Babysitting

 

Yesterday I received the latest issue of Reader’s Digest. At the end of one article on “Your True Stories” was a request for readers to send in their true stories on babysitting. I’ve never submitted anything to this magazine, but immediately a story on that subject came to mind.

My source of extra spending money was bagging charcoal for Mr. Seery at the end of Barclare Lane (see here), followed by working for my uncle on a state forest fire crew. My sister, on the other hand, was very responsible and made some of her spending money doing baby sitting for families in the neighborhood.

A new family had recently moved into the neighborhood. They had two boys. Their legal names were Aloysius and Cornelius, but their nicknames were John and Casey (not sure how those nicknames were chosen). Being several years younger, I knew who they were, but didn’t interact with them – and I had never met their parents either. Here is the story as I sent it in to rd.com:

“I was in my mid-teens and a tall, gangly boy in high school. I had done a few times of babysitting, but my sister who was a year younger was one of the chief babysitters in our neighborhood. One weekend she had two babysitting opportunities the same evening. She asked if I could take one of them for her and I agreed. It was a new family who had recently moved into the area. I knew the two boys in the family as I had seen them running around the neighborhood, but had never been in their house or met their parents. She called them and they were amenable to having me do the babysitting for that evening. At the appropriate time, I walked down the street to their house and knocked on the door. When the dad opened the door, I was surprised to see that both he and his wife were considerably shorter than I was - perhaps just a few inches over 5' compared to my 6'2". Thus, I was looking down at them as I walked into the entryway and reached out to shake their hands. I suddenly clunked my head on the light fixture that was hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the entryway and set it swinging wildly. Alas, it appeared that they had furnished the house to meet their diminished statures - so the bottom of that light was only 6' off the ground. I was apparently the first person visiting them who was tall enough to make them realize that they had hung it too low. Turning my attention away from the couple, I grabbed the light and stopped the oscillations before apologizing to them. It was not the greatest way to make a first impression. However, the rest of the evening went as planned, and they even invited me to babysit again a few weeks later. I noted that by then they had shortened the chain on the entryway light!”

It's always interesting to me the facts and impressions that one remembers from years ago (in this case about six decades ago). I have no idea if the magazine will accept my entry. But perhaps the readers of my blog, while fewer in number, will appreciate it anyway.

My Pierpont Family Line

I’ve written a number of blogs over the years about some of my Pierpont ancestors. But I’ve never actually written down the family line showing all the relationships and some of the “less famous” of my ancestors. So, it’s time to rectify that.

The De Pierrepont / Pierrepont / Pierpont family name goes back over 1000 years to Normandy, France, then to England during the Norman invasion, then to America during the Great Migration. That’s 30+ generations and far too much to try and replicate here. Rather, I’m just going to look at the last 10 generations ending with myself.

 

Great*7 Grandfather – Rev. James Pierpont (1659-1714)

I’ve written a lot about the Rev. James over the years, so I won’t replicate that here. He was born in Roxbury, MA, and studied at Harvard (then a school for ministers). In 1684, he was asked to become the pastor of the First Congregational Church in New Haven, CT, where he served for the next 30 years. He married three times, his first two wives passing away at a young age. His third wife, Mary Hooker, was the granddaughter of Thomas Hooker, one of the founders of Hartford, CT.

 

Great*6 Grandfather – Joseph Pierpont (1704-1738)

Despite his father having founded Yale University (then called the Collegiate School of Connecticut), Joseph was the only one of his sons who did not attend that school. Rather, he became a farmer – the first of a long line of Pierpont men who worked in the agricultural field. He did, however, provide for the Yale education of his son, Joseph, Jr.

Joseph married Hannah Russell, the youngest daughter of Rev. Noadiah Russell from Middletown. They settled in North Haven where they had a total of 11 children.

 

Great*5 Grandfather – Joseph Pierpont, jr. (1730-1824)

Joseph had a long life, living until age 94. While he went to Yale, he did not become a minister, instead using his services in the CT militia (where he was a captain), then in the CT General Assembly (where he served several terms), then as a town clerk and justice of the peace.

Like his father, he lived in North Haven. He married Lydia Bassett and they had 6 children. When she passed away in her late 40’s, he married the widow Annis [Warner[ [Curtis] [Blakeslee] in 1791. There’s an interesting family relationship here as Annis’ second husband, Noah Blakeslee, was a cousin, once removed, of Joseph’s daughter-in-law, Mary Blakeslee (see below).

 

Great*4 Grandfather – Ezra Pierpont (1757-1842)

Ezra was born in North Haven as the oldest son of Joseph, jr, and Lydia. He served in the Revolutionary War. After the war, in 1783, he married Mary Blakeslee.

Mary was the daughter of Isaac Blakeslee and Lydia [Alcox/Alcott]. Lydia had been born in North Haven, but her parents had moved when she was just a year old to Farmingbury (later Wolcott) as the first settlers of that town (my hometown). There being few other families in Farmingbury, Lydia had returned to North Haven to stay with relatives when she was in her late teens and had met Isaac there.

