When Harry missed Gracie
In 1893, Harry was dreaming of the day he would get to hold his darling wife, Gracie, in his arms again.
‘‘I really can’t do without you much longer. I want to feel your dear arms around me and purse my lips to yours, my darling,’’ he pined.
‘‘It is now nearly three weeks I have been without you. Are you beginning to think about coming home or are you having too good a time?’’
But exactly who Harry was, or if he was ever reunited with his bonnie bride, is a 126-year-old mystery.
A box of his love letters to Gracie has been discovered in the archive room at Stratford District
Council (SDC). The letters show Harry was based in Stratford and Gracie in Dunedin, but it is unclear why they lived so far apart. However, Harry mentions Gracie’s health regularly.
‘‘I hope you’re well enough to come home soon,’’ one of the letters reads.
Council staff are now trying to find descendents of the lovebirds, or the person who handed them in, in the hopes of returning them to their rightful owner.
‘‘It’s a mystery. We have no record of where they have come from,’’ Anna Officer, SDC information management specialist, said.
‘‘If this was your family it would be a real treasure to someone. It would be nice to find someone to take them.’’
The letters, which are in nearperfect condition, span from 1893 to 1895, and talk regularly of Harry’s pain of being without his wife.
‘‘We don’t have her side, though. Did she ever come home?’’ Officer said.
Harry tells Gracie everything happening in town, describing going to church, climbing Mt Taranaki, and on one occasion getting invited to dinner with the mayor at the pub.
In one letter Harry talks of the church at Omata being ‘blown over’ and homes in New Plymouth being damaged.
‘‘It’s similar to how you would catch up with someone now, you know? Like ‘I saw old mate down the supermarket’ and that sort of thing. It’s very gossipy,’’ Gemma Gibson, SDC communications manager, said. ‘‘But it’s clear he is head-over-heels in love with her.’’
There’s no last names or addresses so they don’t have much information to work with.
‘‘They’ll just sit in the archive room. We can’t throw them away.’’
■ Anyone who knows who Harry and Gracie were can email communications@stratford.govt. nz or phone SDC on 06 765 6099.