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- Story Listed as: True Life For Adults
- Theme: Family & Friends
- Subject: History / Historical
- Published: 01/08/2016
Letters from the First World War
Born 1969, M, from Herten, NRW, GermanyLetters from the First World War
Written by Herbert Lewis Moulton (1891 – 1956)
Transcribed and introduced by his grandson Charles E.J. Moulton
Introduction
These are my grandfather Herbert Lewis Moulton’s letters, written on typewriter back when he was stationed as a soldier in the U.S. and in France, back then it was called the Great War. He was a young man in 1917, training and living at Camp Stanley, Camp Sherman, Custer and in other army camps. Toward the end of what we now know as the First World War (from 1917 to 1919), Big Herb (as my father Herbert Eyre Moulton – who lived from 1927 to 2005 - called him) was transferred to France, fighting for the United States and working as a wireless operator in places like Houdelain-Court, St. Nicholas-du-Port and Rue-de-vru near Chateau Thierry.
These letters from 1918 are priceless historical documents, and sharing them with the world has become a mission. Read these letters with reverance. They describe a time most of us only know from the history books. My grandfather describes his feelings, his doubts, his worries, but also tells us what he loves and how he sees his life in retrospect, at his present and in the years to come. He worries that he will not return. In spite of his young years at the time of writing, these letters paint the portrait of a thinker. He was a man going to fight one of the most horrible wars that world had ever seen, in a time when, in quote, “kingdoms are shattered in a day and the world changes every night.” These touching evidences of true soul are the testament of a peaceful soldier.
When he returned from Europe he married his sweetheart, Nellie Brennan Eyre. She was an Irish girl, a descendant of the Eyre family aristocrats, who had founded the city of Eyreville in Western Ireland. Their name had been given to them by William the Conquerer back in 1066. My ancestor saved William’s life. So he told my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-etc.-grandfather Humphrey: “Thou hast given me the air to breathe. Henceforth, thou shalt be called Heir!” Later on, that aristocratic name was changed to Eyre, which turned into my father’s middle name.
Big Herb’s was also a fantastic family. Betsy Ross, the woman who sewed the first American flag for George Washington, was his ancestor, as were the first settlers that arrived in Virginia with the Mayflower. It is funny that my first short story collection “Aphrodite’s Curse” was published with a publication located not too far away from where my ancestors first arrived centuries ago. Herbert Lewis Moulton also had Scots ancestors, but his manner was very English. I never got to know him, but I heard so much about his fine and gentle personality that I feel as if I know him. I admit that I am a bit medial, maybe psychic, and can say that he is quite pleased with me writing this article up in the other world.
To give you an idea of the time frame we are talking about here: my grandfather Herbert Lewis Moulton was born in the 1880’s and lived until 1958. I was born in 1969, when my father was 42 and my mom 39 (so they had 20 years of artistic careers behind them when I came along). My father Herbert Eyre Moulton was born in 1927. He often spoke of his grandfather Charles Lewis Moulton, who remembered the American Civil War. So I have a direct connection to the year 1871 and what happened back then. That is an incredibly valuable gift.
These letters are transcribed as they were written, honest and true, with soul and spirit, with run-on-sentences. They are sometimes drenched in heartful sorrow, filled with deep longing. At times they are witty and at times there is gritty anger. Welcome to our journey. We are travelling back in time. There’s a soldier named Herbert Lewis Moulton, sitting in his tent. There’s a war raging outside and our friend asks himself how long he has left to live.
Herbert Lewis Moulton’s Equiptment
1 belt on which fastens canteen, etc.
1 canteen & canteen cover
1 revolver holster
1 cartridge pouch
1 first aid kit & first aid pouch
1 haversack with shoulder-sling
1 meat tin with cover, 1 knife, 1 fork
1 spoon and 1 soup can ( - mess kit)
2 small towels
1 hair brush
1 comb
1 shaving brush
1 trench mirror
1 safety razor
1 tooth brush
1 cake soap
2 extra pair legging laces
2 extra pair bretches laces
2 extra pair raw hide shoe laces
1 shelter tent half
1 shelter tent pole
5 shelter tent pins
1 shelter tent rope
3 woolen blankets
1 pair overshoes
1 slicker
1 overcoat
1 hat
1 cap – winter
1 hat cord
2 collar ornaments
2 woolen O.D. Blouses
2 O.D. Shirts
2 O.D. Britches
2 pair leggings
2 pair field shoes, hobs
2 bed socks (which we stuff for mattresses with straw)
5 pair light wool socks
5 heavy woolen undershirts
3 heavy woolen drawers
1 barracks bag
4 pair red cross wool socks
1 red cross helmet
1 pr. red cross wristlets
1 red cross scarf
1 pr. gloves
1 small box Resperator (gas helmet)
1 small box haversack
5 pr. heavy wool socks – machine made
Written by an anonymous author on typewriter, sometime during the Great War
1914 - 1918
The world-crisis is not yet here, but it looms ahead. War shakes the world; famine threatens. Our old civilization is cracking under the strain. Our world-structure is being destroyed; but we shall build again. And we shall build upon the rock. Democracy is at hand, and real democrats should rejoice that the old order changes. Their tests will come in the days of the re-building.
