ADDRESSED TO: M.E.WOOD and forwarded to Helen Stage in letter of 6/11/1889

FROM: Mate (M.A.Wood), Havana, New York

Havana  May 19 (18)89

Dear mother

    I received your letter in due season and ought to have answered it before   Georges¹ baby is dead   It died the eighth of this month   It had the mump and got better of them and then it had the pneumonia   Chloe² had the mumps too   I saw Uncle Sam³ awhile ago   They have moved in Paynes house   Uncle Dan Hendrickson⁴ is dead   It is quite sickly here this spring   You must be careful that you dont get sick   If you have not sent the babys⁵ picture you had better not for it may get lost   I dont think of any more to write so I will bid you goodbye for this time hoping to hear from you soon

Mate

NOTE FROM M.E. WOOD ON BOTTOM OF LETTER:

I tolde Mate that I would send baby so that she could see it

Notes from the peanut gallery:

1) George J. Wood, brother to Mate.

2) George's wife.

3) This gets tricky.  I believe Sam is Samuel B. Owen, husband of Sarah Owen.  The online reading of the Lawrence Cemetery in the town of Catharine lists Samuel B. Owen as d  8-4-1887    ae 52.   Sarah Owen  is listed as d. 2-4-1887    ae 52.  This seems like too much of a coincidence to me (the whole "4-1887    ae 52" thing).  I think the reading or the transcription of the reading is incorrect.

 http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyschuyl/lawrence.htm

4) A few things pop up here:

•             The Laurel Hill Cemetery in Catharine has a Daniel Hendrickson, d? ae?. See http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyschuyl/lawrence.htm.   Maybe it's him.
•             Is he a true Uncle?  No one has mentioned any other "Dan's" in any of these correspondence and surnames are rarely used; would a last name be needed if he were an actual relative?

5) Tessie Stage