Elizabeth 2
Bess was fifteen years old when her dad remarried and Grandad started bringing home one of the men that worked with him. The mans name was Jim Howard and grandad was teaching Jim other things than fixing the railroad track. Grandad, in his six years of being a widower took up drinking and he would hide his bottle under the steps before he went into the house.
As time went on, Bess and Jim became good friends and the thought of marriage come up but Bess told Jim right out that she wouldnt marry him as long as he worked with her father - she did not like their drinking.
Jim went to work at Bonnie Blink (a retirement home for Masons) and Bess and Jim were married a couple of months before her seventeenth birthday. The following year they had a son- Clarence in 1906, Russell in 1908 and Willard in 1911
Bill liked to visit his sister - she was a mother-figure to him; he did not even remember his own mother. Mr. Davis had bought a new horse and he let Bill have one of his horses for $35.00. The horses name was Millie and now he could go see Bess and Jim. This is about the same time that Grandma Moser was also asking Bill to have dinner with her family. Usually, Rev. Jones would also come to the Moser home for his Sunday dinner, and after he had eaten would go to his next church. He was what you would call a circuit rider. After dinner with the Moser family, Bill and Clarence would walk around the farm, eventually making their way to the barn. Mr. Moser had six cows and he shipped milk to Baltimore every day.
Always this reminded Bill of his Uncle Toms farm where he had worked along with Sam, his brother. But when Sam become fifteen years old, he was off doing other jobs and finally ended up in the U. S. Navy. The last card that anyone had received from Sam, he was up around Lake Michigan.
Christmas 1913 was here and Bill spent the day with Bess and Jim. He found a couple of gifts in the store to take to the three boys. Bess told him that Clara, their sister went to work at a real nice hotel down on Camden St. directly across the B&O RR passenger station. The name of the hotel is the Royal Joyce and she met someone that works there - his name is Irwin Isaacs and they were going to get married New Years Eve. Bill did not know that Clara had gone to work for the hotel, much less the fact that she was getting married.
Bess had a great dinner and a pretty Christmas tree. The boys had made colorful paper chains for it and they also strung pop corn for on it.
The months are going by fast. It was already September 1914 and Bill was in regular attendance at church. One thing he noticed was that some of the young men are giving Nellie Moser their attention. There was a John Barnett that took her home once in a while and another young man named Oscar Schmidt that was showing her a lot of attention.
What Sundays that he didn't go to the Moser farm or over to Bonnie Blink to see Bess and Jim, he would walk up the road a little ways and visit the State Game Farm. There were always pretty birds to look at and also mallard ducks. Every Sunday he would go to the Youth Meeting at church and the young people would walk home across Gwynbrook Ave with their arms across the shoulders of the person next to them, which would make a line clear across the road.
It was about Thanksgiving Day 1914 and Mr. Davis got in two brand new wagons to sell. They were for light hauling, with a seat for two people in the front. They were $65.00 and Bill bought one of them. He could not wait to show it to Bess so the very first Sunday that he had it, he drove it up to Bonnie Blink. Her boys looked it over carefully and then they were called into dinner.
After Bill had dinner with them, Bess and Jim went out to see the new wagon; he was proudly showing it off and he said to them, "It even has a trunk in the back." He opened the lid of the trunk and out flew a chicken.. It scared Bill so much that it was the end of Show & Tell.
Bill left Bessies house in time to get back for church. Clarence and Nellie were there so Bill invited them to have a ride in his new wagon. He took them past the store where he worked and lived, he took them up the hill to the Moser farm and Nellie invited him in for a piece of apple pie and a cup of coffee. I hope this is the beginning of a romance because they will be my parents someday if it is.
Christmas 1914 was on a Friday so Mr. Davis declared a three-day Christmas Holiday. The only thing Bill had to do was meet the trains that carried the mail. Mrs. Moser had asked Bill to have Christmas dinner with them. All nine of her children would be there, the older two with their families - Bess with her husband Hugo and their two children and Roy with his wife (another Nellie) and their little girl Catherine.
From that time on Bill was seeing a lot of Nellie and on Valentines Day - Sunday, February 14, 1915, he asked Nellie to marry him. Bill had to save a little money first and they were married October 28, 1915. The house was decorated beautifully with chrysanthemums and there was a wedding feast to follow. They got lots of gifts and one of the gifts was a big family bible from Clarence. I still have the bible. They set up house-keeping on the third floor over the store.
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