Letters to Jessie

When Jessie Whitney Pulver received letters in the mail, she read and then saved them. The letters were passed down and saved some more. These letters chronicled Jessie’s life and the lives of the people who cared about her and wrote to her. People wrote to her about families—theirs and hers. They wrote about wars that were taking place and wars that they feared would take place. They reminisced about times past and hopes for the future. They told about their daily lives and the details of those daily lives. They talked about illnesses and injuries and death and new life. They wrote about the weather and emerging seasons. They told Jessie how they felt, and they told her that they loved her.  The letters span generations, beginning with Jessie’s grandmother and ending with letters from Jessie’s great-grandchildren. Through the letters, in their own words, we get to know these people from New Brunswick, Canada, and Washington State—Jane, Margaret, June, and Bill, the Pulver kids, and many others.