Fanny towered over her twin; fussing over the alignment of the quilts, making sure they did not catch in the wheels of the chair. Carefully she arranged the three shawls that propped up Mary's head, allowing the patient to breathe in the cold breeze, just as Dr. Lavell had ordered.
Fanny then looked up to see the stranger gawking at her attempts. Fanny's eyes blackened with determination. "Don't mess with my sister. Don't mess with me," those eyes spoke.
Fanny then looked up to see the stranger gawking at her attempts. Fanny's eyes blackened with determination. "Don't mess with my sister. Don't mess with me," those eyes spoke.
The above intriguing clip from the 2015 documentary "The Forgotten Plague" by Chana Gazit represents how I envision Fanny; an angry, protective young girl, ready to pick a fight. Her twin sister was dying. Undoubtedly when the twin died, so did part of Fanny.
There is no record of Mary Elthea Eva Hersey's death. Did she die in Canada before the family immigrated to California, leaving an inexplicably lost record? Perhaps in an accident while visiting extended family in New York or Wisconsin? Did she succumb on the train ride across the continent; Toronto, Sarnia, Chicago, Omaha, Ogden, or Sacramento? The lack of a Canadian death record suggests that Mary Althea Eva Hersey made it to Los Angeles with the family, only to die before the 1900 census.
Fanny maintained the vigil of caring for Mary by remaining a nurse until her marriage sometime after 1910 at the age of about thirty-three.
There is no record of Mary Elthea Eva Hersey's death. Did she die in Canada before the family immigrated to California, leaving an inexplicably lost record? Perhaps in an accident while visiting extended family in New York or Wisconsin? Did she succumb on the train ride across the continent; Toronto, Sarnia, Chicago, Omaha, Ogden, or Sacramento? The lack of a Canadian death record suggests that Mary Althea Eva Hersey made it to Los Angeles with the family, only to die before the 1900 census.
Fanny maintained the vigil of caring for Mary by remaining a nurse until her marriage sometime after 1910 at the age of about thirty-three.
But what illness stopped for Mary?
Because she could not stop for Death,
She kindly took Mary;
The carriage held but just the two
And Immortality...
After Emily Dickinson
Because she could not stop for Death,
She kindly took Mary;
The carriage held but just the two
And Immortality...
After Emily Dickinson
Notes:
- The images above show Fannie Emily Ethel Hersey (1877 - 1975) working as a nurse and her father Thomas Albert Hersey Senior (1839 - 1910) working as a carpenter in California.
- Columns ten and eleven of the census images show that Elizabeth Evans Hersey (1842-1933) birthed twelve children, with only nine of them living by 1910.
- Ontario, Canada kept meticulous records beginning in about 1869.
- Regrettably, there is no 1890 United States census (it was destroyed in a fire).
- California did not keep vital records until about 1905.
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