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Post by Larry Madsen on Aug 29, 2023 18:16:07 GMT -5
I was going through "the letter", which is most of the story behind Dad's violin. The letter has been around since 1928. It was written by my Grand Father, who was for the most part self-educated. He gained most of his fluency in the English language reading dictionaries while running trap lines. As for my relationship with him ... there was none. He died in the Spring of 1932, 25 years prior to my birth. My Grand Father was born in 1881 in the same small town in Utah that I grew up in. My Father was born in the same small town in 1906. My Uncle was born after. My Grand Father left the family sometime after the birth of my Father and Uncle and was absent. Some stories indicate he may have shown up back in town on rare occasions. In 1928 my Father, at the young age of 22 was in a barber shop reading an article in a paper. As he read the story about a trapper doing very well in the Pacific Northwest, he realized it was a story about his (absent) Father. My father wrote a letter to the place where the article had been published. The letter did reach his Father. On May 4th 1928 my Grand Father wrote a reply letter to my Father. This is the response letter.  Martin Madsen letter to Harold Madsen 1928 page 1 by Larry Madsen, on Flickr  Martin Madsen letter to Harold Madsen 1928 Page 2 by Larry Madsen, on Flickr The letter does have some words that are difficult to interpret, and punctuation is rarely used. That is the first half of the story and if you read the letter, you will see how the violin comes into "play". |
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Post by Larry Madsen on Aug 29, 2023 18:25:55 GMT -5
This is my best take as of this moment on the letter. I tried to type individual lines separated as they appear on the written pages.
W. E. BRENNEN
DEALER IN FURS
WINNAMUCCA, NEVADA
May 4, 1928
Dear Son, your letter *reached?* and pleased
to hear from you. We are going away for
about 2 weeks or so. I don’t just know
when we will be over that way. But it
won’t be very long. You say that you
are farming. I suppose that is about all
there is to do over there. I supposed you were
going to school. I think you are affected
with the sporting bug more than any-
thing else and *kid?* if I come over there
the first fire that I build will be kindled
with a violin. All the jungles of the world
are full of musicians, especially fiddlers.
So, you better fiddle to beat hell, because about
July 1st your fiddling days will be over if
you are going to throw in with me and your
big *bro?*. He threw his jews harp away.
Thinks he can make a better living following
my advice.
You wrote me about wishing to spend
4 years at BYU. That is in Provo isn’t it.
Why lad, if you did that they would be
very apt to keep you in Provo for the rest of
your life. You know with a few exceptions,
with the majority of people, an overdose of education
causes them to become lazy. Why sacrifice time
and money to become in the end, as many do,
a clerk, auto mechanic or even a sheep herder.
People who receive a high school education ordinarily
have knowledge enough. The ability to make money
is what the World is clamoring for. That alone
will give luxury, social position and happiness.
And that we are after. What I have written you
is quite generally recognized as an undisputable fact.
So will ring off and let your mind absorb it, which
I think it will. I am not trying to discourage you,
but you could never bank a dollar on music in a lifetime.
And too much of the latter is a long shot.
The dough is the whole essence of life.
So we will go out and get it. So hang onto yourself
And be a good *boy?*. If you are as good as Arch
Your *Jake?* and I think that you(r) are. I must tell you about
myself. I am commencing to get *wings?*.
Best wishes, your loving Dad.
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Post by Larry Madsen on Aug 29, 2023 18:30:52 GMT -5
For anyone not aware of the violin thread in the workshop forum ... the violin survived my Grand Fathers threats. This is the violin:  IMG_5408 by Larry Madsen, on Flickr |
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Post by oldnjplayer on Aug 31, 2023 5:44:05 GMT -5
Great history and family lore.
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Post by Larry Madsen on Sept 18, 2023 10:09:47 GMT -5
The rest of the Story ...
After my dad, my uncle and my grandfather met up they did become a trapping team.
For a period of about 4 years.
Dad told stories about that period of time occasionally. They would go out for trapping season and end the season with something in the neighborhood of $10,000.
Between 1928 and 1931 ten grand for one trapping season was quite a fortune.
By 1932 (we don’t know every dynamic of the situation), but Grandpa was a drinker.
As I understand it, grandpa would always sober up before he went out to start the trapping season. In 1932 he was going out and had no intention of sobering up.
Because of that Dad and my Uncle did not go out with him this time.
About a week after grandpa had left Monroe UT he was found dead in a garage in Battle Mountain NV. Reports were that he had arrived there very depressed and had committed suicide.
Dad (at the age of 26) along with my Uncle and we learned recently, one of Dad’s best friends made the trip to Battle Mountain to bring the body home to Monroe.
