Quarantine and Commutation
Patrick and I entertained several couples for a backyard barbeque last week. We had a wonderful evening: good food, great friends, lots of laughs and plenty of yard games. The next day, one of our guests tested positive for COVID-19. According to the current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Patrick and I needed to quarantine at home for 5 days.
What to do?
The house was already clean because we had “company.” I finished up a couple of projects, just in case I was actually infected with COVID-19 and got sick. Well, the next looming task was to scan the 60 rolls of photographic negatives that contained pictures of old genealogy photographs.
Most of these rolls date back to when I first started collecting family history, 30+ years ago. Back then, I used a tripod and Patrick’s Nikon 35mm camera with print film to photograph my ancestor’s pictures.
In the Summer of 2000, I visited my grandmother’s sister, Irene Lydick Church (1915-2009) at her home in northern Minnesota. She told me stories of her childhood as I photographed her photos. There were a lot of great family photos in her collection, which are now part of my collection.
Roll 54
This roll of film contains copies of the Kitchi Farmer’s Club Picnic, postcards from the Pike Hole Resort, Great Grandma Gamache’s family, Horace’s Army Baseball Team and a 3-page letter. Over the years, I totally forgot that I copied this letter. At the time that I copied it, neither did I put together the letter’s significance.
The letter is dated April 11. On the envelope, the year 1917 is barely visible above the “2” of the stamp. Therefore, the letter is dated April 11, 1917.
First, Mother [Mary Jane Wheaton Lydick] tells her son that she’s been waiting for a letter all winter. Next, she gets straight to the point: your Brother Ed wrote home and told us that you were going to “sell your farm and move to town.”
This “farm” was the 159-acre homestead that Horace commuted in 1913. In April of 1917, Horace and his family still lived on the 159 acres.
In this previous post, I wondered why Horace paid for his homestead instead of living on the land and “proving up.” What was the motivation for him to obtain the title to the property so quickly?
Click here to see the 1917 Letter Transcription
Reason for the Commutation
From this letter, we learn that Horace intended to sell his 159-acre homestead. That is why he commuted. In order to sell the land, he needed the title to the property.
Obviously, Horace and Susan did not move to Maine to help his aging parents. Otherwise, I would not be here writing this blog.
I wonder what else I will find during my quarantine.