Circulating Letters

Yesterday, I wandered next door to chat with a neighbor. Minutes later in her kitchen, I mentioned how I’d recently met a distant relative from New York State for the first time. In retrospect, I realized I’d forgotten to ask that person if they’d attended the same Quakerboarding and day schoolin Pennsylvania as did my mother and her sister, and later a cousin.

My neighbor mentioned her grandmother’s twelve-sibling circle letter. A large family, so each had to use thin paper to fit a dozen le...