a letter from Grandmother Ruth Ricketts written 1980

This is a letter from my grandmother, Ruth Barry Ricketts, to her younger sister written in 1980.

She writes about where they lived growing up, and about the time after her mother, Annie Barthel Barry, passed away.  It fell to grandmother to try and take her mother's place in the household, and it was such a strain that she had a stroke 2 weeks after Annie's passing. 

She also says, "Brother (Erwin Barry) didn't talk till he was four hears old.  The first thing he said was 'Look at the mule.' "  Below is a picture of Mother and her parents, Donald and Ruth Ricketts, in front of their ouse in Hooks, Texas in the 1960's.

Funeral Notice of Annie Barry 1917

For some time I have been meaning to post this funeral notice from 1917.  It is about the passing of my great-grandmother, Annie Barthel Barry.  I wrote about her to some extent at the beginning of this blog in January.

Annie was taken by "blood-poisoning" from a scratch on the back of  one of her legs.  It could have been tetanus, or an infection from the black stockings worn at that time.  She only lived three days after she fell ill, according to my mother, who was living in the Barry home at that time.

The funeral service was held in the American Presbyterian Church in Clarksville, where the Barry family stained-glass window still exists.  This is the site of the marriage of my grandparents as well.

These funeral notices were edged in black and printed on cards which were left in the post office and other establishments around town so that friends could attend the funeral.  These were still being used when I was a child in the 1940's and 50's. I remember seeing them at the post office in Comanche.

My mother's mother Ruth Barry

My grandmother Ruth Barry was John and Annie Barry's first child.  She was born in 1892 in Clarksville, Texas.  Here are 4 photos of her: as an infant, as a toddler, as a schoolgirl and as a young woman. 

The Barrys had a maid/housekeeper, cook whose husband tended the yard and took care of the cars, repairs, etc. This was not unusual in that day and time.  But Ruth grew up not knowing how to keep house, or cook, because it had always been done for her.