130-year-old letter hidden in thrift store, Bible reunited with descendants

A family has been reunited thanks to an emotional letter written by one of their ancestors some 130 years ago.

In a surprising turn of events, the letter ended up some 1,700 miles from where it was originally written, discovered rolled up inside the pages of an 1880 Bible gathering dust in a thrift store.

Now the letter and its emotional content are returned to the writer’s family.

The advent of the digital age has made correspondence almost obsolete for a significant number of Americans. In 2021, a CBS A survey of 1,717 adults by YouGov found that 37 percent of respondents had not sent an email in the past five years, while 15 percent had never sent an email in their lifetime.

But there was a time when letters were represented primary source of communication for friends and loved ones separated by geography. They told and provided understanding of the human condition.

That was what Marie Racine was reminded of one day in 2016.

Earlier that day, she found herself browsing the bookshelves of a hospital auxiliary thrift store in Campbell River, British Columbia, when one book caught her eye: a Bible.

“I don’t know why I was drawn to it because I’m not very religious,” Racine said Newsweek. “When I looked inside I saw it was from the 1880s and since it was on sale for the low price of $8.00 Canadian I thought why not take it home with me.”

Racine admits that she has always “loved antiques” and spent many days looking for “interesting objects” in second-hand stores. She did not realize how interesting this subject would turn out to be.

“When I got home, I flipped through the pages and found a letter hidden deep inside, about 400 pages in,” she said. “At first I saw the number 94 and thought it was written in 1994, but when I saw the handwriting and the paper it was written on, I realized it was 1894!”

Although she was impressed by the skill of the handwriting, Racine said it made the letter “hard to decipher.” She made out the name “H. Harris” and was able to read the form, which mentioned a place called Denmark Hill. After Googling it, she discovered that the letter was probably written by someone from King’s College Hospital in south-east London, UK, but the trail died down from there.

“I thought the letter was beautiful, so I hid it back in the Bible and put it on the bookshelf,” Racine said.

He stayed there until a couple of days ago Facebook A market ad posted by someone selling another Bible from the 1880s made her think about her own discovery eight years earlier.

“I decided to check if anyone was on Reddit could tell me more about H. Harris,’ she said. “The Internet did not disappoint me during the day.”

One user was able to run the letter through AI software, which confirmed what was written. The content paints a vivid picture of one man’s struggle:

As a result, another Redditor was able to track down more information about the author, who has been identified as Henry Harris.

“He was a doctor and member of the Liberal Party who practiced in London. We found that he was incredibly short, but still very well-respected in the medical community,” Racine said. “He died of tuberculosis on April 26, 1895 shortly after writing this letter. He was 57″.

Realizing that Harris’ hopes for recovery and the idea that “things will soon be much better” made the letter bittersweet. But there will be another twist, courtesy of Reddit.

Using the same ancestry website they used to learn more about Harris, a second Reddit user was able to trace his family line back to his great-granddaughter Leslie. She then took to Reddit to confirm that Henry was her great-grandfather.

Racine contacted Leslie, who provided photographs of Harris. “I learned that he was known as the ‘little doctor’ with a spinal condition that kept him short, he had five children, and that reading the letter made her emotional.”

After learning everything she wanted to know about the man behind the letter, Racine decided there was only one thing left to do. “I told Leslie that the Bible and the letter belonged to her and her family. I don’t want to keep something that belongs to someone who clearly should get it,” she said.

Although Leslie offered money to return the letter, Racine refused, explaining that she was “all good karma”. It’s not known how a letter written in London ended up 4,700 miles away in Campbell River, but Racine has a few ideas.

“After the Second World War, many Britons immigrated to Canada in search of a new life. Maybe one of them brought it,” she said. “I know that many families traditionally kept important documents in their family Bibles, and perhaps one of his descendants moved here and brought the Bible with them.”

In any case, at the time of writing it is turning the other way. “I wrote a little letter, put it inside the Bible along with her great-great-grandfather’s letter, and wrapped it up for mailing,” Reising said. “It comes back to her as a gift from me and my heart.”