A woman dubbed the 'heirloom hunter' has revealed her latest find – a letter which details a man's plea to divorce from his wife. Chelsey Brown, 28, from New York, finds diaries, letters and family heirlooms and reunites them with the descendants of those behind them.
Recently, she came across a "juicy" letter at a flea market in the Big Apple. She did some research and discovered the letter was penned back in 1958, and surrounded a man's plea to split from his wife. Dated 23 May 1958 and being posted to an address in Hagerstown, Maryland, US, the man wrote he had been doing some "considerable" thinking about their relationship since their previous phone call.
Amongst the reasons for their marriage's ultimate demise, he mentions constant pressure from his mother, their long distance situation and an "alias" which she had adopted.
He ends the type-written note with saying: "Regarding your children, I believe it is also in their best interests that I now disassociate myself from them completely."
As he puts all his feelings aside, he asks for his fraternity pin back and mentions he will send back anything of hers too, adding: "Again, may I wish you, your children, and the rest of your family, only the best of everything in the future, and as they say in Japan – 'sayonara'."
"From what I gathered, the marriage was very short, perhaps only a few days and the man wanted an annulment, but the wife wouldn’t allow one," said Chelsey.
"From her and her friend’s sides, it seemed she did cause drama to the point of the husband pleading with her for a divorce.
"I do think he was unnecessarily snarky in the letter, however, sometimes you reach a certain point where you can only correspond with someone the way they are corresponding with you.
"The children she has are not his, but from a previous marriage."
She shared the shocking find on TikTok where one person commented: "I am invested."
Another user added: "He just dropped the kids. Not even a 'bye bye wave'."
"But are THEY HIS children," someone else asled.
One person added: "I bet he never got that pen though," followed by a laughing face emoji.
"I found a 1912 letter, unsigned, called a divorced man a ‘grass widow’ and he was ruining her daughters’ life by marrying her," someone else commented.
Chelsey added: "I think family drama has been something of a taboo subject for so many years and I’m glad we are starting to openly discuss it again.
"Everyone has something going on behind closed doors, no matter what year it is.
"People from 1958 had the same issues we’re having today. Heartbreak, divorce and scandal are things that will occur hundreds of years from now as they did hundreds of years prior."
Do you have a strange story to share? Email paige.freshwater@reachplc.com.