The future is ours. Yet there are times when even those who have the vision lose it temporarily. Things are happening upon such a titanic scale that we are at times bewildered. Some signs spell hope; others, ruin; many, simply chaos. In such a time we need, and we seek clarity of counsel.
Nor is there lack of counsellors. Among them all none is more valuable than THE PUBLIC (122 East 37th Street, New York City.) When confusion and doubt reign elsewhere, it speaks serene, calm, confident. Weekly, it interprets the great events in terms of the democracy of tomorrow.
A sample copy will, at my suggestion, be mailed to you. The price is one dollar a year, until January first; after which it will be two dollars.
Sincerely yours,
(Unsigned)
Custer, July 30th, 1917
The Letters
Summer Encampment: The Institute and Training School of Young Men’s Christian Associations, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
P.O. Williams Bay, Wis. (Handwritten letter)
August 16, 1908 (Herbert Lewis Moulton was 17, 9 years before he became a soldier in World War I)
Dear Mother and Father,
I just received Harper’s ticket that he received with him. Between Thurs. night and Sat morning about 450 women arrived. Sat. noon we fed over 600 people, that over 200 people’s dishes apiece, for there are only 3 dish wipers. It takes over 2 hours after each meal to clear things up. I am about sick of the job. apiece, for there are only 3 dish wipers. It takes over 2 hours after each meal to clear things up. I am about sick of the job. Yesterday morning we folded about 13,000 paper napkins in a couple hours. I have to stand over near the zinc and clocks and sweat (and work) and when I am through my clothes are so wet I have (been) turning them out. I am going to the head waiter and tell him that I want to be a waiter and give my reasons if he will not let me. I will be home to-morrow evening for I am about sick.
They are short of men so I think my request will be granted. Tell Harp that I wasn’t the “Bucaneer” Friday after noon and we beat the hosters by about a mile. Instead of a center board the “Bue” has two nich boards and every course I had the job of pulling over up and letting the others down. When I got up my hands had all blisters and my little finger got caught in a pully, cutting it almost to the bone which interfered with my work a little, but it is almost well now. Last night, I went out across the lake to Henwood Springs Hotel to dance with a couple of people and met quite a few nice people.
We rode across in a launch and walked in about 1 hour a distance of about 3 miles and (I) was pretty tired when I got in bed about 12:30. Two or three nights I visited with Mr. Hughes and once went down to Oakbank about ¼ mile, where a couple of Lervis boys are staying. I have played tennis quite a bit. Lately and not very much: golf, because I don’t like to hunt balls with talls weeds and timber. I swim twice a day regular rain or shine. I have met a quite a few young people around camp and am not lonely. Tell Harp that Colvin’s ear is not any better, he has been staying out of the (master?) since last Wednesday on account of it. This evening, Colvin and I are going to Williams Bay to get my suitcase that you are supposed to have sent. I’ll drop a postal if I get it all right. If I were at home I would have --- (Illegible) --- You will have to send me some cash because I am going to have my under none (?) and collars, shirts, socks, etc. The shirts go to Williams Bay and my under none to an old --- woman near by.
Ask Walt if he will let me take his high shoes for it has rained quite a bit and its liable to rain some more. It rained all Saturday morning. Friday night and last night. Papa can take the shoes to Mr. Hughes for he is in Chicago between Tuesday and Friday and he will bring them to me Friday night. Between this conference and the next we have 3 or 4 days grace. 24 to 28 and I think you might arrange to come up then. Mrs. Hughes will --- together this week about it.
(Written up on top of the page:) Folks, write to me once in a while.
Well, I must elope.
Your son, love to all,
Herbert
I was in an awful hurry, so excuse the whim.
Dear Folks:-
It is 8 o’clock and I am sitting in my tent writing without a light. You can still read here at 9 o’clock and after, and you can see to move around all night – it never gets really dark. The nights are so wonderful and clear and the stars so bright that they set me to raving every night and it makes me hate to go to bed – if it were not for that tired feeling we never would go.
