52 Ancestors In 52 Weeks: Letters & Diaries

26 February 1925 Bloomington, Osborne County, Kansas

As I look out at the day’s snow, I am sitting with a new book in which to record facts. Lying on the desk are also my gold fountain pen and watch. When I was a young woman of 17 years, I was given the pen and the watch as gifts. Those few years ago, I was a substitute teacher at the nearby schoolhouse. I was assigned the primary room. My mother, Naomi Ruth, had given me these gifts to celebrate my new vocation as teacher.

Five years later, I am the mature age of 22 years. I am celebrating my new vocation. I am married…I am a farm wife…I am a new mother. My baby daughter was born last October, and we named her Merna Mae. My husband Andrew enjoys cuddling her and calling her “Mae Mae”. He promises her that he will take her with him on his horse Beauty when she is old enough. I promise her that I will teach her how to quilt and crochet when her fingers are ready. We three are my little family.

A new book we have been given is from my Aunt Helen. It is a baby book in which Mae Mae’s growth and accomplishments are recorded. With gold pen in hand, I have recorded that my little one sprouted her first tooth and laughed out loud at three months. Her first trips were to see Grandma Boultinghouse and Grandma Storer at their farms. My mother (Grandma B) is ever present with her camera and takes her pictures so we can include them in the book. I enjoy watching Mae Mae as the days, weeks, and months go by so I can record her progress. In writing and recording these facts, I bring a sweetness to my days.

And so, our lives together will go by…I will continue to note and cherish these new days of motherhood.

~Isabella Mary (Boultinghouse) Storer

Note: Isabella and Andrew Storer are my maternal grandparents while Mae Mae is my mother. I have that baby book, which is now over 100 years old. A fascinating fact (at least to me) is in it there is a picture of Mae Mae and her dad on his horse Beauty…she looks to be about one year old. An identical picture was taken of me and my grandfather when I was one year old…it is in my baby book. And, yes…I have Isabella’s pen and watch.