Review: “Letters to Virginia:…”
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Letters to Virginia: Correspondence from three generations of Alexandrians before, during and after the Civil War
By Barb Winters
Published by Acclaim Press: 2010
Morley, Missouri
256 pp.
Available for purchase at Amazon
Imagine how thrilled you would be if a box of letters written by your ancestors was dropped off on your doorstep!
Unfortunately, that will probably never happen, but if you are a descendant of the Eaches, Fendall, or Tackett families of Alexandria, Virginia, this book is the next best thing!
Background
Letters to Virginia: Correspondence from three generations of Alexandrians before, during, and after the Civil War is “the true story of three generations who lived in Alexandria, Virginia, before, during, and after the Civil War and World War I.” Spanning nearly 125 years of history, the book provides an intimate look into the lives and loves of 15 people, as told by them in their own words.
The story of how the letters were discovered is interesting enough on its own. In 2000, six boxes containing more than 800 handwritten letters and other ephemera were dropped off at the Local History/Special Collections Department of the Alexandria Library in Virginia. Also included in the collection were various wills, diaries, locks of hair, tax receipts, postcards, photographs, and an Oath of Allegiance from a Confederate soldier signed in 1865.
The boxes had been collecting dust in the garage of the great-great-great-great granddaughter of Joseph Eaches, a War of 1812 veteran who moved to Alexandria in 1818. Historian and author Barb Winters volunteered to sort and compile the letters and wound up devoting three years of her life to telling their stories.
A Look Inside
The book begins with a Prologue section which provides a glimpse of what daily life would have been like for the families behind the letters. Things we take for granted now – such as refrigerators, closets, running water, and even toilets – were unheard of in the 1840s and 1850s. Without air conditioning, summers in Alexandria were so hot that many of the ladies left town for cooler locations, which incidentally, provided the opportunity for several of the letters in the book to be written.
The heart of the book is, of course, the letters, which are organized into chapters by family groups. We meet the Eaches, the Fendalls, and the Tacketts, and experience life through the words of real people as they lived it.
Most touching was the letter from Thomas Russell describing his heart-wrenching grief at the sudden loss of his wife Carrie (Eaches) to cholera in 1866. Left to care for his three young children, Thomas wrote to Carrie’s sister Eliza the day after Carrie’s death, “Oh! It is terrible & I could almost pray if it were not for my dear little one, Lord take me away too.”
While many of the letters included private sentiments shared between the writer and recipient, two were noted as “burn me” letters which the writer wished to have destroyed after reading. In one letter, Carrie (Eaches) Russell confided to her sister Eliza that she was distraught at having become pregnant again so soon after giving birth to her second child. “This is a doleful letter but I may feel more resigned to my fate by the next time I write. Please burn this as soon as read.” For whatever reason, Eliza chose not to follow Carrie’s instructions.
Every letter in the vast collection is not included in this book. Instead, Letters to Virginia tells the story of each family through excerpts of the “most informative and revealing” letters, interspersed with bits of local history and other family details. The author notes that all letters are “translated exactly, with misspelled or abbreviated words” left intact.
Information in the book is not sourced or footnoted, although the author does provide explanations in parentheses, when necessary.
A Lesson in Social History
Even if you are not a descendant of the Eaches, Fendall, or Tackett families, Letters to Virginia is a compelling read. I found myself drawn into the lives of these three families, sharing in their joy, sadness, and everyday struggles to survive before, during, and after the Civil War.
Most of us will never be fortunate enough to find a box of letters written by our ancestors, but books such as this one can help us imagine what their lives may have been like.
Note: This article first appeared in the Federation of Genealogical Societies FORUM magazine (Summer, 2017); reprinted with permission. Slight changes and updates have been made.
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