17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, October 20, 1912: Went to Sunday School this afternoon. Mrs. Besse was here when I came home, but didn’t seem to make a very long stay of it.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Mrs. Besse refers to Grandma’s oldest sister. Besse was married to Curt Hester and lived just outside of Watsontown—less than two miles from the Muffly farm.
This entry made me realize that Besse hasn’t been mentioned much in the diary recently.
I believe that she was most recently mentioned almost two months prior to this entry on August 9:
. . . Went to Sunday School this afternoon. Besse and Curt were here today.
Earlier in 1912, Besse had a baby that died shortly after birth. On April 9 Grandma wrote:
I was an aunt for one brief half a day yesterday, but didn’t know it until this morning. I was so disappointed when I heard it was dead. My little nephew was buried this afternoon. The baby I never saw. I feel like crying, when I think I am an aunt no longer.
My sense is that Besse was having a rough year—though you’d think she’d be spending more time with her mother and sisters rather than less.
That’s must have been a real hardship for a young couple, to a) lose a baby and b) the cost of a burial. Poor Besse. Maybe it happened more often back in 1912.