Dick and His Family

We have so many pictures of Dick with others in his family - it was not easy to choose which ones to include. It was a great family!

By Dave

Jan 13, 2021

The Stouts, Votaws, and Jessups all lived near each other in Indiana, and they were a close family. When Dick was born he was a treasure to all of them, as you can see in the photos on this page.

The photo on the left includes the Stouts on the left, the Jessups on the right, and the Votaws in the back. Dick, of course, is in the front. Mrs. Stout is Julia, Lewis’ second wife; they married after Anna (mother to Tirzah and Mildred) passed away. We have very few pictures of Julia and none taken after the death of Lewis in 1935.

A section of Dick’s autobiography, dealing with family life, is reprinted below.

Here’s the family as it looked shortly after Dick was born – minus Harold, who was taking the picture.

The first two photos in this set were taken while the Votaws were on vacation. Harold had a sister and three brothers that lived in California, so their vacations would often take them out west. The captions for these photos were copied from the words written in the photo album where they had been stored. Clockwise, starting at upper left:

-“On the high mountain pass between Trinidad Colo. and Raton New Mexico”
-“‘Honey Girl’ and Dick on board S.S. Catalina bound for Catalina Island Oct. 5 1931”
-“Aug. 1928”
-“At one year. In front of Votaw Pharmacy”
-“In our side yard Yearly Meeting Sunday – 1928”
-(no caption)
-“The old basket – my bed for six months”

Only one of these photos came with a caption, shown below in quotes. Other notes are mine, starting at the top left and going clockwise.

-I do not remember ever seeing Grandaddy (Harold) in a tux. And I’m amazed that Mildred posed with him wearing her apron. I wish I knew the story behind this picture.
-A formal colorized portrait, taken at Ayres Department Store in Indianapolis.
-This photo looks like it was taken at the end of a hike through the woods.
-“The old Chevy & Mudder”
-Looks like Dick is nearing junior high school, or already in it, in this picture.
-This photo must have been taken shortly before the family moved to California in 1944. Dick is as tall as his dad, and probably in high school.

A short poem from Harold to Mildred, by way of an apology for a gift not yet purchased. (click to enlarge)

The Beginning Years, by Dick Votaw (part 6)
(part 1) (part 2) (part 3(part 4) (part 5)

Other early memories of this period include the fact that we knew almost everyone in the little town of Plainfield, bread was seven cents per loaf and the grocer put your order together for you. I can still see Unc cranking his old Ford truck to get it started. Telephone numbers were four digits and there was no recycling; coke came in glass bottles. There was also the time I fell out of my folk’s car while moving; car doors were not nearly as secure as they are now. I was always cautioned not lean against the door while the car was moving. I guess I just leaned a little too much this time because out I went; luckily it had snowed recently and I landed on snow, so I was not hurt. Sometimes we would all gather as a family around the radio to hear our favorite programs as there was no television and there were no stores open on Sunday.

My pets over the years included English Bull dogs at the farm as Aunt & Unc would have no other breed, and they kept replacing the old one with new. In Indianapolis we always had Boston terriers and they were usually named ‘Happy.’ This was fine for me as I could never tolerate cats.

A most happy family tradition was started sometime during this period of my life. On New Year’s day at the family meal (usually evening) Mother would get out small birthday candle holders that were truly antiques, and fill each one with a white birthday candle. Each one of us would then write on a small piece of paper our wish or thought for the new year. These were neatly folded and placed in a sealed envelope. The candles were then lit simultaneously and then the fun and eagerness of watching and waiting began. The candles were allowed to burn until the flame went out and all the tallow was gone. The person whose candle lasted the longest was the ‘winner’ and supposedly he or she would get their wish in the coming year. Dad always watched the elapsed time between the second and last candle to burn out and this was recorded to read and try to beat the next year. Mother would always say, “Be careful and don’t breathe or cough on your candle or you might blow it out.” On New Years Day the next year each one in turn would read what they had written twelve months previously beginning with the ‘loser’ or the one whose candle went out first. We progressively read our wishes with the winner reading last. The fellowship created by this tradition still lives today and is enjoyed by a much larger family now.

For the benefit of the future generations of the Votaw family I would like to relate to you some of my other memories of the time period covered in this chapter. I can remember when bathing suits covered a lot more than they do now, and there was no junk mail, only an occasional Sears catalog. Elevators always had an operator and he or she would sit on a stool and call out the number of the next floor and open the door for you. On Halloween there was much tricking and very little treating, like soaping windows or throwing glass bottles and jars down coal shoots. Households were all quarantined if we had a disease that other people could catch. Quarantined meant that no one in the house could go out or no one from the outside could come in for a required number of days. There were no packaged mixes and puddings were all made from scratch. Homes and schools were not heated as well as they are today and there was no air conditioning in the summer or in automobiles.

A lot can be said about a life style such as we had it then even though some things were not as easy or comfortable as they are now. I am afraid I have not left such a heritage for my children and grandchildren.

Related Posts

Dick and His Cousins

Dick and His Cousins

Most of Dick’s cousins lived in California while he was growing up in Indiana, so there were not many opportunities for them to be together until Dick got older.

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *