More from MWN's diaries re 4th-of-July

My July 4th blog entry titled "Glorious Fourth" drew thank-you comments from family members who had also experienced July picnics in the grove at "Pine Knoll," the family home at 98 Preston Street, Danvers.  

I was delighted by email responses from cousin C. Stuart Brewster in California and cousin Janet Nichols Derouin in Maine. They are older than I am, and thus had participated in more of those traditional Fourth-of-July family picnics. None of us, however, were there in the years chronicled in the diaries of our great-great-aunt Mary Ward Nichols (MWN). 

I've decided to follow up with additional quotes from MWN's diaries.  My plan was simple: to open each small diary to the first week of July and see what, if anything, she had written about that annual family gathering, and to share her descriptions here.  I decided to start with 1900.

1900: "Passed a quiet fourth. Children enjoyed fire crackers. The older ones [? attending] a golf t...[?]. John and his Aunt Margaret drove from Tewksbury this afternoon. John looks better for his trip."

Click image to enlarge
 [Note: I am providing images of diary entries that were hard to read;
I hope my cousins will be able to decipher the words that stumped me.]

1901: "We had a very quiet restful fourth.  Enjoyed seeing the fireworks from all points this eve."

1902: "Cool. Passed a quiet Fourth at home. Went up on the hill to see the fireworks."

1903: "Fourth of July!    Girls went on a picnic."

1904: [no entry]

1905: "Girls went to Salem to see bonfire. Passed a quiet, pleasant fourth. Andrew and I walked up on the hill to see the fireworks."

1906: [no mention of Fourth, but entries about packing July 3 and traveling on July 7 to the Isles of Shoals for a week-long church conference.] 

1907: "Passed a quiet fourth at home.  Andrew and Charley Osgood had a few simple fireworks."

1908: [Trip to Nantucket started July 2 via S. Station, Boston..."a hot dirty car ride to Wood's Hole; a delightful boat ride to Nantucket." July 3 "Hot weather here..." ] July 4: "Busy eve. Stores are open so we went shopping. This afternoon was too hot to be out. Fire works and Fire hollering kept up until after 10 o'clock. We went up in Belfry of Unitarian Church and had fine view of {...} Island."

July 2-4, 1908.  Click image to enlarge

1909: July 4: "Cool. Had a quiet restful day. At home all day." July 5: "Warmer. All my brother's family here but Oda; also Mr. & Mrs. Simonds, a Mr. & Mrs. Wetherbee, Chas. Johnson & Maud Kimball had a picnic dinner in grove. Salads, Sandwiches, Green peas, Ice Cream Cake & Watermelon. Will's family fr. N. Andover.  In grove all day; fireworks evening. All enjoyed it greatly. 30 in all."

1910: July 4: "Warm. Came home at noon as they had a family picnic here and also the Simonds' family. Will & Nell came."

1911: July 4. "Intensely hot. 105.  All the family but Oda were gathered here for a picnic in the grove it was unusually hot here. A classmate of A.3rd was here also. Mr & Mrs. Symonds & Mr. & Mrs. Wetherbee. All enjoyed it not withstanding the heat; had some fireworks in the eve. Had 28 in all."

1912: "Hot but not so hot as last year. Every one of the family were here & [fi..?] of the Symond's family beside Oda Cole & a friend of A.3d   Will & his family drove down & are to pass night. The fireworks were at the Symonds. 31 in all. "    

July 4, 1912

1913:  [See my previous post, "Glorious Fourth" with text and images.]

1914: [no entry]

1915: Sunday July 4th. "Did not go to church as I did not feel very well. T. Kendall came.  Will dined here after preaching in N. Andover on his way back to Marblehead; reported Edward as getting along finely." 

1915  [Edward is Will's son, born 1907.]

