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Nett-Helen
Letters |
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Pioneer Correspondence Between Sisters Nettie (White) Bailey of Kansas and Helen (White) Clark of Missouri and their Families |
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Nettie (White) Bailey and the Kansas prairie house in |
When Luther and Mahala (Minor) White and most of their children left Missouri and emigrated to Isabel, Kansas in early 1884, one beloved member of the family remained behind -- their married daughter Helen (White) Clark and her husband Will. The two families began a long series of letters, primarily between Helen and her recently married sister Nettie (White) Bailey, nicknamed "Nett," that capture the difficulty of pioneer life and the agony of their separation.
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Janet (Hoyt) Sperry |
Tragically, Nett was killed by lightning in July 1889, just five years after the letters begin. Letters between the Kansas and Missouri families continued through 1917. The final letter is from Layton White -- a week before his death -- to his niece Blanche.
The trove of letters lovingly was kept together by Nett's daughters Mabel (Bailey) Phelp and Blanche (Bailey) Peterie who obtained them in the 1950s. They were shared among various family members until about 1984, when Blanche's granddaughter Janet (Hoyt) Sperry brought them to her home in Montana and painstakingly retyped each and every one so they would be available to all of the family. Janet carefully scrutinizing the faded and small handwriting to make sure she was capturing every word correctly. In the end, the family donated the entire collection to the Kansas Historical Society in Topeka, accession number 2003-065.02. A complete set of copies of the retyped letters is in the Lincoln Library in Medicine Lodge, KS, and in the Minerd.com Archives.
In her retyping, Janet maintained the original misspellings and lack of punctuation. Minerd.com's editor has added periods at the end of sentences, and divided very long paragraphs into smaller ones, for easier reading and understanding.
Minerd.com extends its deep gratitude to Janet and to her cousin, Judge Richard Raleigh, for their generosity in many ways. These letters -- and the story of the drama of hardscrabble life and death on the Kansas prairie of the 1880s -- are now available to the public at large to enjoy for the very first time, at no cost.
Janet was featured as our "Photo of the Month" in November 2011, standing beside the small house that once belonged to one of the primary letter-writers, her great-grandmother, Nettie (White) Bailey.
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~ Letters by Date ~ |
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~ 1884 ~ June 2, 1884 - Helen to the Whites Undated 1884 - Helen to the Whites Undated 1884 - Nett to her nephew Roscoe Conkling "Ross" Clark Aug. 3, 1884 - Helen to the Whites Oct. 19, 1884 - Helen to the Whites Late October 1884 - Helen to Nett After October 1884 - Nett to Ross
~ 1885 ~ No month or day, 1885 - Helen to NettMarch 6, 1885 - Nett to Helen May 17, 1885 - Helen to Nett June 3, 1885 - Helen to Nett Undated - Nett to Ross
~ 1886 ~ July 16, 1886 - Helen to Nett
~ 1887 ~ March 14, 1887 - Helen to Nett
~ 1888 ~ Jan. 19, 1888 - Nett to Helen Late January 1888 - Nett to Helen Jan. or Feb. 1888 - Nett to Helen Feb. 14, 1888 - Nett to Helen Feb. 28, 1888 - Nett to Helen Feb. 29, 1888 - Nett to Helen March 8, 1888 - Nett to Helen March 29, 1888 - Nett to Helen April 2, 1888 - Nett to Helen Sept. 19, 1888 - Nett to Helen Sept. 30, 1888 - Nett to Helen Oct. 1, 1888 - Nett to Helen Oct. 3, 1888 - Nett to Helen Oct. 14, 1888 - Nett to Helen October 1888 - Nett to Helen Nov. 11, 1888 - Nett to Helen
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~ 1889 ~ Jan. 13, 1889 - Nett to Helen
