1916 was long before all the modern electronic gadgets that could tell the condition of a fetus. No way to know the child's sex. No way to know anything other than a woman was in a 'family way'. Women actually dressed to try and hide the fact they were in a 'family way'. Really!
Heaven forbid saying a woman was pregnant. She might be 'expecting'. There were no gender reveal parties. One hundred and four years ago there weren't shopping lists to buy gifts for the woman in a family way. In a farming community such as where Grandma lived everyone did good just to keep their own children fed and clothed.
I do remember my MIL saying Grandma told her what a surprise the second baby was. Grandma said she barely have enough diapers and clothing for one baby and certainly not two. Aunt Kathleen was born after my FIL. She was the first girl for the family so no hand me downs for her. At least with the two older brothers there might be clothing for my FIL.
As the family was a farming family I suspect she had little extra money to spend on material for diapers. Probably re-purposed worn out clothing for the diapers. Or the cotton flour and sugar sacks could have been an option, also. Again speculation. However, this an interesting article here about the very subject of diapers. And here is one about the flour/staple sacks. My older sisters remember our mother making sure she bought the staples in sacks that she could match up to make their clothing during the WWII years.
Grandma survived this day 104 years ago as did the twins. An older brother had died before the twins were born. Grandma had 3 more pregnancies. Two of those three births were girls that survived into adulthood. Now, they are all dead. Much of their existence just distant memories in the minds of their children and grandchildren. There are even great and great great grandchildren for whom Grandma is just a name of a woman in a photo.
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| Back l to r: Raymond, Trecil, Carl (FIL), Willis Middle l to r: Lorene, Josephine, Kathleen (FIL twin) Front: Grandma and Grandpa Circa early 1950's |
The two babies grew to have families. FIL had two sons, three grandchildren and now 10 great grand children. He lived to be 89 + years. Aunt Kat had one daughter and two sons in that order. There are four grand children, and 6 or 7 great grandchildren. Aunt Kat developed leukemia and died too early. Her youngest child was only 2 at the time of her passing. Her daughter visits us every year for a week to 10 days. There seems to be a slightly different relationship with those three cousins maybe due to the twins factor. Maybe someday scientists will discover a marker in DNA that answers the question of relationships. Until that time there can still be a few surprises in life to enjoy while knowing how to decorate the nursery.Take care and peace,
Janice
PS: How would a gender reveal be done for multiple births of different sexes?
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteWhat a delightful occasion to remember and to 'relate'!!! Recording these things is important - this is what makes the fabric of history. YAM xx
Thanks, YAM. It was interesting as the twin sister's son called today saying the Social Security records show one born on Feb 19 and the other March 19. Records messed up for certain. I am sure there are lots of home births with that sort of issue. My husband's birth certificate has his mom's age wrong. She was two years older than Hubby's dad. She always tried to hide that fact. Pretty commonplace now.
DeleteI remember hearing the story of my aunt who had twins back in the late sixties. It was still mainly home births in the Netherlands and for her it was no different. It was only after the first boy was born that the doctor said: you might want to get some extra nappies, as there is a second baby on the way. Nobody knew, not even the doctor!
ReplyDeleteI love those kind of stories, as they make real living people out of those black and white images in a photo.
Bringing the human side to the photo makes a huge difference. I know so little of my paternal grandmother's family. Wish I knew more. She is the one that died in 1918 epidemic.
DeleteFamily history seems so interesting to me too. One of my grandfathers was a missionary to Canada. Thanks for your comment on my blog yesterday.
ReplyDeleteThanks so for your visit.
DeleteI love hearing about families. My maternal grandmother had the Spanish flu in 1918 and survived...oh she talked about it often too. She said her fever was so bad for so long that she lost all her hair and that is why it grew back so thick. I doubt that but it was the story she always told us. It allowed me to learn at a very young age about that pandemic. Grandmaman lived to 92 yrs old. It's a good thing she did survive that virus too otherwise I would not be here today :)
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