Old Brown Ink


I love old letters. I love the colors acquired in old paper. I love the forthrightness of the old brown ink. The letter above was written by my great-great-great-great grandfather back in 1831. He had hit on some hard times, and had gone to Alabama for work at the age of 61. It's an amazing thing to hold a document that a family member wrote 177 years ago.

5 comments:

Jo James said...

Wow! What a treasure!
And such amazing handwriting people had back then. That's a dying art I'm afraid.
What a rich family history you have!

Hugs- Joee

Daphne said...

Dixie, I love old letters too. My aunt recently gave me a dusty strongbox filled with old old family letters and papers. There's a dance card of my grandmother's when she was a girl in the 20's and lots of old photographs, letters and documents. Amazing how much the world has changed in just a couple of generations. What would they think if we could show them around our world?

-Daphne

Susan McShannon-Monteith said...

To be able to hold and read such a remarkable link to the past is fascinating Dixie.
He wrote with a strong hand did he not? A sign of wisdom and devotion.
Thankyou for sharing a wonderful piece of history.
Susan

M said...

The ink was black when it was new, but time has turned it brown. I think the ink was made from coal crushed.Melanee

Dixie Redmond said...

Thanks, Mel! I didn't know that and it's so interesting. :-)


"Do not let what you cannot do
keep you from doing what you can do."

John Wooden