Lillian Margaret: A Memoir - Chapter One - The Beginning

Preface

Thirty or so years ago I suggested to my mother that she should write her memoirs documenting what I imagined was a rather interesting life. I had hoped that by writing her life story that she would be preserving family history and I might learn of some long hidden secrets. Damn if I didn't!

If you chose to read this story you will be reading only her words. I have no plans to elaborate or change anything, although I did clean up errors in the scanned document. Since she was fastidious, I also did not fact check dates or events as that probably would have pissed her off royally. The original manuscript was prepared on an antiquated contraption that I believe was called a typewriter.

My mother didn't break her story into chapters. I have done so only to keep each entry at a manageable size. This is the first of several chapters.

Lillian Margaret died eleven years ago. If she were alive today she would be celebrating her 103rd birthday - probably with a little "drinkypoo".

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Chelsea, Massachusetts was my father's birthplace. His ances­tors migrated from England and settled in and around the Boston area. At the age of two he was left fatherless, so his mother brought he and his sister to Chicago to live. My mother, one of four children, was born in Chicago of parents who had migrated from Frankfort, Germany.

Both of my parents loved ballroom dancing, and so destiny must have taken a hand in bringing them together one Saturday evening at a neighborhood dance. Grandpa Freund wasn't at all pleased in having an Englishman squire his daughter around, but love finally won out and after a proper courtship, Francis James Herbert Albee and Margaret Bertha Freund were wed on September 25, 1907. One year and three days later I was born.

My arrival into the world broke the hush of a cold, frosty September morn. The midwife, in attendance, informed my exhausted ninety-pound mother that she had given birth to - a nine pound girl! Six months later I was still suckling, which made my mother's breasts look like two hanging baskets. Lillian Margaret was the name chosen for me - named for my paternal grandmother, Lilly, and my mother, Margaret.

Lillian at 8 months

Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican, was President of the United states, taking office after President McKinley's assassination. If people were fortunate enough to have employment they worked extremely hard for small wages.
Father worked as a switchman for the Wabash Rail­way - $16.00 for a six-day week.

We lived in a small flat on the south side of Chicago. The sub-freezing temperatures accompanied by ice storms and snow blizzards kept us indoors from November through most of April. Our bedrooms and bath were closed off, and the only warmth came from the pot-belly coal-burning stove located in the middle of the parlor which left something to be desired as far as comfort was concerned.

An injury in the switchyard cost father the sight of his left eye, and he was obliged to accept a job in the railroad office as a rate clerk.

Age 3 1/2

My baby years passed uneventfully except that I was accident prone - before one gash was healed I was bleeding from another. At the age of three I contracted a severe case of whooping cough, which settled in my bronchial tubes, and had me coughing and whooping almost day and night for six weeks.

A few weeks prior to my fifth birthday I entered Altgeld Elementary School. My parents had just purchased a two-bedroom cottage on Marquette Road and Loomis Boulevard, a half block from Ogden Park. Father had changed jobs and was now employed at Sears, Roebuck & Co., as a traffic clerk. What fun it was to browse through the Sears Catalog and to choose my first store-bought dress and black patent high-top shoes with red tassels.

Hiking was one of the activities father enjoyed best - he set such a fast pace I had to run to keep up with him. Ogden Park, of course, was our favorite recreation spot. It was a beehive of activity on a summer Sunday afternoon. After church we'd take a picnic lunch to the park and then either go boating, or just relax and listen to the band concert. In the winter the lagoon, close to a quarter of a mile long, was frozen solid and made a beautiful skating rink which hundreds of people of all ages enjoyed.

The President from 1909 to 1913 was William H. Taft, another Republican. He was instrumental in establishing postal savings banks and the parcel post system; and during his administration, the Sixteenth Admendment, which provides for the income tax, was added to the Constitution.

Model T Fords were becoming more prevalent on the roads, and sometimes a self-starting electric car would come into view. The electric models appealed to the womenfolk as they were easier to operate and to get in and out of with their long skirts. And, since the car was glass enclosed, it eliminated the hassle of putting up isinglass curtains in stormy weather (an annoying and frustrating task in Fords).

Father in the "Tin Lizzie"

Even though the responsibility of a family kept my parents close to home, nevertheless they managed to keep in trim and up-to-date by dancing to the tunes on our phonograph. The Turkey Trot, Grizzly Bear, Kangaroo Dip and the Bunny Hug were the latest dance steps, but they still preferred the Waltz and the Two-Step over the modern-type dancing.

A few months after entering kindergarten I returned home one afternoon to find my mother unconscious at the foot of a ladder. She was hanging curtains - had become dizzy and fallen. This brought on the premature births of twin boys on December 17, 1913. One was born dead - the other, given the name of Harold Francis, for a little boy named Harold in my class, and Francis for my father, was so tiny he could fit into a cigar box. He was wrapped in cotton and oil and fed with an eyedropper for three months.

