16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today: 

Sunday, May 7, 1911: Went to Sunday school this afternoon. Saw M.C.R. I went over to Stout’s this evening. Carrie wanted me to try their new telephone but I wouldn’t do it. Besse and Curt were out this evening. 

 Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Today feels like a milestone was reached in the diary. So many days Grandma’s life moves forward in rather routine, predictable ways—but a hundred years ago today Grandma apparently had her first opportunity to use a telephone—though she declined because the new technology evidently intimidated her.

I’m surprised that Grandma had never previously used a phone. According to George Wesner in his 1976 History of ‘McEwensville:

“Around the turn of the century there were two telephones in the town. The Bell was at Watson’s Store and at the home of Armstrong’s. Later phones were installed at the Gearhart Foundry, A. & C. Mauser’s carriage works and the J.G. Smith’s residence. A number of years later, the West Branch Bell Telephone Company began operations and built lines throughout the area.”

I love how phones came into the McEwensville area so slowly that Mr. Wesner could name exactly who had the first ones when he wrote his history almost two-thirds of a century later. It must have been very prestigious to own a phone in that era.

Initials

Throughout the diary Grandma often used initials rather than names to identify guys she liked, so I assume that M.C.R. was someone who Grandma thought was cute. She apparently was concerned that her mother or sister would read her diary, so often tried to mask the names—though it seems to me that if family members were reading the diary that they would have been able to decipher the initials.

16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Tuesday, April 4, 1911: Not very much for today. It still continues to be so chilly and so dreary. To increase these conditions it had to rain this afternoon. I have to write about the weather, when I have nothing else to write. I don’t believe Thursday is going to be the beautiful day I want it to be!

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Grandma was hoping for nice weather on Thursday because it would be the last day of school. The commencement ceremony for her sister and other seniors at McEwensville High School will also take place that day.

——-

Today I’d like to tell you about the best source of information about McEwensville and the surrounding area that I’ve found:

Watsontown, McEwensville, and Delaware Township: A Real Photo Postcard History by Robert Swope Jr. (2006; Publisher: Heritage Trails, PO Box 184, New Hope VA 24469; phone: 540-363-4537). 

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words—and this book is a wonderful example of the power of photos. I keep my copy on a shelf next to the reclining chair in my den. Often I flop into the chair after a long day and find myself reaching for this book—even though I’ve previously looked at every page many times before. The photos pull me back to the simpler days a hundred years ago and I feel like I can almost sense what it was like in McEwensville when Grandma was writing this diary.

This book contains lots of post cards from the early 20th century and is absolutely the best resource that I’ve found on the McEwenville of Grandma’s day. There are descriptive captions for all of the  post cards in the book, and it also contains an interesting and informative history of McEwensville.

In the early 1900s real picture post cards were very popular. Back then people were very interested in sharing the sites and activities of their towns with others.

This blog has  given me the opportunity to meet via technology many wonderful people. One such person is Robert Swope Jr., the author of this book. I contacted  Bob and he very generously allowed me to reproduce a few photos from the book. Most of them are on the Setting page. (I updated the page last night—so if you haven’t looked at it recently be sure to check it out.)

I would encourage anyone who is interested in what McEwensville was like in the early part of the 20th century to read this book. I purchased my copy at the Packwood Museum Gift Shop in Lewisburg. It is also available at other stores in central Pennsylvania.

The book can also be purchased  by calling the phone number listed above or from Bob’s  Ebay store. Just go to Ebay and search using the word “McEwensville”. The listing for the book will pop up.

16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Wednesday, March 29, 1911: Nothing of importance, not one thing. Ruth gave me a piece of her mind tonight. She wants me to keep my mouth shut, not that I say too much, for I am rather bashful, but I’m to breathe though my mouth instead of through my–Darn it, I don’t mean that, I mean vice versa.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

My son and I visited McEwensville over the week-end. We stopped by the abandoned building that once housed McEwensville High School. Now—just as it did a hundred years ago—the school sits next to a cemetery that is filled with the stories of the past. Each marker has its own story to tell . . .

 

Earlier in the diary I mentioned that Grandma lived her entire life within a 5 mile radius of the farm her family lived on when she kept this diary. The same probably could be said for her sister Ruth.  I find it even more amazing how close together they are buried.

Grandma and Ruth are buried within 50 feet of each other in  McEwensville Cemetery–and within a few hundred yards of the school they attended when they were young. Both sisters married men who also attended McEwensville High school (and who are also buried in the same cemetery).

Over the years there were times when Grandma and Ruth were close confidants and other times when they were less close; there were “spats” and reconciliations—but for perpetuity in McEwensville Cemetery they will remain close.