Daniel Fox’s Letters
Summary: Letters from Daniel Fox (1853-1928) to his sister Lois Rendell. Unfortunately, some letters are missing.
Daniel lived near Willow Springs, Missouri, USA
Lois and her son Hubert lived in England
1913
Jan 5, 1913
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Topics: Dorothy seriously ill from caring for daughter & recovering slowly, Christian Scientists, B. (Brimington?), prints of the Cathedral, winter weather
Feb 4, 1913
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Topics: Bringing Dorothy from Ft Scott to the farm to continue recovery, Mama (Elizabeth), Alice, family circuit letter, Christian Science, cooking & meals
Feb 10, 1913
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Topics: Dorothy very frail but recovering, Daniel a “social animal,” not afraid to fight, enjoys intellectual conversation, an optimist & encourager, Lillian had appendicitis but recovered without operation
Mar 23, 1913
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Topics: Daniel played piano & sang Easter hymn, eggs for Easter, salted 800 lbs of meat, canned fruits & vegetables, abundant food, 10 springs on 240 acres, 3 brooks, farms connected by telephone, Dorothy’s health improving
Apr 13, 1913
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Topics: Daniel’s assessment of self; Father visited him, became ill in Missouri, died after returning to England; believes in evolution, careful not to press his beliefs on others, Lois’ husband was a pastor & died, Dorothy & baby are healthy, Jo’s baby born, severe weather in March all over U.S.; 500 peach trees plus pear, plum & apple; Max Hopkins (Win’s husband) practicing law, Frances taking gym & dancing lessons
May 4, 1913
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Topics: Mountain lions seen last winter, school on corner of Daniel’s property, bought local phone company to get service, arranged for rural mail delivery; previously bought run down houses, lived in & fixed up, then sold at profit; trains his horses, ticks & chiggers, gave up smoking 2 years ago
Jun 8, 1913
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Topics: Neighboring family visited, played piano & sang, borrowed books from Daniel’s library; 32nd degree Mason while in Ft Scott, references “The Great Work” frequently, daily farm schedule, sounds of animals, kids sleep at night under the trees
Jul 13, 1913
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Topics: Frances visiting for vacation & enjoys riding wild horses, Dorothy & baby still at farm, Lillian & husband at health resort, neighbors & families visit, fresh fruit & sauce & cider, lots of vegetables, variety of meats
Aug 3, 1913
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Topics: Exchanging many books on wide range of topics, packs & ships peaches for sale, Frances & Lillian have small cameras, circuit letter, how Alice & Jim got together, in court regarding tax assessment, Cyril kills rattlesnakes
Aug 29, 1913
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Topics: Wild fire threatened farm, family put it out, hot & dry weather, reliable water spring, Missouri skepticism, ordered books & shipped to Lois, careful to avoid intruding or influencing others, benefit & peace of mind from “The Great Work,” Winifred is like her mother, farm work, canning & drying foods
Oct 19, 1913
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Topics: Very gracious about letters, Lillian’s traits, he used to be quick tempered & high strung “before I learned my lesson,” doesn’t like having his picture made, Alice moved from L.A. to El Paso, traits of native Ozark men, books shared with Lois, garden, Dorothy returned to Ft Scott, Jo & Bob in Milwaukee
Nov 9, 1913
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Topics: Prefers improving his mind to casual conversation, auctioneer for pie supper, pies, prettiest girl & homeliest man contests, box supper, branding & de-horning cattle, early snow damaged trees
Dec 9, 1913
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Topics: Hosted 24 for Thanksgiving dinner, overnight guest to enjoy good music, “stunts,” leased additional 400 acres to try for one year & moved into house, foreign languages, Dorothy moved to Hoisington KS, saw mill, wide variety of skills, sense of humor
Dec 28, 1913
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Topics: Enjoys living & writing letters, Frances works in law office, reminiscing about railroad work
1916
Jan 23, 1916
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Topics: Daniel’s birthday letter & celebration, politics, Americans killed in Mexico, winter weather, gardening
Mar 1, 1916
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Topics: Military service: Hubert, Harold, Basil; Zeppelin raids, magazines & censor, winter weather, Frances gave birth, Lil childless
