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| More History Unfolded |
History Unfolded - Treasures found between the pages of books
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In our estimation, the single greatest reward in doing museum work and historical preservation is the close personal contact it gives to our own past. Through our contact with hstorical documents and artifacts, we are able to see and feel, to almost experience first-hand, those things that made up the everyday life of our ancestors. It's the personal things that make our association with past such a tresured gift.
This part of our web site is dedicated to those personal experiences and brushes with history. The first one, "Dear Soldier Brother", is the story of a letter we found between the pages of an old book of poetry. It was written from a missionary serving in Bursa, Turkey to her brother serving in the Civil War here in the US. She didn't know if he was alive or dead. |
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What follows below is the transcription of the letter and the story of the research we conducted to find out who she and her brother were and why the letter came to be found in book owned by a family here in Monona.
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| "Dear Soldier Brother"
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In early October 2006, we were preparing for the grand opening of the Willa Helwig history Center here at the museum. With all the additional space, we had an opportunity to remove some of the exhibits to the new center. One of the first things we decided to set up was a mock-up of an early 20th century classroom. I began removing some of the old textbooks on the second floor of the original museum building to the new display downstairs in the center.
As I brought them down, I went through them carefully to see if perhaps there had been papers or anything stuck between the pages and forgotten about over the years. Among the items I discovered were a perfect attendance certificate from a local country school and awarded to the recipient in 1906, several leaves and flowers (who hasn't pressed a leaf or flower in old book?), a special newsletter from Grinnell College devoted to young men making the decision to join college or sign up for WWI, and several other paper odds and ends. Perhaps the greatest treasure I found was a letter penned in 1863 from a missionary serving overseas in Bursa, Turkey to a brother back here. Her brother was serving in the Union Army and she had no knowledge of his condition or even whether he was alive at all. The letter was poignantly written in fine Victorian style by a lady who had been very well educated. From the letter I was able to determine several key points from the onset:
The letter had been folded and inserted between the pages of a book, "The Poetical Works of Cary - Illustrated" published in 1882. The book is inscribed inside the front leaf, "Flora E. Davis - From Mother". With the information gleaned from what was at hand, I began an Internet search to see what else I could find. I began with the assumption that Augusta's surname could have been Davis and searched for her by name. That search returned numerous results from genealogical web sites but I found nothing substantial that would link to "our" Augusta. I then tried a search for "missionaries, Bursa, Turkey, 1863". Again, I had numerous returns, all of which gave me a much better concept of the political turmoil surrounding US missionaries and Diplomats in Turkey at the time. However, I still was unable any information regarding Augusta or her husband Joseph. One of the sites returned in the second search was a site listing burials in the American section of the Protestant Cemetery Ferikoy-Istanbul, Turkey. It was a daunting list with 300 plus names, but I thought it was likely my best chance to find her by name. Not finding her name among the "D's", I started from the beginning of the list looking for the name Augusta. Persistence paid off. When I had just about wrapped the "G's", I found her - Elizabeth Augusta Davis Greene. Here is the listing from that list as it was printed:
I had hit the motherlode! Everything fit: The Davis surname, she was born in 1831 making her 32 at the time she wrote the letter and her husband's name was Joseph. Now I had the information I needed to do a proper search. Augusta was born in Lisbon, Maine in 1831. She acquired her seminary training at Mt. Holyoke University. The Mt. Holyoke web site houses a section where an alumnus has posted the contents of an autograph book containing an inscription from Augusta to her fellow student, the original owner of the book. Augusta married Joseph (also a minister) in 1857 and they entered missionary work together in Bursa in 1859. She remained in service with the Turkey American Board until her death in 1894. They had eight children; three daughters preceded her in death - Fannie Angeline, 5 years old, died Oct. 16th, 1872 - Elizabeth Kingsbury, 8 years old, died on Oct. 25th, 1872 - Grace