Just think I have just passed the 26th milestone in the path of my life with the passing of this day. One year ago to-day I would never dressd that such great changes would take place in all of our lives. Each and everyone of us in a different sphere and so widely scattered with Walt married, Minnie in California with the kiddies. Art in Mexico, Bob and Edith and little Ruth in Colorado with you two dear ones before going to Penn. Wes at Ft. Sheridan preparing for, we know not what, Harp probably leaving Chicago now with the same prospects in view, myself on the sunset Alkili plains of Montana dodging the cactus rattle snake and alkili water, endeavoring to make the desert, help feed the mouths of the hungry multitudes and passing through my bath of fire in the process and father and mother dear in Colorado slowly and surely, I hope, regaining enough physical strength to carry themselves through these momentous times when kingdoms are shattered in a day and the world changes every night. Though separated by circumstances I feel that we are all drawn closer together in spiritual communion, each through one’s love for another, offering encouragement and giving strength to carry us through the tests through which we are going and the even greater tests yet to come.
How we have all enjoyed (Larkins?) “Take me back to babyland and please don’t let me go”! It certainly makes one desirious of going back to the days when all that the morrow could bring was a broken toy or two and when you only saw the rainbows.
Have you read the articles in the American Magazine lately by various writers, such as “Looking ahead at Thirty-six” and “Looking ahead at Thirty-five”? That is the way my thoughts have been running to-day – back over the years and ahead and speculating. Looking back, I can say that my life has been more than full and that I have really seen a great deal of life in many of its phases. My interests and activities have been many and varied, and though only 26 I have met few men who are as interested and as active in as many lines as I have been. Here I meet a person who is interested in one thing that I am and then I meet another, but there their interests cease. Most of them seem complacent and content with their particular interest and hobby, while it seems that the more that I do and see the greater grows my desires. Though my shortcomings are many and my virtues small, though I have done those things that I should not have done and left undone, those that I should have done, and no one in the world realizes my shortcomings more than I do, still I feel in passing my twenty-six years in review on the pages of time that there is a balance on the credit side. I am willing to accept them as my share of this world’s pleasures and take whatever the future may have in store. Ah, the future! Looking ahead I find it impossible to speculate or plan; the past fatal year that has changed so much makes me realize what a short sojourn life on this place really is and that one must ever be on the alert to grasp the oppurtunities to serve that present themselves while one yet may. I am overwhelmed with the desire to make this a better world to live in before I go and shall leave no stone unturned in my little daily duties to bring that desire to a realization.
That is the star my wagon is hitched to as I pass on to my 27th year and I know that I have the love and the best wishes of all my dear ones to cheer and strengthen me in my journey. My hands are so stiff and my eyes so heavy that I must go to rest. I shall write very soon of recent events and our progress and experiences – it is a long tale. Goodnight.
Your boy,
Herb
Tuesday Noon.
Dear Folks:-
I am in Custer to-day, drove in to get a packer and roller which weighs 1500 lbs., it is loaded in the car now and I am doing some shopping. I got your birthday letter this morning and the record also. Thank you very much. I know we shall enjoy it. I received a letter from Wes this morning. It is certainly hard luck about his ankle. I got a letter from Walt from Atlantic City thanking me for my letter that I wrote him from Bozeman, you see, Mother, that I had written him only 48 hours before I wrote that circular letter I shall write another one as soon as I can. I am well hardened now and enjoying life very much.
With love
Herb
Camp Sherman, March 30th, 1918, Saturday Afternoon
My dear Mother,
Do not worry about our going into action without thorough preparation, because we are not. Because first of all we will be shipped to some camp on the seaboard where we will be held for weeks and probably months, and after reaching the other side we will have several more months of training. This unit consists of mostly enlisted men, all of whom with a few exceptions were in some phase of telegraph or telephone work in civilian life. And as for us boys from Chicago, we can all hold our own, and in about one month’s training will be expert operators.
From all appearances, I think that we will surely move this week. Each man’s equiptment has been checked over about five times and by tonight every man’s personal equiptment will be complete down to extra shoelaces, extra legging laces, etc. All kinds of equiptment for the company has been coming in a regular stream; it is interesting to watch.
Yesterday, thirty-one men were transferred out of this company to other branches of the service and thirty-six men arrived from Camp Dodge, Iowa. All of whom are line men or operators. We got our second paratyphoid shot in the back this afternoon – another one within ten days and we are through with them. The first one caused me only slight discomfort – here’s hoping the same for this one.
Several of us took a walk to the community house last night. The inside of it reminded me of the inside of the Grand Canyon Hotel in Yellowstone, it was large and spacious looking. They have dancing there every night for the soldiers and their friends. There is everything that one could ask for in the terms of entertainment right in camp. Several theaters, one with a stock company, a large Y.M.C.A. auditorium, about two other Y.M.C.A. buildings with some form of entertainment going on every night; and canteens and camp exchanges on every hand.
