Written by Julia Ann Miller Holt to her oldest child, Emberson Holt, son of Calvin Holt and Julia Ann Miller Holt. It has been transcribed exactly as written with no corrections in punctuation and or spelling.

January the 10 1885

Friday morning

Dear Son I hope you are well. Alfa (Alfred Lewis Holt who was 6 at the time of this writing) missed the chills 3 weeks this time and I hope he is done with them the rest of us are well except Cora She fell on the ice last Friday coming home from school and bent her wrist or we are not certain but it is broken it is sweled badly though she goes to school she only missed 2 days we have lots of company Jim Read and Annie and Willie Holt and his wife came last Saturday and stayed till Wednesday (?)nerables (?) was here Sunday and several others Albert and Lizzie Sunday knight and yesterday Willises folks Nan Tommy Ben and Calvey vick and Sam Dody & Mamy, Jon and Nora was here and Minnie Stuber come home with the children from school and Last knight Mr. Hooker and Rosa come from Burden and couldn’t cross the creek and stayed all knight we have had snow and rain and cold for along time and now there is mud how is it there are you married yet I hope you will get a good woman and then you must treat her good tell me where she lives and what her given name is and who her mother was and before you get her make the contract with her to come to Kans why didn’t you say you thought I made you a new coat out of your old one I was ashamed to send that comfort it was so dirty but it was nearest the rite size to go in the trunk was your trunk broke any I can’t find the key any where I saw a ? in the rafter but no key there we have got our house plastered it cleared off the knight wrote to you before and stayed nice a few days ben has plastered his house I am going up there to day to help make Della a coat Alfa wants me to write about him he got made at me the other day and said he wished Emma (Emberson) was back here to scold me and he always wants me to read about him don’t write any more without writing about him I read a lot to him once that you would come home and run a race with him and in the next letter you wrote like not comeing and hurt him ben has come after me.

Write soon

/s/ Julia to Emberson

My great great grandmother, Julia Ann Miller Holt