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Monday, April 3, 2017

My Grandmother's Diary ~ Part 17, July 20 - 31, 1920

Gertrude (left) and her friend Bea sometime near 1920

This is the 17th installment of my grandmother's diary from 1920.  Her name was Gertrude Hitchings (1905 - 2001), and she was living on Elliott Street in Beverly, Massachusetts.  This tiny diary is only 3" tall, and every Monday I publish a new section, with transcriptions of the tiny handwriting.  You can read the first installment HERE.  I'll post more of this diary every week for Amanuensis Monday.

In this section of her diary, Gertrude is on summer vacation from high school, and she describes daily life in Beverly, Massachusetts with her friends and family members.  She doesn't do anything exciting, but it is a slice of life in 1920 New England.


TUES. JULY 20, 1920
Got up at 7.30 went
over Mrs. Butler’s all the
morning.  After dinner
Eunice & I went downtown.
Helen, Ellsworth & Clement
up.  Went to ride with Brick
after supper went to bed at 10

WEDNESDAY 21
Got up at 7.15 went over to
Butlers a little while came
home worked around the
house, after dinner went up Ethel’s
After supper went downtown
Went to bed at 10 o’clock.

THURSDAY 22
Got up at 7.30 went over
Mrs. Butler’s came home at 3
went to ride up Danvers with
Brick.  After supper Eunice, B
& I went riding.  Mr. Lowell up
Went to bed at 10.15

NOTES:  If you notice, dinner was the midday meal in New England in 1920, and supper is the evening meal.  Dinner in the old days was always the biggest meal of the day, usually at midday.  Gertrude, my grandmother, always called lunch "dinner" all her life.   On the 20th it is the first time I've noticed her call Helen and Ellsworth's son "Clement" instead of "the baby".  She mentions her brother's wife, Ethel.  On the 22nd she mentions her friends Brick and "B" (probably her friend "Bea" in the photo above).  Mr. Lowell, the occasional border was back on the 22nd.

FRI. JULY 23, 1920
Got up at 7.30 worked
around the house most
of the morning.  Eunice and
I went downtown at 3.45  Ethel
And Rus came down. After supper
Eunice, Ella & I went to ride
Up Danvers.  Went to bed at 9.45

SATURDAY 24
Got up at 7.15 went over
to Butlers until 3 came
home worked around the house
took a bath.  After supper
Eunice, Brick, Marion & I
Went for a ride.  Went
To bed at 10.30

SUNDAY 25
Got up at 9.00 had breakfast
Went over to Bea’s a little while
After dinner Eunice, Brick
and I went to Idlewood
home all evening bed at 10.00

NOTES:  She mentions going downtown with her sister Eunice, and her brother Russell and his wife, Ethel, were visiting.  Ella must be a friend, as well as Brick.  Marion is her first cousin.  Bea is a good friend, who is in the photographs above.   Idlewood is the nearby park and lake in Wenham, featured in this blog post HERE,  which was accessible by trolley from Beverly.   

MON. JULY 26, 1920
Got up at 7.30 Worked over
Butlers a little while &
came home and worked.  After
dinner Eunice & I went up to
Ethel’s.  After supper Marion
came up and we went down her
house.  Went to bed at 9.45

TUESDAY 27
Got up at 7.15 went over
Butler’s all the morning.
Ruth & Nana up.  After dinner
went down Helen’s took baby down
beach stayed to supper home at 6
after supper Brick & I went up to
Fred’s.  Went to bed at 10.15

WEDNESDAY 28
Got up at 7.30 Worked all
morning over to Butler’s
stayed home all afternoon.  ???
Marion came up.  After supper went
to ride with Brick.  Bed at 10.00

NOTE:   On the 27th she mentions "Nana", which would be her maternal grandmother Mary Etta (Healey) Hoogerzeil (1852 - 1932).  I don't know who was the Ruth who accompanied Nana, for I can't find a cousin or aunt on that side of the family named Ruth.  Maybe she was a friend?  Gertrude is back to calling Helen's little son "the baby". 

THURS. JULY 29, 1920
Got up at 7.15 went over
Mrs. Butlers all morning and
afternoon knitting.  After
supper Mr. Lowell
came up.  Brick and I went
to ride up Danvers.
Went to bed at 10.

FRIDAY 30
Got up at 7.30 Worked
all morning over to Mrs.
Butlers.  After dinner Belle
and Elsie came up.  Stayed
home all afternoon & evening
went to bed at 10.15

SATURDAY 31
Got up at 7.30 over to
Mrs. Butlers all morning
and afternoon.  Mr. Lowell
over at 4.  After supper played
whist.  Bed at 10.30

NOTES:  Gertrude was knitting again! Belle is her aunt, Isabel Hoogerzeil (1888 - 1960), and Elsie is a mystery.  Mr. Lowell the boarder is back for the weekend. They played "whist" (a card game), which sounds so old fashioned to me!

Next week I'll cover August in Gertrude's diary.  August 1st was her birthday!

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "My Grandmother's Diary ~ Part 17, July 20 - 31, 1920", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 3, 2017, (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/04/my-grandmothers-diary-part-17-july-20.html: accessed [access date]). 

1 comment:

  1. I love this diary because of its simplicity and how it reveals her innocence. Maybe also because when I was about ten, I kept a diary that was also pretty much a list of what I did each day. It was all pretty routine and dull (I was ten, after all), but it's fun (and funny) to read it now and see what my childhood self was thinking and doing.

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