I sure have been getting more than my share of packages this week. Easter eggs, cookies and chocolate. They sure hit the spot.
Please do not send me anything that I will have to take with me, because we are being supplied with everything and I will have to ship home my suitcase with loads of stuff in it that I won’t be able to lug around.
Tell Father that if he wants to me I oz. can of paprika when he thinks of it, or in the next box or package coming my way, it will be appreciated highly.
This past week is the first time that I have felt the least bit contented for a long time. I feel that I am going to be able to take a very active part in helping end this whole war business. Whatever discomforts and hardships and individual subservancy that I will have to undergo will only strengthen me. They resolve to help destroy everything military, so that the next generation will not have to undergo them. Democracy and militarism are the absolute antithesis of each other. The more that one sees of things military, the more one realizes the truth of that statement.
Several thousand new draft men arrived last night and today and men are moving out every day. So it comes and goes.
My thoughts and heart will be with you, dear ones. I hope the day will bring peace to you.
So, I am uncle again. You will have to put an addition on to the old house to house all of the family for the reunion when we all come back when its over, over there.
Loads of love,
Your boy,
Herb
***
The Moulton Family Tree
• The home place of the Moultons is in Harford County, Maryland.
Thomas Tench-Patentee of Browns Discovery, Woods Close, surveyed Oct. 2, 1719, for Thomas Mitchell, lying on branches of Swan Creek. Woods Close 200 acres divided as follows:
1. Ann Moulton (wife of Matthew): 100 acres
2. James Stewart: 33 acres
3. Joshua Woods heirs: 67 acres
Deeded by Thomas Mitchell to Matthew Moulton, May 20, 1720.
John Moulton transported to Province of Maryland in 1660 was father or grandfather of Matthew who bought Woods Close. The Matthew Moulton born 1760 was Grand-son of this Matthew Moulton who bought the Woods Close property in 1720.
• Matthew Moulton came to Maryland in 1660, bought property 1720.
• His grandson Matthew Moulton – born Baltimore Co. (now Harford Co.) Md. 1760, died May 1, 1843. (Married Sarah Boyd. Born 1779, died March 17, 1859.)
• Their children:
1. Samuel, married Mary Myers
2. Betsey, married Jos. Patterson
3. William, married Betsy Tarring
4. Sarah, married John Levy
5. Ezekiel, (1809 – 1869) married Rebecca Ann Bailey (1819 – 1900)
6. Nelson, married Rebecca Tarring
7. Mehalah, married Thomas Courtney
8. Julie Ann, died young
9. Thomas, married Henrietta Katz
• Children of Matthew Moulton by first wife:
1. Martha, married William Patterson of Cecil County
2. Thomas, died young
3. John, do not know
• Children of Ezekiel and Rebecca Ann Moulton
1. Charles Wesley and Amelia Elisabeth, twins born August 16, 1833, Charles married Caroline Wilkinson
2. Amelia Elisabeth married Joseph Wilkinson
3. Ezekiel Columbus, born October 24, 1835, married Amanda Hawkins
• Children of Charles Wesley and Caroline Moulton
1. Renna Rebecca, born September 28, 1857, married Daniel R. Gilbert
2. Charles Lewis, born June 6, 1860, married Maria Ross Harper (d. 1938, descendant of Betsy Ross)
3. James Columbus, born September 27, 1862, married Laura Ruth
4. Joseph Linwood, born July 23, 1865, married Clara Haines
5. Thomas Oscar, born March 23, 1867, born Gertrude Campbell
6. Harry Hillman, born April 23, 1869, died July 2, 1869
• Children of Charles Lewis and Maria Ross Moulton
1. Minnie, born May 30, 1883, married John Arthur Gamon
2. Charles Robert, born September 16, 1884, married Edith Lehnan
3. Walter Ross, born March 1, 1886, married Naomi Salada
4. Herbert Lewis, born July 30, 1891, married Nellie Brennan Eyre
5. Henry Harper, born December 12, 1892, married Clara West
6. Wesley Hillman, born April 8, 1894, married (Patti) Adeleine Murphy
• Children of Herbert Lewis Moulton and Nell Brennan Moulton
1. Herbert Eyre Moulton (1927 – 2005), married Vocal Professor and Operasinger Gun Margareta Kronzell (1930 – 2011)
• Children of Herbert Eyre Moulton and Gun Kronzell-Moulton
1. Charles Edmond James Moulton (born 1969), married Tanja Bauer (born 1974)
• Children of Charles Moulton and Tanja Moulton
1. Mara Sophie Moulton (born 2006)
Letters from the First World War(Charles E.J. Moulton)
Letters from the First World War
Written by Herbert Lewis Moulton (1891 – 1956)
Transcribed and introduced by his grandson Charles E.J. Moulton
Introduction
These are my grandfather Herbert Lewis Moulton’s letters, written on typewriter back when he was stationed as a soldier in the U.S. and in France, back then it was called the Great War. He was a young man in 1917, training and living at Camp Stanley, Camp Sherman, Custer and in other army camps. Toward the end of what we now know as the First World War (from 1917 to 1919), Big Herb (as my father Herbert Eyre Moulton – who lived from 1927 to 2005 - called him) was transferred to France, fighting for the United States and working as a wireless operator in places like Houdelain-Court, St. Nicholas-du-Port and Rue-de-vru near Chateau Thierry.
