On Friday, Aug. 16, Ruth, Ken and Diane took the "streamlined Mercury train" to Ann Arbor to visit John's mother, Esther, and his step-father, G.A. (Guy Ashford Wood Sr.). John joined them by car on Wed., Aug. 21, bringing gifts. One was a GE Iron for half-sister Sara Jane, who had just surprised the family by marrying Ellis Tobey when her parents were out of town. The others were an automatic toaster for G.A. and a juicer for his mother. Maybe anniversary gifts?
On Aug. 23, the Kelloggs took off for Niagara Falls and Burlington Beach, Ontario. They drove to Grand Island, where Esther Webb Kellogg Wood had grown up on a farm and where John spent part of every summer as a boy. Esther was the granddaughter of Potato Famine Irish. Many of her relatives lived on Grand Island.
The Kelloggs also saw the Falls from the American side and went into Buffalo to stay over night at the Graystone Hotel. John had grown up in Lancaster and Buffalo. Before leaving, they drove by the home owned by John's much-older half-brother, George Kellogg. They didn't stop, I'm sure, nor make any attempt to see George and his family.
Blood isn't always thicker than water. John felt early in his life that his Scottish-English Kellogg relatives looked down upon Charles Kellogg's young second wife, Esther, because she was Irish. Perhaps John thought that he and sister Dorothy were regarded as a step below the other Kelloggs.
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