Friday, April 25, 2014

Seek and - Sometimes - Ye Shall Find

Finding the pieces of a life can be daunting.  Dead ends abound.  And then, with luck, something drops in your lap.

In Pieces of a Life, I relied on my mother's early diaries mainly.  One day this week I was going through a large box of diaries from later in her life, which should have been labeled "paydirt".  It turned out to be a treasure trove.

Hidden at the bottom of the box were two autograph books.  Both were from 1922 when Ruth Meredith graduated from Emmet grade school in Chicago.  On the first page was written her name and her address, 644 Leamington Ave.  I'd never had that address before!  The Merediths lived there before they moved to Iowa Street.  Autograph books were used in 8th grade so that friends, classmates could leave a name with a poem, silly limerick or just their good wishes before moving on to a huge high school, Austin High.  For instance, "By the river, By the sea, By the hillside, Think of me.  Your schoolmate, Sinah Kitzing" is one example.

Then two pictures fell out of the diaries.  The one you see is blonde Ruth at age 2 with a toy bear.  It is so thrilling to be able to see where they lived back in 1908.  Yet still another new-to-me address - "Fulton St. house" is written on the back of the picture in Lottie Meredith's distinctive lefty handwriting. Fulton Street is east of Iowa Street, near Leamington.

The figure at the top of the stairs could be Ruth's father, Jim Meredith.  What about the other picture that fell in my lap?  I'll use that one in the next blog.

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