1921 love letters show romantic father, grandfather
By Russ Oechslin, Journal correspondent | Posted: Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Paul Jenkins of Panama City, Fla., looks over his daughter Davalyn's shoulder as she reads love letters written in 1921. The letters were written by Halbert D. Jenkins to his finance at the time, Florence Kirkpatrick, of Spencer, Iowa. Photos of Jenkins and Kirkpatrick are seen on the left. The two would later marry. Paul Jenkins is their son. Davalyn is their granddaughter. (Photo by Russ Oechslin)
SPENCER, Iowa -- Davalyn Jenkins never got to know her grandfather. From what she was told as a child, Halbert D. Jenkins was a serious, focused man who dealt in municipal bonds for Chicago's Harris Bank through the early part of the last century.
But letters the senior Jenkins wrote to his fiance in 1921 reveal a different individual. "He was a real romantic," Davalyn Jenkins explained this weekend at the home of Kim and Larry Untiet, where the letters were found in the early 1990s.
The Untiets theorize that the letters, from about a 30-day period in the early part of 1921, were wrapped with a silk ribbon, then somehow fell in a crack and remained between the walls of the house they have been remodeling for many years. They were found last winter.
Halbert Jenkins was a student in Milwaukee, Wis., when he wrote to Florence Kirkpatrick, who grew up in the Untiet's Victorian home.
The Untiets found the Jenkins family in Florida with the help of Spencer genealogy buff Chris Beck, and a genealogist in Florida.
Jenkins and her father, Paul Jenkins, who live in Panama City, Fla., visited with the Untiets over the Fourth of July weekend. It was the first time since the older Jenkins was 6 years old that he has seen his mother's childhood home.
"We came on a train -- it must have been a steam train," Jenkins recalled of his only other trip to Spencer. "We were en route to California."
About all Jenkins remembers of the visit was playing on the front porch of his grandmother's home in that pre-World War II visit. His grandfather had died years before.
Jenkins agreed with his daughter that the letters show a side of his parents he never knew, as he wasn't able to focus on his parent's relationship as a young man.
"I was very grateful to be able to read the letters. They show my parents to be very real human beings. Their intimacy, their love life, is something they were not going to discuss with their son at the kitchen table. When you grow up with parents as I did, they were held in awe and with respect," he said.
"It was like a book on the shelf. They'd point to it in their daily lives. But they never opened it up to chapter one or chapter 12. It was really a revelation to see their emotions.
"The central theme in the letters was 'We must find a way to live our lives together because I cannot live my life without you.'"
Jenkins' father wrote to the love of his life almost every day. A two-cent stamp brought the missives to Spencer within a couple days. But several also carried a 10-cent Special Delivery stamp that was twice the size of the two-center.
A semi-retired investment analyst, Paul Jenkins grew up in Milwaukee where his father worked for Chicago's Harris Bank. He moved to Florida in the mid 1950s.
A skillful writer
Davalyn Jenkins, the elder Jenkins granddaughter, said she especially enjoyed reading her grandparents' correspondence because, "I'm a woman."
As a student at Florida State University, Davalyn Jenkins explained she was close to her grandmother, until she died in 1977. But she never knew her the way the letters portray the couple.
"I had my grandfather pictured as a very serious business man, not a mushy kind of guy. I never knew him except for what other people told me. He was quite the romantic," she said.
"I was also surprised that he wrote basically every day. And the writing skills he displayed have been lost," she added, noting this era of e-mail, instant text messaging and watered-down prose.
Her grandfather, she said, was very able to express himself. "The kindness, the tenderness and expression of his love was surprising. I noticed that most of the time when people have affectionate names for each other, they use just one name, like 'my darling,' or 'my dearest.' But my grandfather used different terms of endearment. This letter starts 'My Love.'
"And normally you'd think that when people write each day they'd end up giving a synopsis of the day. That not what he did.
"I'd really love to see what my grandmother wrote to him," she added.
Paul Jenkins brought a couple small gifts to the Untiets, including a tie bar his father wore, along with a pair of his mother's earrings -- in a hand-made wooden pill box that may have been in the Untiet home 80 years ago.
"I felt they should have them here -- that they were part of the home years ago," he said. "Now they're back."
But letters the senior Jenkins wrote to his fiance in 1921 reveal a different individual. "He was a real romantic," Davalyn Jenkins explained this weekend at the home of Kim and Larry Untiet, where the letters were found in the early 1990s.
The Untiets theorize that the letters, from about a 30-day period in the early part of 1921, were wrapped with a silk ribbon, then somehow fell in a crack and remained between the walls of the house they have been remodeling for many years. They were found last winter.
Halbert Jenkins was a student in Milwaukee, Wis., when he wrote to Florence Kirkpatrick, who grew up in the Untiet's Victorian home.
The Untiets found the Jenkins family in Florida with the help of Spencer genealogy buff Chris Beck, and a genealogist in Florida.
Jenkins and her father, Paul Jenkins, who live in Panama City, Fla., visited with the Untiets over the Fourth of July weekend. It was the first time since the older Jenkins was 6 years old that he has seen his mother's childhood home.
"We came on a train -- it must have been a steam train," Jenkins recalled of his only other trip to Spencer. "We were en route to California."
About all Jenkins remembers of the visit was playing on the front porch of his grandmother's home in that pre-World War II visit. His grandfather had died years before.
Jenkins agreed with his daughter that the letters show a side of his parents he never knew, as he wasn't able to focus on his parent's relationship as a young man.
"I was very grateful to be able to read the letters. They show my parents to be very real human beings. Their intimacy, their love life, is something they were not going to discuss with their son at the kitchen table. When you grow up with parents as I did, they were held in awe and with respect," he said.
"It was like a book on the shelf. They'd point to it in their daily lives. But they never opened it up to chapter one or chapter 12. It was really a revelation to see their emotions.
"The central theme in the letters was 'We must find a way to live our lives together because I cannot live my life without you.'"
Jenkins' father wrote to the love of his life almost every day. A two-cent stamp brought the missives to Spencer within a couple days. But several also carried a 10-cent Special Delivery stamp that was twice the size of the two-center.
A semi-retired investment analyst, Paul Jenkins grew up in Milwaukee where his father worked for Chicago's Harris Bank. He moved to Florida in the mid 1950s.
A skillful writer
Davalyn Jenkins, the elder Jenkins granddaughter, said she especially enjoyed reading her grandparents' correspondence because, "I'm a woman."
As a student at Florida State University, Davalyn Jenkins explained she was close to her grandmother, until she died in 1977. But she never knew her the way the letters portray the couple.
"I had my grandfather pictured as a very serious business man, not a mushy kind of guy. I never knew him except for what other people told me. He was quite the romantic," she said.
"I was also surprised that he wrote basically every day. And the writing skills he displayed have been lost," she added, noting this era of e-mail, instant text messaging and watered-down prose.
Her grandfather, she said, was very able to express himself. "The kindness, the tenderness and expression of his love was surprising. I noticed that most of the time when people have affectionate names for each other, they use just one name, like 'my darling,' or 'my dearest.' But my grandfather used different terms of endearment. This letter starts 'My Love.'
"And normally you'd think that when people write each day they'd end up giving a synopsis of the day. That not what he did.
"I'd really love to see what my grandmother wrote to him," she added.
Paul Jenkins brought a couple small gifts to the Untiets, including a tie bar his father wore, along with a pair of his mother's earrings -- in a hand-made wooden pill box that may have been in the Untiet home 80 years ago.
"I felt they should have them here -- that they were part of the home years ago," he said. "Now they're back."
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