These letters from 1918 are priceless historical documents, and sharing them with the world has become a mission. Read these letters with reverance. They describe a time most of us only know from the history books. My grandfather describes his feelings, his doubts, his worries, but also tells us what he loves and how he sees his life in retrospect, at his present and in the years to come. He worries that he will not return. In spite of his young years at the time of writing, these letters paint the portrait of a thinker. He was a man going to fight one of the most horrible wars that world had ever seen, in a time when, in quote, “kingdoms are shattered in a day and the world changes every night.” These touching evidences of true soul are the testament of a peaceful soldier.
When he returned from Europe he married his sweetheart, Nellie Brennan Eyre. She was an Irish girl, a descendant of the Eyre family aristocrats, who had founded the city of Eyreville in Western Ireland. Their name had been given to them by William the Conquerer back in 1066. My ancestor saved William’s life. So he told my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-etc.-grandfather Humphrey: “Thou hast given me the air to breathe. Henceforth, thou shalt be called Heir!” Later on, that aristocratic name was changed to Eyre, which turned into my father’s middle name.
Big Herb’s was also a fantastic family. Betsy Ross, the woman who sewed the first American flag for George Washington, was his ancestor, as were the first settlers that arrived in Virginia with the Mayflower. It is funny that my first short story collection “Aphrodite’s Curse” was published with a publication located not too far away from where my ancestors first arrived centuries ago. Herbert Lewis Moulton also had Scots ancestors, but his manner was very English. I never got to know him, but I heard so much about his fine and gentle personality that I feel as if I know him. I admit that I am a bit medial, maybe psychic, and can say that he is quite pleased with me writing this article up in the other world.
To give you an idea of the time frame we are talking about here: my grandfather Herbert Lewis Moulton was born in the 1880’s and lived until 1958. I was born in 1969, when my father was 42 and my mom 39 (so they had 20 years of artistic careers behind them when I came along). My father Herbert Eyre Moulton was born in 1927. He often spoke of his grandfather Charles Lewis Moulton, who remembered the American Civil War. So I have a direct connection to the year 1871 and what happened back then. That is an incredibly valuable gift.
These letters are transcribed as they were written, honest and true, with soul and spirit, with run-on-sentences. They are sometimes drenched in heartful sorrow, filled with deep longing. At times they are witty and at times there is gritty anger. Welcome to our journey. We are travelling back in time. There’s a soldier named Herbert Lewis Moulton, sitting in his tent. There’s a war raging outside and our friend asks himself how long he has left to live.
Herbert Lewis Moulton’s Equiptment
1 belt on which fastens canteen, etc.
1 canteen & canteen cover
1 revolver holster
1 cartridge pouch
1 first aid kit & first aid pouch
1 haversack with shoulder-sling
1 meat tin with cover, 1 knife, 1 fork
1 spoon and 1 soup can ( - mess kit)
2 small towels
1 hair brush
1 comb
1 shaving brush
1 trench mirror
1 safety razor
1 tooth brush
1 cake soap
2 extra pair legging laces
2 extra pair bretches laces
2 extra pair raw hide shoe laces
1 shelter tent half
1 shelter tent pole
5 shelter tent pins
1 shelter tent rope
3 woolen blankets
1 pair overshoes
1 slicker
1 overcoat
1 hat
1 cap – winter
1 hat cord
2 collar ornaments
2 woolen O.D. Blouses
2 O.D. Shirts
2 O.D. Britches
2 pair leggings
2 pair field shoes, hobs
2 bed socks (which we stuff for mattresses with straw)
5 pair light wool socks
5 heavy woolen undershirts
3 heavy woolen drawers
1 barracks bag
4 pair red cross wool socks
1 red cross helmet
1 pr. red cross wristlets
1 red cross scarf
1 pr. gloves
1 small box Resperator (gas helmet)
1 small box haversack
5 pr. heavy wool socks – machine made
Written by an anonymous author on typewriter, sometime during the Great War
1914 - 1918
The world-crisis is not yet here, but it looms ahead. War shakes the world; famine threatens. Our old civilization is cracking under the strain. Our world-structure is being destroyed; but we shall build again. And we shall build upon the rock. Democracy is at hand, and real democrats should rejoice that the old order changes. Their tests will come in the days of the re-building.
