Dear Children

This is a letter my Great Grandfather wrote to his children before he passed away in 1939. The neat thing about it is that we have his original letter plus it was written in his own handwriting!
John W Lyon
B 1860
D 1939

I have transcribe the letter the best I could below.

Olin, Iowa

Dear children
I am so glad for this chain while I wright menny letters that does not belong in this chain still I look forward to the time when it will return and I will have the opertunity to keep the chain unbroken. Sickness, axidents and death are on our trail while we are getting up in years we may not be the first to make the missing link. All my ancesters on my fathers side have been taken with a stroke before they were sixty year old and I am now 76 am still able to express my thoughts to you for which I return thanks to my blessed Lord I can not help thinking how our children are scattered out from us and it is not likely we will ever meat as one family again as one family some of them are 3,000 miles apart but I do hope after my decease you will keep up the chain letter.
When we are writing this chain we wright a little different than we wood if we were wrighting a personal letter for various resons what wood be new to those in Cal or Ga wod not be news to those in Cedar Rapids and Davenport, but what about the conditions as they exist in the world today can you not see the ware cloud rising in the east and and the Bible seys all nations will be involved and the (??) is not exception then what about our Grand children. While some of them will be too young to take part in the ware yet they with us will have to suffer privation. President Roosevelt is not to blame for these conditions these conditions have been coming on for years but we could not see them as we do today but the Lord has promest us if we are only faithfull our bred and water will be there.

Transcribed by Mary Hellman 02-22-2011