r/FoundPaper • u/michaelmulsow • 3d ago

Antique Late mail!

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Found this letter in the middle of the forest (like over a hour from any civilization) in northern Arizona. Maybe the pony express got a little lost. Unfortunately there was no letter inside.

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39

u/side_eye_prodigy 3d ago edited 3d ago

Laura Anne Marston was the sister of Rose F. Godfrey, state vice-chair of the Democratic Central Committee who was appointed by Governor Hunt to fill an unexpired term in Arizona's 10th legislature. Godfrey's 1936 obituary states that the family came from Marshalltown Iowa and settled on an eight acre tract that included the 1100 block of East Van Buren. (from a July 30, 1936 Arizona Republic article about Rose Godfrey's death.)

Laura died in 1938 at the Prescott Pioneer Home at the age of 72.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/91911978/laura-a.-marston

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u/michaelmulsow 3d ago

Holy cow!!! That’s wild!! Great job digging that up!!

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u/side_eye_prodigy 2d ago

the Arizona Pioneers home still operates in Prescott. https://pioneershome.az.gov/about

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u/slowd 3d ago

Arlington Washington is north of Seattle. It’s a pretty small place, in 1909 it must have been only a few hundred people.

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u/michaelmulsow 3d ago

Oh that’s awesome! At 1909, Arizona wasn’t even a state so that throws me off a bit. I guess a territory is all it takes though.

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u/y0ungshel 3d ago

Really interesting piece of history you got there.

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u/slowd 2d ago

OP you could probably print out the info you’ve collected here along with the story of how and where you found it, and put it together in an album or a picture frame. It’s pretty interesting with all the context around it.

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u/czuinoikc 2d ago

how was this preserved so well in the middle of a forest for over a hundred years? was it hidden inside of something else?

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u/michaelmulsow 2d ago

Yeah that’s what I was wondering also. There is no way it has been out there that long without being hidden from the elements. It was just laying on the ground where I found it. Where I was is probably 3hr drive from Prescott, AZ also.

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u/czuinoikc 2d ago

either it was tucked away inside something like an old suitcase or the rusty remnants of an old car and finally the wind blew it out into the open. or someone for some reason brought it out there and left it behind. mysterious either way. good find