Monday, May 16, 2011

Amanuensis Monday: A Convenient Marriage-Part 2



After the widow Florence Polly (Melvin) Moore received the letter from suitor Elza Chandler Scott (whom she'd never met in person), she quickly shot off a reply to him which she tucked into another letter to her friend Mrs. Reed because it was the time of the Great Depression and she had only one stamp. This is her reply to Mr. Scott:


                         March 29, 1931

          Mr. E. C. Scott.
                 Dear Friend:
                          Will answere
your letter with pleasure, I
am certainly sorry if I gave you
a bawling out because I
did'nt intend to do so, I was
glad to get the photo of you, and
to tell the truth about it, I
dont think you would spoil
my appitte, but I may spoil
yours. I am sorry but I cant
find a photo of my self. I
have some that were made
about 3 years ago. but I
look quiet differant now.
if every thing is OK, I think
I will see you in a few days.
lets hope so anyway.



I am 27 years old, a widow of one
year & 2 months, 5 feet 1 1/2 in tall
weigh 102 pound. Blue eyes light
complected & auburn hair. and
I have a daughter nearly 9 years
old. I love children and it is
a pleasure to be with them
especially with nicely raised
children  Mrs Reed spoke real
well of you and the Boys, Jack &
Mrs Reed are real nice people
I think as much of them
as I do my own people. they
have certainly treated me
nice, I have the head ache so
bad to day I cant hardly write.
so please excuese this short
letter, may be we can arrange
every thing when I get



their, so please answere this
as soon as possible, Mr & Mrs
Reed are moving to Latonia
will you go with them or
will you stay where you are,
so you have just bought a car
it doesent matter if it
isnt a swell one, times are
to bad to put so much money
in a car are any thing. I all
way try to save for a rainy
day, but havent had any
thing to save for over a year.
but after the rain the sun
all ways shines, so I hope it
will soon shine for me.
I am sorry I havent a picture
of my self at present, but
may be you wont be



disappointed when you
see me. I think I will
be there Sunday the 5th if
everything works out allright.
I will be looking for an
Answere in a few days. please
write, good bye good luck.
             your lonesome Buddie
                    Florence Moore
                       2206 - Standard Ave
                            Lou
                               Ky.
the reason why I am putting
this in Mrs Reeds letter
because this is the only
stamp I have and I
can't get any till tomorrow

Apparently Florence arrived in Cincinnati on Sunday, April 5th as planned and she and Elza must have gotten along famously just as Jack and Mrs. Reed predicted because on the following Saturday, April 11th.....

Marriage License of Elza C. Scott and Florence P. Moore
dated April 11, 1931

And 29 years later....they were still happily married....

Florence Polly and Elza Chandler Scott - May 1960
....til death they did part in June of 1969 with the passing of Elza, age 72. (No children from this union.)


Thanks go to my sister-in-law Rose, who has allowed me to keep and preserve these historical family artifacts!





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11 comments:

  1. Fantastic story. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Matchmaker.com version 1.1 :)

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  3. Lisa, thank you so much for putting this on line, it is a beautiful love story. I am so glad I gave you all of mother's photos and paperwork for safe keeping. You have done a wonderful job in researching our family history.

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  4. Thanks Rose! I have loved doing it, every minute of it!

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  5. Literally brought me to tears. Certainly not the poetry of her writing - but the hope, humor, gentleness and grit they both showed. Traits not valued as much today. They are grand representatives of our grandparents' generation.

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  6. Thank you for your very thoughtful comment Susan!

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  7. So glad to read the "rest of the story". Very Sweet. Great transcribing. Thank for sharing.

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  8. What a lovely story!! I'm so happy it worked out for them. They look like such a sweet couple in that photo. Thanks so much for sharing this with all of us!!

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  9. These original letters are treasures. No one in the future will have anything like this from the present generation -- all on email and texting. I'm especially interested in your story because I have love letters between my grandparents -- from 1911 and am posting them. Two good people, as in your post here, could find each other and make a go of it.

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  10. You are so right about that Linda! I have some old love letters to me from almost 40 years ago that I have felt I should destroy (because they weren't from my husband of 35 years!) but I cannot bring myself to throw them away because of this very reason. I'm not all that sentimental about them but they are part of my history. Now, all the things we hold dear from our ancestors will not be found among our things by our descendants. E-mail, facebook, twitter and all the rest of social media, has taken us into a new era. In many ways it's a good thing, but in other ways it is a great loss. My grandchildren are not even being taught cursive in school now. How wrong is that?

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