Lottie's Letters

A of the post cards from Lottie dating from 1906 to 1920

Soon after I got into genealogy, I started reading old letters and going through postcards that my mom’s mom had that belonged to her mom, Mildred Sarah Bishop-Hunter. I found over a dozen postcards and many letters from “Cousin Lottie.” There was one problem she had no known cousin named Lottie. Of course I looked for Charlottes and any “L” name happened to be. Mildred had many female cousins. On her mother’s side there were four and on her father’s side there were seven, none of them fit the bill. As I looked them over again I realized this “Cousin Lottie” often spoke of a Carson. The postcards were postmarked Kokomo, Indiana. Those hints helped but lead me nowhere.  

Then it happened! I found a letter in the envelope marked Mrs. F. Delon, sure enough the letter was signed “Cousin Lottie” and she spoken of her son Carson.  Now the task at hand was to find out if cousin Lottie or this F. Delon was the true relation and who married into the family.

I looked for a marriage record for a Lottie that married a F. Delon.  Thankfully I knew that they lived in Kokomo. I looked in Howard County and I was pleased to find on the 22^nd of September 1908 Lottie Patterson married Frances Delon. Sadly the Patterson surname meant nothing to me at the time. So I knew my next step was to find the maiden names of their mothers.

I was able to locate a marriage record for Lottie and Frances and found that her name Patterson was the name from her first marriage, her maiden name was McAlpin. That name was important. Mildred (the recipient of the letters) was the daughter of Jessie Brewer-Bishop, her mother was Martha Ellen Parcell-Brewer. Martha’s only sister was Mary Elizabeth Parcell-McAlpin. I had not yet traced Mary’s family, but sure enough this Lottie Delon was born Charlotta H. McAlpin, the first cousin once removed from Mildred, my great-grandmother.

Lottie and Carson at home

Since I found out who Cousin Lottie was I looked into her family, her only child was Carson born in 1898. He married and became a druggist moving to Connecticut where he raised his three daughters.

Carson and his wife Leah in 1924 

Lottie stayed in Kokomo until her death in 1936, she was 61.

Lottie in 1894 (age 20)

Lottie’s Letters reminded me of how close I am with my cousins; first, second, third and everything in between as well as some that are farther down. This was just another lesson in the importance of researching the marriages and the children of our aunts and uncle no matter how far back they are in the family tree.

From Lottie, 1914