May 23, 1889 - Nett to Helen June 9, 1889 - Nett to Helen July 7, 1889 - Nett to Helen July 1889 - R.D. "Dick" Bailey to Helen July 10, 1889 - Lester White to Helen July 10, 1889 - Mollie Webster to Helen July 14, 1889 - Layton "Late" White to Helen July 1889 - Sue White to Helen July 28, 1889 - Sue to Helen July 29, 1889 - Lester White to Helen Aug. 25, 1889 - Late to Helen Late 1889 - Sue to Helen Late 1889 - Mamie Newcome to Helen Oct. 4, 1889 - Lester to Helen Oct. 4, 1889 - Sue to Helen Nov. 7, 1889 - Jennie White to Helen Nov. 24, 1889 - Layton to Dick Nov. 27, 1889 - Dick to Helen Dec. 29, 1890 - Jennie and Mabel to Clarks
~ 1890 ~ Jan. 30, 1890 - Jennie to the Clarks Jan. 31, 1890 - Maggie (Bailey) Cooley to Helen Feb. 22, 1890 - Mabel to Ross and Blanche Feb. 23, 1890 - Layton and Jennie to Clarks March 22, 1890 - Lester to Helen March 1890 (?) - Lester to Helen April 13, 1890 - Layton to Helen April 14, 1889 - Jennie to Clarks April 20, 1890 - Lester and Sue to Helen April 23, 1890 - Lester to Helen May 24, 1890 - Mabel to Jennie |
~ 1890 (continued) ~ June 22, 1890 - Layton to Helen July 13, 1890 - Lester and Sue to Helen Aug. 1890 (?) - Layton and Mabel to Helen Aug. 3, 1890 - Jennie to Helen Aug. 3, 1890 - Lester to Clarks Nov. 8, 1890 - Layton to Helen Nov. 30, 1890 - Jennie to Helen Nov. 30, 1890 - Layton to Helen Dec. 29, 1890 - Jennie and Mabel to the Clarks
~ 1891 ~ Jan. 11, 1891 - Lester to Helen Jan. 11, 1891 - Sue to Helen Feb. 22, 1891 - Jennie to Helen Feb. 22, 1891 - Late to Helen March 22, 1891 - Sue to Helen Nov. 8, 1891 - Late to Helen Nov. 8, 1891 - Mabel to Blanche Clark Nov. 16, 1891 - Will Clark to Late Nov. 17, 1891 - Lester to Helen Nov. 17, 1891 (evening) - Lester to Helen Nov. 25, 1891 - Late to Helen
~ 1904 ~ Jan. 17, 1904 - Dick to Mabel Jan. 31, 1904 - Dick to Mabel April 3, 1904 - Dick to Mabel
~ 1911 ~ Aug. 5, 1911 - Jesse Thomas Peterie to Blanche (Bailey) Peterie
~ 1917 ~ Nov. 17, 1917 - Late to Blanche Peterie ~ Undated Fragments ~ Undated - Helen to Nett Undated - Helen to Nett Undated - Nett to Helen Undated - Nett to Helen Undated - Nett to Helen January [no year] - Nett to Helen |
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~ Cast of Characters ~ |
| Helen - Nett's married sister, who stayed in Missouri when the rest of the family moved to Isabel, Kansas in 1884. Married George William "Will" Clark, and mother of J. Blanche (Clark) Tarter and Roscoe "Ross" Clark. |
| Ma and Pa - Luther and Mahala (Minor) White. |
| Aunt Lyd and Uncle Jim - aunt and uncle of the letter writers -- James R. and Lydia (Miner) Brown, who in 1889 migrated to Oklahoma. |
| Mabel - daughter of Dick and Nettie (White) Bailey - born at Isabel, and raised in Missouri by her aunt Helen (White) Clark after the tragic death of her mother in 1889 - Married name "Mabel Philp." |
| Ann and Jap - Ann (Clark) Crossen and her husband Jasper "Jap" Crossen. Ann was Will Clark's sister, and they lived in Missouri. |
| Blanche - daughter of R.D. "Dick" and Nett (White) Bailey - born at Isabel on May 18, 1888 - raised by her uncle Lester White after her mother was killed by lightning in 1889 - Married name "Blanche Peterie." |
| Less and Sue - Lester and Sue (McCarty) White - son and daughter-in-law of Luther and Mahala (Minor) White |
| Late - Layton White - son of Luther and Mahala (Minor) White - never married. |
| Ella - Ella (Brown) Young - daughter of James R. and Lydia (Miner) Brown. |
| Frank - Frank Brown - son of James R. and Lydia (Miner) Brown, who in 1889 migrated to Oklahoma. |
| Nell - Nellie (Brown) Jones - daughter of James R. and Lydia (Miner) Brown, who in 1889 migrated to Oklahoma. |
| Laura - Laura (Brown) Barnum - daughter of James R. and Lydia (Miner) Brown, who in 1889 migrated to Oklahoma. |
Copyright © 2012-2015, 2017-2018 Mark A. Miner