It may have been the influence of Mary and her grandparents and aunts and uncles living in Farmingbury that convinced Ezra to move to the East Farms section of Waterbury after his marriage to Mary – just a few miles south of the rest of the Alcox/Alcott family. But it’s also possible that Mary being four months pregnant with their first child that caused the hasty exit from the North Haven scene.

Ezra and his descendants bought up large sections of land in the East Farms section over the coming years – using some for eventually a dairy farm as well as growing other crops. They became some of the largest landowners of that part of the city. A history of Waterbury notes that the Pierpont family owned several hundred acres.

Ezra and Mary had seven children together. They and most of their children are buried in the East Farms Cemetery. The land was eventually divided among their five sons.

 

Great*3 Grandfather – Austin Pierpont (1791-1848)

Austin was the fourth child of Ezra and Mary. Like his father and grandfather, he served in the military, in his case the War of 1812. He had married Sally Beecher right before the war began. They had ten children. When Sally died (at the age of 52), he married Emily Sperry. A year later he was killed by lightning. Like his father, Austin was a farmer.

 

Great-great-grandfather – Charles Joseph Pierpont (1825-1844)

Charles was the sixth child of Austin and Sally. Continuing in the farming-related businesses, he was a butcher. He married Mary Ann Warner. He and Mary Ann had six children, most of whom also continued in farming-related businesses. I detailed one of their children in a prior posting.

 

Great-grandfather – Wilson Levinus Pierpont (1855-1921)

Wilson was fourth child of Charles and Mary Ann. He married Annie Merrill and they had eight children together. Annie died as a result of childbirth complications when my grandfather was born and later Wilson married Anna [Root] [Hall]. He and his brother Elmer had a wholesale business – first as milk brokers, then adding groceries to the items they handled.

 

Grandfather – Harold Granger Pierpont (1898-1969)

I’ve written fairly extensively about my grandfather before. He married Sara Blackman and they had five children together. He died prematurely at age 71 when a ladder he was using to clean the gutters of his house slipped out from under him.

Although he worked in a plumbing store in his later years, he was initially a milk man – delivering milk from the Pierpont-owned Maple Hill Dairy which was owned and operated by a couple of his cousins. Although he grew up in Prospect, like most of his Pierpont ancestors beginning with Ezra, he lived in the East Farms area of Waterbury.

 

Mother – Sylvia Louise [Pierpont] Russell (1924-2012)

My mother was the third (and middle) child. She married my father, Vernon Harold Russell, right after he returned from his service in WWII. I’ve written about that here.

 

Myself – Alan Harold Russell (1948-)

I’m the oldest of five children. I was born in St. Mary’s hospital in Waterbury as there are no hospitals in Wolcott. I grew up there and still have fond memories as well as I continue to be friends on social media with many of my high school classmates. Although I’ve lived in PA for nearly 50 years, I am the co-historian of the New England Pierpont Family Association.

The Multiple Marriages of Elmer Pierpont

I was blessed growing up to know not only all my grandparents, but many of their siblings (my great-uncles and great-aunts) as well. My mother did not have that pleasure. Her father was the youngest of eight children and when his mother passed away due to complications of his birth, his father gave him to a childless couple in the next town to raise. By the time he married and moved back to the same area of Waterbury where he had been born and began having a family of his own, most of the prior generation had passed away. So my mother never knew them and as a result she did not have any family stories to pass along to me or my siblings.

Recently, I was given a list of all the members of the Pierpont family who owned automobiles in Waterbury in the period from 1910 to 1920. My grandfather was among them since he married in March of 1919. And I recognized many of the other names in that list and was able to find them in the Pierpont genealogy records. But one name, Margaret G Pierpont, was not readily apparent. A search for her among the records was what led me to Elmer Pierpont and his rather unique story.

 

Background

My great-great-grandparents, Charles Joseph Pierpont (1825-1884) and his wife Mary Ann [Warner] Pierpont (1828-1911), had six children as follows:

·       Charles Jared Joseph Pierpont (1847-1920), married Juliette Maria Bolster (1840-1912)

·       Austin Beecher Pierpont (1849-1919), married Lucy Adaline Welton (1841-1919)

·       Ellen Caroline Pierpont (1853-1902), married George Wilbur Conner (1851-1924)

·       Wilson Levinus Pierpont (1855-1921), married Annie Merrill (1858-1898) [my great-grandparents]

·       Elmer Merritt Pierpont (1857-1917) – the subject of this research

·       Mary Ann Pierpont (1860-1938), married Charles Somers Miller (1858-1943)

As you can see, by the time my mother was born in 1924, all her Pierpont ancestors had passed away with the exception of her great-aunt Mary Ann and great-uncle Charles.

In the late 1800s, Austin and his descendants had started their dairy farm, Maple Hill Dairy, in Waterbury. Wilson and Elmer were the distributors of the resultant milk. Here is their ad in the local city directory from 1878.

