Monday, October 30th, 1935

Veteran's Day post

This isn't really the 30th of October. No diary entry was made in 1935, but the pages were used 10 years later as this 1945 account continues from the previous pages.

Mary's son Paul is leaving for the army and they all hated to see him go, including the family of his bride of less than a year, Patsy Runyon.

Went to a show. Might it have been Keep Your Powder Dry which opened earlier in October? See trailer: http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/77825/Keep-Your-Powder-Dry-1-Original-Trailer-.html 

Tuesday, July 2, 1935

DJ's new dress and Firecracker Day

Here Mary writes of the fine dress she made for Dorothy. It is sweet and looks ready-made.

Lloyd goes downtown on July third but finds most of the store closed. He still manages to find a teapot and plate as a wedding gift for Harold and Goldie who were married on the 29th.

For the Fourth of July they went to the Delaware Dam with Harold and presumedly Goldie, his new bride. While it was a good time, it was also a hard and tiring day.

Lloyd and Mary don't have a car. Albert gave Mary a ride to the doctor when he saw her at the bus stop. That was nice.

Friday, June 28th, 1935

Let the good times roll!

Shopping. Dress, shorts, toy guns, overalls, sheets and even a mattress! And then there were cherries. They canned 7 quarts.

Harold's wedding is also recorded here. Harold married Goldie L. Pierson. They had one child, Ronald Leland Benson born in Marion in July 1943. Harold was the only child of Albert and Nellie Benson. Albert was Lloyd's brother, and Nellie his 1st cousin.

Mary also writes that the kids played with some fireworks. Also noted was that she also got to hear a story on Levin's radio on Sunday. Imagine that!

Leo had a birthday on the first of July. Leo is Mary and Lloyd's oldest. He was nine years old this birthday. No special celebration was noted. Plans are made to go to the zoo on the 4th of July.

Who is Long and who is Alice that she would hide from them?

Saturday, May 11, 1935

More birthdays

The birthdays keep on coming. This time it is Mary's mother, Leonora, on the 13th. She is 50 years old. She gets a little something for her.

The circus comes to town, and Mary laments that her kids won't be able to actually go. If the circus is setting up at the fairgrounds, this is only a short walk from their home.

Mother's Day comes and goes. Nothing special noted about that day.

Anyone know where Forest Glen is? Was this an area around the Scioto River in the Powell area?

New wall paper was put up in the front room. It sure looks nice.

Wednesday, March 20th, 1935

Spring arrives, brings hope

Mary notes that the first day of spring has arrived and it was ushered
in by thunder, lightning and rain. Something got her all excited for
awhile, but what was that?

And who is the benefactor, the mysterious Mr. F. (?) that promised to
get her 8-year-old son Paul a new pair of shoes, and to also pay the
gas and electric bills? These several days raise more than a few
questions.

Even Albert, Lloyd's brother, gives the opinion that Lloyd should soon
have work. What does he know that isn't mentioned here?

Dr. Grover taped up Mary's feet on the 21st, an odd thing for a
chiropractor type to do, but the family oral history always stated that
he was a "quack." Is that just what chiropractors were called in those
days? Or was he really a practicing quack?

Spring always does offer hope, and the spring of '35 brings hope that
work will be available, that they will be able to take care of their
needs, that health will improved. We'll see about that.

Monday, March 4th, 1935

Health insurance?

If you needed a doctor, you just paid for a doctor. If you needed medicine, you just paid for medicine. If you needed new clothes, you bought that instead. If you had food, you shared it. If you couldn't afford something, you toughed it out. If you were in a jam, family helped you out.

That's how it appeared to work in 1935. Mary gets new clothes, but her mother would rather see her die than go to the hospital. What's up with that? Maybe the Marion hospital had the same bad reputation back then as today.

Clarence gets mentioned for the first time here. Clarence is Clarence Benson, son of Lloyd's brother William Birt and his wife, Mattie Weaver, sister of Lloyd's first wife Daisy Weaver. Clarence will turn 30 years old on the 4th of July, 1935. He is married to Bertha and has two little girls, Eleanor, 8 and Mary Margaret, 7.

I met Clarence sometime between 1992 and his death in 1995. He was living alone in an apartment in Mt. Vernon. Clarence was known to have money back in the prohibition days. He confessed to me that he had been a bootlegger. He owned a Mt. Vernon business, several nice trucks and fancy cars. He also didn't want to talk about it much with me as that was the past and he was now a Christian man. In this diary narrative he appears to have also been charitible in his younger days.

On the 7th of March, Mary sweats puddles of sweat but refuses to go to Columbus as recommended.

Who is Miss P?

Saturday, February 16th, 1935

Fortune Teller

On Sunday we read yet another reference to fortune telling. This time Ruth A. and her friend came over to have their fortune told. Who is Ruth?

I now know who the fortune teller is. My dad told me that his mother, who's diary this is, told fortunes using cards.

On Tuesday Mrs. Beacon comes over to report that grandma isn't doing well. This would be her Grandma Jennie Slane. Her grandma lived at 421 Uncapher St., Marion and was 73 years old at this time. Pictured here is her grandma's house as seen in February, 2010.

Tuesday, February 12th, 1935

Tenth wedding anniversary

Thursday the 14th, Valentine's Day, was Mary and Lloyd's tenth wedding anniversary. They ran off to Monroe, Michigan on Valentine's Day, 1925. You can see the official marriage record at Family Search Record Search: http://search.labs.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#start Search on Lloyd Benson, marriage, 1925, Monroe, Monroe, Michigan. Shazam!

You might notice that some of the facts reported to Monroe County when taking out the marriage license were less than accurate.

Included in this post are a couple bonus images. Hope you enjoy viewing them. Happy Anniversary, Grandma!

Thursday, January 31st, 1935

Grandma isn't very good

Mary isn't getting out much. Her toes hurt. But she reports on Sunday that Lloyd went over to see Grandma, and she isn't doing very good. Grandma is Mary's father's mother, Jennie.

She was born Jane Ann Steele, but now is known as Grandma Slane. She was previously married to John Hemminger who died in 1929. But now she is 73 years old and married to Frank P. Slane. The Slane home is at 421 Uncapher St., Marion.

Harold is mentioned here for the first time. He is Lloyd's 23-year old nephew, the only child of Albert Benson and Nellie Kelley. You may recall that Harold has the distinction of have grandmothers who are also sisters.

Sunday, January 27th, 1935

Folks are feeling better

Albert's name is mention for the first time in Mary's diary. Albert is yet another brother of Lloyd. Albert's wife Nellie is also mentioned.

Nellie also happens to be Lloyd's first cousin. That's right. Since Albert is Lloyd's brother, that means Albert married his first cousin. They had one son, Harold Eugene Benson (1911-1995).

Nellie's mother, Emma Belle Billett, and the Benson boy's mother, Leah Billett, were sisters, children of Michael and Susan (Moore) Billett.

But who is little Dickie? And who are agents?