Letters, mysteries found inside aging Victorian home

By Darienne DeBrule

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    OGDEN, Utah (KSTU) — Inside a beautiful Victorian home in Ogden, you can feel and see the history of all those who have called it “home.”

“The permit was pulled in 1895,” said the home’s newest owner, Jeremy Peterson. “In 1901, it was purchased by the Matson family who was a prominent aristocratic Ogden family. They lived here until about 1950. At that time, the home was turned into a six-plex.”

From the attic to the basement, the home is filled with subtle reminders of what once was, including a vintage washer or dryer and a coal room that would have played a part in heating the home.

After decades of falling away from its original Victorian design, Peterson and his wife are restoring the home.

“This home was at one time beautiful and it still has some hints that it was, but it needs love,” Peterson said.

As the home is stripped to its bones, Peterson has unearthed some amazing pieces of history, including approximately 30 letters dated between 1916 and 1930 from a daughter who grew up in the home.

“I chased down her descendants of that daughter and found her grandchildren who are alive still,” Peterson explained. “I showed them the letters and they were able to see their grandmother’s handwriting.”

That find and reunion are pretty incredible, but for those who go up the steep stairs of the home, they’ll find a bedroom where Peterson made one of his favorite discoveries. As he peeled back the layers of the ceiling, he found a little cigar box.

“There was a real sense of importance in this item, like this is a moment in history that was significant,” he said. “When I opened it up, I was astonished because it had these crackers in there with handwriting on them. It stated his name said ‘Rufus Brown,’ said ’24 Infantry Company A.'”

So who was this man who wrote on the brittle crackers more than a century ago? According to newspaper clippings found by the State Historic Preservation Office, Rufus Brown was a Spanish-American war veteran.

“The 24th infantry regiment was the Buffalo Soldier regiment, so Black soldiers they sent to Cuba to fight. They were also stationed in Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City for a period of time,” said Peterson.

There are theories as to how Brown got the box inside the ceiling and why he was in the home at the time.

“One theory is that Rufus, whose name was mentioned on the crackers, is he was one of the laborers after he was discharged from the army,” Peterson said. “Another theory is he was a guest here in the home another time before the Matson family purchased it.”

While the answers to some of these questions may remain secrets to time, the find has inspired Peterson to leave his own “Easter Egg” tucked underneath a staircase for someone in the next century to discover.

“Each of us has an interesting history and we should each take some time to write it down,” he shared.

Peterson is in the process of transferring the found items to the Utah State Historic Preservation Office.

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