March 21, 1963 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

March 21, 1963

Thursday. Cloudy 6-8 inches of new snow,  20’s. Clifton didn’t feel so good, more cold. I wrote to Dougie and Gerald.  David had to be to work 7 am. Girls and I went to prayer meeting at parsonage. Federal tax came $339.00.

Comment:  The tax refund would be worth $3603, not too bad.  First day of spring..Dad still sick.  The news of the day:  The federal prison on Alcatraz Island was closed. The Rock, as the island became known, is probably the most famous prison in the US federal system and remains today, more than fifty-eight years after its closing, the stuff of legend.  


President John F Kennedy also announced economic sanctions against Cuba.  This followed the Cuban Missile Crises of the previous October when we all came within a hair's breadth of nuclear war.  In reflecting on the time, these issues were discussed somewhat but never seemed to affect us directly.....

March 20, 1963 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

March 20, 1963

Wednesday.  Light snow in am. Heavy snow in pm. I washed. Billie called in am. Mrs. Mayo called about girls singing Sunday.

Comment:  Billie, (Margaret Laraway),  was my Mother's aunt, my Grandmother Bessie's sister. Here is what Susan has to say about the relationships in my mother's family: 


"Mom’s parents divorced when she was 16 – a scandal it was – her father Clarence marrying her mother Bessie’s younger sister Mildred Laraway, (Billie) and her mother Bessie Claressa Laraway marrying Norman Van Tassel, another farmer and friend of the family, who had once been married to Bessie’s cousin. All four persons accompanied each other to Las Vegas for the divorce and remarriage of the new couples. 

In later years, after Mom had a child or two of her own, along came a half-sister, Judith Barber, whom Mom also loved, but with whom never established a close relationship, as she had her own family to tend to. 

The Laraway sisters kept a close bind with each other despite the scandal, and with the rest of their brothers and sisters, and their friendships and relationships continued the rest of their lives. Their lives had changed, but they still were accepted by each other. 

But, for Mom, although she visited with her family back and forth as though all was well, she was wounded from the shame and embarrassment it had caused her at the tender age of 16, and I don’t believe she ever really recovered from that fully."

Here is a link the full version of Susan's Memories Of Her Mother and also to the news paper coverage of Mom's sixteenth birthday:

http://gerryhubbard.blogspot.com/2005/06/susans-memories-of-her-mother_25.html

http://gerryhubbard.blogspot.com/2005/07/moms-sixteenth-birthday-party.html

Below is a picture of Grandma Bessie, her sister "Billie" and Billie's daughter Judith at the 1978 family reunion...

March 19, 1963 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

March 19, 1963

Tuesday, Fair 30’s. We went to Cobleskill in pm. Had a letter from Doug and wrote to him and Marilyn. Earl stopped while we were eating dinner. David worked overtime got home 6:30.

Comment:  Afternoon unemployment sign up in Cobleskill.  I wonder if David got time and a half for his overtime...probably not....since this was a non-union job.  In my experiences, non-union companies would want you to work overtime but not put it on the books so they would not have to pay the higher rate.  They would usually offer compensatory time off or ignore the overtime altogether.  Kinda like Wal Mart in Oregon when they lost a lawsuit to the tune of $35 million in back overtime pay: 

"The lawsuit claimed managers got employees to work off the clock by asking them to clean up the store after they had clocked out and by deleting hours from time records.

It also said Wal-Mart reprimanded employees who claimed overtime. Workers felt forced to work after clocking out because managers assigned them more work than they could complete in a regular shift, the plaintiffs said...CBS News.....".  So first line supervisors faked the real work situation because they did not want to upset upper management and the lowest level people who did the actual work got screwed...this is the only "trickle-down" theory that really works.......

March 18, 1963 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

March 18, 1963

Monday, Cloudy,  windy, cold 25 hi. David and Sue both came home with flu. Clifton still didn’t feel good. I wrote to Marilyn and Doug. Had a letter from Doug.

