Dearest Daughter

Nelly was my great grandmother on my fathers side.  She was a homemaker, mother of five children (four son's and a daughter), devoted wife and well educated woman who took great pride in her country.

She was involved in politics and education.

"Dearest Daughter" is the first post of many where I will share a few quotes from her letters to her daughter, my grandmother, sharing her views on the current politics, education, and child rearing. 

I just crack up sometimes as I read her letters!  She told it like it was! Other times, I shutter to see the same feelings and issues of her day being repeated in the here and now of our day! 

(Nelly with her daughter, Acelia with the swim cap, and son )

Ocean City, NJ 

                                                                                                                                July 9,1962
                                                                                                                               Monday Eve

"Dearest Child,

I received your letter today written July fourth.  I guess conditions are the same all over the country regarding business all over the country and will be as long as those hairy apes are running the country.  I am afraid tho' like so many presidents of Kennedy's political party the next move for prosperity, war and blood money will be his answer to the chaos he has brought to our beloved county. "

Are you ready for Nelly?

I recently put the ax to my Facebook account and moved over here permanently.  It works so much better for me.   I shared many quotes from Nelly's letters to her daughter (my Grandmother) Acelia, on my Facebook page and people loved them!  She was an educated woman, very gifted in writing, and placed a high value on education and patriotism.  Her letters were her private moments between her and her daughter.  Never intended to be shared, but as I retyped them, I found they were relevant to today in lots of areas.... politics, education, and family.  She was bold, but with tact, a lady, an educator, avid reader, feisty, funny, fun, an active citizen, a hard worker, a devoted mother, and a devoted wife.   I feel that as I retyped her letters, I gained a better understanding as to who she was and what she stood for, but I also learned a lot about myself.  I have some of her personality and the same passions that she did.  So get ready for some of her thoughts on politics, education, and family.  You can read one of her fondest memories here about her and Walt Whitman or a home movie of Nelly, her sons, her daughter, and her husband taken in 1936.  Here and there throughout my post, I'll tuck in some quotes and pictures of Nelly and her family.     

     

       

A little nonsense now and then....

"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men"

Whew!...... A long stretch of weather out of the way and four days of sun here! I have a huge list of things to do.  Some things are urgent and some can be leisurely done through the summer.  I was concerned that my beets had drowned over the last week, but I think I am seeing them popping up in that packed dirt in my garden! Yay!  School is winding down and the kids are getting restless to start doing some serious riding and playing with the horses.  My poor mini is going to have to wait for my attention until the garden is done!  I am hoping to start up my genealogy project and a sampler as well this summer.  Odd? I know, starting those types of projects during the summer instead of our long winter months.  I enjoy sitting out on my porch at the end of a hot summer day with ice tea, and something calm and relaxing to do.  I have always loved embroidery and I come by it rightly.  My Grandmother and all of my Great Grandmother's loved it too.  The photo's above is actually my Great Grandmother Nelly's handwork.  My mom gave them to me a while ago and I love them!  This is the sampler I am going to order soon.  She has another one and another one (scroll to the bottom of the post to see it! She will be getting the pattern up soon!!) that I would just love to get as well!  I can hear the tomatoes on my back porch screaming at me!! They are so demanding.  I need to go tuck them into their new beds, where they will be quite until August, when they will start screaming again.  I can't wait to make homemade ketchup, and crushed tomatoes and see all those pretty jars in my cabinet!! :)

Family

While viewing this film for the first time,

I was moved to tears when I saw my very young Grandmother

Acelia Carey Hall come out of the house and 

down the front steps.  My dad and his siblings racing around

under her feet.  She was a wife, mother, and homemaker, a woman I

still look up to.

Let's Go Back!

It took me FOREVER, but I finally figured

out how to cut portions of our old family movies

out and get them up loaded to YouTube.

So here's the first one....

Taken around 1936 of my dad and his sister on the 

front lawn of their summer home.

Nelly and Walt Whitman

I have two large file boxes to comb through FULL of all the hard work 

my Grandmother Acelia C. Hall had done on the 

genealogy of our family.  It is a task that relaxes me, and excites me at the same time.

While I was looking through a few papers last night, I came across this little envelope, and here

is what I found inside.....

"Nellie Fenton Carey-

Written 1949 after first reading of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass-"

(Nelly's handwriting)

On the bottom of the envelope, my Grandmother (Nelly's daughter, Acelia) wrote..

