30 July 1913, Letter from Johann Jacob Frautschi to Luise Brand
About the Original Manuscript:
This letter was written by John J. Frautschi in St. Paul, Minnesota, and sent
to his niece Luise Brand in Switzerland. Only digital formats of the transcription
and translation are in the collection of the Max Kade Institute at the University
of Wisconsin-Madison. Images courtesy of Janet Spaeth West and Rick Frautschi.
Summary:
Johann congratulates his niece on the birth of a girl, who is named after his own daughter Zilla. Zilla finds it too difficult to write in German, Johann explains, which keeps her from writing often to Luise. He comments on doings in Saanen that he has read about in the paper, mentioning that they have had a lot of rain and snow there. He remarks on a long automobile trip he recently took with his wife and children, visiting his wife's sisters as well as his nephews and sister-in-law in Elisabeth, Ottertail County. He bemoans that even though six of his children are married, he has only five grandchildren, claiming that young Americans are following the "Parisian fashion of having no children." He mentions that it is difficult to write, for when one becomes old one only "wants to sit around and do nothing." He writes that he likes to think of the good times his relatives are having in Switzerland, but "not when it snows."
Text of letter:
Transliteration and translation: Robert S. Spaeth and Roger P. Minert, Ph.D.
Commercial use prohibited. Copyright 2004, by the The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
Created: 13 February 2004
Comments to: kkurdylo@wisc.edu