Völksen, January, 1912

Dear Aunt, 

For a long time I have been urged by my parents to write a letter to you but it did not happen till today so now I am driven immediately to speak for all of us our sympathy about the sudden death of our dear Uncle. Above all our father was deeply touched by the death of his brother We all recognize that the quiet wounds that death strikes in you will never fully heal But you can always 

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take comfort in your children for they are all grown up and can all help along in earning Since all of us did not know our Uncle we did not quite feel the heavy loss Now, dear Aunt, how would it be if you with your children would come here again since you are all alone As you can see in the enclosed picture all of our family is in good health So that you can learn to know them I have written the names below them Hopefully you can receive the picture without damage

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The pictures that you sent to us arrived in good condition Our picture we must send in a parcel because it is too large

Now, you dear ones, is everybody in good spirits? Of us I can share with you that we are well, Father still looks after his daily duties as railroad official, Mother is quite suple, Friedrich is still in Bremerhaven, A few years he wanted to come there but he is shy about the water, August has a position in Hannover, Dora helps Mother at home, Karl still goes to school, so far as little me is concerned 

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I have given myself for 9 years to the railroad service and on the past February 1st I was given an official assignment and today I find myself in my life work About the rest of the relatives I am sorry to say I have nothing to tell, since we have not heard anything of them for a long time, in any case the are probably well Momentarily it is winter here and behind the stove is the best place. In fact, this winter we had very little snow, but the cold was rather severe

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Now we want to wish you that this letter may find you in the best of health like it is leaving us, and we want to hope that you will soon acknowledge this letter and then we would be so glad if we had some information of you Hopefully we may see each other again. Also we assign some greetings for you to give to your children and daughter-in-law. A nice greeting to you from the 

Heinrich Blumenberg family. 

The address in found on the other side.