[Milk Ad]

 

First Wife

It was about this time that Elmer married for the first time. This marriage was to Alice Louise Patten (1855-1893). She had been born in Pennsylvania, but her mother was from Waterbury (her mother’s maiden name was Frost after whom Frost Rd is named) and the family had moved back to Waterbury where Alice was only a few years old. Over the next few years Elmer and Alice had four children together:

·       Walter Merritt Pierpont (1879-1931), never married

·       Edward W. Pierpont (1882-?) [not listed in Pierpont genealogies]

·       Lena May Pierpont (1886-1968), married Ferris R. Turkington (1882-1956)

·       Frederick Elmer Pierpont (1889-1931), married May R. Tyrrell (1890-?)

Then, sadly, on 28 Oct 1893, Alice died at the age of only 38. Elmer was left with four children ranging in age from 14 down to only 4.

 

Second Wife

I believe the second marriage of Elmer was not too long after Alice died, but I’ve not been able to confirm the date nor much information about his second wife. Her name was Elizabeth or Eliza Lockwood, but she went by the nickname of Lizzie. While Lizzie would have been busy taking care of Elmer’s four children from his first marriage, the Pierpont genealogies record that Elmer and Lizzie had one child together, but she died young.

·       Ethel Francis Pierpont (1897-1897)

Tragically, Lizzie also died young. In his journals, Elmer’s brother-in-law, Charles Somers Miller recorded the death of Lizzie on April 22, 1899. Like Elmer’s first wife, Alice, she was only 38 years old.

 

Third Wife

Again, Elmer did wait long to fill the hole in his life caused by the early death of a wife. While he was by now in his late 40’s, he needed someone to care for his younger children. By then, Elmer’s oldest son, Walter, was 20 years old and he had moved out on his own. But his youngest, Frederick was only 10 and the youngest children still needed a mother. Six months after the death of his second wife, on 17 Oct 1899, Elmer married Cynthia Anna [Chipman] Birdsall (1857-1908).

Anna had been born in Cornwall, CT, but they were married in Springfield, MA. The marriage record there dutifully records that this is Elmer’s third marriage and Anna’s second marriage. The record also notes that she was divorced. This is a little confusing as the Springfield city directory from the prior year (1898) lists her as being the widow of George Birdsall. Whichever is true, she was free to marry Elmer.

[Marriage record]

 

The following year, the 1900 federal census records the state of affairs in Elmer’s life.

[1900 Census]

 

There are a few mistakes by the census taker, but let’s see if we can make sense of what he has written. Elmer is listed as having been married for 22 years. That’s correct as he was first married in 1878 to Alice as noted above. But the census taker also attributes that same 22 years to Anna, which is likely not correct. Anna is shown as having had 3 children, all of whom are still living. That is correct, but they are not necessarily living here with Elmer and Anna.

The last three children listed, Edward, Lena, and Fred, are Elmer’s children from his first marriage. The first one listed has been given the name Birdsall, but she is one of the children of Anna and her first husband, George Birdsall, so Birdsall is actually the daughter’s last name, not her first name, and we don’t know what her first name actually is. The fact that this daughter is recorded first when she is younger than the second child, Edward, is also attributable to her being a product of Anna’s first marriage while the latter is from Elmer’s first marriage.

Anna successfully raises all four children listed here. She and Elmer also have two more children together in the next few years:

·       Mildred Anna Pierpont (1901-1972), married Arthur Bird

·       Merritt Elmer Pierpont (1904-1986), never married

Then on 16 Nov 1908, Charles Miller records that “Elmer’s third wife” has passed the preceding weekend. At least she was older than the 38 of his first two wives as she is 51.

The older children, both from Elmer’s first marriage and Anna’s first marriage, are now old enough to strike off on their own. But the two they had together need someone to watch over them – and someone other than Elmer who is now in his early 50s.

 

Fourth Wife

This time, Elmer did not immediately remarry. Rather, he found someone to be a live-in housekeeper who as part of her duties could care for his two youngest children. For this role he found Margaret Grace Miller who was an immigrant from Germany. In the 1910 census we see Elmer with his two children and his housekeeper – here called Grace, her middle name. She is married and has three living children, but they are staying with her husband.

[1910 census]

 

In looking at the 1900 census for Margaret, I found that she was married to Herman Miller and that her three children were Elsie, Hattie, and Herman (ages 8, 5, and 1 respectively). Herman and Margaret were both born in Germany and came to the US as young children. [I have not been able to determine Margaret’s maiden name.] Confusingly, there is another Herman Miller living in Waterbury at the same time. His wife is Katherine and they also have three children named Elsie, Hattie, and Herman although they are a year or two younger than their same-named counterparts.

It is not until four years later, on 8 Jun 1914, that Elmer marries for the fourth time to Margaret [Miller]. I have not been able to determine if she divorced her first husband, Herman, or if he passed away in the meantime.

