Monday, January 1, 2007

Della's Journal - The Players

I recently found a Journal amongst papers and books that my parents gave me back in the 1970's. It is a daily Journal of my great-grandmother for each day in 1929, plus some additional pages with notes on them. I will transcribe these notes from the Journal a week at a time as we go through the 2007 calendar.

My great-grandmother was Abbie Ardell (Smith) Carringer, known as Della to the family. She was born on 11 April 1862 in Waupan, Dodge County, Wisconsin, the daughter of Devier J. and Abigail (Vaux) Smith. The family moved from Wisconsin to Taylor County, Iowa, then Andrew County, Missouri, then Cloud and Pottawatomie Counties, Kansas and finally McCook County, Nebraska by 1885. The family invested in a "ranch" in Cheyenne County, Kansas. While at the ranch, Della met Henry Austin Carringer, and they were married on 11 September 1887 in Wano, Kansas. They rode the train to San Diego for their honeymoon, and settled there. Austin was a carpenter, and worked initially in the railroad yards in National City. They had two sons, Davier David who died in infancy, and Lyle Lawrence Carringer, born in 1891, who was my grandfather.

They bought a lot in San Diego in about 1895, and had built a house on what is now the northeast corner of Hawthorn and 30th Streets. By 1927, the house had been moved to the middle of the block, and is now a two-story building with two apartments at 2115 and 2119 30th Street.

The major players in this Journal include:

1) Della (Smith) Carringer, age 67 in 1929, my great-grandmother.

2) Henry Austin Carringer, age 76 in 1929, my great-grandfather. The Journal refers to him as "Austin" or "A".

3) Abigail (Vaux) Smith, ge 85 in 1929, Della's mother. She is usually referred to as "Ma." She lived with Austin and Della.

4) Lyle Lawrence Carringer, age 38 in 1929, son of Austin and Della, my grandfather.

5) Emily (Auble) Carringer, age 30 in 1929, Lyle's wife, my grandmother.

6) Betty Carringer, age 11 in 1929, daughter of Lyle and Emily, my mother.

7) Georgiana (Kemp) Auble, aged 61 in 1929, Emily's mother, a widow, usually referred to as "Mrs. Auble". She lived with Lyle and Emily.

8) Harvey Edgar Carringer, aged 77 in 1929, brother of Austin, a bachelor, referred to as "Ed."

Other people mentioned include renters, neighbors, friends and acquaintances, and more family. Della had many aunts, uncles and cousins, plus a brother and a sister.

In 1929, the Carringer family owned 5 buildings on the block. Austin and Della lived at 2115 30th Street (the ground floor), they rented the upper floor at 2119 30th Street; there was another two story building at 2114/2116 Fern Street that had two rentals. Lyle's family resided at 2130 Fern Street in a one-story house. There were two small cottages at 2123 and 2127 30th Street that were rentals. Along the street sides of and in between the buildings were gardens, trees, and bushes of all types. Della's mother owned a house in East San Diego, which was rented.

That's the brief rundown on the "players" and the "setting" for this year-long story. I hope it doesn't bore everybody - we'll see.

At the end, I will have a complete transcription of the Journal which I can send to my brothers and children as a Christmas gift! See, there's method to my madness!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a great find, Randy. I had the joy of transcribing my great-great-grandmother's diary from 1893-1894, and your great-grandmother's diary reminds me so much of Grandma Stella's -- just recounting the everyday. They couldn't possibly have imagined we would appreciate it so much so many years later.

magman6 said...

I grew up in St. Francis KS which is 2 miles SW of where wano was located. I have metal detected and dug the area for many years. Have many interesting items, coins, bottles,bullets,tack metal and personal things found at the site. It would be neat to have found a personal item that belonged to your great-great-parents...History is great but even better when one can find an item that belonged a known person.

Anonymous said...

xTMq6X The best blog you have!