DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Adelia M. Hoyt memoir and photographs

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Page 51

UNFOLDING YEARS 51

Jennie Hancher was another grand friend and we had many lovely walks together; and rides too in her one-seated buggy behind her gentle little horse, who sometimes balked. But more often Hattie, Ira and I formed a happy trio -- taking long delightful rides in Ira's one seated buggy. Next to my school days these were the happiest years of my life. But why try to make comparisons? The years brought many changes and each brought new experiences-- and so life continued to unfold and grow broader and richer. This was the heydey of my youth. if a bit later, and I enjoyed it to the full. These were not transient acquaintances; each became a lifelong friend each added something to the sum of my life's fullness -- something I should have missed without them. I only hope that I gave them as much in return. 
This seems a good time to say something more about my oldest half sister, Clara Anet (Nettie to us) and her family. She was married when I was about two years old to my father's half-brother, Frank Hoyt. They went to live on a farm near Sac City in Western Iowa. During my school days, Emma and I spent a month one summer visiting them. They had two children, Carrie May just four years my junior, and Fred C. two years younger than his sister. They always like to refer to me as their "aunty-cousin" because of the double relationship. After we moved to Des Moines they came to see us more frequently-- nearly every year at State Fair time. 
After Carrie was married they sometimes brought with them little Ruth, Carrie's oldest child. She seemed to take a great liking to me and would follow me about like my shadow. In later years we corresponded and her letters were a great comfort to me. When Frank and Nettie decided to leave the farm and move into town, my father went out to Sac City and helped his brother build a house. Father, after a fall from a cherry tree in 1895, was no longer able to follow his trade as a carpenter, but he continued to be my helped and guide and reader, and was always ready to do anything he could for me. 
It was between Christmas and New Year of 1897 that Hattie and Ira were married. In the previous

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UNFOLDING YEARS 51 Jennie Hancher was another grand friend and we had many lovely walks together; and rides too in her one-seated buggy behind her gentle little horse, who sometimes balked. But more often Hattie, Ira and I formed a happy trio -- taking long delightful rides in Ira's one seated buggy. Next to my school days these were the happiest years of my life. But why try to make comparisons? The years brought many changes and each brought new experiences-- and so life continued to unfold and grow broader and richer. This was the heydey of my youth. if a bit later, and I enjoyed it to the full. These were not transient acquaintances; each became a lifelong friend each added something to the sum of my life's fullness -- something I should have missed without them. I only hope that I gave them as much in return. This seems a good time to say something more about my oldest half sister, Clara Anet (Nettie to us) and her family. She was married when I was about two years old to my father's half-brother, Frank Hoyt. They went to live on a farm near Sac City in Western Iowa. During my school days, Emma and I spent a month one summer visiting them. They had two children, Carrie May just four years my junior, and Fred C. two years younger than his sister. They always like to refer to me as their "aunty-cousin" because of the double relationship. After we moved to Des Moines they came to see us more frequently-- nearly every year at State Fair time. After Carrie was married they sometimes brought with them little Ruth, Carrie's oldest child. She seemed to take a great liking to me and would follow me about like my shadow. In later years we corresponded and her letters were a great comfort to me. When Frank and Nettie decided to leave the farm and move into town, my father went out to Sac City and helped his brother build a house. Father, after a fall from a cherry tree in 1895, was no longer able to follow his trade as a carpenter, but he continued to be my helped and guide and reader, and was always ready to do anything he could for me. It was between Christmas and New Year of 1897 that Hattie and Ira were married. In the previous