Tuesday, March 2, 1926

There is no diary entry for March 2, 1926, in fact there are several days coming up when Grandma did not write in her diary. Aunt Marjorie sent me a note speculating on why she missed these days, but I'll leave that explanation for the day she starts writing again.

In the meantime, for those who stop by daily, I'll share some of the family history that Grandma wrote in 1972. We'll start with the story of how her parents, Rolla Wilbur Campbell and Nancy Elizabeth Jordan met, even though Rolla lived in Ohio, and Nancy in Illinois. (If this isn't what you came here to read, I understand, please come back in a week or so when Grandma starts writing in her diary again.)

"So the only living descendents of the Isaac M. Campbells were the family of my father, Rolla Wilbur, who had hauled logs from Fort Recovery (Ohio) to a spoke factory at Union City (Indiana?) to earn enough money to pay his way through the University of Cincinnati Medical School where he graduated near the head of his class in 1879. His roommate there was James Denney, also from Fort Recovery. He (James) had been writing to a former neighbor girl, Emma Creary, whose family had moved to Ford county, Illinois where they were neighbors of the Jordan family. It was through her recommendation too that William Jordan got the name of James Denney's sister, Sarah, in Fort Recovery and he wrote to her. Their coorespondence ended in his going to Ohio and marrying her, and they went to Illinois to live. She (Sarah) sent her brother James the name of her sister-in-law whom they called Lizzie (Nancy Elizabeth Jordan), and they wrote to each other for some time, until James proposed that he and Rolla trade names, to let him write to Emma Creary for awhile. Later James Denney wanted to trade back, but neither Lizzie or Rolla consented. Right after he graduated from college, Rolla went to Gibson City (Illinois) and married Nancy Elizabeth Jordan on March 11, 1879, at the home of the bride's parent, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Jordan. However, this was not the first time they had seen each other, for he previously had visited her, and had seen that she was as attractive as her letters had made her seem. This answers the question that was often asked, "How did you two meet with your homes so far apart"? Dr. James Denney never married but I remember his visiting us at one time, as he was passing through Indianapolis from Chicago where he was the doctor for one of the railroads, and was quite well-to-do. Emma Creary visited at our home once, also."

I had to read that twice to figure out who was writing to who. Can you imagine marrying someone at your second meeting, after only exchanging letters for a period of time? I would guess they wrote back and forth for a couple of years. Those letters would be interesting to read! But I am positive somone long ago threw them away or lost them.