Mar 12, 1916
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Topics: War, Spring farming, attended school during Winter, new baby, forest fire
Mar 26, 1916 – Fragment
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Topics: Censors, Hubert staying with Lois & not required to enlist
Apr 23, 1916
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Topics: British magazines, family circuit letter, U.S. magazines, war, Germans in Ozarks, Easter Sunday
May 7, 1916
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Topics: Censor, Zeppelin raids, farming, family visits, Germans, war with Mexico (Pancho Villa), Alice & Jim
Jun 11, 1916 – Fragment
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Topics: Magazines, wrong postage by mail carrier, Alice & Margaret
Jul 23, 1916
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Topics: Family visits, hot weather, crops affected, war news, railroad round trip tickets, Fort Scott house, Mexican war
Aug 22, 1916
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Topics: War news, compulsory military service, severe storm, crop damage, livestock, earlier storm in Fort Scott
Sep 3, 1916
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Topics: 32nd wedding anniversary, 10 years on the farm, school teacher boarding, Aunt Polly, censor, hot & dry weather, fires
Sep 17, 1916
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Topics: Singing, Taterhill Mountain, crops & foods, family visits, Cubist art, Lil & husband selling house
Oct 15, 1916
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Topics: Arthur Harriman & family, enjoying being grandpa
Nov 19, 1916
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Topics: Food supervision (rationing), foods, U.S. election, Lawrence (Bothwell) won county election
Dec 3, 1916
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Topics: Christmas, warm weather, Thanksgiving Day, stranger for Thanksgiving, concern & care for the sick, war, high prices, presidential candidate Hughes, prayer for peace, optimism
Dec 31, 1916 – Fragment
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Topics: Hopes for peace, received Christmas letter, Christmas dinner, hunting turkeys, cold weather, gifts & celebration for 4 poor families, Christmas tradition, Russian neighbor committed suicide, wishes for Happy New Year
1919
Feb 26, 1919
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Topics: Groundhogs & Groundhog Day, Harold in England, armistice, bees for honey, childhood incident, family photos, Lil in Chicago, appendix, flu, doctor, Harry almost robbed
Mar 25, 1919
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Topics: Daniel seriously ill, felt near death, Harold on furlough in France
Apr 7, 1919
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Topics: U.S. Englishmen forgot location of English town (Skegness), English relatives sent “treats” to Harold, Harold considering moving west to settle, flu widespread in Missouri
May 1, 1919
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Topics: Literary qualities in family, Daniel’s admiration of his mother, advice to his children, recovering slowly with setbacks, Dorothy’s daughter died, reminiscing about Breton (?) Hall, afraid of cancer, Frances & family visiting, Harold still in Germany
Jun 1, 1919
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Topics: Harold is in U.S., waiting for call from him, description of Harold’s itinerary before discharge, discussion of literary works, Elizabeth making pies for Harold, description of pies, affection between Daniel & Elizabeth
Jul 20, 1919
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Topics: Daniel health recovery & setbacks, weather, crops, price changes, Harold home, war stories
Aug 3, 1919
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Topics: Daniel’s accident, recovery, prohibition, family are all abstainers (see 12/5/20), weather, crops, quality of soil, Harold making repairs, divided land between Daniel & sons, joking with family
Sep 14, 1919
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Topics: Reminiscing about London & places he worked, bees, curious expressions, Harold and nettles, Harold reminiscing about Belgium & war, Daniel discarded his cane recovering from injury
Dec 28, 1919 – Fragment
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Topics: Roast possum for Thanksgiving dinner, story about Harold carrying dispatches in army
1920
Mar 28, 1920 – Fragment
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Topics: Weather, planting crops, twister damage, up all night with sick cow
Jun 13, 1920