The future is ours. Yet there are times when even those who have the vision lose it temporarily. Things are happening upon such a titanic scale that we are at times bewildered. Some signs spell hope; others, ruin; many, simply chaos. In such a time we need, and we seek clarity of counsel.
Nor is there lack of counsellors. Among them all none is more valuable than THE PUBLIC (122 East 37th Street, New York City.) When confusion and doubt reign elsewhere, it speaks serene, calm, confident. Weekly, it interprets the great events in terms of the democracy of tomorrow.
A sample copy will, at my suggestion, be mailed to you. The price is one dollar a year, until January first; after which it will be two dollars.
Sincerely yours,
(Unsigned)
Custer, July 30th, 1917
The Letters
Summer Encampment: The Institute and Training School of Young Men’s Christian Associations, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
P.O. Williams Bay, Wis. (Handwritten letter)
August 16, 1908 (Herbert Lewis Moulton was 17, 9 years before he became a soldier in World War I)
Dear Mother and Father,
I just received Harper’s ticket that he received with him. Between Thurs. night and Sat morning about 450 women arrived. Sat. noon we fed over 600 people, that over 200 people’s dishes apiece, for there are only 3 dish wipers. It takes over 2 hours after each meal to clear things up. I am about sick of the job. apiece, for there are only 3 dish wipers. It takes over 2 hours after each meal to clear things up. I am about sick of the job. Yesterday morning we folded about 13,000 paper napkins in a couple hours. I have to stand over near the zinc and clocks and sweat (and work) and when I am through my clothes are so wet I have (been) turning them out. I am going to the head waiter and tell him that I want to be a waiter and give my reasons if he will not let me. I will be home to-morrow evening for I am about sick.
They are short of men so I think my request will be granted. Tell Harp that I wasn’t the “Bucaneer” Friday after noon and we beat the hosters by about a mile. Instead of a center board the “Bue” has two nich boards and every course I had the job of pulling over up and letting the others down. When I got up my hands had all blisters and my little finger got caught in a pully, cutting it almost to the bone which interfered with my work a little, but it is almost well now. Last night, I went out across the lake to Henwood Springs Hotel to dance with a couple of people and met quite a few nice people.
We rode across in a launch and walked in about 1 hour a distance of about 3 miles and (I) was pretty tired when I got in bed about 12:30. Two or three nights I visited with Mr. Hughes and once went down to Oakbank about ¼ mile, where a couple of Lervis boys are staying. I have played tennis quite a bit. Lately and not very much: golf, because I don’t like to hunt balls with talls weeds and timber. I swim twice a day regular rain or shine. I have met a quite a few young people around camp and am not lonely. Tell Harp that Colvin’s ear is not any better, he has been staying out of the (master?) since last Wednesday on account of it. This evening, Colvin and I are going to Williams Bay to get my suitcase that you are supposed to have sent. I’ll drop a postal if I get it all right. If I were at home I would have --- (Illegible) --- You will have to send me some cash because I am going to have my under none (?) and collars, shirts, socks, etc. The shirts go to Williams Bay and my under none to an old --- woman near by.
Ask Walt if he will let me take his high shoes for it has rained quite a bit and its liable to rain some more. It rained all Saturday morning. Friday night and last night. Papa can take the shoes to Mr. Hughes for he is in Chicago between Tuesday and Friday and he will bring them to me Friday night. Between this conference and the next we have 3 or 4 days grace. 24 to 28 and I think you might arrange to come up then. Mrs. Hughes will --- together this week about it.
(Written up on top of the page:) Folks, write to me once in a while.
Well, I must elope.
Your son, love to all,
Herbert
I was in an awful hurry, so excuse the whim.
Dear Folks:-
It is 8 o’clock and I am sitting in my tent writing without a light. You can still read here at 9 o’clock and after, and you can see to move around all night – it never gets really dark. The nights are so wonderful and clear and the stars so bright that they set me to raving every night and it makes me hate to go to bed – if it were not for that tired feeling we never would go.
