Category: Letters & Letter Writers

Letters and Letter Writers

Posted on by Ellen Paul


All of the letters which were featured in these postings can be found in our collection along with others.
We are particularly grateful to the Gunn Historical Museum who kindly lent us the beautiful 19th Century portable writing desk and a glass inkwell with quill. Please stop by our display in the Town Hall lobby to see examples of these implements used by 19th Century letter writers as well as facsimiles of our featured letters.

Do you have a letter or series of letters which highlights a period of Warren’s history? We would love to see them. With our new oversized flatbed scanner we can capture images of the originals without endangering them.

Letters and Letter Writers

Posted on by Heather Forstmann


Civil War Veteran, Lucien Rouse
Sometimes a much-anticipated letter brought very sad news.
Nineteen year old Lucien Rouse had enlisted in the 19th Regiment Connecticut Volunteers on August 4, 1862 and had been sent to Virginia to safeguard Washington, DC. In early December he had written to thank his parents for a “care” package they had sent with goodies, but by early the next month they had been advised that he was gravely ill and not expected to recover. This letter written by the sergeant in his regiment informs his family of his death on January 8, 1863 in the Regimental Hospital, Alexandria, VA due to diphtheria.

The Lucien Rouse letters are a new addition to the Warren Historical Society’s collection and are a poignant glimpse into the effects of the Civil War on the homefront.

Letters and Letter Writers

Posted on by Heather Forstmann


Dilly Curtiss’ letter from 1814 was found among papers collected by the first Warren Historical Society from the Warren Congregational Church. It would have arrived during the pastorate of Peter Starr. We have only the one letter but Mrs. Curtiss appears to have been excommunicated, a state to which she is objecting to in the strongest possible terms and which may have been in effect for five years.
Dilly or Della was born December 27th, 1770, in Warren, the daughter of Joseph and Dolly [Owens] Peters who had a lease in the College Farms. On November 24th, 1788, she married Milton Curtiss. She and her husband are buried in the Old Warren Cemetery although their monuments do not remain.

Letters and Letter Writers

Posted on by Heather Forstmann

Flora Skiff Sackett

Flora Skiff was born 23 Apr 1808 in Sharon. She married Homer Sackett on December 1, 1827. Before marrying, Flora Skiff lived in the Ellsworth section of Sharon with her parents, Asa and Susanna Skiff.
After their marriage, the couple lived on Sackett Hill Rd. in Warren.
Polly Woodward, a teacher, was Flora’s cousin.
The collection of her incoming and outgoing correspondence was acquired by the Warren Historical Society in 2010 as part of the Augustine Sackett Family Papers.