Only three years after that, Elmer himself finally dies. His fourth wife, Margaret, remains in the family home. The city directory for the following year lists “Pierpont, Margaret G wid Elmer M”. A few years later, the 1920 census shows Margaret as a widow, living at 70 Bunker Hill Rd, with her daughter Hattie. Hattie is listed with the last name of Pierpont, but I am not certain if Elmer ever officially adopted her or this is a presumption on the part of the census taker. It appears that Margaret is supporting herself by having taken in three borders.

[1920 Census]

 

Margaret did not choose to remain a widow. In 1925 she married for a third time to Henry B Curtis and he moved into her home on Bunker Hill Rd. She was then 56 years old. They continued living in that home until her death in 1947 at the age of 78 – more than the ages of Elmer’s first two wives combined.

 

Conclusion

This has been a confusing story to research. Certainly the Pierpont Genealogy records have been a good source of information. But they are not necessarily complete, for example showing Elmer’s fourth wife as simply “m4 ?? Grace Miller wd”, i.e., without a date of marriage, names of children from her first marriage, her third marriage after the death of Elmer, etc.

Elmer was not a bigamist as the title of this blog might imply. Rather he was simply a victim of having his first three wives die while still having young children in the home – thus being a serial marrier. A complicated story, and a sad one.

Thanks to Howard Pierpont for passing along the list of automobile owners in Waterbury from the 1910s. Finding that Margaret Pierpont owned a new 1914 Ford back in 1915 (right after her marriage to Elmer) was what got me started on this bit of research.

 

 

A1C

I’ve been having a lot of doctor visits and medical tests done in the past two months. December – 3 days in the hospital and 2 visits immediately after release; January – 7 visits/testing sessions; first week of February – 7 visits/tests (and at least 6 more in the remainder of the month). But I’d like to write here about the things that are more under my control, namely making sure I take the prescribed medications and the other foods/supplements that I eat. In particular, I’d like to focus on my diabetes and what changes I’ve made over the past several years to deal with it.

 

What’s an A1C?

One of the key measures with diabetes is checking your blood sugar levels. Levels that are too high can do damage to various organs. But levels that are too low are also dangerous. Either can lead to death. So it’s important to manage those sugar levels in your blood. But what do the numbers mean?

One of the most common tests is called the A1C. The CDC puts it this way: “When sugar enters your bloodstream, it attaches to hemoglobin, a protein in your red blood cells. Everybody has some sugar attached to their hemoglobin, but people with higher blood sugar levels have more. The A1C test measures the percentage of your red blood cells that have sugar-coated hemoglobin.”

Red blood cells have a lifespan of about three months. Therefore, when the A1C test is looking at those cells, you are getting an idea of the average blood sugar levels for the past 90 days or so. While the A1C result is reported as a percentage of those cells, it can also be reported as estimated average glucose (eAG), the same numbers that are reported when one does the typical “finger stick” and testing with a portable meter. But what levels in these reported results are “good” or “bad”. Here is one chart from the Cleveland Clinic.

As you can see, the various levels are colored green (OK, or “In-range”, <5.7%), yellow (prediabetes, 5.7-6.4%), and various intensity of red (Diabetes, >6.4%). The accompanying text also notes that “If you already have diabetes, an A1C results is a glimpse into how well your management plan has been working over the last three month. Management may involve oral pills, taking insulin, monitoring blood sugar levels and/or lifestyle changes, such as diet and exercise." I should also note here that the A1C is a 3-month average, so one person might have fairly consistent daily results whereas another person might have readings that vary widely. I know one person who has wild swings of the eAG with measurement of 50 then a few days later over 400! My results are pretty consistent.

 

So, how am I doing?

I was first tested for diabetes back in 2015 (8 years ago). My result was an A1C of 7.1, i.e. in the low diabetic range. Over the next nearly two years, subsequent tests gave increasing results in the 8.3-8.5 range. It was then that I was first prescribed some oral medication. My results dropped into the 6.2-6.6 range. Then they started climbing again. My doctor prescribed first higher doses of the same medication, then eventually additional drugs as well. I would initially respond well, then my numbers would start climbing again. By this time, I was also using a meter and finger sticks to check my levels daily. The meter would report things as “in range” when my results were 180 or below, and “out of range” for anything over 180. By 2021, I was taking the maximum dosage of two different drugs, but I was back up to the 7.5-8.0 range.

It was then that I was scheduled to meet with a nurse who specialized in transitioning patients to insulin. She started me off on a very low dose, had me check my sugar levels on a daily basis, and would check in with me every month and adjust the dosage higher until eventually I was getting readings that she approved of.

I should note that her “goal” for me was to have eAG readings in the 70-130 range, so as soon as I had a few readings in that range, that was the dosage she approved. I had started out with her in mid-2021 getting 3-day averages of 190-195. By October she had increased my dosage from 10 to 50 units each day and I was getting 3-day averages of around 120.

