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70-year-old letter uncovered from antique desk in New Brunswick

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SALISBURY, N.B. -

After purchasing an old desk on the Facebook marketplace, antique hunter Gail Duffy did not anticipate the story that would come with it.

“I pulled it out the other week and started cleaning it, and when I took it apart, tucked away in the back corner I found this little piece of paper," she said.

The paper turned out to be a 70-year-old letter, which appears to be written by a father to his daughter, Margaret, and grandson Edward.

Duffy said the letter dated January 9, 1951, is from Thomas Kervin to Miss Margaret Kervin.

“When I started to read it, my daughter popped over and she said this is so cool, we should try to find the original owners," said Duffy.

“I carefully took it out of the envelope because I knew it was brittle. Then I read it and thought this is really neat, it’s like a day in the life of somebody from 70 years ago."

The letter explains that Thomas is travelling from St. Johns, N.L. and that he hopes to be home at the end of the month and expects to be gone for a week or 10 days.

In an effort to find the family of the man who wrote the letter, Duffy and her daughter posted it on a local Facebook group.

By the end of the day, she found out whom the letter was addressed to. It turned out that the woman whom she had purchased the desk from was Margaret’s sister-in-law and has since passed away.

Margaret’s sister-in-law told Duffy to keep the letter.

"Then this week this other lady reached out to me and said she was the granddaughter," said Duffy. "I said, if you’d like the letter, you’re welcome to it and she said I’d love to have it."

Duffy plans to mail the letter off this week to the writer’s granddaughter, giving her a little piece of her family's history.

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