The Albee family

Woodrow Wilson, the Man of Peace, a Democrat, was elected President in 1913, and was re-elected in 1917 because of public sentiment that "he kept us out of the war". But, the United States did enter into World War I in 1917, and shortly afterwards there would appear in many windows in Chicago a small flag with a Gold Star, indicating that a family member in the Armed Forces had been killed in action.

These were troubled times, but there was work to be done by those at home to bolster the morale of the boys "over there". My mother and other distaff members in the neighborhood joined the Red Cross in making bandages, packing kits, knitting sox and scarfs for shipment to the soldiers overseas.

The only member of our family in the Armed Forces was father's second cousin, Frank Daly. Once when he was on furlough he came for a visit and brought me a bottle of Lily of the Valley Perfume from Paris, France. The flower was beautifully preserved inside the bottle - and it was the most elegant gift I had ever received.

Cousin Frank played the piano by ear and so it was an added treat to listen to his music, as well as his experiences over­seas. He played the Maple Leaf Rag with such enthusiasm it made the rafters ring. With father's mellow tenor voice, my little mother's alto, and with Frank strumming the piano, we'd all sing the popular World War I songs with great gusto. Before taking his leave I'd get to ride on his motorcycle with the sidecar.

Summer vacations meant family camping trips. We all looked forward to this except mother. She tensed up to such an extent she was almost a basket case before we finished packing the Model T with our camping gear. She hated every minute of the trip includ­ing the flies, mosquitoes and ants. Cooking over a campfire was most distasteful to her, and usually after we set up camp father would take over the K.P. duties. How sweet it was to awaken each morning to the aroma of bacon frying and coffee perking. At supper­time, we often had a mess of fresh water fish, as father was a pretty good fisherman.


Frequently, my paternal grandmother and step-grandfather Fulton would go camping with us only they traveled on their motorcycle with ­grandma riding in the sidecar. Both were a real joy to have around the campsite, especially grandpa, who was an ornithologist, and birdwatching was high on the list of our activities. He could imitate any bird call, and since he was a commercial artist by trade, he was proficient in sketching all the birds and small animals that he spotted.

Part of my summer was spent on a small farm in Morris, Illinois owned by Mr. and Mrs. Sommers, old friends of my maternal grandparents, grandma and grandpa Freund. Aunt Helen and I spent several summers at the farm. Helen was mother's sister - and only three years older than I. We had a wonderful time at the farm, and since we were both city girls we even enjoyed helping with the farm chores. We looked forward each day to the arrival of the bakery wagon with its tinkling bell, which sold all kinds of goodies for two cents each. The highlight of our visit was the harness races on Sunday after­noons, which we viewed from a hayloft while munching on Maple Chews, Mary Janes and Licorice Sticks, our favorite penny candy.

The war was still uppermost in the minds of the American people, and they submitted voluntarily to meatless and wheatless days as the stream of supplies to the war area continued. Liberty Loan drives were in evidence everywhere - even in the schools - to finance this costly war.

The winter of 1918 came in with a vengeance and brought much snow with it. When the news came over our crystal radio set on November 11, 1918, announcing that the Armistice had been signed and THE WAR WAS OVER, people literally poured out of their homes and offices shouting, cheering, waving flags, with tears stream­ing down their cheeks. Neither the freezing temperatures nor the knee-deep snow dampened their spirits as they were caught up in the singing and revelry which went on and on in the streets throughout the night. Never did the tune "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again" have more meaning!

During my last year at elementary school our family moved to a new subdivision three miles farther west to 6612 South California Avenue,where on a clear day one could see Western Avenue, eight blocks to the east, and Kedzie Avenue, eight blocks to the west. Marquette Park was located one block south, but since it was a new park it offered few facilities and our visits were limited to an occasional Sunday afternoon stroll. We surely missed Ogden Park. There were few children in the area, and those around my age were boys, which suited me fine as I enjoyed boys sports and their rough and tumble games, even though I usually wound up with bruised arms and knees and my clothes in tatters. Being the only girl in the group, I was inclined to show the boys I could do anything they could do, and once I got my leg broken jumping off the porch "just showing off".

On Christmas morning in our new home, we kids awakened to find that Santa had brought us each a pair of roller skates in addition to the usual stocking filled with an orange, apple, hard candy and nuts. Now we could roller skate from one end of the cemented base­ment to the other. This gave us something to do on rainy days and kept us out of mother's hair.

It was my parents' wish that I finish my elementary education at Altgeld, so during the week I stayed with my paternal grandparents who lived a few blocks from the school.

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Editor's note: Chapter Two next Wednesday. At this point I think there will be five or six chapters. I have yet to finish scanning.