Unfortunately, the body adjusts to the dosage and it slowly becomes less effective. By the end of the year, I was getting 7-day averages in the 140-150 range – still a whole lot better than 190-195.

I continued to track on a daily basis for 2022. Whenever I had a reading that spiked over 180, I would think back through the prior day and what might have caused it. In May I bought some non-diet soda instead of my usual diet Mountain Dew. Wow, did I see the impact! For the better part of a week, my readings were 180-200! The same thing happened around Thanksgiving – having a piece or two of the pies that our family makes put me over 180 for nearly two weeks.

For 2023, I’m taking a more serious approach. And I’m happy to report that my 7-day average has stayed in the 130-150 range the entire time. I’ve also now recorded that if I forget to take my “night meds” (I take several pills each morning and just a couple at night) that my reading the next morning will be up about 30 points from the day before. I’ve only done that a few times, but sometimes life intervenes and I may have a meeting that runs long or a particularly stressful day and neglect to take those few pills. But seeing the higher results and a note “Forgot nite meds” on the log I keep is helping me to forget less often.

As for my A1C, I still get it checked a few times a year and I’m happy to report that my results have been under 7 since I began taking insulin back in mid-2021. My last two readings, including one a few days ago, were both 6.9.

Both the CDC site and the Cleveland Clinic site note that “The goal for most people with diabetes is 7% or less.” This recommendation comes from the American Diabetes Association. So while the chart above from the Cleveland Clinic shows that anything over 6.4 is in the “red zone”, as one who is attempting to “manage” their diabetes, 6.9 is absolutely fine with me. I will continue to monitor my blood sugars – both with daily finger sticks and with twice-a-year blood work that checks my A1C. But I feel that things are being “managed” properly.

 

Other medication/diet issues

I have two other medical conditions that also require paying attention to “managing” my medication/food inputs. One of these is going quite well, the other I need to begin paying attention to [again].

 

As I’ve reported previously on several occasions, I am working on getting a “hole” in the bottom of my foot to close up with skin grafts. To help speed the healing process, I have begun taking daily protein drinks. They appear to be helping quite a bit. My current efforts have resulted in the size of the hole diminishing by 2/3 in just two weeks. I’ve now put the protein powder that I mix up on a subscription plan (with Amazon.com) so I can keep it up.

 

Because of my focus on both the hole in my foot as well as managing my blood sugar levels, I have let one other area slide for a while. (I find it hard to pay attention to all my medical issues at the same time.) My cholesterol levels (HDL and LDL) have never been an issue. The only thing in my periodic Lipid blood tests that is “out of range” is my triglycerides. The expected readings are supposed to be <150. But my readings have never been anywhere near that. Back in 2016, my high water mark was 952! I began taking fish oil as a way of bringing down those results.

By taking a large tablespoon of it each day I was able to bring my results down into the low 300s. Getting any lower has proved next to impossible. A year ago I reached my low water mark of only 225. That’s still higher than recommended, but appears to be a reasonable level and I was quite happy with it. However, with the increased focus on my foot and all that was needed there, I have let my focus here slide. The effort of taking a liquid each morning as well as all my other medications (which are in pill form) was just too time-consuming with everything else I needed to do. My most recent lipid panel showed that I was back up close to 500 – certainly not the 700-1000 range that I used to be in, but it shows me that I need to add this area back to my daily concerns.

I’ve found a substitute (that was not available a few years ago) which delivers the benefits in a squeeze pouch instead of a bottle of liquid. It’s not only cheaper ($1.00/day instead of $1.50/day), but does not need to be refrigerated like the bottles of liquid need to be once you open it. So – cheaper, more convenient, and even more of the beneficial types of Omega-3 – I’ll take it! I’ve ordered a 3-month supply and I’ll then wait until my next round of blood work later this year to see what the impact will be.

 

Genealogy Story – Christabel Hamilton

Last year our church hired a new worship leader. Her name is Cristabelle – which I think is a rather nice name. Her mother is a distant cousin of mine – both on her father’s side (11^th cousin) and mother’s side (10^th cousin, twice removed), so that makes Cristabelle a distant cousin as well (11^th cousin, once removed and 10^th cousin, three times removed). Cristabelle is a talented musician – both as a singer/songwriter and as a pianist and guitar player.

But as I was reviewing some old blogs that I had written (see here), I became aware of another individual with that same name in my extended family tree – but spelled slightly different. Her name was Christabel Hamilton. I hadn’t done a whole lot of research on her, as the blog was about a picture of her mother, Hattie Giles, that someone had found in an antique shop. I was able to pass along that picture to Hattie’s great-granddaughter, my niece. But I thought it might be good to do some further investigation into Christabel Hamilton, the grandmother of my niece.

