The following letters were written to my grandmother Martha Palmer (nee Morgan) by her friend and namesake Martha Pritchard."" They had obviously been in domestic service together just prior to the start of the correspondence, in the area of Hay-on-Wye, which is on the borders of Herefordshire, in England, with Wales, in an area we call "The Golden Valley"." At the time they would have been in their late teens or early twenties.

Martha Pritchard then obtained a post with the Humphreys family at "Cannington Manor, Assiniboia-North West Territories - Canada, (now in Saskatchewan)." It was some 40 miles from Moosomin, in what is now the Moose Mountain Provincial Park area." This is not the town named Assiniboia today, which exists further to the south west, but the province which was later merged into Saskatchewan.

At almost the same time grandmother obtained a post with a Dr. Palmer (no relation) in Mortlake, London.

The correspondence began in May 1892 upon Martha Pritchard's arrival at Cannington Manor." The photostats, which we have, are of letters written between May 1892 and October 1893." The last letter shows that Martha had completed her year of service and had moved to the home of her uncle - Thomas Greenow (her mother's brother) - in New York State."" She was then looking for another position in that area, and we have no idea what became of her after that.

The originals of the letters were presented to the Dominion Archivist by my uncle, who was lecturing in Canada, and entered into the Public Archives of Canada in 1974." Canadian National Archive - Reference MIKAN 102097.