Grandpa Bucklin’s Grandma Sue

This post is about my maternal grandfather’s Hine grandparents.  My mom was Betty Lou Bucklin Landry and her father was Fred Bucklin.  He had his maternal grandmother for quite a while, because she died shortly before my mom was born in 1933.  She died on March 29th and mom was born May 20th when grandpa was only 25 years old.  Grandpa’s mother was Addie Hine Bucklin, who was the daughter of George Hine and Susan G. Stanbrough Hine.

This photo is of George and Susan in around 1890.  I’m not really sure of the date, but comparing it to the other photos of this couple, that is the best estimation that I have.  The other photos of them are with children and grandchildren.  This is the only one that I’ve seen of just the two of them.

The reason I chose this photo and called the post what I did was because of two letters I found recently on Ancestry.  These two letters were written by Susan Stanbrough Hine.  The first one was written in 1916.  It was written to her brother Joseph B. Stanbrough.  It must have been included as a short note with a letter addressed to his granddaughter Eula Stanbro (daughter of Orville C. Stanbrough).  It was written shortly after the death of their brother Nelson, who was the oldest of the eleven siblings in the family.  (There was an older half brother named Albert Stanbrough who died in 1854 and another brother Lucius that died as an infant in 1855.)  Albert was born in 1839, Nelson in 1844, Joseph B. in 1845, and Susan in 1851.

The second letter was written in 1923 after the death of another brother Jim.  He was born the year before Susan and moved to Louisiana with Susan and her family.  In the first letter she mentions him and it seems like he lives with the family.  This letter was written to Eula’s younger sister Nola Stanbro.

I don’t know the person who posted the letters on Ancestry, and the only thing that was posted were transcripts of the letters.  I sent a request to see the original letters, because I’d like to see the handwriting of my great great grandmother.  The letters seem legitimate, because they talk about the Hine and Bucklin families with details that only family would have known about.  My favorite part of the letters is the way she signed them.  In the first one (directed to her brother), she signs off as Sister Sue.  I always thought of her as Susan because that’s her given name and she always looks a bit stern in the photos.  I wondered if that’s what her family called her, or was it just this one brother.  When I saw the second letter I found my answer.  She signed off on the second letter as Aunt Sue.

So now and forevermore she will be known to me as Grandma Sue.  I like knowing the name that people went by when they were alive.  It’s a little more personal.  It would also be a bit more personal if I had a scan of the actual letters that were written.  But for now all we have are the transcripts, which are great in themselves.  One day I hope that will change and I can share scans of the letters with everyone.