 

Christabel was born on 1 Aug 1901, in Brattleboro, VT. Her parents were Gilbert Wilson Richardson and Harriet (Hattie) Chenery Giles. As I noted in my prior blog, their marriage did not last and they divorced while Christabel was a young child. In 1909, Hattie remarried, this time to Robert Hugh Hamilton. Robert adopted Christabel and her name then became legally Christabel Giles Hamilton. Robert had four sons by his first marriage, but they were all older and had married and moved out by the time Robert and Hattie married. Robert, Hattie, and Christabel eventually moved to Montague, MA in late 1910 or early 1911.

Hattie was evidently a piano player and passed along her musical abilities to her daughter. At a very young age, Christabel began appearing in the local newspaper as she began making use of her considerable musical skills. Here are just a few of the newspaper articles I found about her:

·       28 Jan 1910 (age 8): in Vermont Phoenix – performing in a play about Mother Goose – played Baby Bunting and a flower girl.

·       20 May 1910 (age 9) in Brattleboro (VT) Reformer – “Pre-Memorial Exercises” from local school district “… recitation, The Blue and the Gray, Christabel Hamilton, grade four;…”

·       28 Oct 1911 (age 10): in Greenfield (MA) Recorder – in a play about the Pied Piper of Hamlin – performed a “flag dance”; article notes, “Christabel Hamilton has already won a reputation for her fine dancing and singing.”

·       13 Dec 1913 (age 12): in Recorder – “Miss Christabel Hamilton sang a solo sweetly.”; also noted that she was a violinist.

·       30 Oct 1921 (age 20): in The Musician – “The Boston Flute Player’s Club gave an interesting concert … The assisting artists were Miss Christabel Hamilton, soprano;”

·       6 Oct 1926 in Montreal Gazette – “… Miss Hamilton consisting of songs in Italian, French, English and Spanish…”, “Miss H showed herself to be possessed of a charming lyric soprano voice admirably suited to the delicate, light type of songs she had selected for her programme.”

·       27 Jan 1927 in Allentown (PA) Morning Call: announcement of upcoming radio programs – WPCH 1100AM – “Christabel Hamilton, soprano”

·       8 Apr 1927, Glen Falls Post-Star: “Lyric Soprano in Program of H.S. Music Club”, “Miss Christabel Hamilton, lyric soprano of New York, was presented in the third annual concert.” “Miss Hamilton has a pure soprano voice of high quality and displays excellent training. She has studied under Prof. Fredie E. Bristol of New York and has been in demand as soloist for club and social events.” “Her enunciation was so clear and distinct that even in the French and Spanish songs each syllable could be heard.”

·       Newspaper articles mentioning her were from VT, MA, NY, CT, PA and Canada.

 

On 16 Feb 1929, Christabel married George Chester Burns. His parents were already deceased. Being in their late 20’s, they immediately began efforts to have a family. Their son, George Robert Burns (who went by Robert) was born 9 months later on Nov 1^st. Despite being married, Christabel retained her maiden name as that was the name she was known under in the music circuit. She continued to perform for the next several decades.

·       31 May 1938, Greenfield (MA) Recorder: “…Mrs. Christabel Hamilton Burns … gave vocal solos.”

·       27 Nov 1948, Greenfield Recorder: “Miss Christabel Hamilton, who is studying voice in New York City, came home, Sunday, for a week.”

·       28 Jul 1951, Greenfield Recorder: “Miss Christabel Hamilton will broadcast from WBZ at Springfield this week Wednesday evening.”

·       9 Jul 1960, Greenfield Recorder: As You Like It, “Miss Christabel Hamilton … contributed much to the production”.

 

During just one ten-year period, all of Christabel’s ancestors passed away as well – her mother, Hattie, in 1938; her stepfather, Robert, in 1944; her biological father, Gilbert, in 1945; and her husband, George, in 1947. With Christabel and her son Robert only having each other, they remained close for the rest of Christabel’s life. She eventually passed away on 17 Mar 1970. As the above articles show, she was still going by her maiden name. However, her obituary finally calls her by her legal name of Mrs. Christabel (Hamilton) Burns. By that time Robert had married my cousin in 1963 – he was 33 and she was only 20.

I have searched in vain for any recording of Christabel singing. But since she was singing during an era when performances were done live, there are none to be found. However, the above newspaper clippings are just a small sample of the ones mentioning her name, and she was evidently a very good singer and quite well known.

 

I find it interesting that I only know two people with this beautiful name and both of them are skilled singers and musicians.

 

My First Car

I had finished my undergraduate degree at Michigan State with my sole transportation being the old one-speed bicycle I had bought when I was 12 years old. It was good enough to get me around campus as needed even though the fenders were dented and starting to rust and the handlebars were quite pitted. I never bothered to lock it up since it looked bad enough that no one would want to steal it.

That fall of 1970, I was starting grad school with a half-time assistantship in the Computer Science Department. They had established CPS as a separate department only a year before and I was one of their first graduates (there were 7 of us) – having switched majors from Engineering. Now I was one of the first graduate students.

