San
Francisco Feb. 20th 1865
My dear
Auntie,
I was
disappointed
that you did
not write to me.
I think that
the pictures of Lydia and
the Queen
were good, I would not have
known Lydia
if Helen had not
told me. I
have got a good
many friends
here, I will tell you
the names of
some of them, Flora and
Ada Smith,
Mary and Kitty
Osborn,
Lillibell Rosa Blankman
How is
Jennie Annie and Bernie
Parke. Helen wants to know how
Mary Hopper
is. Give my love
to Lydia,
Jhon, Willie, Sam.
Goodbye from
Annie B.
Aldrich
This letter
was written to Mary (Jones) Dominis in Honolulu, Hawaii from her grandniece,
Annie Aldrich, who was about nine years old.
Annie was born in Hawaii, but removed with her family to San Francisco. Annie’s mother was Elizabeth (Holt) Aldrich,
the only surviving child of Mary’s sister, Ann Marie (Jones) Holt.
Annie
mentions Mary’s daughter–in-law, Lydia, who's brother was King Kalakua. I’m assuming that the Queen mentioned in the photograph
must have been his wife, Queen Kapiolani.
I love the
lack of punctuation marks such as commas and question marks, and the lined
stationary. Her only misspelling is the
name “Jhon”. However, I’m very impressed
with the beautiful penmanship. I cannot
use a fountain pen as well as this little girl!
Hawaii State Archives, Queen Lili'uokalani Collections,
M-93, Box 11, Folder 93
Letter from Annie Aldrich to Mary Dominis, 20 February 1865
M-93, Box 11, Folder 93
Letter from Annie Aldrich to Mary Dominis, 20 February 1865
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Copyright
2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
Annie's mother Elizabeth died about 8 months after this letter was written.
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