I am torn between saying nothing about the letter and waxing on about various topics from the letter. I think I will keep it simple. I did some research this week that provided me some new information on Newell A. Lamb. Since he is mentioned again in this letter, it seems appropriate to talk a little about him. I have recently made contact with a former resident of Kentland. Her mother still lives there so she frequently returns to Kentland to visit. After she read the last letter which mentions Newell, she emailed me that Newell was a Newton County judge. This gave me just enough information so I was able to track him down.
Newell A. Lamb was born, mostly likely, near Elgin, Illinois, the son of George and Belle Newell. He had an older brother Miles and a younger sister Sarah. Newell lived with his parents until it was time for him to head to college. He was an alumnus of the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1935. I do not know where he attended his undergraduate studies as yet. Born in 1909, he was only five years younger than my grandfather. Much like my grandfather who settled in Kentland after graduating from medical school, Newell started his early law career in Newton County. I have yet to locate him on the 1940 census, but he was definitely in Kentland by September 1942. Only a few weeks after this letter was written, Newell Lamb was appointed by the Governor of Indiana to fill the vacancy of the Newton County prosecuting attorney. In 1944, Newell was elected to the position of county judge. He held that position for 42 continuous years, retiring in 1986. He died only 2 years later. Another little tidbit that I learned was that Newell was also a freemason, like my grandfather, so it is likely that they interacted with one another professionally as well as socially.
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- September 5, 1942 (GRY) Envelope
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- September 5, 1942 (GRY), p. 1
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- September 5, 1942 (GRY), p. 2-3
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- September 5, 1942 (GRY), p. 4
Letter transcription:
Kentland Ind
Sept 5-1942
Dear Daddy,
Sat. and the boys home. It is almost time for John to go take his music lesson. Mark just finished dishes and is probably going to resume work on his models. He worked a while last night. If I can just keep him away from other children and at work on the models his it does him about as much good as medicine. He is still taking Vit B & Phenob. He plays so hard at school he needs Sat & Sun to be alone to recuperate. He came home one day with the knee out of his pants leg. The next day said someone cracked one of his front teeth but on
(page 2)examination I couldn’t see any enamel missing. I told him I didn’t want him to play so rough and not to play football but he raised such a howl I decided it would be harder on him to keep out of things than to play. When I wouldn’t buy him a flute for 75⁰⁰ or $100⁰⁰ Mr. Webster got busy talking to Boonie about the horn situation and Boonie said he could get him an alto for $35⁰⁰. I still think that is too much to invest, knowing Mark as I do. He wants a bike so bad and I told him if he got a horn he couldn’t have a bike. Well, without any hesitation he said he would rather have a bike. I wouldn’t mind getting him the horn-as a matter of fact I would like for him
(page 3) to be in the band but hate to make the purchase of a horn and then have him not do anything.
Mother is coming up tomorrow to stay a while so when I go to the hospital she will be here to run things. Thelma is going to bring her. I gave myself a Vit B shot and think I will keep it up for a while. If Dr. C. doesn’t come up over Labor day and I still don’t feel any stronger I am going to call him again. Mrs. Simon’s daughter living in Lafayette said Dr. C. has 200 baby cases booked.
Tomorrow is Bobby’s birthday and Arlene was wanting to come home (her 8th day-and with stitches to heal). I have my doubts if he will allow her to come. She is supposed to stay 12 days.
(page 4) Lucile & Dorothy were out last night. D[orothy] said Newell is just using the front office for his law business. Nick is still using the back rooms for storage.
The notice for Auto insurance come today. The bills keep coming but the accounts have stopped. I haven’t felt like sending out statements yet this month but I am going to try next week and send out a few. The oldest Eason boy has a brain tumor and has been in a hospital in Chicago, so that is one reason I haven’t heard from them.
It is nice and cool so far today-Hope it stays this way.
Love Mother
Well, I’m certainly learning a lot about my brother Mark. I didn’t know he’d been such an active kid…to put it mildly. That he was taking phenobarbital is a bit scary. I just read about it on Wikipedia. Yikes.
I had to chuckle at the term ‘baby case’–I heard that term a lot as I was growing up, because such a large part of my dad’s practice was obstetrics. Dr. Cole was a busy guy if he had 200 baby cases “booked.”
File under “those were the days”: Arlene staying in the hospital for 12 days after childbirth. On the first page of my Baby Book mother wrote that she came home from the hospital on October 6th. So she remained in the hospital two full weeks. And I do wonder how the person watching things on the home front for that length of time was coping with Mark.
I have a vague memory of Newell Lamb, i.e., even kinda what he looked like. I did a Google image search, but came up with nothing. Certainly this was a name I heard a lot when I was growing up. When I was in college, I served for one day as a page in the Indiana state legislature, and he might have had something to do with arranging that. My major in college was political studies, and during my teen years I had a reputation as an enthusiastic Republican–and that might have helped me get that one day gig.
New mothers certainly did stay a lot longer in hospital than they do nowadays. My mum (who had her first baby in June 1942) was horrified that I stayed in hosptital for such a short time and said that, “in her day” women stayed in hospital for at least 2 weeks and also that they had their stomachs “bound” to help their “innards” get back to where they should be. That always made me smile but mum insisted that’s why so many young women today have “pelvic floor” problems etc.