Comment: Monday, Monday, can't trust that day.......from the Internet

Monday has often been called a blue day. There is considerable speculation as to why this might be so. One theory runs that Monday (before the advent of the washing machine) was the usual day for washing and a blue dye was frequently used to keep clothes from yellowing. Blue is also frequently associated with depression. Since Monday is typically the first workday of the week and workers must look over a long depressing stretch of time until their next day-long break it has often been refered to as a blue day.

Many cultures see Monday also as an unlucky day, even as a day when people become insane. This may have something to do with the day's association with the moon. The moon has been called inconstant, due to its tendency to wax and wane. The Latin word for moon comes even into our own language to designate lunacy.

Sunday March 17, 1963, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Sunday March 17, 1963, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

Sunday. Beautiful in pm. Cloudy in am clearing in pm 50 no wind snow melting fast but ground nearly covered yet. Carol and I went to church, but didn't stay for Sunday school. Clifton didn’t feel a bit good. David and Sue some better. Bob and Bill here at night a few minutes.

Comment:  Not sure who Bob and Bill are...weather seems to be clearing, here is a previous post about the seasons on the Hill.....


And the seasons would come and the seasons would go
And our whole world would change with the flow,
As the sharp verdant springtime resolved in soft focus
And the hills drowned in summer's warm glow.

In Autumn, the mountains were like purple haze that muted fall colors soaked through,
Then winter's keen breath brought the snow and  white frost...
And another new year to us, too.

March 16, 1963 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

March 16, 1963

Saturday: Bright sunny day 30’s. David didn’t go to work,  he had a bad cold. Wayne washed car at Schermerhorns. Clifton, David and Sue all sick with flu. Boys didn’t go out at night. LaVerne and Roberta here 1/2 hour at night. Carol went to AWANA.

Comment:  Sickness persists, Saturday night and the boys did not go out, must be pretty sick.  Wayne washed the car at Schermerhorns probably because they had some hoses and warm water.  I don't remember us ever having a hose that we used to wash cars.  We would just get buckets of water from the milk house.  Probably because the water supply from the well and "Spring Lot" spring was always a little questionable.

March 15, 1963 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

March 15, 1963

Friday, Sunny, windy 20’s. Sue and Clifton sick with flu. I washed in am.  Kennedy’s came to look at Geralds car but didn’t want it. Mother called to see how we were she had a cold too. Had a letter from Marilyn. I sent for Seward paper. Boys went to school dance.

Comment:  The car I bought for $10 and fixed up never did sell.  Another entrepreneurial dream gone bad..David and Wayne go to Friday school dance.....not sure why she sent for the Seward paper....here is picture of five generations on my mother's side:  Grandma Bessie in front, then left to right, Kristen Ford, Marna Ford, Marilyn, Frances.....from the 1978 Hubbard Family Reunion

March 14, 1963 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

March 14, 1963

Thurs. Cloudy in am clearing in pm 25. Sue and Wayne home with the flu. I had more cold, did very little,  wrote to Doug and Marilyn. Clifton cut wood. David received $215.00 compensation check in the mail.

Comment:  Adjusted for inflation, David got $2292 and I think it was an injury compensation check for when he got his fingers caught in a charcoal press at Timberland.  This is from a previous post..."Timberland was the charcoal plant in Stamford where LaVerne was the general manager.  David worked there for a while and got his hand caught in a briquet press and injured it pretty bad.  His hand was caught until LaVerne went into the control panel and re-wired it to reverse the press."

And.." the road goes on forever and the party never ends" when it comes to cutting wood...Dad's at it again....

March 13, 1963 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

March 13, 1963

Wed. Cloudy 40 thunder showers. Carol and Sue went to school. I didn’t feel good so didn’t do much only got meals and kept the house done up.

Comment:  Very short entry, Mom sick. Kids better.  Of course, keeping the house "done up" might be a little more complicated than it sounds when you're talking about six people living in a small house but still, "didn't do much" probably was stated from a perspective of having 10 people living in the same space when the kids were younger and all there...and here are all the kids in 1954

March 12, 1963, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

March 12, 1963

Tuesday. Cloudy, a foggy spell and rain, 35. Kids all home sick. Wayne Dan’s(?) when Clifton went to Cobleskill. Girls and I stayed home. I was sick all day with a headache and flu. David still working in Albany. His car was done at night. Ella and Merle came home from the hospital.

