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1918-01-20: ​audio---images---~COMMENT~---transcript---notes---links---site navigation
The handwriting in this letter is a mess.  I think Mama Margaret's fingers must have been so cold that she couldn't write properly.
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1918-01-20: ​audio---images---comment---~TRANSCRIPT~---notes---links---site navigation
Sunday Jan 20

​Dear Eva,

It is so long since I have done any writing I scarcely know how to begin.  We have had a lot of very cold weather and there seems to be no end to it.

A week ago yesterday - the Sat of the 12th - it was 16 below zero [illegible] that was the coldest.  Will said it was the coldest weather he ever experienced.  The snow is deep too, coal is scarce and every thing [illegible] upset.  The Auto buss only missed on Monday but Margaret was much disappointed then.

The mails were tied up but I got a lot of mail when opened up five letters in one day and this is the first I have tried to write.  I have finished the sweater and am now making sleeves for it, so if he wants them he can have them ready.  Mrs. Rushmore did the crocheting around the neck and arms.  We thought it would make rather heavy sleeves, but I supposed they will be all right in a very cold place.  Will gave the first sweater I made for him to a young Lieut who left Friday for France.  He was married a few weeks ago to Little John’s aunt his mother’s sister.  Mr. Lieut Andrege [???] was at the University when Will was teaching the men out there.  Will recommended him and examined him for the Eng. Corps.  He was called on rather unexpectedly to go and his knitting was not all done.  They finally bought a helmet for him after trying for some time.  Knitted ones are selling for $3.50.  If he had not succeeded in getting one Will was going to give him his.

Kathleen went down town and bought the furs.  Of course Will was with her.  They are mink and very handsome.  They look like yours only darker.  She also was down another day and bought a coat.  I have not seen it in daylight.  It is a kind of gray.  I think she said it was called silver tongue [???].  Anyways it is silver something.  It is not very heavy but she said she did not want a heavy one.  Will helped to select it too.  I have written to Alma to be sure and get a new coat and to get a real good one.

We have just come up from dinner.  It is cold today and the gas is always low at that time - so low I have had to turn it out of my little stove.  We try to save coal all we can as it will be difficult to get any more.  There has been some coal seized by the city and being sold not more than five baskets to one person.  I don’t see how the very poor are going to get along, thrown out of work and every thing so dear.

I had intended to go to Canton on the 28th but I don’t know now whether I shall or not.  I don't think I will start unless I am certain that I can get through.  I don’t want to be stranded any place.  The trains may be all right by that time.  The deep snow has been a great trouble in delaying trains in the Middle West.  I have not seen so much snow since the deep snow in Canton while on Eighth St and Fred made walks before we could get out.

Will had Kathleen read French last night to him and he has been reading today.

Mrs. Attie has gone to Cornell New York [???illegible???] to be gone until in March.  The Aunt who died the day she entertained us at the club left her house and a good deal to her faithful colored servant Sarah and ten thousand to the [illegible] Place M.E. Church.

I have not been out any place since you left.  The snow deep and weather too cold.

Last Sunday the street cars stopped running in the afternoon to save coal and Will got the Buick out and took Bessie home as she said she just had to go and was going to walk.  He gave a number of people a lift while he was out that were caught out and no cars.  He took some up to Peebles Corners.

Margaret has been sleeping with me this very cold weather.  She says my bed is warm.  She gets awake early in the morning but keeps quiet generally.

I almost forgot to tell you that Will bought me some Duofold underwear the day it was so cold.  I never had anything so nice.  It is fine cotton inside and fine wool on the outside.  He said several times that I ought to have warmer underwear but I said I could not get anything under my dresses.  He measured my waist bust and hips and got a fine fit.  It is warm and very comfortable and does not fill up my dresses as I thought it would.  He gave $4.00 suit got two suits.  That will be enough as I shall launder them myself - would not trust them to a laundress when I can do them.

With love and kisses

Mother
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1918-01-20: ​audio---images---comment---transcript---~NOTES~---links---site navigation
1.
Sunday Jan 20
No year given.  There’s no mention of Billy, so it seems as though it ought to be 1917, but it was in 1918 that January 20 was on a Sunday.  And she mentions Saturday the 12th.

Also, we weren’t in World War I yet in January 1917 - that didn’t happen until April 1917.

And when I googled for a cold snap in Cincinnati in January 1917, what I got was a cold snap in the area in December 1917 and January 1918, with particularly low temperatures around the 12th, as Mama Margaret said:
A week ago yesterday - the Sat of the 12th - it was 16 below zero [illegible] that was the coldest.
From The twelfth day of 1918 “was probably the coldest and most disagreeable day experienced in a century” (Monthly Weather Review), or at least since the intense cold of January 1, 1864 (Climatological Data).  At 7am, winds were blowing at 20 to 30 mph while the temperature at Louisville was fifteen degrees below zero and Lexington was fourteen below. Using the modern calculation, that gives a wind chill around 45 degrees below zero!

I think this was probably the same cold spell that was causing work issues for Will the following month:
2.
I had intended to go to Canton on the 28th but I don’t know now whether I shall or not.
I don't think Mama Margaret made it to Canton until late February - see: I'm adding this letter to Laura's documents, even though Laura isn't specifically mentioned, because the upcoming visit to her is mentioned.

3.
I have not seen so much snow since the deep snow in Canton while on Eighth St and Fred made walks before we could get out.
I wonder if Mama Margaret is talking about the snowstorm in this article:
4.
Will had Kathleen read French last night to him and he has been reading today.
So Will thinks he may be sent to France.


5.
Mrs. Attie has gone to Cornell New York [???illegible???] to be gone until in March.
Mrs. Attie gets mentioned elsewhere, so I've added her to the Non-Family Ohio Folks page.


6.
Last Sunday the street cars stopped running in the afternoon to save coal and Will got the Buick out and took Bessie home as she said she just had to go and was going to walk.  He gave a number of people a lift while he was out that were caught out and no cars.  He took some up to Peebles Corners.  
Will’s so nice.


7.
​I almost forgot to tell you that Will bought me some Duofold underwear the day it was so cold.  I never had anything so nice.  It is fine cotton inside and fine wool on the outside.
A New York Times article from 1992 says:
Duofold, the company that introduced the first double-sided thermal underwear 85 years ago, has developed a new layering system with vents for outdoor clothing.Although Duofold still makes its original thermal underwear -- cotton inside and a blend of wool and cotton outside -- it uses synthetic fibers and fabrics in the new vented clothing.


8.
He measured my waist bust and hips and got a fine fit.
Again: Will's so nice.
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