Treasure Chest Thursday: Letter to Harriet House

On February 26, 1844, Lucretia D. Runnells, the granddaughter of Julius House,wrote a letter to her mother's sister Harriet House. Lucretia's mother was the former Clarissa House, who married a Methodist minister, William Runnells, in 1831. (The marriage record for William Runnells and Clarissa House is located at Huron County Probate Court, and is also available at Family Search.

Lucretia wrote to her Aunt Harriet about school, a recent family party, and she inquired about family members back in Erie County, Ohio. According to Lucretia Runnells Braman's death certificate, available at Family Search Labs, Lucretia was born on January 11, 1836. She married John Braman at Lorain County, Ohio in 1865. Lucretia Braman died in Cuyahoga County on June 3, 1918. She was buried at Lake View Cemetery. Lucretia was age 8 when she wrote this letter to her Aunt Harriet. She wrote that the letter was written in Elyria, Ohio. Her father, Rev. William Runnells, was a minister in several different Circuits of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Ohio.

Records in the Pedigree Resource File at Family Search indicate that Harriet House was born in Ohio to Julius House and Percy Taylor House on January 23, 1817. She died On August 15, 1900. Harriet House is buried with her parents at the Perkins Cemetery in Erie County, Ohio. Her name is inscribed on the side of the House monument which also bears the name of her mother, Percy Taylor House. The inscripton for Harriet reads:

Harriet
Daughter
J & P House




The letter which Lucretia D. Runnells wrote to Harriet House in 1844 was pasted into a family scrapbook originally owned by Ada Steen Parker, who was married to Leroy Parker, a descendant of Julius House.