As an employee of the university, I pedaled over to the MSU Credit Union and opened an account where my paycheck could be deposited. Once I’d been working for a few months and had built up a bit of a bank balance, I felt it was time to upgrade my transportation. So that winter I used that institution to apply for a loan so that I could buy my first car.

After shopping around a bit, I settled on a 1970 Dodge Dart Swinger like the one pictured here. It was red with a black vinyl top. I went with the basic model that had a slant-six engine, rather than the 340. The 340 had options like racing stripes, hood scoops, etc. So rather than the 340 small block eight cylinder that gave 225 hp, mine only had 225 cu. In. and 145 hp. But I was only looking for basic transportation, not performance. Including taxes, tags, and title, it cost me the grand sum of $2626 – not much compared to today’s prices, but certainly not cheap for a graduate student. That price also included getting it undercoated (Ziebart) – at the recommendation of the dealer.

 

Even though I was legally still a resident of CT, I had an address and a bank in MI, so I got the car with MI license plates and registration. Mine was as shown here. In the red/black color, it was pretty impressive – at least to me. However, I was not aware that it also made a statement to the local police department who could spot it gong by. I got two speeding tickets over the next two years – but only one more in the next 50+ years.

Now, when I went home during breaks (600 miles to CT), I could put a card on the ride-board in the student union as offering a ride – instead of having to post on the other side of the board as looking for one.

But it was also handy when the spring quarter began (we were on quarters, not semesters back then). That was because it was that quarter that I met the woman who would eventually become my wife. By the end of the quarter, we were pinned. That summer I would make the 200-mile trip to Petoskey where she was from just about every weekend. We got engaged at the end of the summer. Then at Christmas time, I took her with me to CT to meet all the relatives. And the following summer we married, and my new brothers-in-law tied some tin cans to the back bumper of that car.

Two weeks later I finished grad school and we drove that Dodge Dart from MI to CT where I had found a job. We took a week doing so as that was our honeymoon. I had a U-Haul trailer behind that probably weighted as much as the car did – being that most of what I owned at that point were all my books from five years of school. Our trip included going through the mountains of WV – probably a mistake on my part. Going up the mountains, that little slant-six was working pretty hard and going down, I was using both feet on the brakes to keep the car on the road around any corners. It was smoking by the time we got to the other side. It was Sunday and everything was closed so we got a motel for the evening. The next morning, I found the local Dodge dealer. Everything was ok, but the strain on the engine and drive train had burned up all the transmission fluid. Got it filled back up and drove the rest of the way to CT – but sticking to expressways instead of trying any more mountain roads!

Had that car for all of our four years in CT before moving to PA in 1975, then for another five years here. It was still running well and I had 92K miles on it by then. There was some rust on the body panels, but the undercoating had prevented most of that. But I was to find out that was not enough.

The Dodge Dart had a “unibody” construction. Meaning that there is no separate frame, rather there are bends/folds in the undercarriage that give the car its strength. It also had torsion bars on the front instead of springs – with one end of each bar fastened to the wheel assembly and the other end fastened to one of the U-channels in the unibody. That would prove to be the eventual downfall of that car.

Hitting a small bump one day, the right front corner of the car dipped – then did not come back up. Taking it to my local garage, it appeared that there were a few areas of the undercarriage that had not totally been undercoated. Some rust had developed there, and that small bump had caused the pressure of the torsion bar end to push that end right through the U-channel so it was now free floating and just riding through the hole in each side of the channel. The process to fix it would be to cut out that section of the unibody, fashion a replacement section, then fasten the end of the torsion bar to it. Certainly doable, but the cost would exceed what the car was worth.

Thus, reluctantly, I drove my beloved first car to a local junk yard where the owner gave me the princely sum of $200 for it. Despite still looking well, it was no longer road-worthy with that front corner dipped down. I’m sure that he got far more than that $200 as he dismantled it and parted it out.

We had that car from 1970 until 1980. By then it was my second car as we had added a 1973 VW Dasher station wagon while we were in CT. The Dodge was my back-and-forth to work car as by 1980 we had one child and another on the way and the two doors of the Dodge were not convenient for using car seats for young children.

One always has a love for their first car – as I did for mine. Besides all the memories of where I drove it, it was in the front seat as we parked overlooking Lake Michigan that I turned to the young lady next to me and asked her to marry me. (For the record, her initial response was “I’ll think about it.” By mail a few days later she actually said “yes.”) That was over five decades ago. That shiny red Dodge Dart bit the dust after only 10 years – but our love still carries on!

Medical Update

It’s been over a month since I last posted in my blog. While a week of that was due to my prior PC getting totally messed up during a Windows update, a lot was due to a few medical issues. These seem to be increasingly happening as my body ages, but the past few weeks it felt like I was falling apart in several places at once. So, I thought it would be good to recap what’s happening and where things are going.

In the past I’ve done this starting at the top of my head and moving downward, but I think I’ll change that up and move in the opposite direction this time. So, without further ado, here’s what’s going on.

