Ruth Campbell Smith 1925-27 Diaries

My grandmother, Ruth Campbell Smith (1892 - 1972) kept a diary for many years. I am posting her entries from 1925 - 1927 in this blog. Her family included sons Dale (1916 - 2004), Dick (1918 - 1971), Albert (1920 - 1979), and Ned (1923 - 1976), and later daughters Marjorie (1925 - 2010) and Eleanor (1929 - 2011). Her husband was Gilbert (1889 - 1937) and they lived in Indianapolis. I hope you enjoy this glimpse of what it was like to be a housewife and mother in the 1920's.

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Wednesday, June 3, 1925

Wednesday, June 3, 1925

Found Gilbert’s tonsils covered with patches. They hardly feel sore but probably cause the trouble. Papa swabbed them out. Washed Ned’s ears out with syringe and he seemed a little better. Went to sleep. I write as I hold him. I don’t rest or eat these days. Just hold Ned night and day.

(Rough couple of days for the Smith family. I'm sure it was helpful to have a physician in the family (Grandma's father "Papa") to tend to their ailments. I've heard stories that Grandma remembered as a little girl that her father spent a lot of time making medicines, which often involved simmering concoctions on the stove for days at a time. Then, when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was started in 1906, he could no longer make and sell his own medicines. His specialty as a physician was gynecology.)