Back in December Landon received his first piece of mail. It was a letter from his Great Aunt Kathryn (Derek's Dad's sister). I just first explain and praise Kathryn before proceeding. Kathryn has written several books for the Dodd family regarding the Dodd and Denney family history. It is unbelievable how much time she has dedicated to the subject and how LUCKY we are to have the books to read and keep for others. So thank you for all that you do for the Dodd family. Now on to Landon's letter...
Below is what the letter read:
To: Landon Cory Dodd, Esquire 12/25/08
Dear Landon,
As the Dodd family historian I feel it is my duty you with some very important information about your namesake William Orlando "Landon" Gregory. Landon was born in Alabama on August 22, 1851 and died in Springtown, Texas on January 11, 1935. He was the son of Charles W. Gregory and Mary Elizabeth Parks. So you will know where you are in the family it would be: photos and captions included in letter.
Here are some tidbits of information you should probably know about your namesake Landon Gregory. Just as a word of advice from your great aunt Kathryn there are some things that it would probably be best NOT for you to do that your namesake did. The first thing is he evidently did not like to work much. After his children were gone he pretty much went from relative to relative to live. When one got tired of him he would just move on to another. Another thing is that he evidently was a very messy tobacco chewer and spitter. My cousin Jerry Denney and his family inherited Landon's rocking chair many years after he died. My cousin Jerry said his mother Belle had to do a lot of cleaning on that old rocker because Landon couldn't spit very far and most times it ended up on the rocker or on him, usually both.
Now about this rocking chair, it seems appropriate since you are named for Landon Gregory that you should inherit this chair. I know it looks pretty old and worn out but it is probably over 100 years old and has had a lot of tobacco spit on it to boot. So to make sure you inherit this chair I have written the information below on the bottom of the chair so that everyone will know it goes to you. I know you would probably like to have it now so that your Mother can rock you, but that would mean that your great aunt Kathryn would have to kick the bucket and she isn't quite ready for that to happen just yet so please just hang on for a while.
Now here is another word of advice from your great aunt Kathryn. We have some murderers, swindlers, scalawags and swindlers in our family ancestry so you might want to put this document in a safe place like maybe under your baby mattress or at the bottom of you diaper pail, as nobody would want to look there. This is just in case some smart alecky relative buys a can of paint and paints over the inscription and says, "I didn't know this was supposed to go to Landon Cory Dodd," then you can whip out this document from underneath your baby mattress and say, "Just lookie here, I have it in writing from my great aunt Kathryn Dodd."
I, Kathryn Dodd, being of sound mind (well sort of) declare that this rocking chair once owned by Landon Gregory should go to Landon Cory Dodd.
(signature and Photo)
**Side note: Since we have received the letter, we found out that Kathryn is giving us the rocker..early. She is not kicking the bucket, but decided that we could have it now. Unless she changed her mind which is completely understandable. Otherwise it will go in our bedroom and rock Landon. We will post photos when we get it here.**
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