The postmark on the envelope is SHAWS Jul 26 1897 PA Addressed to Dr. Wm C. Coburn, Washburn, Bayfield Co., Wisconsin Contents of the letter- Shaws, PA July 23 d/" 1897 Dear Brother, Your welcome letter received and I will try and tell you all I can about Mothers death. It was so sudden, I cannot have it she is gone, I think I must see her when I go over a sitting by the window reading or knitting. We had such a warm spell the first of July and it lasted about two weeks. she told me she could not rest nights. It had got cooler and thursday July 15th I was there that afternoon and we picked Currants together and she was telling me she had slept good the night before but when she waked up in the morning she choked and called Mell to get up and make a fire to heat her some hot water as that always helped her. it lossened the phlegm and after she coughed she would get better. she thought she had Asthma but I think her heart was affected. It was half past 4 when I left for home and she commenced her supper. I came home and got our supper and was washing dishes when I heard some one holler and pretty soon I heard Mell say are you there and I went to the door and he says Mother is dead. What I says, and as soon as I looked at Mell I knew it was all over. He said she was sitting in a chair on the porch smoking her pipe with Gympsum in it when she must have choked and fell on one side of her face, and when he came from the barn he saw her laying there, he hollered to her and then run and grabbed her up and she just gasped a little and he worked with her for half an hour to bring her to but she was past help. We burried her on the 17th at 2 O:clock p.m. at Cochranton by the side of Father. she was 78 years old on the 8th of this month. Father died on the 19th of December 1887. if she had lived until Dec. she would have lived 10 years longer than him. Clarence Childs and wife was here was all the relation from a distance. sorry you could not come. We got a letter from Dood that evening but to late to read it to mother. and she asked every time I went over if we had heard from Doad yet. she said she was afraid the rain had injured the crops. It commenced to rain here before we got home Saturday and it has rained every day since, and some awful damage has been done, buildings any amount burned. I will try and send you a paper next week. I go over every day to help Mell he had a hand to help him put in his wheat. Wheat is growing and the that was down is spoilt. Ed has lost a big stack he was making on his nephews farm. the storms did come from the east but now they come from the west and it is cooler so it seems as though they would stop now. Well it is late and I must to bed. I am real sorry Nan is so poorly I would like to see her once more awful well. Write soon again to loving sister give my love to Nan (signed) A. V. D.(?) I have written the above in as close of form to the original as I can. I tried to keep the same capitalization, spelling and punctuation that is in the letter. I do know from Bible records that the only sister of Dr. Wm Craig Coburn was Alice Virginia....and I have records that indicated she married Wm H. Trumbower in 1866 however I wonder if she later married someone named Duffas because on the back of the envelope is written "go to Mrs Duffas." Is this the return address? I speculate it is. The most difficult thing to read on the letter is the initials that were signed because she had run out of room and they are tiny and difficult to make out. The A. and the V. aren't too bad but the last initial is difficult to make out...could be an R? I am sure with a little more research I will be able to solve this question. This letter is a treasure isn't it! :)