My Grandmother’s Diary ~ Part 6

An advertisement for Hoogerzeil Express in the 1920 Beverly, Mass. City Directory, page 49

This is another installment of a transcription of my grandmother's 1920 diary.  Gertrude Hitchings (1905 - 2001) was only fourteen years old when she wrote this tiny 3" diary in Beverly, Massachusetts.  You can read the first installment HERE.  I'll be posting sections of this diary every week for Amanuensis Monday posts.

March 10 - 15, 1920

WED. MAR 10, 1920

Got up at 6.30 walked to

school and back awful warm with

bad walking.  home all afternoon

Mrs. Butler over. Went sliding after

supper but didn’t’ stay.  Bobby Brick [?}

and ^Marion & Adolf up tonight.  Ma & Pa

over Mrs. Butler’s bed at 10.15

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THURSDAY 11

Got up 6/45 walked to

school and back, rained a little this

noon.  bad walking.  Home

all afternoon.  Went down

Marion’s after supper.

Pa went over to see Russell.

I came home at 9.30 bed at 10.15

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FRIDAY 12

Go up at 7 went to school

at 7.15 had an assembly

home at 1.30.  Home all afternoon

Mrs. Butler over, raining this p.m.

Went to the pictures with Marion

and her father home 10.30 bed 10.45

[Notes:  Marion could be Marion Hoogerzeil (1904 - 1953), Gertrude’s first cousin.  The Hoogerzeils lived at #5 Union Street.   Marion’s father would have been Gertrude’s Uncle Alonzo Hoogerzeil (1875 – 1946).  Ma's maiden name was Florence Etta Hoogerzeil. They were the children of Peter Hoogerzeil, Jr. (1841 - 1908) who started the Hoogerzeil Express company in Beverly (see the advertisement above)  By 1920 it was being run by John E. Healey, Etta's brother.  

Gertrude mentions going to “the pictures” with Marion and her father.  This would be the moving pictures or movies.  My grandmother always called movies “the pictures”, even if she watched “a picture on TV last night”. ]

SAT. MAR. 13, 1920

Got up at 8.00 had breakfast

worked around the house all

the morning.  Raining hard.

Went over Mrs. Butler’s after

dinner and helped her she cut

her hand. Came home got supper

and went to bed at 9.20 P.M.

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SUNDAY 14

Up at 9.00 took a bath had break-

fast.  Helen, Ellsworth, Russell,

Ethel and Mr. Lowell came

over to dinner.  Went down

Marion’s after dinner.  Helen

and Ellsworth stayed here all

night went to bed at 9.15

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MONDAY 15

Got up at 6.15 went to school

Helen & Ellsworth went home at 11

Got a ride home with Mr. Put-

num.  Went down the store

with Marion.  Ma not well. Home

all evening.  Marion up. Cars running again

                                        bed at 9.00

[Notes:  Gertrude's two eldest siblings were married and living away.  Her sister Helen and her husband Herbert Ellsworth Robson were living nearby in Beverly, and her brother Russell and his wife, Ethel, were living in Lynn.  They were all together for Sunday dinner on the 14th. 

Ma, my great grandmother Florence Etta (Hoogerzeil) Hitchings (1871 - 1941) had TB and was not well.  She was often in Danvers State Hospital during Gertrude’s childhood.]

March 16 - 21, 1920

TUES. MAR 16

Got up at 6.45 rode to school

today in the car.  Got home 1.15

Went over Magilsons with Marion

She worked over there today  stayed

until 6.  Ma is better today

Home all evening  Ma and Pa

are over Butlers went to bed 10.

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WEDNESDAY 17

St. Patrick’s day

Up at 7.00 went to school, got

home at 1.15  Mabel came

up stayed all afternoon.  I went to

class meeting at 3.00 got home 4.15

went down Marion’s.  Marion

up all the evening until

8.30 went to bed at 9.30

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THURSDAY 18

Got up at 7.00 went to

school home at 1.15.  Went

up to Marion’s cousins with

her.  Went to club after

supper.  Mrs. Butler & Mrs Small

over.  Went to bed at 10.15

[NOTES:  Gertrude was happy to take a car (trolley) to school today.  Did they stop running in the winter? Were they on strike?

The Magilson family lived at 154 Bridge Street in Beverly.  They were from Holland, just like the Hoogerzeil family. I don’t think they were relatives.  Notice that on the 16th Marion helped out the Magilson family, and on the 13th Gertrude helped out Mrs. Butler, who had cut her hand. ]

FRI. MAR 19, 1920

Got up at 7.00 went to

school. Home at 1.15  Ma

& Pa gone to Russell’s.  Went

riding on Eunice’s bike.  Home alone

all the evening.  Eunice

and Hollis gone to pictures

went to bed at 9.15

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SATURDAY 20

Got up at 7.00 snowing

hard this morning.   Worked

around the house all

morning.  Home all

afternoon and evening

tatting.  Went to bed

at 9.30

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SUNDAY 21

Got up at 8.45 had

breakfast went to church

home at 12.30 had dinner

Went to walk with Marion

after dinner.  Home all evening

went to bed at 10. O’clock.

[NOTES:  Ma and Pa, my great grandparents, went to visit Russell, their oldest son, who was recently married and living in Lynn.  Gertrude again mentions going to “the pictures” AKA the movies.  

Gertrude loved tatting and knitting.  I remember my grandmother always doing handwork, and every Christmas she would knit something, sometimes just socks or mittens, for everyone in the family.  This was quite a feat because she had seven children, their spouses, and 29 grandchildren to knit for every Christmas!  It was your lucky year if you received a Christmas sweater from Nana! 

This is one of the few entries where Gertrude mentions going to church.  I don't know which church the family attended in Beverly.]

Part One of my grandmother's diary can be found at this link:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/12/amanuensis-monday-my-grandmothers-diary.html  

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "My Grandmother’s Diary ~ Part 6", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 16, 2017, (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/01/my-grandmothers-diary-part-6.html: accessed [access date]).