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Ingham, Wayland P. (First World War correspondence)
2019.037.w.r
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Center for American War Letters Archives
Title: Wayland P. Ingham First World War correspondence
source:
Gonzalez, Cynthia
source:
Bartlett, Donald
source:
Bartlett, Lucille
Creator:
Ingham, Wayland Poland, Musician, 1894-1977
Identifier/Call Number: 2019.037.w.r
Physical Description:
0.01 Linear feet
(1 folder)
Date (inclusive): 1917 June 2 - 1918 August 23
Abstract: This collection contains four letters from Mus. Wayland P. Ingham, RING to his second cousin Mary Wentworth Bartlett during
the First World War.
Language of Material:
English
.
Container: WWI 13
Container: 13
Container: 1
This collection is open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of the Bartlett family, via Cynthia Gonzalez.
This collection is arranged chronologically.
Musician Wayland Poland Ingham, Rhode Island National Guard (1894 - 8/26/1977) was born in Warwick, Rhode Island and served
in the First World War as a musician after joining the Coast Artillery Rhode Island National Guard with the First District
Band. Later, he lived in Providence, RI with his wife Annie and passed away in 1977.
According to the donor (granddaughter of Wayland), Ingham was the second cousin of the letter recipient Mary E. Wentworth
of Maine where the letters remained until donation. Mary was on the Edmunds side of the family. Her mother, Martha Isabelle
Edmunds, and Wayland's mother, Josephine Poland, were first cousins. The Bartlett (Mary's married name) family tree on ancestry.com
contains more details.
[Item title / description; Box "n" / Folder "n"], Wayland P. Ingham First World War correspondence (2019.037.w.r), Center
for American War Letters Archives, Chapman University, CA.
For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this
collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.
This collection contains four letters from Mus. Wayland P. Ingham, RING to his second cousin Mary Wentworth Bartlett during
the First World War. Also included are transcriptions made by the donor with a short family biography. The letter dated August
23, 1918 is in the wrong envelope, addressed to Mr. Wesley Wentworth in November 1918, but was the envelope the letter was
found in by the donor.
In June 1917, Ingham writes about his experience joining the Coast Artillery Rhode Island National Guard as a musician with
the First District Band in Newport and how much he would like to go to France. He then writes in January 1918 from Fort Wetherill
in Rhode Island and explains that he is able to go home every week, but he expect to leave soon, perhaps to Fort Adams, another
of five forts on Narragansett Bay, though none of these letters indicate that he had. He mainly then talks about the weather.
In March 1918, he expects to leave for France soon as they have been preparing and earned a name change from the First Band
to the Twenty-First Band, and expecting that to change once again. He mentions another soldier, Embert Ramsay at Camp Devens,
and worries for him because that camp is harder than the one he is currently held.
The last letter, dated August 23, 1918 "Somewhere in France" begins by telling Mary that he is "having the time of my life
trying to learn and speak French," and it is clear this is the first letter written to her since he had only recently arrived
overseas. He and his unit, signed at the bottom as the Band of the 66th Artillery Coast Artillery Corps, American Expeditionary
Force, are busy playing many concerts every day with rehearsals in between. They are quartered in a town near Limoges, France.
The letter was censored by Lieutenant [J.D. Paxton], Headquarters Company 66th Arty, C.A.C.
There are no restrictions on the use of this material except where previously copyrighted material is concerned. It is the
responsibility of the researcher to obtain all permissions.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Correspondence -- World War, 1914-1918
World War (1914-1918)
World War (1914-1918) -- France
Gonzalez, Cynthia
Bartlett, Donald
Bartlett, Lucille
Bartlett née Wentworth, Mary E.