1900-05-19 - Galey Letter

Description:
This particular letter appears to be from Mr. Galey's brother John or another close relative. John Galey was born in 1870 and has a middle initial "A" according to the 1880 census. The envelope has a postmark from Westpoint, Indiana but the letter was labeled as coming from Shadeland, a town outside of Westpoint.

History:
During our research, we discovered a listing for an "Alexander P. Galey" with a date of death of February 21, 1923. The same source has John Galey listed as dying April 1, 1941. Also found was a listing for one "John A. Galey" on the World War Veterans Memorial in Battle Ground, Indiana.



Transcription:

Shadeland May 19-1900

Eck I got your letter last Friday but have not had time to write I was home
on Sunday & got the pictures I have not heard from Wm since I have come here
& I am going to [unreadable] to him a [unreadable] I will send you $15 in
this letter I will send you the [unreadable] as soon as I get it I get $20 a
month & can get it at the end of every month so I can send you $20 more in
about 20 days I don’t think I will stay here any longer than till after
harvest

The place don’t soot [sic – suit] me I think I will go to Hannor or Decota
[sic – Dakota]

in [unreadable]

J. A. Galey

Shadeland

Photos:










References:
- Lafayette Journal and Courier Newspaper Index, 1902-1952, Retrieved on June 17, 2008 from http://www.ingenweb.org/intippecanoe/JC_ga.html.
- Memorial to World War Veterans Tippecanoe Township 1917 - 1918 Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Retrieved on June 17, 2008 from http://www.ingenweb.org/intippecanoe/BGMem.html.
- Numerous facts were gathered from the private Richard Family Estate collection. These facts span numerous sources of information and contain genealogical data, photos, and newspaper articles.

Local Ephemera news

The UFO Team wanted to take a short break and pass along some news from our local paper, The Free Lance-Star of Fredericksburg, VA.

Today's article talks about a local college that found hundreds of letters and various ephemera dating from the 1660s to the 1940s. While our collection here at Area 51 by no means rivals that, we are proud of what we have and enjoy researching and learning about history.

To learn more about the archaeology program at Washington College, go here.

1899-06-04 - Galey Letter

Description:
Yet another letter written to Mr. A. P. Galey. This one is addressed to his residence in Monon, Indiana (White County). The postmark shows it originated from Otterbein, Ohio. Opposite the letter appears to be a separate note or a letter started and unfinished to someone else. It says:

how is business & what is Rankins a doing are they trading [unreadable ] now

How it relates to the original is unknown. The letter itself does bear an interesting design of a purple, green, and yellow flower.

History:
This letter shows the appearance of one of Galey's nicknames, "Eck."

Transcription:

Otterbein

June 4 – 99

Mr. A P Galey
Well Eck I wrote to you for the debts of them notes some
time ago & have not received a reply yet & have wrote to W M for my
money but [unreadable] has not come so I would like to know the reason why I can
not here from there they told me at home that W M had gone to Iowa & I would
like to know rather he was come home yet or not – I have been up a lone
Monticello looking for a farm for sale [unreadable] & would buy [unreadable]
– if I was sure of my money but I only have until Tuesday to take it – in so you
see I am in the soup to know what to do the reason I want the dates is so I will
know what the interest is on each of them in haste.

J [unreadable] Gaby

Photos:
















References:
- Numerous facts were gathered from the private Richard Family Estate collection. These facts span numerous sources of information and contain genealogical data, photos, and newspaper articles.

1899-03-13 - Galey Letter

Description:
As we saw in the previous posting, one Mr. Galey appears more than once in our collection of ephemera. This particular letter is addressed to "Mr. A. P. Galey" in Battle Ground, Indiana. It bears a postmark from Salem, Illinois and a 2 cent George Washington stamp. The reverse of the envelope bears a received stamp from the Battle Ground post office.

The letter is four pages and hand-written. It appears to be signed by "J. L. Criswald." The last name could be Griswald.

History:
Mr. A. P. Galey is none other than Alexander (aka "Alick" or "Eck") P. Galey (or "Gailey"). He has been located in several census records, including the 1870 and 1880 Census of Tippecanoe Township, Indiana and the 1900 Census of Monon, Indiana. He was born in November of 1865 to Elisha and Lucy. He had several brothers and sisters.

Transcription:
[note that a large portion is unreadable due to the handwriting]

