Minnie E. Jones to Charles W. Chesnutt, 21 December 1931
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[1]
Dec 21/31
Dear Gloomy Gus:
That was certainly a cheerful letter you wrote. I could reply in kind, but a la Seth Parker I will not.1
Am sorry your health is so poor, but having had oodles in the family know just what it means. Grace had a major operation this summer on three tumors—[?]from which she is slowly recovering, via the ulcerated teeth, rheumatism, etc. route.
[2]
We had the most glorious time in October when Bishop Stearly and wife were here. I didn't hold on to my seat when he preached, but we dined each other back and forth and got a real thrill. He said the nicest thing that happened to them in Denver was renewing his friendship with the Joneses. I got a lovely letter from Mrs. Stearly today. Somehow nothing takes the place of old friends.2
When Grace was in the hospital our old friend "Grant Ward" telegraphed his bank account was at our dispposal. Can you beat it? He is one of the nicest men you ever knew. We motored down, four of us, and had 4 or 5 delightfully hot-hotter-hottest visits with them in St. Louis.3
[3]
I had always figured I could get a square meal in Cleveland if worst came to worst, but your letter settled that. Guess I will go to the Old Soldier's Home.4
Well, brace up. If you can hang on you're lucky; that's more than we could do.
Regards to all Sincerely M. E. J.Correspondent: Minnie E. Bothwell Jones (1865–1941) was a White woman born in Ohio. In 1886, she married Frederic C. Jones (1865–1939), a pharmacist who later ran an insurance agency. They had one daughter, Grace E. Jones (1887–1967), who became a public school teacher and remained single. The family's connection to the Chesnutts was likely through Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Cleveland. By the census of 1900 the Joneses had moved from Ohio to Denver, Colorado.
1. Chesnutt's "gloomy" letter to Minnie E. Jones has not been located. Seth Parker was a fictional character from a mid-1920s radio show on NBC Radio created and played by White radio host Phillips Lord (1902–1975), which by the end of 1931 had spawned several books, records, and a movie, Way Back Home. Lord's gently humorous portrayal of a kindly New England clergyman who told tall tales, gave advice, and sang hymns was famous throughout the U.S. See "Seth Parker—Humanist: Youthful Philosopher Loved by Millions," Radio Guide 1, no. 8 (December 19, 1931): 1, 13. [back]
2. Wilson Reiff Stearly (1869–1941), a White Philadelphian, was an Episcopal bishop of Newark from 1927 to 1935. From 1900 to 1909, he had served in Cleveland as rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, the church where the Chesnutts worshipped, before accepting a rectorship in Philadelphia and then in Newark. He married Helen Barcroft Neuhauser Stearly (1873–1961) in 1895. With his wife, he visited Denver to attend the Episcopal Annual Convention, which was held there September 16–30, 1931. [back]
3. Grant Simpson Ward (1869–1949) and Eda Emily Brockman (1865–1947) were married in Cleveland in 1891 and were acquaintances of Fred and Minnie Jones and of the Chesnutts, possibly through Emmanuel Episcopal Church. By 1920, they had moved back to Eda's hometown of Webster Groves near St. Louis, Missouri, where Ward worked as a detective for the Wabash Railroad. [back]
4. A range of national and state institutions to support disabled and aging veterans and their families were informally known as "Old Soldiers' Homes" into the 1930s, so Jones uses the term generically, not with reference to a specific Cleveland location. [back]