 

Feet and Legs – In early December, I had a two-step skin graft put on the bottom of my foot. Everything seemed to be going well and by mid-month my weekly checkups were reduced to once a month. But then, on Christmas Day, I was not feeling well and my symptoms were similar to the times that I had sepsis in the past. Recognizing that, Donna said that we would not wait until the symptoms got worse, but that she would take me into the hospital immediately. The ER was thankfully quite empty, so I was taken to a room and admitted fairly quickly – for a 3-day stay. (Not the way I would have chosen to spend the week between Christmas and New Year’s.)

On removing my socks and shoes, it was obvious that my right foot was the source of the infection. There were two large blood blisters next to the graft area as well as cellulitis on the top of that foot and some red streaks starting up my ankle. They drained the two blisters and put me on antibiotics.

Donna called my podiatrist and scheduled an appointment for me to see him the day after I got released. It was obvious that both the blisters were “communicating” with the area under the graft, so he cut away both the graft as well as all the tissue over the blistered area. So, back to square one.

Since then, I’ve had a couple of diagnostic tests. The first was an MRI of my right foot because he was concerned that the cause might be an underlying infection in the bone. That was negative (whew!), so instead of considering bone removal, we’re going to go the graft route again. The other was a doppler check of the blood flow in both legs and feet. As I write this, that was this morning. Good news again, my blood flow is perfectly normal (which is often not the case with diabetic patients like myself). So, everything is set up for another round of skin grafts tomorrow.

 

Colon – I had my first colonoscopy back in early 2017 (at age 68 – I should have had it several years earlier, but it was not something that occurred to me). They found, and removed, nine polyps – none of them cancerous. Because there so many, I had another colonoscopy a year later in 2018. That found one additional very small one, also non-cancerous, which they removed. Colon cancer is VERY slow-growing, so they put me on their follow-up list for five years out. Thus, I got a letter last week asking me to set up an appointment. This should be the last one as the risk/reward of having a colonoscopy after age 75 does not warrant further testing since the average lifespan does not warrant it. So, another test in the next few months – not a big deal.

 

Pancreas – After some cycling up/down for a few months due to the stress of all the other medical issues, I’m now getting my sugar levels under control again for the past few weeks. In addition, I have lost four pounds so far this year and am encouraged to get off the weight that I’ve been stuck at for the past several years. I’ve actually managed to get my BMI under 30 for the first time in a few decades – Yay! Hitting such milestones is definitely encouraging me to continue and see if I can drop it further.

 

Heart – During my hospital stay, I had a few hours where I was feeling a tightness across my upper chest and pain if I tried to breathe too deeply. They alleviated the pain with a shot of morphine, but said that I should have another stress test in the near future. Because of the problems with my foot and not being able to do any extended walking on a treadmill, this would have to be a “nuclear” stress test like the last one I had in mid-2021. So, I contacted my cardiologist and got that scheduled for earlier this week. When I did this in 2021, they stressed me too hard, and I passed out (see here). This time everything went well. So, no issues here.

 

Mouth/Teeth – Over the years, I’ve had most of my teeth replaced with implants and titanium coated with enamel. My upper teeth are in two connected sections, but my lower ones are either single or pairs of teeth. I still have my original lower front teeth. But because the uppers are connected, they are quite strong and when chewing they are placing a lot of pressure on my lowers. This is particularly impacting my front teeth which are beginning to loosen and the jawbone starting to erode. So it’s finally time to do something with them as well.

The timing isn’t great because of all the other stuff going on, but next month they will remove the four front incisors (teeth numbered 23-26 for those who keep track of that kind of thing) and put some bone in the empty sockets. After that all heals, I’ll have a couple of implants there and a solid bridge put in that joins teeth 22-27 – anchored by my two canines which are still ok. That new strong bridge should be able to resist the pressure. At least I get to wait until next month for the next step on this.

 

Brain – In the middle of all the above, I had the PET scan of my brain. This is the last screening step for qualification for the Alzheimer’s drug study that I have enrolled in. Once they have evaluated the level of amyloid plaque in my brain, I will either be qualified for one of the two arms of the study, or I will be told that I am not qualified. So, right now I’m waiting for them to make that evaluation and call me to schedule my next trip to UPenn. If I’m qualified, then I will sign the forms acknowledging the level of risk and agreeing to the next four years of IV infusions of the study drug.

In talking to the study coordinator, I have learned that a number of people started the qualification steps, but then they later backed out. I have no intention of doing so. Is it without risk? No. But I’m willing to accept the risk if it will help to advance the development of drugs that can be used to treat this terrible disease. So, stay tuned.

 

Summary – It’s certainly been an interesting last few weeks! Nothing like starting off 2023 with multiple medical tests/appointments every week. So, while it’s been a bit stressful having to deal with so many things going on at once, none of the individual areas are ones which are overwhelming by themselves. God is good! With him at my side and with the support of all my family and friends, I have weathered the storm (so to speak). To those reading this, thanks for praying with me.