Introduction

These letters were written by the family of Edward and Caroline J. Peterson of North Logan (Greenville), Utah. Almost all of them were written by Caroline to her youngest daughter, Louise, and span the years of 1915 – 1929.

Although very close to her family, Louise was geographically apart from them for much of her life. She taught school in Box Elder County, UT and then in Lewiston, Cache County, UT. Several summers she went to summer school at UC Berkeley. While there she met a young veterinarian from New York, Floyd H. White. They fell in love, married, and lived and raised their family in California for the next 45 years.

Louise kept all these precious letters from “home.” And when she died in 1982, the boxed letters came into the possession of her daughter, Grace Beverly.

Fast forward 20+ years. I (Bev’s daughter, Carolyn) was visiting my parents and had been asked to help clean out their basement. When I discovered the letters, I “borrowed” them so I could transcribe them and eventually share them with everyone.

It took several years to transcribe everything. Then I had to decide the best way to share the letters. It was determined that creating a blog would be best but I knew nothing about doing a blog. And I didn’t have time to even begin thinking about doing it, much less learn how to do it.

Several more years passed until my daughter Shannon (Caroline and Edward Peterson’s great great granddaughter) had the time—and took pity on me—and offered to set up this blog.

So now we have the “Peterson Family Letters” blog.

Although we’re in a different century and have much different lives because of technology, these letters prove that people don’t change. Regardless of the year we’re born, we love, we marry, we struggle to provide for our families, we serve, we laugh, we cry, we worry and fret over our children and their decisions, we’re challenged by illness, poor choices and “bad luck,” we pray, we sing, we die, and we triumph as we stay true to our beliefs and each other.

These letters have been a delight to transcribe. Not only are they full of family history, they paint a picture of what life was like for Edward & Caroline Peterson during the early 20^th Century in North Logan, UT. Their wonderful and unique personalities shine through their long-ago written words.

How grateful I am that we have these letters. What a treasure they are! And even more, I’m so grateful to be part of such a wonderful family.