It’s one thing to know the bare facts of a story but a totally different thing when you find a more personal or intimate view of a person. This was a heartbreaking find tucked among my Great Aunt June’s belongings.
The following is an entry from my 2nd Great Aunt Ethel Augusta Packer’s diary. She was born 12 November 1887 in Oxford, Ontario to Cornelius and Flora (Massy) Packer. The family came to Michigan and settled in a house on 163 Shirley St, in Grand Rapids around 1891. At the time of the entry she was twelve years old and stricken with tuberculosis. She died the following September just short of her thirteenth birthday. My grandmother was named after her.
It reads:
Freddie Ellingham is sick and so am I and he sent me two oranges. I am setting up and I have been in bed six weeks. Papa is sitting by the bed reading my story book and mama making me a tidy. I have taken my medicine good all day to day. I had me bed drown up by the window to see the children snow ball.
For more information on the TB epidemic in the late 19th and early 20th Century check out this post.
Happy hunting,
Jess
Genie Road Trip 
July 23, 2018 at 9:37 am
Jess
So very interesting. I have this vague memory of âJuneâ in my mind. Which June did I know and how?
Thanks.
Iâm working on a book now. For ten years, Iâve filled a file folder, labeled Miscellaneous, with âstuff.â When I looked through it, there was a lot. So I wanted to preserve some of it. The book title is Miscellaneous . . . The Book. Chapters are poetry, Liberia, family history, other family voices, your turn, etc.
In other family voices, Ronâs sister recounts being discriminated when applying for med school because she was a woman. Robin McQueen writes about her grandfather Harold Baileyâthanks for the info you sent, son Fred writes about falling in love with Sue and helping his son shoot his first deer, my sister writes about the greatest leader she ever knewâher/our father. You get the idea.
Hope I didnât bore you.
Phyllis
Phyllis Dolislager
Author, Writing Consultant
July 23, 2018 at 10:26 pm
Hi Phyllis,
I’m fairly sure you would have met June (Shea) Horn. She was my grandmother Ethel (Shea) Johnson’s sister *and* Joan (Morris) Shea’s [Zelma’s daughter] sister-in-law.
I hope that helps,
Jess