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Avia & Elizabeth Arnold

Family historians find joy where others may not. It was joy recently when I mailed a packet to a woman named Virginia, a newly found 80 year old distant cousin I didn’t know existed, found via DNA testing. My great-grandmother Avia Arnold Edwards of Morgan County, IL (1852 – 1922). Elizabeth Arnold Buck was her sister. Elizabeth and her family moved to Oklahoma when Elizabeth was in her 30s. Avia and Elizabeth never saw each other again with travel simply not affordable. Great-grandmother Avia’s Bible has been passed down to me. It’s stuffed with keepsakes. There are pressed flowers, a fragment of a black funeral ribbon with the word Mother, poems, and obituaries clipped from newspapers. In her Bible was a letter in an envelope postmarked 1906 Oklahoma, addressed to Avia. The letter is from Elizabeth’s two sons and tells of their mother’s death. It is both sweet and sad. Virginia is the great-granddaughter of Elizabeth. The letter was written by her grandfather and his brother. I have made a copy for my records and the original is on its way to Virginia, along with a great deal of information on our mutual ancestors. I think she will be delighted, and it feels so good. I think Avia and Elizabeth would be pleased.

 

 

Avia Arnold Edwards

 

 

Letter regarding Elizabeth’s death, sent to Avia

 

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