The Clara Alford Letters

[Letter]

History

These letters were written by Clara Alford at the Seminary to her cousin Edmund Chidsey in Avon Ct. The first letters I bought did not identify Clara's last name, so the letters themselves supplied the clues to identifying Clara. The letter head (embossed with the letter "A"), the cousin relationship to Edmund L. Chidsey, and his location in Avon, Conn. were the clues that identified Clara. There were several students named Clara at the Seminary in the 1870-1871 Mount Holyoke catalog, but only one had a hometown in Connecticut (North Canton) and she had a last name that began with A (Alford). I did a map search on North Canton and Avon, and saw they were only ten miles apart, so that seemed promising. A search on Edmond L. Chidsey led to his gravestone (born Jan 19, 1852 in Avon, died Sep 27, 1912 in Avon) and his parents. His mother was Juliette Alford Chidsey. Further research on Juliette revealed she had three brothers; since Clara's last name was Alford, she must be descended from one of Juliette's brothers. It turned out Juliette's brother Emerson Alford was the father of Clara Alford, thus showing the link between Clara Alford at the Seminary, and her cousin Edmund of Avon.

The Images

All letters have at least their first page or a portion of the first page scanned, and comments about their contents are included below.

A Letter Written on Sep 15, 1869
envelope Postmarked in South Hadley. Addressed to Mr. Edmund Chidsey in Avon, Conn.
page 1 Full contents of letter, though only the first page is scanned.

A Letter Written on Oct 1, 1869
envelope Postmarked in South Hadley. Addressed to Mr. Edmund L. Chidsey in Avon, Conn.
page 1 Full contents of letter, though only the first page is scanned.

A Letter Written on Dec 4, 1869
envelope Postmarked Dec 6 [1869] in South Hadley. Addressed to Mr. Edmund Chidsey in Avon, Conn.
page 1 Full contents of letter, though only the first page is scanned.

A Letter Written on Feb 1, 1870
envelope Postmarked in South Hadley. Addressed to Mr. Edmund Chidsey in Avon, Conn.
page 1 Full contents of letter, though only the first page is scanned.

A Letter Written on Apr 5, 1870
envelope Postmarked Apr [1870] in South Hadley. Addressed to Mr. Edmund L Chidsey in Avon, Conn.
page 1 Full contents of letter, though only the first page is scanned.

A Letter Written on Oct 13, 1870
envelope Postmarked Oct 14 [1870] in South Hadley. Addressed to Mr. Edmund L Chidsey in Avon, Conn.
page 1 Full contents of letter, though only the first page is scanned.

A Letter Written on May 6, 1871
envelope Postmarked May 8 [1871] in South Hadley. Addressed to Mr. Edmund Chidsey in Avon, Conn.
page 1 Full contents of letter, though only the first page is scanned.

A Letter Written on Sep 20, 1871
envelope Postmarked Sep 21 [1871] in South Hadley. Addressed to Mr. Edmund Chidsey in Avon, Conn.
page 1 Full contents of letter, though only the first page is scanned.

A Letter Written on Jan 26, 1872
envelope Postmarked in South Hadley. Addressed to Mr. Edmund Chidsey in Avon, Conn.
page 1 Full contents of letter, though only the first page is scanned.