Tuesday, March 12, 1935

"I walked... holding my crutches."

In this installment we have a little better view on Mary's ailment. Whatever has been troubling her, her toes or whatever, we now know that her condition was such that she was also using crutches to get around. She walked clear to Haynes, whoever they are, but the use of crutches.

Old Jerry is mentioned on the 12th. He was at grandma's, grandma being her grandmother Jennie Slane. But who is Jerry? Jennie is married to Frank Slane. On this same day, Clarence, his girl and Leada is mentioned. Leada is a misspelling of Clarence's sister's name, Leta. Mae has been frequently mentioned in this diary. Who exactly is she?

We learn that Mary knows a thing or two about sewing as she reports she has made a dress for her little girl, Dorothy.

An astute reader of this blog noted that on March 7th Mary noted Mrs. R's weight, and then a second number was also entered; 182. Also, on January 5th, following her entry for the day, the number 183 appears. It was observed that perhaps she was noting her weight. I think the observation has merit.

Note: If you would like to explore real record sources online and search out this or other families, check out this free access website: http://search.labs.familysearch.org/

FAMILY FEATURE #1

This is the first of a series of family features that will be interspersed with the 1935 diary of Mary Hemminger Benson, second wife of Lloyd Benson. The past several blog entries speak of Clarence Benson. This picture arrived in the email from a direct descendant of Lloyd's brother, Harry Walter Benson who was born Jun 30th, 1884. The sender of this email was well acquainted with all the persons seen in this photograph.

Shown here, from left to right are Donald Kemmer, Leta (Benson) Kemmer, William Birt Benson, Mattie Martha (Weaver) Benson, Esther Marie (Hall) Benson, Clarence Benson. Donald Kemmer was Leta's second husband. Leta and Clarence are the two children born to Will and Mattie.
This photo is not dated, but this writer believes that it was taken no earlier than the mid-1940's.

And now we have a better feel for the family of Will and Mattie (Weaver) Benson recently referred to in Mary Benson's 1935 diary. Esther and Clarence were an attractive couple, don't you think?

(Do you have family photos or stories to share prompted by what you read in this diary? Won't you please share them, and won't you recommend this blog to other descendants of the Benson family?)

Friday, March 8th, 1935

Sharing food, playing cards and other women

In the next four days, Mary writes about sharing food with family and about how when family visits they pass their leisure time away.

Stella is mentioned here for the first time. Stella is Stella Kelley, the fraternal twin of Nellie Kelley. In the 1900 US Census of Grand Prairie Township, Marion County, they are enumerated as Stella E and Nella B., both born in March of 1893. A kind reader reported this relationship and also helped answer another question, which is who is Mae that Mary so often writes of? Mae is the daughter of Stella and Don, last name not currently known.

Moving on. The Friday entry didn't make much sense to me in the first couple of readings. What did it mean? "Then they went to the hospital and got a girl C goes with and left for home." I read it several times searching for understanding.

Then I realized that "C" meant Clarence. Still I was confused. Clarence was a married man with two little girls. This didn't make sense. I turned to my previous family research in my Personal Ancestral File to look up Clarence.

Ah-ha. I now believe that the girl Clarence "goes with" is Esther Hall, a young girl a few months shy of her 20th birthday. He's apparently going with her quite openly because his folks (parents) are with him and Mary writes about it without judgement even though he is a married man.

Bertha, Clarence's wife, sued for divorce the following year in Knox County, Ohio. From the Record of Divorce, Vol. 6, p. 354, she charged him with neglect and for running off with Esther Hall," with whom he left on the 19th day of September, 1936."

The divorce was final on November 5th, 1936, and Clarence and Esther Marie Hall were married that very same day. Together they would have four children. The second one, a little boy, lived only 15 minutes. He is known on the records only as "stillborn." He never drew breath. Shortly after birth, his little beating heart went still.