[ Beulah Patterson (née Busha), kinswoman of Ezra Pound. ] Two long Typed Letters Signed (both 'aunt Beulah') to her nephew 'Tommy'

Pound was related to the Busha family through the marriage of his first cousin once removed Ida Lillian Pound (1858-1949) to Charles Thomas Busha (see 'Ezra and Dorothy Pound: Letters in Captivity, 1945-1946, ed. Omar Pound and Robert Spoo, 1999). The two letters are each 2pp., 4to. Both in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Both closely typed on both sides, with a few autograph emendations; the second letter with an autograph postscript. 'Tommy', who at the time of the first letter is serving with the United States armed forces, is also referred to by his nickname 'Toppie'. ONE (18 May 1945). A long gossipy letter, packed with family news, concluding: 'Ezra Pound is to be brot [sic] to U.S.A. to stand trial for treason, for just why, I cannot tell you. He is supposed to have talked over the Rome Radio against the U.S.A. I think that he made the same remarks that Hoover and other Republican leaders made against the new deal and after that country of Italy joined with Germany those remarks weren't free speech as we call it here. However, I have yet to know just what the real charge is that is to bring him here for trial. Aunt Alice Robertson wrote the other day as if he had been in hiding and was just found, said she saw his picture and a news item to that effect in a Montana paper but I did not see anything. His father died over there in 40 I think and she, his mother wrote me that the American consulate wanted her to go to Lisbon and take passage for U.S.A. but she said if she came, there was no home for her here. Omar, Ezra's only child [Omar Shakespear Pound (1926-2010)] lives with his grandmother Shakespeare [sic, for the novelist Olivia Shakespear (1863-1938)] in London or near there, always has and I wish I could hear what happened to Cousin Isabelle, Ezra's mother. I visited her in Philadelphia and she is surely sweet. About eighty three now. I must get busy at once on some files. Thanks for letter and do keep them coming. Love from | Aunt Beulah'. Other topics include: V. E. Day and 'the Chinese retreat from Foochow'; a visit from 'Aunt Helen'; 'Mabel'; 'Ford and Bobby'; 'Bea's card'; the sale by 'Alice Helen and her husband' of 'their home in Seattle'; 'David Busha Granley'; 'Ida', who is at 'Treasure Island, or rather at Almeda', TWO (19 August 1947): Written in the same style as One. Begins with news of a communication from Pound's wife the artist Dorothy Pound (née Shakespear, 1886-1973): 'Your letter was such a happy surprise. I had been wondering about you, if you were vacationing or going to summer school, and since Dorothy Pound's last note stated that Omar was in Hamilton College, I had wondered if you two cousins might meet. You will have a lot of fun, sort of catching up on family history. And Dorothy has said that it is possible that sometime she and Omar might come to see me, so we will keep this trip that you and he may have in mind. If he gets out here, he will love the country and later bring his mother. Right now, I have been looking for a note from her telling me if Omar's grandmother has arrived from Italy, or a note from Isabella herself telling me if her plans to come are shaping up. Since Mother has not been writing, I have corresponded with the “Italy Pounds” myself […]'. She continues on the topics of Homer's pension, and a letter she has received 'from Ezra from Elizabeth's Hospital', which she has forwarded to 'Dorothy, Omar's mother'. She discusses a photograph she has of Omar, taken 'when he was a small tot': 'Aunt Isabelle has told me so much about him, I feel as if he is one of my own circle of adopted sons'. She discusses his actual relationship to her and the recipient, concluding: 'Anyway, even if the cousin-ship is not close, you can be real buddies at that.' She reminisces on an 'Easter vacation with Homer and Isabelle in Philadelphia' when she was young. She continues with family news concerning 'Uncle Pat'; 'The girls'; 'Aunt Bea'; and 'the original Busha name […] “Boucher”'.