DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Adelia M. Hoyt memoir and photographs

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4 UNFOLDING YEARS
fever and for many weeks his young wife seemed likely to follow him. Later the young widow came to Janesville, Wisconsin, where an older sister, Mary, resided with her husband and three sons. Here my father and mother met and renewed an acquaintance which had begun back in New York, and in time this ripened into love, and they were married. 
My mother, Caroline Mix DeGroff, was a very attractive young woman; my father, an old bachelor, unhesitatingly assumed the burden of her three daughters and proved the kindest of stepfathers. He had already purchased land in Iowa near the little town of Cedar Falls, and there he took his ready-made family in 1863. I was the only child of the union and it was well for us all, especially for my parents and me, that we had those other girls.
It was the spring after I was five years old that my parents took a well earned vacation and with their little daughter returned to Janesville, Wisconsin, for a brief visit with relatives. And now memory was beginning to record events. Although this was my first ride on a train, requiring a whole day and several changes, I have no recollection of the trip  going. But of things in Janesville, I distinctly recall my impressions. My Aunt Mary and Uncle Sam lived in a large brown house which to the little country girl seemed like a veritable mansion. How I loved Aunt Mary's darkened parlor with its marble topped center table, its haircloth covered furniture on which I loved to climb and slide off. And there was the carriage drawn by two fine horses in gleaming harness and the two carriage lamps. To the little country child who had never ridden in anything but a lumber wagon or sleigh in winter, this was the acme of elegance. 
My Aunt Adelia's home was equally fine but my chief recollections of this place consists of the large yard surrounded by a white picket fence. A long board walk ran from the gate to the house and how I loved to run up and down that walk! Aunt Adelia was fond of her little namesake and showed me many kindnesses in the years that followed. Her youngest child, my cousin Jessie just four years my senior, also showed me special attention both on this visit and for all the years that followed.

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4 UNFOLDING YEARS fever and for many weeks his young wife seemed likely to follow him. Later the young widow came to Janesville, Wisconsin, where an older sister, Mary, resided with her husband and three sons. Here my father and mother met and renewed an acquaintance which had begun back in New York, and in time this ripened into love, and they were married. My mother, Caroline Mix DeGroff, was a very attractive young woman; my father, an old bachelor, unhesitatingly assumed the burden of her three daughters and proved the kindest of stepfathers. He had already purchased land in Iowa near the little town of Cedar Falls, and there he took his ready-made family in 1863. I was the only child of the union and it was well for us all, especially for my parents and me, that we had those other girls. It was the spring after I was five years old that my parents took a well earned vacation and with their little daughter returned to Janesville, Wisconsin, for a brief visit with relatives. And now memory was beginning to record events. Although this was my first ride on a train, requiring a whole day and several changes, I have no recollection of the trip going. But of things in Janesville, I distinctly recall my impressions. My Aunt Mary and Uncle Sam lived in a large brown house which to the little country girl seemed like a veritable mansion. How I loved Aunt Mary's darkened parlor with its marble topped center table, its haircloth covered furniture on which I loved to climb and slide off. And there was the carriage drawn by two fine horses in gleaming harness and the two carriage lamps. To the little country child who had never ridden in anything but a lumber wagon or sleigh in winter, this was the acme of elegance. My Aunt Adelia's home was equally fine but my chief recollections of this place consists of the large yard surrounded by a white picket fence. A long board walk ran from the gate to the house and how I loved to run up and down that walk! Aunt Adelia was fond of her little namesake and showed me many kindnesses in the years that followed. Her youngest child, my cousin Jessie just four years my senior, also showed me special attention both on this visit and for all the years that followed.