinna, Maine. When her descendant was remodeling the home, a wall was taken out to expand another room.  Often paper was put in walls as insulation and many old newspapers were found inside the wall.  While her family descendants enjoyed looking at the old dates on the newspapers, they came across these letters which were still intact and in relatively good shape, despite one having slight water damage. 

We don’t always think of our ancestors as travelers unless it was migrating west during the gold rush or the westward expansion.  Often our ancestors did travel not only to other towns and places within the state they resided, but even farther and occasionally made mention in journals and diaries. With the expansion of railroads to the west, traveling became possible to visit those distant relatives.   Or in Susan's case, to move west safely as a woman on her own.  

In a time without email, snapchat, etc, Susan was able to maintain contact with her family in Maine and it seems especially with her big sister, Electra (Spaulding) Reed.  Probably many letters were written back and forth between Susan in Milwaukee and her mother and siblings in Maine, but we are fortunate to even have these today.

Electra Reed

Eletcra Spaulding  had married
as her first husband, Jonas Howes and
had one son, Ephraim S. Howes  After his death,
she married Webster Reed and had one son
Philo Reed and through him, they are the
great-grandparents of Gov. John Reed of Maine

Webster Reed, 2nd husband of Electa

Susan Church Spaulding was born in Anson, Maine on May 2, 1836, daughter of Ephraim and Mary (Weston) Spaulding.  She was named after Susan Church, the wife of her maternal uncle, William Weston.  Also found in the wall of her home was Susan’s teacher's  certificate from the town of Anson from 1856.  She began teaching at North Anson Academy where she had gone to school as well.

1900 postcard of North Anson Academy

She attended the teacher’s conventions for Somerset County, Maine in 1858 and 1859.

 

 

The 1860 census of Anson, Maine shows Susan Spaulding, age 23 was a “domestic” living at home with her mother and younger siblings.   After 1860, Susan left Maine and moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where her uncle William Weston, whose first wife was her namesake, resided.  William remarried after the death of his first wife, to Marianne Hopkins and had moved to Milwaukee in 1860.  William was involved in the lumber manufacturing business, having plants in Wisconsin and Michigan.  He was a rather wealthy man for that time in Milwaukee.  Susan may have been asked to come to Milwaukee to work as a domestic to earn her own income in a household that her family trusted.  By living with her uncle, Susan would have an oportunity to meet, lets say, some eligible bachelors who were more socially promient, then the few available men in her hometown.

William Weston, Susan's uncle 

The two surviving letters contain details of Susan's life in Milwaukee as well as the assassination of President Lincoln, the end of the Civil War, minor gossip and some personal views of Susan herself.  Susan was age 29, unmarried and worried about becoming a spinster. 

Susan Church Spaulding
 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
taken between 1861-1865

She spoke of a “Mr C.” who accompanied her around Milwaukee, but his name is never revealed in these letters, but probably was told in earlier letters that did not survive. Why these two letters were saved and somehow made their way back to Susan is not known.  The originals letters were handwritten with little punctuation and grammar and can be hard to follow.  I transcribed the two letters to make them easier to read.

 

 

Susan had lost a brother in the Civil War and it probably was joyous news to know the Civil War was ending.  Only to be followed by the assassination of the President Lincoln must have had the same affect on people as assassinations that have occurred in the 20th century.  Susan had hopes of marrying Mr C. and we will never know what happened to him or their courtship unless other letters Susan wrote come to light.  

 

 

Susan got to see and hear then General Grant speak, without the knowledge he would become President.   Susan comes across rather insistant that her sister come to Milwaukee.  Susan selfishly forgets that her elder sister is married and has two small children she would have to leave for a long period of time or whether the $36 and $40 could even be afforded by Electra.  Susan implies in her 2^nd letter that she if she was married she would not have any children and gives no reasoning if it is because she does not like children or possibly thought she was getting too old to have children.

Susan returned to Maine before 1868, leaving her Mr C behind in Milwaukee.  Her sister Eunice (Spaulding) Brown had married a man from Corinna, Maine.  She had a neighbor who had become a widower with a young daughter and was in need a housekeeper and nanny for his daughter.  This man was William Penn Mower, who Susan would marry in 1868 in Corinna, Maine at age 32.  

William Penn Mower

Susan (Sapulding) Mower

They would have three daughters together, Emmie, my great-grandmother, Minnie and Sadie.  Despite stating she would not have children if she was married, she did and raised a step-daughter as well and from all known accounts was a good mother.  William and Susan remained together for 34 years until Susan’s death in 1906.

Sue and Penn Mower 1900

Penn Mower house in Corinna,Maine where the letters
were found in the wall.  In the photo are
Sue and Penn Mower on the right.
Their daughters, Sadie, Minnie and Emmie, with Emmie's chidlren
Leona and Donald Smith

The two letters are just a snapshot of one year in Susan's life, but the information of her living in Milwaukee would never had been known if these letters were not either placed in the wall on purpose or possibly just to be used as a filler. The house she shared with Penn was built by him after his marriage to Susan.  She may not have wanted to keep letters with mention of an old beau in Milwaukee around her husband or just thought they weren't important enough to keep anymore and just discarded like the other old newspapers into the wall when building their home.