Norway Coos County Oregon
February 24, 1889
Dear Brother and Sister & All
If it is not too late to do good and you will pardon my negligence in not writing sooner, I
will try and write you a few lines today -in answer to your last letter which was received in
due time and I had intended to answer it right away but time kept slipping by until this
time and I find myself still unruly and hard to get to work but as I know you are kind and
forgiving I feel like I was out of danger and so I will try and get to business. Grandpa was
laid away by kind neighbors beside Grandma up on the hill above their little quiet home
beneath the waving boughs of the green fir trees where the gentle breeze and little song
birds will sweetly sing to their dear memories.
We have had a beautiful winter, or I might say we have had no winter about the first of
this month some began to put in grain and others made garden and we made some too.
The day before Valentines it snowed about five inches wet soft snow but it was all gone in three
or four days and now it is just like spring. The birds sing and the frogs have even been trying to
sing all the month and they have got the notes all by heart too and I know because they sing just
like they used to when I was a boy playing around the frog ponds in days gone by but which days
used to afford the boys a great deal of pleasure. But times have changed since then. Jen and I have
been looking on the map and I can't find the name of the place Evan went to in California. It must
be a new place. The Sacramento Valley was as dry a looking place as I ever saw when we passed
through coming out here but with plenty of rain it's a beautiful valley. The rain in California has
been rather below the average this winter but if Evan goes in where they irrigate he'll find a
beautiful country. I don't think we will have as much rain this spring as last here in Oregon but
then we don't need as much as we did last Spring. This part is filling up fast and land is raising
rapidly in value with the increase in population. We had a letter from Isaac early in the Winter and
he said he would come to Oregon this Spring if he could raise the money. We also had a letter
from Mary. They were well-Eddie went to meeting today and Jennie and I are all alone. I have
been quite unwell for about two weeks but am feeling better today. Jennie is troubled with the
"catarrh" (sic) in her head yet. We hope this will find you all well and happy and able to eat two
doz. eggs apiece on Easter Sunday morning. Now Allie if you don't write soon next time you'll
get; well, I don't know what. Now write soon so you won't forget. E.C & family.
[This letter was written by Ed Corman the brother of Alice (Allie Corman Young)
to Allie and her husband James B. Young who were living in Kansas. The reference in the letter to
Jennie is a reference to Jennie Casebeer Corman the wife of Ed. The reference to Isaac is a
reference to Isaac Corman who was Ed's brother. The reference to Evan is a reference to Evan
Young the brother of James Young. James, Ed, and Isaac were all members of the 9th Kansas
Cav. during the Civil War. All lived in Humboldt, Kansas, during the time of the Civil War. Jack
Bender, Halstead, Kansas.]
13 March 2003