Comment:  All kids home sick, the flu spreads, unemployment sign up, David still unloading rail car of charcoal, Merel and Ella home from hospital...Aunt Ella And Uncle Merel with grandchildren in the Sixties

March 11, 1963, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

March 11, 1963

Mon. 0 to 35. Clear in the am becoming cloudy in pm rain and sleet at night. Carol was home yet with cold. I had a sore throat and cold. I washed in the am. Clifton cut wood. David drove our car to work,  he had to be there at 6:30am to go to Albany.  Had a long letter from Doug and picture cards of the base. David worked in Albany moving charcoal from rail car to warehouse.

Comment: Doug's writing a lot of letters from Navy boot camp, persistent sickness.  If you ever want a sinking feeling in your stomach, open up the doors of a freight car packed with bags of charcoal and know that you have to move every damned one of them into a semi-trailer, drive to the warehouse and unload them all, then drive back to the freight car and do it again, maybe for the next 2 days.  At days end, your clothes and skin are completely black with the dust.

It's Wayne's birthday, March 11, 1946 on this date in 1963 he is 17 years old with about 42 years left to live.....he was born 80 years ago today and I remember clearly when Mom brought him home from the hospital...

In Memoriam: Wayne Maurice Hubbard

Wayne Maurice Hubbard
Born March 11, 1946, Died December 3. 2005 


November 22, 2005
Warrington, VA

Dear Wayne:

I want you to know that it has been an honor and privilege to grow up with and know you for all these years.

You should know that the kindness, warmth and wit that is Wayne Maurice Hubbard will long live in the memories of those fortunate enough to know you and also in the lives of your fine children.

We love you bro'.

Gerry Hubbard.


November 22, 2005
Warrington, VA

March 10 , 1963, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

March 10, 1963

Sunday, Mostly cloudy windy few snow flurries 30’s. Clifton took Susan, Donna and Janette to church. I didn’t feel like going had a cold in my chest and slight headache. Carol still didn’t feel good, had a bad cold in her head. David took his car to Raymonds to have it fixed.

Comment:  Mom getting sick, David still struggling with his car.  Raymond Brown's garage probably was the only place he could take it on a Sunday because of the prevailing Blue Laws in effect at the time.  Most businesses were closed on Sunday which is a far cry from today with most large businesses open 24/7.  Not sure if the repeal of the laws was good or bad but it certainly significanlty changed our life-style.  

A blue law is a type of law, typically found in the United States and Canada, designed to enforce religious standards, particularly the observance of Sunday as a day of worship or rest, and a restriction on Sunday shopping. Most have been repealed, have been declared unconstitutional, or are simply unenforced, although prohibitions on the sale of alcoholic beverages, and occasionally almost all commerce, on Sundays are still enforced in many areas. Blue laws often prohibit an activity only during certain hours and there are usually exceptions to the prohibition of commerce, like grocery and drug stores. In some places blue laws may be enforced due to religious principles, but others are retained as a matter of tradition or out of convenience.^[1]

Laws of this type are also found in religious cultures such as Israel, where the day concerned is Saturday rather than Sunday, and most countries with Muslim majority, where the month of Ramadan is involved.^[2]

March 9, 1963, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

March 9, 1963

Sat. 30’s. Started to snow 4 pm. I baked in the am and took a pie and other things down to Merles. Ella went to hospital, no one was there when we went there. Cleaned up the house in the pm. Clifton,Wayne and Susan went to city to look at cars in pm. Carol was home sick, worse than Friday. Wayne went to Linda's at night and had to come home by Gilboa because of snow. Dougie called at 7 pm. Merle and Ella both in hospital at Margaretville. David's car boiled antifreeze out.

