Every genealogist loves finding an old family letter. The handwriting connects us across time, and the stories can make our ancestors feel alive in a way that bare records cannot. But as with all sources, letters require careful handling.
One family document I was sent many years ago is a letter written by “Aunt Alpha” (Alphina Richardson), granddaughter of my ancestor Margaret Gephart’s daughter, Celestia. In her recollections, Aunt Alpha shared a dramatic story about how Margaret’s father died in a wagon accident on the family’s move from Pennsylvania to Ohio, and how her mother soon passed away from grief and childbirth. Margaret, she wrote, was then taken in by her mother’s siblings who were traveling in the same wagon train.
When I first read the letter, I was struck by how vivid the storytelling was. More importantly, it gave me a direction for research—suggesting where I might look in the records for guardianship and probate activity that would fit such a family tragedy. The details helped me form new questions, which is often the most valuable gift any genealogical source can provide.
But as is often the case with old letters, not every detail was correct. For instance, Aunt Alpha misremembered Margaret’s father’s name, calling him Thomas instead of his actual name, John Gebhart. Other elements were more impressionistic than factual—descriptions of grief, or explanations of why certain family members acted as they did. That’s the nature of memory: it mixes fact with interpretation.
What this taught me was simple but powerful:
Value the direction, not the detail. Family letters can shine a light into the right corner of the archive, but they may blur or distort the scene.
Verify everything. Stories preserved in letters are wonderful leads, but they should never stand alone as proof.
For me, Aunt Alpha’s letter became a cherished piece of family history—not because every word was true, but because it helped guide my research and added a human voice to the journey. Letters like these remind us that genealogy is not just about records; it’s about people trying to remember, to explain, and to pass something meaningful forward.
As genealogists, our task is to honor those voices while testing them carefully against the evidence. Cherish letters as clues. Verify them as evidence.