Lou has given me permission to let you into the world of Dorothy SMITH. The following letters were sent by Dorothy from Wellington, Colorado, USA, to her mother Mary Ann Smith, who was living in Holton le Clay, Lincolnshire. Dorothy had sailed to America in the early 1920's to marry a man called Walter Wood, the son of Mr and Mrs Walter Wood, Snr; who were farmers. Dorothy (Dolly) had corresponded with Walt, and agreed to give up her job as a schoolteacher in Glentham, Lincolnshire to travel across America to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to marry him.  They married on June 23 1922 at Wellington, Colorado. Dorothy travelled from Southampton on 'The St Paul' on 28 May 1920, she had to land on Ellis Island, and stay there until she was given permission to continue her journey to Colorado. She was 21 years of age. Dorothy had been educated at the village school in Osgodby, Lincolnshire, but had been born in Beniworth, Lincolnshire on 30 September 1898.   During her life she longed to return to England for a visit, she only came once, after WW2, probably about 1946, she was able to be reunited with her mother and her siblings. Letter No 1 14 July 1923 Wellington, Colorado U.S.A. My dearest Mother,   I have to thank you for two letters, Margy's photo, and the "Hull Times". I suppose you will think I am getting rather neglectful but it seems as if I cannot very well settle down to letter-writing. I just owe every - body a letter, and, by the way, I found one of Annie's (unanswered) this morning. I'm going to try and answer yours dated June 18th and received last week. It is now eight p.m. and the picture show starts in half-an-hour so I have'nt much time right now. We had quite a big storm just before supper so that the roads are in bad shape again. We have such a lot of rain this year so far. I am sorry to hear about the fruit and garden produce being such a failure. July 22nd - (I am sorry not to have found time to continue my letter ere this, mother dear) We have no garden as we cannot get the water to it. We get a taste of garden stuff once in a while though. Mrs Rice one of our Beet Workers, sent over a big bunch of onions and lettuce one day and said we could help our-selves whenever we wanted any more. Mother gave me some red beets today. Fancy Dad and Ted staying at Billie Robinson's! I'll bet the men-folks did some "tall talking" and Billie would do a little spitting around. Is Florrie married yet? I do wish Edith could come for the summer. Wouldn't Sonny-boy have a high old time with her! Sonny-boy went to bed a little earlier tonight as he did not have much sleep during the day. He is just about covered with mosquito bites (great big lumps) and has a big bee sting behind one ear. He sat in a chair beside Grand-pa, at the show last night and kept reaching into his pocket, helping himself to the candy. We were up having dinner with the folks today and I sure did enjoy it, too. On our way home we went for a nice long ride and that also was greatly enjoyed. Walt has been out attending to his irrigating water and he nearly got chewed up with mosquitoes. We are having some very hot, stiffling weather, have to keep all our doors and windows open both day and night. July 23rd - I did'nt feel very good last night so had to quit and go to bed, it was time anyway. We are going to Fort Collins this morning. Just Father, Walt, baby and I Last Wednesday, "us three" went up in the mountains for the day. We sure had a wonderful time. It was such a surprise too, we decided to go, got ready, and were gone in about an hour. I think we travelled nearly eighty miles that day. I am enclosing a newspaper picture of a tunnel we passed through, it is cut out of one solid piece of rock. I am also sending you some pictures. Frontier Days start at Cheyenne on Tuesday (tomorrow) but we will not be able to go this year. I am sending a sample of voile like the dress I am making for myself. I do not intend to wear it until "after a while" so am making it all unknown to Walt. I got rhrough with all my baby sewing about two weeks ago. I suppose I shall be in bed when you get this letter but I'll write again as soon as I can. So hoping you are all well, as it leaves us at present, and with fondest love to you all, I remain, Your loving daughter XXXXXX Dolly XXXXXX Typed as written in the letter. On 19th August Dolly had her second child, a daughter Mary. Sonny-boy referred to in the letter, is Dolly's first child, Edward Lee WOOD, born 29th September 1921 at Wellington. Annie, Edith and Ted, also referred to, are Dolly's sisters and brother, Annie and Edith were unmarried and lived at home, in Holton le Clay, Lincolnshire. Dolly's father, William Lee SMITH, referred to in the letter as Dad, worked for Peaksfields in Holton le Clay, he kept at least one Steam Engine in a large shed in the garden, he did threshing for farmers, carried coal from the sidings in Grimsby to various business and coal merchants. Carried stone and shale. The steam engine was in demand for many things. My grandmother kept a record of his work, in her very neat handwriting, and I have records of who he worked for and when, what he earn't. His son Ted also worked for the same company, working with his father. My Grandfather earnt £2.00 per week at this time and Ted £1.2s.0p. Inside the envelope of this letter is a snipped of fabric, white, with tiny mauve dots, and larger mauve squares. Letter No 2 next time Pat (niece of Dolly.)