July 5, 1915: "Rainy. Our picnic dinner had to be in doors. 37 took dinner here. John brought from Tewksbury Oda & his Aunts N. & M,  A. [?] & Leonis [sp?] his chaffeur & Charles Preston, wife & 3 ch.; Josh, wife & 2 ch, Howard Ballou, a  {niece?}. Mr. Nat. Symonds & wife, G. Wetherbee, wife & son, Mr. Sanderson, wife & 2 ch. Edith Wilson & Marion Malbury [?sp], t. Kendall, Margaret [Sloane? Home?] .  (took his mother back alone. John, his wife & A.3d went [...?]   also Esther late [?].

1915, July 5-6  The family picnic often was on the 5th, instead of 4th.

[I do not have MWN's diaries for 1916 or 1917.] 

1918:   

July 3-4, 1918

1919:  

July 3-4, 1919

July 4:  "A very hot day! 95* Went up to my brothers's as the family gathering is to be in the grove. My brother & wife and daughters, May and Margaret, Nellie & her husband [...?] Ruth, & sons Charles & Stanley, Josh & wife, son John & dau. Florence. Will & his wife, and two sons. John & wife. Annie B. & Marion, their brother Andrew 3d., only absent one of the family. N. Stanley, M. Beckerman & myself. Mr & Mrs. N. T. Simonds, and their dau. Clara Wetherbee, her husband, son & daughter. I stayed over night."

1920:  

July 4-5, 1920

[1921: no diary found.] 

1922: 

July 3-4, 2022

July 4, 1922: "Rainy night and morn... About 10 o'clock Mr. Wetherbee & his two children with his father-in-law Mr. Simonds & Will's two boys came in a large auto [le?]. to take me to N.H. [?noon?]. There was all of Lizzie's children & grandch. except Annie & her family & Will's wife, the 2 Stanleys & myself, also Mr. Simonds, his daughter & her family of 3, & Dorothy Cutter [Culter?], Marion's friend. In was indoor affair except a base ball game & continuous fire works. I came back [of ...?]train."

1923: July 4 "Spent a quiet day in Salem with Robert.   No callers.   Very quiet today, after the bonfire last night when it was very rainy."

Mary Ward Nichols died later in 1923 at age 81.  Her last diary entry was on Aug 5, but I do not know the exact date of her death.  Coincidently, I just turned 81 on July 10. No idea of my death date, either!

Glorious Fourth

"The Glorious Fourth. 

The entire Family gathered in the grove ... 

After lunch they had a parade.  

Will's family drove down and back by carriage.  John & Oda returned by train. "

This entry in Mary Ward Nichols' 1913 diary caught my attention.  I smile to think of "Will's family" coming by carriage.  That would be William Stanley Nichols at age 31 and his young family coming from North Andover, MA. His family included his wife Nellie and two sons, Edward and Nathan. Nathan was only 18 months old.  

Context:  Nathan later became my father.  "Will" became known to me as "Granddaddy."  But in 1913 Will was Rev. William S. Nichols, minister in the North Parish Church of North Andover, where he served from 1909 to 1919.

Will had grown up in Danvers in that house at Pine Knoll, where his aunt Mary Ward Nichols was living and keeping a diary.  I happen to have a box of her diaries now in my home. 

It's interesting to catch this glimpse of an earlier 4th of July with my grandfather and his family.  I wish I had a picture of the carriage they used. 

In the 1950's we probably all WALKED to the Pine Knoll family gatherings. Granddaddy by then had retired and returned to Danvers to live. We lived next door to him, at 120 Nichols Street. Walks to PK to visit with the great aunts and cousins were frequent and routine. No carriages. I don't recall a parade, either.  I guess I was born a bit late for those.  I do recall various automobiles parked along the PK driveway.   

Here's another view MWN's 1913 diary entry:

Click on image to enlarge

Each page of this 1913 diary measures just 3" x 4.75".  

Her 1914 diary was even smaller (2" x 4"), with entries very hard to read. In 1914 she did not write anything on July 4, nor for several days following.