This is from a series of letters written between James Finn and his fiancee Mary (May) Fay. They became engaged in January 1916 and married in June and the letters were written between them during that period. He lived in Dublin, she lived in Westmeath; he was 20 years older than her at 39 and had become acquainted with her during his regular visits to his relative Mrs Mary Seery, her neighbour. He tells how he "had his eye on her" for a long time but waited until she was old enough. Throughout the series of letters you can see how their relationship develops from the first somewhat tentative letters and how her confidence grows. The series is not complete; it is interrupted by visits to each other’s homes and by obviously missing letters. They were not to be married long: in 1919 he fell ill with the great flu epidemic, it led to heart damage and he died in 1922 as she was expecting their fourth child, my father. She held on to his letters as her reminder of him: this explains their survival. Despite many offers and her difficult finances she never married again. She took in lodgers and trained (and practised) as a midwife, chiropodist, and public health nurse while raising her children. She proved to be an excellent entrepreneur, charmed bank managers into giving her loans (against the norm of the time) and bought properties one after another, many of which were broken up into flats, so that she ended up quite comfortable off! James Finn was a civil servant, working in the National Health Service Commission on Mount Street. Family history says that he was advising on the restructuring of the civil service as part of setting up the new government in 1922 and that eminent figures in that project were visiting him in his sick bed so that they could consult with him, trying to demand he be carried in to meetings. Neither May nor James were politically active though, like many in the Civil Service, James was obviously somewhat activated, learning Irish, probably Gaelic League, and as can be read in the letters after Easter, he knew many who more caught up in it. One can sense their shifting sympathies in the letters. A very short letter, apologise for delay, looking forward to his visit