Comment:  Lots of folks sick or getting sick, heavy snow. Merle and Ella must have been very sick for them to go to the hospital.   Mom was known for her pies and Aunt Ella was known for her chocolate cake.  Not sure how Mom did it so well on the wood stove that Mom used.  Ella was  little better off, I remember a gas stove in her kitchen but the skill was probably learned with a wood stove.  They also seemed to do it so effortlessly.  Mom would be working outside and the next moment whipping up an apple, current or sour cream pie.  Anytime we went to Aunt Ella's she would offer us a piece of cake with a glass of milk. Ella and Mom were very good friends and talked to each other most every day.  Not sure when this picture was taken of them both:  

March 8, 1963, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

March 8, 1963

Friday. Partly cloudy 30’s. Carol was home from school, she was getting the flu. I washed in the am. We went to Catskill in pm. Merle and Ella both sick with flu. I had a letter from Doug and wrote to him.

Comment:  And the flu spreads.....I get a sense of despondency from the entry...kinda same shit, different day, damp, cloudy and cold...folks getting sick, but the mail provides a small diversion, receiving it and responding to it...I can envision my mother sitting at the table in the kitchen looking out the window toward the barn...South Mountain cloudy in the distance, probably the radio on to The Sword Of The Lord or similar station....

March 7, 1963, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

March 7, 1963

Thursday. Light snow flurries, windy 27 partly cloudy. I finished my striped dress and started the black one. Mrs. Mayo (the minister's wife) called and said prayer meeting was called off because of sickness.  Marlene had pneumonia. David’s income tax refund came to $92.00. He was home from work because of such a bad blustery day. Sue went to bed at 6 pm tired out. Merel still sick.

Comment: Based on the rate of inflation that $92.00 would be worth $1063 today, not too shabby.  Weather too bad on Hunter Mountain for David to work.  Lots of folks sick, probably with flu.  Sounds like a pretty dreary day on the Hill....

Hubbard - Briggs Wedding January 3, 1927

From the West Conesville correspondent:  Married at the Baptist parsonage at Flat Creek, Monday 10 am, January 3, 1927 by the Rev Smith, Miss Ella, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Briggs of this place, to Merel, son of Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Hubbard Of Flat Creek.  John H Briggs, brother of the bride, acted in the capacity of best man, and Lorraine Hubbard, sister of the groom, was maid of honor.  The bride was becomingly attired in light blue Canton crepe with hat and coat to match.  The maid of honor wore light green satin, while the groom and best man wore powder blue suits.  The bride has been a favorite among her friends and acquaintances and especially among her schoolmates and the wish of her legion of friends is for a bright and prosperous future.  The groom comes with a good recommendation although his acquaintance with many of us is slight.  The happy couple left almost immediately after the ceremony to spend their honeymoon with relatives at Schenectady, Amsterdam, etc.  On their return the bride's parents will tender a reception at the home of the bride's grandparent, Mr. and Mrs. John D Bartley.

March 6, 1963, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

March 6, 1963

Wed. Rainy and foggy with strong east wind in a.m. 30. Roads icy. Wind shifted at noon and it snowed from west in p.m. School started late, Sue went home with Becky. I finished ironing and my dress. Lights went out quarter to 5 in a dreadful wind and we didn’t’t have power until 9:30. Only Halls and us were without them. We called light company about 8 pm.  Called Ella at night Merel was quite sick with flu.

Comment:   We lost power quite often on the hill and when we did one of the problems was is that we had to milk the cows by hand.  This made a one hour chore into a two hour chore.  
Merel and the rest of his generation luckily lived through one of the greatest natural disasters in history, the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic.  Strangely, I never heard any of them talk about it and I often wonder why.  Were they so isolated in a rural area that it did not affect them?  Not sure...here is a Wikipedia synopsis of what they lived through: 


The 1918 flu pandemic (the Spanish Flu) was an unusually severe and deadly influenza pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin.^[1] Most victims were healthy young adults, in contrast to most influenza outbreaks which predominantly affect juvenile, elderly, or weakened patients. The flu pandemic was implicated in the outbreak of encephalitis lethargica in the 1920s.^[2]
The pandemic lasted from June 1917 to December 1920,^[3] spreading even to the Arctic and remote Pacific islands. Between 50 and 100 million died, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history.^{[4][5][6][7][8]} Even using the lower estimate of 50 million people, 3% of the world's population (1.8 billion at the time^[9]), died of the disease. Some 500 million, or 28% (≈1/4) were infected.^[5] 

March 5, 1963, The Frances Hubbard Diaries

March 5, 1963

Tues. Cloudy in am Clearing and sunny in pm ’30s. Clifton and I went to Cobleskill after dinner.  Had a letter from Marilyn and a check. I wrote to Dougie. Started to rain in the night. Marilyn said in her letter Jim talked a little about coming back in spring and work for H.B. Moore during the summer.

