In just a few days, Grandma resumes writing in her diary. In the meantime, we'll continue with excerpts from the family history she wrote. Here is more about Gilbert, her husband and my grandfather:
(Gilbert's mother, Caroline Lucinda Thompson).. " married a neighbor, James William Albert Smith who was about six years younger. To this union were born Nellie May, on Nov. 5, 1874, Clara Bessie, born Sept. 4, 1886, and Gilbert Leo, born August 30, 1889, on a farm near Carpentersville. After having the two girls, they were overjoyed at the arrival of a boy in Liney's family (Liney was Caroline's nickname). His Dad thought that at last he had help with his farming. But alas, it did not turn out that way, for at the age of five Gilbert became ill, and at the time when he should have been starting to school, he was bedfast and under a doctor's care. At that time in the country, medical knowledge was so limited that they never knew just what the trouble was. Their doctor called it 'white swelling' which seemed to affect the thigh bone on his right side. After the fever subsided, the bone was so tender that he could not walk without crutches for several years. Also, the growth of that bone was retarded for a while so that leg was never quite as long as the other one, so after the crutches, he used a cane. He was finally able to start to school when he was eight years old, and was such a good scholar that he was soon able to make up part of what he had missed."
We will continue with more about Gilbert over the next few days. Does anyone have any idea what the "white swelling" might have been? I checked one site of outdated medical terms and it refers to it as "tuberculosis of bones and joints.
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