Just think I have just passed the 26th milestone in the path of my life with the passing of this day. One year ago to-day I would never dressd that such great changes would take place in all of our lives. Each and everyone of us in a different sphere and so widely scattered with Walt married, Minnie in California with the kiddies. Art in Mexico, Bob and Edith and little Ruth in Colorado with you two dear ones before going to Penn. Wes at Ft. Sheridan preparing for, we know not what, Harp probably leaving Chicago now with the same prospects in view, myself on the sunset Alkili plains of Montana dodging the cactus rattle snake and alkili water, endeavoring to make the desert, help feed the mouths of the hungry multitudes and passing through my bath of fire in the process and father and mother dear in Colorado slowly and surely, I hope, regaining enough physical strength to carry themselves through these momentous times when kingdoms are shattered in a day and the world changes every night. Though separated by circumstances I feel that we are all drawn closer together in spiritual communion, each through one’s love for another, offering encouragement and giving strength to carry us through the tests through which we are going and the even greater tests yet to come.
How we have all enjoyed (Larkins?) “Take me back to babyland and please don’t let me go”! It certainly makes one desirious of going back to the days when all that the morrow could bring was a broken toy or two and when you only saw the rainbows.
Have you read the articles in the American Magazine lately by various writers, such as “Looking ahead at Thirty-six” and “Looking ahead at Thirty-five”? That is the way my thoughts have been running to-day – back over the years and ahead and speculating. Looking back, I can say that my life has been more than full and that I have really seen a great deal of life in many of its phases. My interests and activities have been many and varied, and though only 26 I have met few men who are as interested and as active in as many lines as I have been. Here I meet a person who is interested in one thing that I am and then I meet another, but there their interests cease. Most of them seem complacent and content with their particular interest and hobby, while it seems that the more that I do and see the greater grows my desires. Though my shortcomings are many and my virtues small, though I have done those things that I should not have done and left undone, those that I should have done, and no one in the world realizes my shortcomings more than I do, still I feel in passing my twenty-six years in review on the pages of time that there is a balance on the credit side. I am willing to accept them as my share of this world’s pleasures and take whatever the future may have in store. Ah, the future! Looking ahead I find it impossible to speculate or plan; the past fatal year that has changed so much makes me realize what a short sojourn life on this place really is and that one must ever be on the alert to grasp the oppurtunities to serve that present themselves while one yet may. I am overwhelmed with the desire to make this a better world to live in before I go and shall leave no stone unturned in my little daily duties to bring that desire to a realization.
That is the star my wagon is hitched to as I pass on to my 27th year and I know that I have the love and the best wishes of all my dear ones to cheer and strengthen me in my journey. My hands are so stiff and my eyes so heavy that I must go to rest. I shall write very soon of recent events and our progress and experiences – it is a long tale. Goodnight.
Your boy,
Herb
Tuesday Noon.
Dear Folks:-
I am in Custer to-day, drove in to get a packer and roller which weighs 1500 lbs., it is loaded in the car now and I am doing some shopping. I got your birthday letter this morning and the record also. Thank you very much. I know we shall enjoy it. I received a letter from Wes this morning. It is certainly hard luck about his ankle. I got a letter from Walt from Atlantic City thanking me for my letter that I wrote him from Bozeman, you see, Mother, that I had written him only 48 hours before I wrote that circular letter I shall write another one as soon as I can. I am well hardened now and enjoying life very much.
With love
Herb
Camp Sherman, March 30th, 1918, Saturday Afternoon
My dear Mother,
Do not worry about our going into action without thorough preparation, because we are not. Because first of all we will be shipped to some camp on the seaboard where we will be held for weeks and probably months, and after reaching the other side we will have several more months of training. This unit consists of mostly enlisted men, all of whom with a few exceptions were in some phase of telegraph or telephone work in civilian life. And as for us boys from Chicago, we can all hold our own, and in about one month’s training will be expert operators.
From all appearances, I think that we will surely move this week. Each man’s equiptment has been checked over about five times and by tonight every man’s personal equiptment will be complete down to extra shoelaces, extra legging laces, etc. All kinds of equiptment for the company has been coming in a regular stream; it is interesting to watch.
Yesterday, thirty-one men were transferred out of this company to other branches of the service and thirty-six men arrived from Camp Dodge, Iowa. All of whom are line men or operators. We got our second paratyphoid shot in the back this afternoon – another one within ten days and we are through with them. The first one caused me only slight discomfort – here’s hoping the same for this one.
Several of us took a walk to the community house last night. The inside of it reminded me of the inside of the Grand Canyon Hotel in Yellowstone, it was large and spacious looking. They have dancing there every night for the soldiers and their friends. There is everything that one could ask for in the terms of entertainment right in camp. Several theaters, one with a stock company, a large Y.M.C.A. auditorium, about two other Y.M.C.A. buildings with some form of entertainment going on every night; and canteens and camp exchanges on every hand.