Comment: To Cobleskill for unemployment sign-up, a couple of letters.  H. B Moore ran a trucking company out of Windham, NY, and both LaVerne and I worked for them.  LaVerne drove a goose-neck tractor-trailer rig hauling salt locally and also drove on an Andrews Air Force Base job in 1960.  I drove a T1000 Ford twin-screw batch truck on that job also.  I do remember Jim working for H.B but not sure it was this time.

At the previous Sunday dinner, I had Gene and Patsy attending.  It should have been Glenn and Patsy, the Glenn being Glenn Taylor.  Glenn must have been sick at the time because he died the following spring on April 11 1964 at age 22.


If you are interested, the following are links to  "My Last Ride With Glenn Taylor" and some of my truck driving experiences:  "Truck Driving"........


https://catskillmountaintalkingblues.blogspot.com/search?q=glenn

https://catskillmountaintalkingblues.blogspot.com/2011/07/truck-driving-by-gerry-hubbard.html

Douglas Hubbard and Glenn Taylor

Monday, March 4, 1963 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

March 4, 1963

Mon mostly cloudy in the ’40s all day. The snow settled a lot.  Clifton drew three logs up here and had spring put in the car at Raymond's in the afternoon. Maude called and brought my Stanley things. Mother called and said she was working.

Comment:  Rather then cutting up the logs in the woods, we sometimes skidded them out and brought them to just outside the wood house to be cut up as needed or when the weather broke.  The broken spring in Dad's car got fixed at Raymond Brown's, which was almost directly over the top of Hubbard Hill in Broom Center.  When Mother or Grandma Bessie worked, she worked in a glove shop in Richmondville that was owned by Charlie Papa, a near and dear first cousin of Mary Ann.  Charlie and Bea are now both deceased and we have very fond memories of them. The Papa glove shops did a lot of military glove contracts and he also hit the "toe sock" craze and had a major knitting operation for those.  Both of Mary Ann's parent's worked in the Gloversville shops.  Her dad George was a "cutter" and he developed massive shoulders and arms from stretching the skins to make sure they got as many gloves as possible out of the hide.  Her mother Mary, was a "finisher" who hand sewed the very fine stitches around the seams of the fingers of the gloves. 

Stretching Leather For Cutting

March 1, 1963 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

March 1, 1963

Fri 5-20 cloudy snow starting about 1 pm and continued most of the night about 4 to 5 in. I washed in the am. Clifton took our car to Raymonds and had a clutch put in. Earl and Lillian called in the afternoon. Carol and Wayne went to ball game on bus. David took our car and went.

Comment:  David's car still not running apparently.  Dad's car also with problems.  All the kids at home went to the basketball game..and the wash again.  I remember an old gasoline powered wringer washer that my mother used to use and I think our Grandmother Agnes also had one they used.  The gas powered ones were common before the Rural Electrification Program began to provide electrical power to the remote areas in out country.  Hubbard Hill got electricity in about 1946 when I was eight years old.  The wringer washers, see picture below, could be very dangerous especially for kids who could get their arms caught in the wringer.  I can remember seeing some kid with a massive scar in the crook of his elbow and it was from being caught in a wringer.  The rubber rolls would take the arm as far as the elbow and when the elbow did not go through, the rollers would spin in the elbow crook and rapidly take the skin and flesh down to the bone if it was not stopped.

After the clothes were washed they had to be dried somehow and this usually meant hanging them on a outside clothes line if it was warm enough or on inside lines throughout the house.  I remember many times when the clothes would freeze on the outside line and would be brought into the house to thaw.  It's hard to overestimate the effect that electrical power had on the rural farms in terms of saving drudgery......