Letter from Lisa Bartel to Betsy Rasmus Lund, April 22, 1902

Goldfield April 22 1902

Dear sister Betsy [Lund, nee Rasmus], we wish you well, I and Janni (1),. I may now answer your letter which I received. Good to hear that you are alive and the same I may send you back that we are alive and doing pretty well. We like it here as long as we may stay healthy, but so many people are sick around here, in almost every house. Mary(2) is here at the moment, but she works sometimes when she is here, she …?

Last week I had a letter from Finland. They don´t have a lot of news, but everything is as before. They want me to come home. Have you been to the Arkins this winter? In lack of news, I am shortening my lines with many greetings to all of you from all of us. We are a lot of Finns here(3), mostly from Vörå.

Sincerely Le Bartell [Lisa Rasmus Bartell]

Reply wanted, same address

(1)   6 year old son of Lisa and Charles Bartell

(2)   Mary has not been identified

(3)   Goldfield, Colorado near Cripple Creek seems the most sensible choice.There is a Goldfield, Wisconsin, not far from  Florence, Wisconsin, where the 1888 envelope addressed to Betsy Rasmys was postmarked.  But Charles Bartell was killed in a mine accident in Colorado.

Translated by the Emigration Center in Vörå., Vasa, Finland and Kristin Rhodes.