I sure have been getting more than my share of packages this week. Easter eggs, cookies and chocolate. They sure hit the spot.
Please do not send me anything that I will have to take with me, because we are being supplied with everything and I will have to ship home my suitcase with loads of stuff in it that I won’t be able to lug around.
Tell Father that if he wants to me I oz. can of paprika when he thinks of it, or in the next box or package coming my way, it will be appreciated highly.
This past week is the first time that I have felt the least bit contented for a long time. I feel that I am going to be able to take a very active part in helping end this whole war business. Whatever discomforts and hardships and individual subservancy that I will have to undergo will only strengthen me. They resolve to help destroy everything military, so that the next generation will not have to undergo them. Democracy and militarism are the absolute antithesis of each other. The more that one sees of things military, the more one realizes the truth of that statement.
Several thousand new draft men arrived last night and today and men are moving out every day. So it comes and goes.
My thoughts and heart will be with you, dear ones. I hope the day will bring peace to you.
So, I am uncle again. You will have to put an addition on to the old house to house all of the family for the reunion when we all come back when its over, over there.
Loads of love,
Your boy,
Herb
***
The Moulton Family Tree
• The home place of the Moultons is in Harford County, Maryland.
Thomas Tench-Patentee of Browns Discovery, Woods Close, surveyed Oct. 2, 1719, for Thomas Mitchell, lying on branches of Swan Creek. Woods Close 200 acres divided as follows:
1. Ann Moulton (wife of Matthew): 100 acres
2. James Stewart: 33 acres
3. Joshua Woods heirs: 67 acres
Deeded by Thomas Mitchell to Matthew Moulton, May 20, 1720.
John Moulton transported to Province of Maryland in 1660 was father or grandfather of Matthew who bought Woods Close. The Matthew Moulton born 1760 was Grand-son of this Matthew Moulton who bought the Woods Close property in 1720.
• Matthew Moulton came to Maryland in 1660, bought property 1720.
• His grandson Matthew Moulton – born Baltimore Co. (now Harford Co.) Md. 1760, died May 1, 1843. (Married Sarah Boyd. Born 1779, died March 17, 1859.)
• Their children:
1. Samuel, married Mary Myers
2. Betsey, married Jos. Patterson
3. William, married Betsy Tarring
4. Sarah, married John Levy
5. Ezekiel, (1809 – 1869) married Rebecca Ann Bailey (1819 – 1900)
6. Nelson, married Rebecca Tarring
7. Mehalah, married Thomas Courtney
8. Julie Ann, died young
9. Thomas, married Henrietta Katz
• Children of Matthew Moulton by first wife:
1. Martha, married William Patterson of Cecil County
2. Thomas, died young
3. John, do not know
• Children of Ezekiel and Rebecca Ann Moulton
1. Charles Wesley and Amelia Elisabeth, twins born August 16, 1833, Charles married Caroline Wilkinson
2. Amelia Elisabeth married Joseph Wilkinson
3. Ezekiel Columbus, born October 24, 1835, married Amanda Hawkins
• Children of Charles Wesley and Caroline Moulton
1. Renna Rebecca, born September 28, 1857, married Daniel R. Gilbert
2. Charles Lewis, born June 6, 1860, married Maria Ross Harper (d. 1938, descendant of Betsy Ross)
3. James Columbus, born September 27, 1862, married Laura Ruth
4. Joseph Linwood, born July 23, 1865, married Clara Haines
5. Thomas Oscar, born March 23, 1867, born Gertrude Campbell
6. Harry Hillman, born April 23, 1869, died July 2, 1869
• Children of Charles Lewis and Maria Ross Moulton
1. Minnie, born May 30, 1883, married John Arthur Gamon
2. Charles Robert, born September 16, 1884, married Edith Lehnan
3. Walter Ross, born March 1, 1886, married Naomi Salada
4. Herbert Lewis, born July 30, 1891, married Nellie Brennan Eyre
5. Henry Harper, born December 12, 1892, married Clara West
6. Wesley Hillman, born April 8, 1894, married (Patti) Adeleine Murphy
• Children of Herbert Lewis Moulton and Nell Brennan Moulton
1. Herbert Eyre Moulton (1927 – 2005), married Vocal Professor and Operasinger Gun Margareta Kronzell (1930 – 2011)
• Children of Herbert Eyre Moulton and Gun Kronzell-Moulton
1. Charles Edmond James Moulton (born 1969), married Tanja Bauer (born 1974)
• Children of Charles Moulton and Tanja Moulton
1. Mara Sophie Moulton (born 2006)
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