Dad spent the following years an alcoholic. Lots of family stories and resentment among my older siblings about that stretch of time. My oldest sister was born in 1932.
In 1947 my Dad and another of his close friends (also an alcoholic) read of a thing called “Alcoholics Anonymous”. It did not exist in Southern Utah in 1947. Dad and his friend contacted them and started the first AA group in Southern Utah. Dad took his last drink of alcohol in April of 1947 … ten years before my birth.
The only Dad I knew was one of the most trusted men in town
Dad lived a real roller coaster life. Young boy with no Father at home.
Finds his Father quite by chance. Meets up and lives a 4 year span enjoying a life he could never have dreamed possible.
Makes what had to be a pretty horrific nearly 500 mile each way trip to bring home his Father’s dead body in a model A Ford.
Lived the following years as a disgraced alcoholic.
Then in 1947, again by chance, discovers a solution to his alcoholism and personally (with his friend) started the first AA Chapter in Southern Utah. Faced and defeated the monster of Alcoholism.
In the end spent the remaining 40 years of his life as the Dad I knew and love. A man I came to realize was a very trusted and respected man in town.
This old derelict violin survived most all of this storied life and still exists as a reminder.
My Grand Father’s statement, “the first fire I build will be kindled with a violin” has etched this instrument into our family history in a way I find impossible to let go of.
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Post by Auf Kiltre on Sept 21, 2023 13:05:28 GMT -5
Fascinating story Larry. The written words of our ancestors, like history itself are often difficult to keep in their proper frame of reference. I have pictures of a desperate letter written by my maternal grandmother to my grandfather, informing him of the death of 2 of their small children. They were imprisoned in Siberia while he was in a military prison camp. It's pretty grim.
A friend has letters written by an ancestor while imprisoned in Andersonville. Tough read.
Glad the kindling wood violin survived!
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Post by LTB on Sept 21, 2023 22:52:39 GMT -5
That is a great story. Thank you for typing a copy of the letter which helped tremendously.
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Post by Larry Madsen on Sept 22, 2023 6:46:34 GMT -5
The written words of our ancestors, like history itself are often difficult to keep in their proper frame of reference. Thank you for typing a copy of the letter which helped tremendously. Great history and family lore. Thanks guys. At some points in the letter what I typed is the simply best understanding I can make of it. Some are simply hard to read the script with certainty and some don't make sense based on the family dynamic we knew about. This phrase is unusual based on the Monroe UT situation. "if you are going to throw in with me and your big *bro?*." If that is referring to a "Big Brother" ... Dad was the oldest in Utah. If another older sibling existed and was working with Grandpa, no-one in Utah knew about him, or at the very least was talking about him. Maybe I had another uncle out there.  This one as well: "If you are as good as Arch, your *Jake?* and I think that you(r) are." Archie is my dad's younger brother that I refer to as I write. Not sure about the word appearing to be "Jake". Makes me wonder how grandpa might have known something about dad's younger brother and not so much about Dad. A bit confusing. Some goofy stuff that is hard to understand ... some due to grandpa being (or living another life) elsewhere for so many years. I am certain my Dad knew a lot more than any of the rest of us were ever told. |
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Post by Auf Kiltre on Sept 22, 2023 7:09:21 GMT -5
Do you not know who Jake is and how he fits into the picture?
Could "Your Jake" actually mean "you're jake" as in "you're OK"?
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Post by Larry Madsen on Sept 22, 2023 10:13:21 GMT -5
Don’t know of a person named Jake.
Some have thought the word to be “sake” which probable make less sense.
Your assessment of “your OK” fits perfectly in the sentence.
A lot of common slang terminology changes over 100 years.
To be totally honest, I had a hope that posting it here might have others read it from a different perspective … maybe helping define some of the wording better than those in our family have done up to now.
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Post by rickyguitar on Sept 30, 2023 6:33:19 GMT -5
Quite a tale. Thanks for sharing. Does the violin get played anymore?
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Post by Larry Madsen on Sept 30, 2023 6:45:49 GMT -5
Not played for a very long time. I stumbled onto it (buried in a closet) as a kid in probably the 1960s. At that time it was in the same shape as you see in the PIC.
Finding the violin was the first I knew of my dad playing violin.
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Post by Larry Madsen on Apr 29, 2024 10:33:32 GMT -5
Thought I'd conclude this thead with some news. Last night we met with my brother for dinner. He was able to deliver the original letter (1928) from my grandfather to my father. Heirloom is now complete.  IMG_6276 by Larry Madsen, on Flickr |
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