Letters from Carroll to daughter Ellen

I've been reading my Grandfather Carroll's letters to my Aunt Ellen (youngest daughter of Grace).  And fascinated with his life lately.  I would love to plan a trip to Vermont and try to find where he lived and worked.  He was a farm man.  I have finally deciphered the name of his farm, Hylanvue Farm.

I also googled the name and found Adventist archives of an advertisement he placed.  Atlantic Union Gleaner, October 20, 1943, page seven, top left corner.  

http://docs.adventistarchives.org/docs/ALUG/ALUG19431020-V42-41__B.pdf?q=docs/ALUG/ALUG19431020-V42-41__B.pdf

Also in the Alantic Union Gleaner, April 19, 1946, page seven, bottom right corner: 

http://docs.adventistarchives.org/docs/ALUG/ALUG19460419-V45-16__B.pdf?q=docs/ALUG/ALUG19460419-V45-16__B.pdf

I recently deciphered a letter sent in response to a Christmas letter from Ellen.  Here is the deciphered letter and followed by scanned images of the letter, written on shredded wheat cardboard cards.  Interesting family tidbit:  Please notice that his envelope has a single L as his first name spelling, but he signed his letter with 2 L's and also the advertisements in the Adventist paper spells with 2 L's.  Also please know that I only copied his letter word for word, letter for letter.  So the mispellings and word usage was his. :)

Craftsbury, Vt.

                                                                                                Hylanvue Farm

                                                                                                Dec. 31, 1954

My Dear Ellen:

                Your greeting arrived yesterday in my absence from the Farm.  As for this being late – never; - because Dec. 25, Xmas does not mean a thing to me.  It used to be and well is the many years, - about 53 of them still fresh in my memory.  The best feature of the fad is to be able to hear from many friends who I don’t otherwise.  But one time when Rozel and I were going through the mountains or at Campmeeting, she got some mottoes to hang on the walls, made of wood, and one is: “Love never faileth.”  And I’m happy to witness the truth of it, as proven in any experiences.  It has been the reason for some of my hard knocks but if I had of followed some of the advice of my friends and neighbours denying you children the companionship of your own mother we know not now what would have been the results.  My love for her and you children did not die when she took you away from me, and I was sick for a long time.  At times it was almost impossible for me to keep on working but my steady work even with small pay was surely a wonderful blessing to help me sleep when my anxiety for your welfare would almost floor me.

                Yes, - the deep waters of the dark experiences in my life have been bitter but the joy and sweetness of the variations have been more appreciated.

                You would not ask where Rozel is if you would only stop to think and remember that she and the girls, Norma Jean and Carol Ann have been in South Lancaster every year from Sept to June since that began except Norma Jean went to west Lebanon, N.H. her first year.  And although she was so lonesome and homesick that Rozel had to stay with her for a couple of months after Xmas she would not give up her church school and come home with her mother until it closed.  We hired a neighbor to take us down to get her the day of the picnic after it was all over.

                You see this answer to your letter in with your greetings is longwinded.  Its not the lack of stationary but the many times one of these shredded wheat cards cut down makes a visiting card live continual (?).

                We still have the Hylanvue Farm where the most of my time is spent and we have had to rent places in So. Lancaster, Mass.  Rozel does not want me to sell the farm and I love it too, even thou it is hard for us to get along as we have but this winter I’m loging the hardwood and expect next spring to clear up the tops for wood by myself.  There will be about a thousand cord or more.

                It was awefully nice of you to remember me.  Leon and Eldora sent me a xmas card too.  They are to busy to write, even to send a few lines in answer to a long letter which I wrote them last summer.  Will you please let me hear from you again sometime soon?

                Good bye dear for now with much love from your

                                                                                Daddy

                                                                                Carroll H. Miles

P.S. I love U.  Sometime if I do sell the farm or my ship gets off the rocks U may all be surprised. C.H.M.