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Topics: Maelstrom engulfing the world, Hubert trying to find housing for Lois, high income & costs in Detroit (Jo’), weather, 140 chickens for frying, light work, locusts, Harold & Cyril earning $8.50/day sawing timber
Jul 25, 1920
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Topics: Pictures of Lois & Hubert, Lincolnshire countryside, Ozark Mountains, Lillian & Frank visited, hot & dry, Harold & Cyril still in Iowa, Alice re earthquakes in L.A., Margaret graduated high school, Maxine graduating soon, Lois a homeopathic doctor, Lois & housing trouble
Dec 5, 1920
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Topics: Persimmons, Harold & Cyril coming home for Christmas, prohibition (beer, cider, wine), unexpected guests & heavy snow, worldwide uncertainty, Lois & housing trouble
1921
Jan 2, 1921
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Topics: Lois moved, raising & canning chickens, Christmas alone, Harold & Cyril with Lil & Dorothy’s families for Christmas, hard time for national economy
Feb 6, 1921
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Topics: Pictures, self assessment, Lawrence & Frances, Cyril enrolling in same auto mechanics school as Harold, Harold & Cyril not interested in farming, severe wind & forest fire
Apr 10, 1921
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Topics: Harold & Cyril’s training & jobs, magazines & pictures, fads, Einstein’s theory of relativity, prices for farm products, cold weather killed fruit crops, slow business, strikes in England
Jun 5, 1921
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Topics: Hubert’s pictures, Bob Eley’s jobs, unemployment, labor/management issues, Daniel worked hard as young man, Harold & Cyril’s jobs, weather & crops, Daniel loves to write letters
Aug 14, 1921
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Topics: Weather, calico ponies, theory of relativity, Russia, wild roses, birth of John Fox Eley, new road from Willow Springs past the farm, families on vacation, Harold & Cyril threshing wheat in Kansas
Oct 16, 1921
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Topics: Harold & Cyril home unannounced to help with harvest, want to leave their car with Daniel, Daniel learning to drive, badly stung removing colony of bees, British ministers changing doctrine, weather, rattlesnake
Dec 1, 1921
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Topics: Rattlesnake skin, Frances & Harold & Cyril home for Thanksgiving, big Thanksgiving celebration
Dec 7, 1921
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Topics: Flu, world peace, high unemployment, prices for farm products too low to sell, will butcher & can a beef, family drove car to town & got stuck in mud, new graded road is soft mud due to rain, severe lightning storm & damage
1922
Jan 8, 1922
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Topics: Christmas celebration, mild winter, Lois’ home cold, forest fires, Frances & son visiting, Harold & Cyril visiting, hawks killing chickens
Feb 5, 1922
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Topics: Received birthday letter, health, family dog, rattlesnake, Pawpaws, raising mules, Harold & Cyril burning a firebreak around the farm
Mar 12, 1922
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Topics: Wishes for Lois’ birthday
Mar 31, 1922
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Topics: Reminiscing Lois’ birth & childhood, weather, considering installing a radio, gave up “stimulants” (hard alcohol) years ago, Queen Mary’s wedding (?), incubating eggs, garden
May 28, 1922
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Topics: Good road near farm, lots of visitors, garden, boys hesitant to install radio because neighbors will come to listen, raising chickens
Jun 25, 1922
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Topics: Didn’t know family well, puzzled his family, kept straight by early teaching, charitable toward others’ beliefs, old tramp, planted wheat Lois sent, fond of birds & other wildlife, hot & dry weather, crops damaged, forest fires
Aug 27, 1922
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Topics: Circulating letters to family, Maxine, quotes Keats, rattlesnake, radio batteries a problem
Nov 19, 1922
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Topics: Lois’ eye problem, left hand shakes, tried using typewriter, always physically active, butchered & canned & pickled a steer
Dec 8, 1922
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Topics: The afterlife, anticipating Christmas, ordered a radio, selling chickens in town
Undated
Fragment
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Topics: Approaching age 70, recovering from illness, peaches, eggs, meats
Fragment
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Topics: Assessment of unidentified nationality, Hubert’s Easter holiday