Tomorrow we will start the new year, 1921, for the Briggs family. The 1921 New Years Eve was touted as the saddest ever, as the reality of the Volstead Act, enshrining the 18th Amendment into law, hit the revelers. It will likely have little impact on the Briggs family as they were tea-totalers (not so much any more.) In fact in a few years from 1921, daughter Betty will write an Op Ed in a Connecticut paper, shaming the legislature for considering trying to over-ride the Amendment. This is also the year of the Tulsa Race Massacre. I'm interested in uncovering the New York Times perspective on both these cultural pivot points in real time, as well as that of my ancestors.
John and Sue are now in their early 40's and their eldest child, Marion, is in her first year teaching far from home. Betty has settled into her studies and robust social life at Syracuse University and met the man she will become engaged to, but never marry. Frank is an avid football player and Junior at Earlville High School. Louise, the youngest child, is a Freshman. From John's letters, they seem to have acquired a car. This should be quite helpful for the family, given John's work as a travelling salesman.
The Briggs' are now living in Earlville, New York. They're renting a home down the street from the magnificent Victorian house they will purchase and live in until their deaths in the 1950's and 1970's, and the one I remember spending summers in as a child. They own a working stock farm south of Earlville, and John continues his employment with The Osborne Art Calendar Company.
I've tee'd up the letters for the first half of the year. John was a prolific writer during this period–he wrote home almost every day in January.
We'll get started tomorrow.
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