More McDaniel History

9:09am                              Writing Practice                               64°  Boise

It was so warm yesterday and overnight, I left the windows open in the house and it's still only 73° inside. Outside is soft and welcoming, a light breeze stirring the branches of Stephen's tree and wafting in through the window next to me whispering sweet nothings about the beauty it has seen already today. And it's still early! It's a gorgeous, pure perfect day and I could be sitting out on the deck writing in my spiral but no, I have my butt firmly planted in my writing chair and I'm going to do my work and enjoy my life from here right now. Later today I'll be going out, I'm taking my bike to Pam's at 4pm so that she and I can ride around the North End and then find a place to have her birthday dinner in Hyde Park.

Today is Rocky's birthday, too. He's 12, but he doesn't know nor care about that so I'll just give him some love like I do every day and tell him how beautiful and wonderful he is so that he can agree with me and then carry on with his life. I expect him to be around for many years to come, he's in terrific health and showing no signs of decline so he could be end up being the world's oldest cat. He can stay with me for as long as he likes and I'll love him to whole time.

I slept plenty last night, got a solid 7 hours before waking up to pee at 6:15am, then back to bed and back to sleep until after 8am. I turned off the light at 11:30pm last night and went right to sleep. I took a half of a PMer because I just couldn't risk not getting the sleep I needed for all I have planned to do today. I'm a little muzzy and could willingly go back to bed a while longer but I'm up now and the coffee is hot --- I'll get over it soon.

 After much searching through Granny's OreIda box, I found the stories I was looking for and have been pouring over them, trying to piece is all together in my mind and understand all the various relationships. Seems that Had McDaniel died in 1881 and left his wife, Rachael, with 3 young children at home at age 50. So I'm trying to figure out how his kids were spread out so far like that. Here's the line up:

William Harrison McDaniel, born in September 15, 1832 in Virginia (Father was Joseph)
Rachael Riley McDaniel, born August 4, 1837 in Bay City, Michigan
They married on March 13, 1856

1) William, born May 18, 1857 (All 7 children were born in Michigan City, IN)
2) Samuel, January 17, 1862
3) Nellie, November 22, 1864 --- died in 1880 at age 16, buried in Michigan City)
4) Abigail, November 30, 1871
5) Edward, January 2, 1873
6) Twins, Rachael and James, July 1, 1880 --- James died at birth, buried in Michigan City

William Harrison "Had" McDaniel died in 1881 and is buried in Michigan City along with his parents and two of his children. He was 50 years old and owned a butcher shop in town.

There is a 23 year spread for those children! When the twins were born, Rachael was 43 yrs old. The twins were born in 1880 and her oldest daughter, Nellie, died that same year. Nellie would have been her right hand helper with all the work at home and with the new babies but she was lost. What heartache that must have caused Rachael. And yet the reason for the tragedy is lost to time and so is her mother's grief.

When Had died, Rachael was 44 years old and had 3 young children still at home:
Abigail, age 10
Edward, age 8
Rachael, age 1 year.

And she owned a butcher shop. No mention is made if she worked the shop or what happened to it except that it was sold and then she moved to Spokane. Maybe the older boys worked the shop. William, the oldest at age 24, would have been plenty old enough to be trained and ready to take over the business that his father left. The next oldest, Samuel, would have been 19 when his father died, a grown man in those days.

So the big picture of the family is this: they were firmly settled in Michigan City, Indiana and had been for many years. The states of Michigan and Indiana were Rachael's home states, all she had ever know. All of the family children were born and raised in Michigan City, they owned and operated a business there, they had a house, although no mention is made of it, but it must have been big enough and nice enough to accommodate the family. They must have had friends and attended church. They had a well established life in Michigan City, Indiana and yet in 1885 or thereabouts, Rachael Riley McDaniel packed her belongings into trunks, gathered up her three small children and took the train to the Washington Territory, a trip of at least a month, maybe up to 6 weeks.

When I sit and think about Rachael McDaniel and what her life must have been like in 1880, after losing Nellie and then one of the twins at birth and then the next year, her husband, I see a woman in great pain and with plenty of reason to grieve. In addition to her losses to death, her own parents had moved from Michigan City to Spokane at some point (I haven't found that info or date yet) and she was missing her mother. I feel certain that her decision to uproot and move out West was based on grief and loss and a desire to be with her parents and feel cared for and secure once again.

And thus ends my writing for today. I'm beginning to feel like I know these people and can almost picture them. So much sadness in life and that goes for everyone, all of us, all down through time.