Salem Ill 3/14 99

Mr. O [sic - A] P Galey

Old friend

[unreadable] yours of [unreadable] late [unreadable] and [unreadable] glad
to hear from you I am running the plant here and sure got a [unreadable] to get
one thousand dollars a year and here got a out side [unreadable] furnished and
the [unreadable] pays him $42.50 a month he [unreadable] the unreadable]
[unreadable] and all of the out side [unreadable] [unreadable] hire got very
[unreadable] my [unreadable] here & [unreadable] till mid night only &
have got the best [unreadable] in the country & here got a big bailes
[unreadable] and it is [unreadable] to [unreadable] & [unreadable] to
cincinati and [unreadable] [unreadable] an [unreadable] [unreadable] at the
shops of the firm that makes the [unreadable] & lure got a [unreadable]
house to [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] and tell me how
much that you will charge me to [unreadable] the [unreadable] for me & will
[unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] that you will [unreadable]
[unreadable] [unreadable] to take acre of [unreadable] and [unreadable]
[unreadable] [unreadable] out and [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] that I
will hire a fire man and 7 [unreadable] [unreadable] there is [unreadable]
[unreadable] for a [unreadable] [unreadable] and after [unreadable] [unreadable]
[unreadable] some [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] could
[unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] as me [unreadable] [unreadable]
[unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] up my mind to [unreadable] [unreadable]
to [unreadable] [unreadable] hire in the past [unreadable] [unreadable] to
[unreadable] out for me [unreadable] but I will [unreadable] [unreadable]
[unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] so
[unreadable] tell me the [unreadable] that you will [unreadable] for and I will
insure you a plant to run in [unreadable] months after you [unreadable]
[unreadable] so [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]
there is lots of [unreadable] here it grows on trees [unreadable] [unreadable]
by return mail

your friend

J L Criswald

Photos:


















References:
- Census records obtained from Ancestry.com.
- Numerous facts were gathered from the private Richard Family Estate collection. These facts span numerous sources of information and contain genealogical data, photos, and newspaper articles.

1897-04-02 - Richland County Telephone Company

Description:
This is a letter from the Secretary of the Richland County Telephone Company, one D. P. Moore, to two gentlemen, "Osterdock" and "Hamilton." Who any of these individuals are is unknown. Mentioned in the letter is one "Galey," who is likely the Galey mention in future letters in our collection.

History:
Richland County, Illinois is located in the south-eastern portion of the state. Information on the company itself or the officers could not be found.

Transcription:

Olney, Ill, Apr 2nd 1897

Osterdock & Hamilton

Hutsonville,

Gentlemen - Yours of March 30th
is received. Have Galey give you
an order on the company for
mail over here and
amount due you and /\ [the line above was intended to be inserted here] I will
send you check for same

Resp. D. P. Moore

Sec.

Photos:








References:
- Genealogy Trails, Richland County, Illinois, Retrieved on June 6, 2008 from http://genealogytrails.com/ill/richland/index.html.
- Richland County, Illinois GenWeb, Retrieved on June 6, 2008 from http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ilrichla/.
- Numerous facts were gathered from the private Richard Family Estate collection. These facts span numerous sources of information and contain genealogical data, photos, and newspaper articles.

When a Boy Becomes a Man

Description:
This is a short, humor piece by Art Buchwald. The copyright says 1971, but we are not sure when it was originally published as we could find no reference to it anywhere. The UFO Team thought this would be fitting for both Father's Day and graduation.

History:
Art Buchwald was a humorist who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1982.

The rest of the clipping mentions the McGovern-Hatfield Amendment (voted on by Senators Bob Packwood and Ted Stevens), Senator Milton Young, Senator John Cooper, Senator Frank Church, and the temperatures at Eppley Airfield (low of 62, high of 91).

Photos:










References:
- Wikipedia, Retrieved on June 6, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/.
- Numerous facts were gathered from the private Richard Family Estate collection. These facts span numerous sources of information and contain genealogical data, photos, and newspaper articles.

Steps in Home Canning by All Methods

Description:
Steps in Home Canning by All Methods is a tri-fold flyer about canning. Inside is has diagrams and text on how to can using many different methods. The back flaps give more information about Kerr jars and caps as well as a time table for different food stuffs.

History:
The NRA logo links this flyer to the National Recovery Administration.

This government agency was formed in 1933 and the copyright on the flyer dates it to 1934.

The specific bulletin number is 534.


Photos:




References:
- History Matters, George Mason University, Retrieved on June 4, 2008 from http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6697/.
- Picture History, Retrieved on June 4, 2008 from http://www.picturehistory.com/product/id/4429.
- Numerous facts were gathered from the private Richard Family Estate collection. These facts span numerous sources of information and contain genealogical data, photos, and newspaper articles.

Welcome Back Readers!

The Unidentified Family Objects (UFO) Team would like to thank all of our readers for being patient while we took a little vacation. We all enjoyed our time with family, friends, and co-workers. We hope you spent some time with yours as well.

Going forward, at least until we change our minds, the UFO Blog will be changing formats a bit. instead of covering actual objects or photos from our Private Collections, we'll instead be focusing on ephemera we've collected over the years.

Ephemera? What's ephemera? Simply put, any paper product from everyday life that is generally thrown away. Specifically for us, it's mostly letters, but also some interesting bits of paper we've discovered.

Letters? Like personal letters? Yes and no. We will be displaying personal letters. However, in the interest of our UFO Staff's security and privacy, we'll be selectively editing certain letters that pertain to them. For those letters that have been acquired and are from outside the UFO Family, we will be posting them in their entirety.

Hey, that's MY family! If you read a letter or see an item that is related to your family somehow, we'd love to hear about it. Just send us an email (tk42one@gmail.com) and we'll talk!

So, let's get on with the show.