"In the year of 1897, during the fall months, Father took a cold, and thru exposure it turned into, Pneumonia, The doctor was called, but in those days they did not know too much about that disease. During this time, Mother was with child, and it was very hard for here to do the work and take care of Father. As the result was, she caused the premature birth of the baby. Had it not been for the curiosity of a small granddaughter of the Wiswoulds, Mother and the baby might both have died that day, as it was she ran home to her Grandparents and said that there was a woman lying in the house and had a baby on the floor. The Grandparents were shocked that their granddaughter should talk like that and scolded her for it, but she wasn’t to be put off so easily and kept repeating it, they told her if she didn’t stop making up such stories they would punish her, she answered saying, I don’t care if you do only go up there and help that lady. So the Grandfather said well maybe she did see this, and way it wouldn’t hurt to go and see, so the Grandmother, put on her shawl, and ran up to this house, and found Mother in the middle of the floor with the baby boy. They call the Doctor, at once and he came and saved the life of the baby, Though Mother lived twelve days and the last day she called to Father who could not answer her, for he had died that morning, they told her that he was asleep and that they did not want to awaken him. Mother, call the young girl to her bedside and said, Ora, you say you love this baby as though as it was your own, Ora Crane, answered yes I really do, and wish that he were mine to keep for ever, Mother said then call the others in here, and when they had came in, Mother looked at them and said, “I’ am going to die, and I am giving my baby, I have named him Royal Fredrick Peterson, and I do not want that name changed, to this young girl to have as her own, and I hope that all of you will help her to raise it, is this all under stood, and when they all answered yes, she said then I can die in peace, and shortly she had joined Father, in peace and rest."
I've mostly thought this part of my grandfather's story was not accurate. How could Robert know these things? Over the years, I come across a couple of things that suggests that Robert Peterson may have written down actual events (although the fine details are off, e.g. ages.)
One source is Nancy Peterson Harper (Roy and Robert's sister) who wrote a letter to different newspapers looking for her lost brothers (this includes George.) In this letter she provides details that must have come from people who were witnesses to the families circumstances (she mentions one such witness in her letter.) I'm guessing she also wrote letters to family members who provided details. She also reveals that she and Robert Peterson (brother) had already been in contact (see post A Concerned big sister...) and a great wealth of information probably came from that contact.
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| May 1911 |
In the following article from the Nevada Daily Mail (Missouri), Joseph Wiswold, who took care of the three orphan children was writing their family in Arkansas. The mother of the three boys, Mary Thompson was from Arkansas and I have no doubt that Mr. Wiswold wrote about the circumstances of the children and how they were in the condition they were in. Robert and Roy Peterson would make contact with living relatives some 30 years later and were told the details of their parents death and who took care of them. Roy Peterson was most likely told by his adoptive/foster mother how the events of 1897 played out and he was able to add details to his brother's biography of their parents.
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