Life in Illinois

I don't recall if we had electricity, in Illinois, but for some reason I think we did. I do know we did not have indoor plumbing, primarily because of the incident with the corn cobs.

The seven younger siblings, I always thought there was just one set of twins, but now I have been informed that there were two sets, none of the babies survived for more than a few hours or days.One set of twins were boys, Brant and Grant, again this is something I did not know until now. My mother was a very religious person. I'm not sure if it's true or not, but I was led to believe she was planning on becoming a nun at one time. I guess my dad had something to do with that not happening. We went to Mass every Sunday, and every Holy Day where it was required. As to toys, don't recall toys in Illinois, will speak of toys later on. More on how I was treated by my siblings later on, let's just say for now it was not pleasant.

Before we leave Illinois for the Pacific Northwest a little bit of what I know about my parents. My dad, Walter Dwight Howe, was born in Illinois somewhere around 1900 (just pick a date, any date will do). For most of my life I thought it was March of 1900, but after much research, my daughter Joanie determined there were several different birthdates.

The confusion starts because he was orphaned at a very young age. I can remember him mentioning at one time spending some time as a very young boy on the Olympia, WA, waterfront. I know he had relatives in southwestern Washington, because he and I went to visit two old women, don't recall what the relationship was. Joanie found that his mother was buried in Elma, WA. A Baptismal certificate was located indicating the March 1900 birthdate; I believe he lied to enable him to enter the Army during the First World War. He did serve honorably, and was awarded a Silver Star and was declared 100 percent disabled due to the loss of his left arm. Incidentally, unfortunately, he was left-handed.

He never graduated from any kind of school and could barely read or write. Whenever we asked about our ancestry, we were told we were Irish. Scotch, Bohemian and skunk, mostly skunk. I never got a straight answer from him on that subject. As I said Mom was at one point supposed to have been a nun. She was born in Mildmay, Ontario, Canada of German parents February of 1905. She was one of 12, not sure where she stood in the hierarchy, oldest, middle or youngest. How her and Dad met I never learned. Her father was a saloon keeper and as a consequence, according to Mom, they moved quite often. Her father was the only grandparent I ever met, more on that subject later.

Enough for tonight. More to follow.