A Mother’s Heart and a Husband’s Hand: A Glimpse of 1901

“Go little Pilgrim to thy home on yonder Blissfull Shore”

Come on in and sit a spell, neighbors. I’ve been sorting through some old boxes in the back of the archives and found a piece of our history that really pulls at the heartstrings. It’s a scrap of lined paper from 1901, yellowed with age and stained deep brown at the corners, looking like it’s been held and folded more times than we can count. The edges are a bit frayed and torn, but the words written in that dark ink are as clear as the day they were first put down over a century ago.

On one side of this fragile page, Mary W. Gwinn shares a mother’s deepest sorrow. Her little boy, Labon, was only with the family for about five weeks before he passed away in the early spring of 1901. Mary poured her grief and her hope into a memorial poem, imagining her ‘little Pilgrim’ as an angel resting in heaven. It’s a powerful reminder of how folks back then relied on their faith to carry them through the kind of loss that feels too heavy to bear, looking toward a yonder Blissfull Shore where parting is no more.

When you flip the page over, you see a different side of life. There’s a short, sweet note from a man named Lewis to his wife, Lillie. He’s busy making arrangements to get some sugar sent up to her by a neighbor, Mr. Siner, on a Tuesday. It’s just a little snippet of everyday life, but the way he signs off by telling her to be a good girl and reminding her he’s her ‘true and Loving Husband’ tells you everything you need to know about their bond. Even in the middle of chores and life’s hardships, they made sure to speak words of affection.

These two fragments together—the mourning for a child and the simple care of a husband for his wife—paint a picture of what life was really like in our corner of the world long ago. It reminds us that while the years go by and the paper fades, the love we have for our families and the way we look out for one another is the thread that keeps us all connected. It’s a little bit of grace from the past, reminding us to hold our loved ones close today.

Original Transcription

[Page 1]
Little Labon Gwinn
Was borned Feb 1/1901
and died March 9/1901

The little crib is empty now
The little cloth laid By
[Struck through: A mothers hope & Father Joy]
in deaths cold arms doth lie

Go little Pilgrim to thy home
on yonder Blissfull Shore
We miss thee here but soon will come
Where Parting is No more

oh how sweetly he is sleeping
in the grave beneath the sod
and we do not wish to wake him
for he slumbers there with God

One more angel now in heaven
One more Dear one gone to rest
he is Now so sweetly resting
With his head on Jesus breast
Written By his Mother
Mary W Gwinn

[Page 2]
I will try and have
Mr Harvey J W Siner
the Sugar up Tuesday
17th I will write you
again now Lillie be
a good girl and
write me when you
Can With love to
all as ever your
true and Loving Husband
Lewis