- Date: Wednesday night, 8 December 1937 (postmarked Cincinnati, 9 P.M.)
- Written at: Cincinnati, Ohio
- Stationery: Hotel Gibson, Cincinnati
- From: Joseph “Joe” Sharmer
- To: Ruby
- Condition: Envelope and three pages; at least one page between pages 2 and the last is missing
Each page of the original is shown beside its transcription. Click a page to enlarge it.
ENVELOPE
Air Mail
Miss Ruby E. Wilson
Planada, California
Merced, County
Postmarked Cincinnati, Ohio, Post Office Annex, Dec 8, 9 PM, 1937. Six-cent winged-globe air mail stamp.
ENVELOPE, BACK
Printed: Hotel Gibson, Cincinnati, Ohio … General Manager [partly torn away]
In Joe’s hand: Room [56?] … Sharmer
PAGE 1
Wed — Night.
My — Baby Dear —
Darling — Your letter — I cried but how sweet of you — Honey you are the Dearest in all the country.
Yes I had a very nice traveling pal — a Certified Public Acct from S.F. going to Wash — and we spent the time in Chi together till 6 last night & then I went out to visit the relation. I saw Aunt Lizzie & her children for the first time & talk about your Chaw [?] Irish but she was glad to see me — She is 72 and a dead ringer for Mama — We had quite a long talk, left Chi at 1140 & here at 730. Snow all the way & it is 12 above out now
PAGE 2
so I am staying put in the Hotel when I think you are just putting up the mail & here it is 3 hours difference — I am lonesome for My Baby. I rec’d a wire from Larry & Kath this A.M. & they are leaving tonight for Wash — Good — I [only wish?] you could be here. Honey I love you — That was good service on the Key case — eh — Good old US Mail — Perhaps he had to take it to San Deigo to mail like a little Sweetheart I know in Planada. Ha Ha — I am glad for you Honey that the weather is nice but you ought to see the snow now & Blowing too — God How I long for you so I could keep you warm & nice too — You are my Sweetheart and I love you Dear.
AT LEAST ONE PAGE IS MISSING HERE
LAST PAGE
… him — You know they will be careful what they say before you about the plant. Don’t pay any attention to Aunt Vi — Just skip it all — She talks to much anyway —
Honey I want to mail this now so you may get it tomorrow & Ill write more later to my Baby. More Later to the sweetest girl in the world — You lover — Send me 10 XXX I havent enough paper to send my Kisses — I love you Dear — Bye for now Dear
All my Love
Joe
Notes & context
The first letter from the East. Joe took the train east from California by way of Chicago — he wrote twice on the way (Desert and Sage Brush and My RUBY) — spent the day there until 6 P.M., visited family in the evening, left Chicago at 11:40 that night and reached Cincinnati at 7:30 the next morning. He wrote this that evening at the Hotel Gibson. The next morning he wrote again, “Oh Honey I forgot to tell you last night…” (Five Degrees Above in Cincinnati). The envelope settles the date: it was postmarked in Cincinnati at 9 P.M. on Wednesday, 8 December 1937, which also fits his “4th Sunday away” on 2 January (Burn Them Up).
Aunt Lizzie. Joe met her and her children in Chicago “for the first time.” At 72 she was “a dead ringer for Mama”: his mother, Catherine “Katie” O’Connor Sharmer, who had died in 1907 when he was nine. Lizzie was Katie’s sister. She married Jacob Heintz, an attorney for the railroad and the best friend of Joe’s father, Joseph I. Lizzie and Jacob were the witnesses at Joseph and Katie’s wedding in Sidney, Nebraska, and later moved to Chicago, where they raised a large family.
“A wire from Larry & Kath.” That same morning a telegram reached him from Larry and Kath, who were “leaving tonight for Wash,” almost certainly to spend Christmas with Dodie in Washington, where Joe himself spent Christmas (You Are My Pal). Kath is his sister Kathryn Kratz. Larry travelling with her fits the family’s Aunt Larry being his eldest sister, Laura (see People).
“3 hours difference.” It was evening in Cincinnati while Ruby, back in Planada, was “just putting up the mail,” three hours earlier on Pacific time. Ruby ran the Planada post office, which is also why he jokes about the “Good old US Mail” (The Postmaster of Planada).
“The Key case.” Something Ruby had sent after him, apparently a key case that reached him quickly; his joke is that the postman must have taken it all the way to San Diego to mail it.
Cannery, the cat. The family remembers this letter saying “Don’t worry about Cannery.” Cannery was a cat, the one Joe is holding in the photograph below. Those words are not on the pages that survive, so they were probably on the missing page, and the “him” at the top of the last page may well be Cannery.
“Aunt Vi” and “the plant.” The last page picks up in the middle of a sentence about “him” and warns Ruby that people will be careful what they say in front of her about “the plant,” most likely the cannery. Who Aunt Vi was is not yet known.
Missing page. Page 2 ends with a complete sentence and the last page begins “… him,” so at least one page between them has not been found.
“Your letter — I cried.” Ruby had a letter waiting for him at the hotel when he arrived.
“12 above.” Twelve degrees. By the next morning it was down to five.
Uncertain readings: the underlined word before “Irish” looks like “Chaw.” “Talk about your … Irish” was a common joking expression. On page 2, the words after “Good — I” are hard to read; “only wish” is a guess. The room number on the back of the envelope is partly torn away.
From the family
Joseph and Ruby’s daughter:
“This letter is one of the most important documents of my life — because in the letter my father mentions his mother and his Aunt Lizzie.”
“I know so little about Aunt Lizzie, only that she married Jacob Heintz, who was an attorney for the railroad and was the best friend of Joseph I. Yes, she was Katie’s sister, but I know very little about her. That was probably the result of Irish discrimination in those days. Lizzie and Jacob were the witnesses at Joseph and Katie’s wedding in Sidney. They eventually moved to Chicago and had a bunch of kids.”
“In this letter, your Grandfather says, ‘Don’t worry about Cannery.’ So in case you’re wondering who the heck is named ‘Cannery,’ here is a photo of him in your grandfather’s arms.”
