This newspaper clipping came to me without a date on it. I can't be sure what year Audrey and Erna hosted this Halloween party, but then, sleuthing is half the fun of exploring family history.
According to the guest list above, eight of the nine Barclay children attended this event. The only one missing was Shirley, the youngest, who was born in 1933. I believe that if Shirley had been there, even as a babe in arms, her name would have been included in the newspaper story. Don't you think so? Glenn, the sibling closest in age to Shirley, was born in 1930, and he showed up on the party list. So, my first guess was that the party was held between 1930 and 1932--post-Glenn and pre-Shirley.
But wait! The article mentions that the party was held on a Wednesday night. Why would people have a party for children on a school night unless it was actually Halloween--October 31st?
I went to the Internet and checked old calendars to find the day of the week for October 31st on each year of the early 1930s. The first Halloween that fell on a Wednesday in that decade was in 1934.
Sorry, Aunt Shirley, but it looks like they partied without you. Maybe they thought it would be too scary for a one-and-a-half-year-old girl. I hope you've had enough treats since then to make up for what you missed that night.
UPDATE 10/28/13: Apparently, my detective work wasn't thorough enough. I just checked my genealogy database for Velma Brower (Audrey's sister and party assistant) and discovered that by the time October 31, 1934 rolled around, she had been Mrs. Raymon Tracy for nearly eight months. So, what year was the party? I dunno. I give up.
If I ever open my private detective business I'm hiring you. We can snoop to our heart's content.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like tons of fun--but you may want to retract your job offer after you read the post update.
DeleteLinda, Tonight as I've opened our door to hear those familiar words ("Trick or Treat!") spoken in such timeless, innocent voices that, even from two rooms away, my husband was moved, it's fun to think about my mom and her siblings and cousins and others celebrating in that house that you and I both knew. Grandma had a great sense of fun, and I can imgaine that she probably wore some sort of costume for this occasion. Thanks for printing this.
DeleteYour cousin,
Karen
Karen, it's nice to see you here. I liked this article, too. Hosting a Halloween party must have seemed like a great idea when the other option was corralling nine trick-or-treaters.
DeleteLinda, you have a good point about the party being a great alternative to taking all those kids trick-or-treating. And I've just thought of my best example of Grandma having a great sense of fun.
ReplyDeleteWhen my husband-to-be and I met, he was intrigued when I told him that, according to family lore, I was part Cherokee. I mentioned this, by phone, to Mom. Soon after, Ken and I planned a visit home and it corresponded with a planned visit from Grandma, who was the source ot my intriguing "Cherokee-ness". When Ken and I entered the house, there, in a chair with its back to us, sat a gray-haired lady with her hair in braids, wearing a shawl, and with a feather sticking straight up from a headband! This was Ken's introduction to his future grandmother-in-law: She had heard of his interest in our "heritage" and she had obligingly dressed the part. He thought this was cool.
As you undoubtedly know, you and I are no longer Cherokee, because, ultimately, future research by other relatives could find no verification of the family story, but I still have fun thinking of the view Grandma Audrey presented to us on that day in 1964.
Karen
What a great story, Karen! I think I was too young to notice and appreciate Grandma's sense of humor in the years when I was around her, but it's been a pleasure to see it shine through some of her stories.
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