(This letter made me wonder- is Heinrich Schmoll referring to the US Civil War because August Knatz was in America during the Civil War?)
THE SECOND LETTER IS DATED 1784
The translation is as follows:
Niedenstein, August 16, 1874
Dear Brother-In-Law and Sister-In-Law.
Longingly I take the pen to write to you that we at our household
are until now again happy and well, thank God, and I wish that it
is the same with you as is with us. So I want to let you know that
a little son was born to us, and it is the fifth one. I have named
you as godparent, I think it is alright with you because Lisschan
(little Lisa) has no brothers or sisters but just the two of you.
We have given him the name August and I myself have taken the place
of the godparent. So give our greetings to Konrad and his household
and give him the news, but let us know if you received this letter
because we have written to you last year and did not receive an
answer. We have written you then that Lieschen’s Gotel has died,
by-the-way the folks are still healthy. Should you meet someone
from the Hahnen’s, let them know that the house of’ the Hahnen in
Elmshagen has burned down last f’a11, and only 14 days ago has he
finished rebuilding.
Also greetings from sister-in-law Maria, she has written a letter
last fall and also send a parcel from her and the children, and
has received no answer. Now I will close.
It greets you, your brother-in-law Heinrich Schmoll with his wife Lischen.
THE THIRD LETTER IS DATED 1887
The translation is as follows:
Niedenstein, November 18, 1887
Dear Sister-In-Law:
We received both of your two letters, first the sad message that your
husband died and secondly the pleasant one that all of you are healthy and that the dear God has freed the husband from his suffering. I would have sent an answer sooner, but we have one boy who could leave school at Easter and I wanted to wait if he can go along, because he is the one I have named after your husband, August. I intended to write while ago but never got around to it, and we have two years ago sent you during the summer two nice sausages to bring you some pleasure with a german sausage, one for you, dear sister-in-law and one for the dear brother-in-law Conrad. I sent them with a man named Obach who used to live here in the windmill but left 10 years ago for America and was visiting here. He had promised me with a handshake to take care of it, because he knew where August Knatz was living and I have questioned this man about August and Conrad because it was said hereabouts that August was already dead but Obach said that was not true, because only a short time ago he transported with him a deceased person in a hearse. The brother-In-law Conrad should know Obach very well from a long time ago. When you write again, let us know if you ever got the sausages or not. Dear sister-in-law, you are asking for the girl, it is impossible for us to send her because she is going to be 12 years old and is valuable to the mother, because with 8 children there is a lot of torn stuff, so you can deduct her. Dear sister-in-law, we have the two oldest ones who are masons or bricklayers, another one who has finished school is a tailor and another one is learning to be a shoemaker. The tailor is 18 years old and the shoemaker is 16 years and maybe you can do something there for them and they can come there, but they don’t know about this writing. The shoemaker is learning the trade in Kassel, and the tailor had learned his trade there also and still works for the master tailor where he learned under, and both are doing good. Dear sister-in-law, you wrote about war, there was also a lot of talk about war here this spring but it won’t happen so easy. I will tell you about our good sister-in-law Knatz, she does not write because she now has a good job, plenty of work• and she is a hard worker, you have to say that about her. She has given away her property to the second boy named Johannes. His wife is from Wichdorf and he has married well. Justus married first but his wife had nothing. Justus received two or three pieces of land from her estate and has now bought a house to go along with the land so he has his own home. Johannes had received fifteen to eighteen acres of land from his in-laws, two cows and others, and moved in with them. Johannes has only one horse, but by now he has eight to ten pieces of cattle. Dear sister-in-law, please also send this letter to brother-in-law Conrad Knatz, with many greetings from all of us,
respectfully
Heinrich Schmoll
I am asking for an answer, because you have not written for a long time