Darling, died at birth, Feb. 22nd, 1879. The five surviving boys were named Joseph, Edward, Frederick, George and Samuel. Her husband Joseph survived her and continued in his missionary work for many more years. He worked closely with Clara Barton for many years in the Red Cross relief efforts to Turkey during the early 20th century. She refers to him and often in her own reports on the Turkish relief efforts. His endeavors and experience in Turkey and the knowledge of the people and their lifestyles led him to some notoriety. He wrote three books; "The Leavening and the Levant" a study in Armenian Muslim roots and the difficulties missionaries faced in building their Christian schools and principals in a devout Muslim society - a treatise on the root causes of the Balkan Wars and why the United States should refrain from any involvement - and "Letters to Her Children - A Little Mother's Story", about his loving wife Augusta and how deeply he missed her after her death. I was able to locate one copy of the latter volume at the library in Mt. Holyoke. As much as I would like to read it for the insight it would give me into Augusta's life, it is only available for research in the library; a library which is 956 miles from our fair city. My experience with this research project, spurred by the chance discovery of Augusta's letter in a book housed in the collections here at the Willa Helwig History Center, has given me an incredibly vivid picture of the religious conflict in Turkey from 1860 through the early 20th century. I have also come away with my own "mind's-eye photograph" of the July 4th, 1863 celebration in the garden of the Greene home in Bursa. Augusta and her life's triumphs and tribulations have now become indelibly etched in my memory. Her letter has gone from two handwritten pages on fragile onion skin paper to a document of historical import providing a glimpse into a past I knew nothing about a few short days ago. The Melvin Davis Family - Monona, Iowa Melvin is "Dear Soldier Brother". Knowing that Flora Davis was the owner of the book we found Augusta's letter in, we looked the family up in our records here in the History Center. Melvin did survive the Civil War - he is seated, 2nd from the right in the family photo below. Born in Lewiston, Maine like his sister, Augusta, Melvin mustered out of Company D, 17th Maine Infantry in 1865. His Civil War campaign included Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Locust Grove, The Wilderness, Spottsylvania and Petersburg. In 1869, he left Maine and came to Monona where he met and married Esther Olmsted, the daughter of Phineas Page Olmsted, the founder of Monona. Melvin and Esther farmed west of town for 30 years. They retired from farming in 1902 and moved into Monona to a new home they had built on North Page Street. Melvin was the last surving Civil War Veteran in Monona and passed away in 1931. Flora, who received the book of poetry from her Mother and likely stashed away our letter, is standing just behind her Father's shoulder. |
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 Elizabeth's Husband, Joseph Kingsbury Greene |
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| Leaves and Flowers |
Every one of us, at one time or another, has probably pressed a leaf or a flower between the pages of a book and then forgotten completely about it. Years later we open the book and discover the pressed memento and the memories come flooding back. Here are few leaves and flowers we have found - for most of them, the stories are long forgotten | ||||||||
| Two maple leaves, an unknown flower retaining a little bit of its original purple color, grass and a bit of clover. Interestingly, we were able to ascertain the story behind the little clump of clover (upper right). At the bottom of the page where we found it was the following notation: "from my picknick with A. P. - Sep. 1913" |
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| Assorted Paper Items |
It's not hard to figure out the story for this little Valentine. No doubt, Mom saved it and forgot about it, but we discovered it 100 years later in a 1st grade reading primer dated 1901. |  |
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| This special bulletin from Ellsworth College in Iowa Falls, Iowa was found in a mathematics textbook published in 1906 and addresses an issue facing young men and women about to enter college - "Shall I enlist or enter college?" It explains how young men can do both by joining the Student Army Training Corps (S.A.T.C.). The government paid their college expenses, furnished uniforms and paid the young men $30 per month.
The last paragraph of the document addresses young women. It explains that while they cannot join the S.A.T.C., they should attend college so that they "can do their best in offices, stores and workshops and the scores of other places offering patriotic, trained young women the opportunity to serve the nation and to demonstrate to the world that American young women are alive." |
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