Take That Brick Wall!

Working from the back forward always has its benefits when the good stuff is at the end and it is even better when that good stuff resolves a few unanswered questions!

So I know I have not reached writing about Anna Guy Selye, aka "Mother-Mother", but this bit from her notes is just too good to not mention.  Quick backstory: after Anna received confirmation about the death of her wayward, fortune seeking husband, leaving her penniless, it has been rather difficult to track her in the historical records, making only two appearances after 1915.  One of those records was her 1931 divorce papers and the other was the 1940 US Federal Census (USFC).  She could not be located in the 1920 or 1930 USFC, despite checking all the known haunts for the family, though her married daughter was found.  It is understandable that perhaps Anna did not want to be found by the census or perhaps the family member who answered the door forgot to include her in the list of members.  Mayhaps she was traveling at the time.

This latter reason is quite probably given the recent information that has just surfaced.  Working backward through her notes, in what is quiet the undertaking to transcribe all of her papers, I came across a page in which she recounts that the past 18 years has seen the family residing in "twenty different places, not to mention boarding schools and camps."  Anna adds that, "It would seem strange to the children not to move, at least once a year...", where the children she is referring to are her four grandchildren by her only daughter Harriet Selye Campbell.  Sadly this page, like most of the pages, is not dated but given the contents of this particular writing, one can deduce that it is anywhere between the late 1920s to 1930s, as her grandson Billy is still playing with his toys, "this jangling of metal!"  ...Then again, it could have been written as late as the early 1940s based on some of the locations and the fact that boys & men of all ages still enjoy their "toys"!

So here is the list of locations - cities, towns and some house/farm names - Anna wrote (and that which I can make out) with my internet sleuthing to track down the states these locations might be.  Sadly she did not put any dates with these locations! But thankfully some of her letters and correspondence still survives so some of the locations can pinned down in time and I hope to be able to tell you in a subsequent post.

Binghamton (New York)

Belmont (Massachusetts)

Lynnfield C. (Massachusetts)

Touisett (Rhode Island)

“Pack Sture” (possibly Park Circle, Florida, but that was 1930s so maybe not)

“Ten Acre” farm

Avon – Bank St. (possibly Connecticut)

Charleton St. NY

Sauderstown T.I. (or L.I. but the only place that comes up is Rhode Island)

Bank St.

Quaker Neck, (either Virginia or North Carolina)

Dallas, (Texas)

Charleston, (possibly South Carolina)

Bank

Norwood (Massachusetts)

Bank – Boston (Massachusetts)

65^th (New York)

Farm Montgomery

79^th (New York)

Litchfield, (Conneticut)

Manchester (New Hampshire)
2 – R. H.

Still a lot more work to be done with the transcriptions but slow and steady wins the race!