Letters to Santa

#1:  I want a drum and a hook and ladder.” Signed Alfred McGann.

#2:  “Dear Santa Claus:  I am very glad that you are coming around tonight.  My little brother would like you to bring him a wagon which I know you cannot afford.  I will ask you to bring him whatever you think best.  Please bring me something nice what you think best. 

P.S.  Please do not forget the poor.”  Signed Mary McGann.

The first letter was dated 1905; the second 1907.  They were found behind chimney bricks 15 years ago by a man named Peter Mattaliano, who was renovating his fireplace in his Hell’s Kitchen residence.

He learned from research that the parents were Patrick and Esther McGann, Irish immigrants who had married in 1896.  Mr. McGann died in 1904, so at the time the letters were written, the children were being raised by their mother, a dressmaker.

From his research, Mr. Mattaliano found out that Mary had married, moved to the Bronx, and died in 1982.  This year Mr. Mattaliano took a small potted tree to Mary’s grave at Mt. St. Mary’s Cemetery in Flushing.

That this child, obviously living in poverty, could end her letter “Please do not forget the poor” is both amazing and humbling.

The full story, with Mr. Mattaliano’s picture, appeared in an article by Corey Kilgannon in the Times, Dec. 15, pp, A1, A25.