"Mother knew him when she was child in Sea Isle. N.J. He stayed in their hotel"

"Nelly Fenton Carey 1949

1879 Apr. 24- (born)"

She puts the page number where the quote is found..

Page 100  1949

"There is that in me, I do not know what it is, but I know it is in me"

Nelly writes..

"When a child of about eight years (I was born 1879) Walt Whitman was a summer boarder 

at my father's hotel

-Minerva House-

Sea Isle City N.J"

"I remember him well and remember one day on beach when

he was talking to his friend Dr Elton-

Vineland N.J.- Walt Whitman threw back his head and 

opening his shirt said I am different from many men. I have something

different inside- here- and he almost pounded..."

"...his chest as he said it-

It made an impression on me for I wondered just what he had

in there.  I can see him now perhaps a picture in a child's mind

for I do not really know how he looked in about the year

1887..."

"...but this is my memory picture- partly grey thick hair and long reaching to his

coat collar- kindly and almost child like in manner-  

Once when some unruly...."

"....children named  ? with money but no breeding pushed

my brother and me down into a pile of clam shells and 

then ran-  Walt Whitman wiped some blood..."

"...from my nose with his handkerchief and said "Dont cry child

and nevr forget no one can hurt you but your self." I thought at the time

he wouldn't think so if it was..."

"....his nose but knew of course long afterward what he meant

Dr. Elton had a pair of ponies "Pet & Dally" and the two- very old

men, they seemed to me- rode......"

".....in a straw phaeton, I suppose it was- at low tide every day-

and several times my sister and I had the pleasure of

riding and holding the reins...."

"...I am now almost seventy one- a widow with four grown sons

a daughter ten grandchildren and one great grand child and am

reading Leaves of Grass......"

".....for the first time- What a wonderful man and what a 

wonderful message.  In Song of Myself (meaning I am sure "All Men"....."

"...he says- "There is that in me-I do not know what it is but I know it is in me-"

just what I heard him say when I was a child."

Daddy

This is my daddy.....

6 mo's old.....

Cute....

as a.....

button!

I feel totally blessed to have these photo's to pass on to my children!

Father and Daughter

~Father and Daughter~

While looking through several photo's with my cousin Ansley, and my mother, we came across this picture that I think all of us would agree is our favorite.

This is my Great Grandfather, Timothy John Carey (Husband to Nelly) with his only daughter 

Acelia Theresa Carey.

You want to know some neat facts about our family?  

My Great Grandmother and Grandfather had 4 boys and only one girl.

I had 3 boys and only one girl.

They named their only girl Acelia Theresa Carey.

We named our only girl Acelia Carey Harding.

My Great Grandmother was a stay at home wife and mother.

Her daughter was a stay at home wife and mother.

I am a stay at home wife and mother.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

(From Nelly's Book of Quotes and Poems)

A world of love may be expressed

In just a very simple way.

And so dear daughter from the heart,

I wish you worlds of love today.

~Nelly

~ Nelly ~

This is Nelly, my Great Grandmother (on the right) and her daughter, my Grandmother Acelia.

I have taken on a HUGE project this winter, reading, and typing over 50 letters that Nelly wrote to her daughter during the 50's and 60's, cropping old photos that date back into the 1700's, and putting all the information into one big book for our families.  She comes from a long line of devoted wives and mothers.  Women who believed it was their duty to be in the home working to provide a haven for their husbands and a secure, loving environment for their children. Though Nelly and her ancestors didn't do this perfectly, (none of us do) they did their best with what they had.

In the months ahead I'll be cropping pictures and typing letters and papers written by Nelly and her mother, Acelia Constantine Pitt, about motherhood, homemaking, and the duties of a wife. I'm getting everything ready to go into one big book for the family! 

Here is a poem that I found in a little book of Nelly's.  It was a small book that she used to jot down important poems, sayings, and newspaper clippings, that really meant something to her.

I'm not sure if she penned this herself or copied it, but I'm giving her credit for it till I can prove otherwise, based on the fact that she usually wrote the author of the little sayings she copied into her book.  I'd really like to give it a title, any ideas?

Is there aught in life that is better than this?

A gurgle, a smile, a coo, a kiss-

Soft arms that entwine, cheeks pressed against thine-

Innocent eyes that sparkle and shine-

A love that is sweet, deep, true, and pure-

If you own all this, you can never be poor-

Do you wish to be happy?

Then put to rest, or snuggle up tight and close to your breast-

 a baby!