Mail Call: 14 Sep 1935 (George)

Elaine Potter (21) and Dorothy Potter (19)
in St. Louis, Sept 1935

George Potter in Cabool, MO to his daughter Mary in Washington, DC

The school tuition issue from earlier letters was not resolved in the Potter's favor; Florence ("Flapper") and Dave can go to Cabool High School but Marjorie ("Peg") is stuck in the country school at Sargent.  This is financially a problem, as the drive to/from Sargent is costly in the long run even though the cash was not available to pay Marjorie's tuition up front.

Mary has evidently spent Labor Day with her then-boyfriend Art and his friends in New York  See the 1 September post for some mementoes. "...but how can you lose so much sleep?"

Elaine is in St. Louis; Dorothy evidently visited at some point in September, 1935, which led to attitude once back home...

"Too young"...George is 60 at this point.

Verna Madison:  identified
Katie Brown: Arch Brook's son Roy's wife Mildred's sister.  Really.

"Dora" is George's sister in E. St. Louis with whom Elaine is staying
Dorothy is, I believe, in Springfield doing domestic odd jobs.

Mail Call: 12 April 1935 (Marjorie)

From Marjorie Potter in Cabool to her sister Mary in St. Louis

The continuation of the Potter's rescued baby story, thanks to cousin Linda Rauk who contributed this letter.  The baby was in some distress because of a sensitivity to cow's milk; the Potters were able to somehow buy goat's milk which made him more comfortable.

Soon after this letter was written, the father came for the baby (and his sick wife, who had not died in the interval, the County doctor being quite wrong in this case).  Mr. Barton had found a job, and he next shows up with his wife and children in Pratt, Kansas in the 1940 Federal Census.  The baby lived to be 78 (d. 2014)  Although I am 90% certain I know who "Melvin Dick" was...(and anyone with an Ancestry.com account and fifteen minutes could find out, too)..I'll think I'll leave it at that.  Nobody wants to google up an ancestor and find them abandoned to strangers by their kin as infants.

Mail Call: 18 March 1935 (Marjorie)

From Marjorie Potter in Cabool (Age 11) to her sister Mary in St. Louis.

The fun in this letter is on the second page; Sixteen year old brother David has been snatching his sisters' gum and gets shut out of the house for dinner.  He manages to improvise for himself and does not go hungry,

Thanks to cousin Linda Rauk for this letter, which Mary had returned to Marjorie in the 1980's

Mail Call: 18 March 1935 (Gladys)

Gladys Potter in Cabool, MO to her daughter Mary who was working for a  bank in St Louis.

A neighbor, Mrs. Arch Brooks, criticizes Elaine (20 years old at the time) for her un-ladylike posture and gets an earful.  "Mrs. Brooks runs her house and I guess she is going to try and run our house also."  Unfortunately, as the Potters get much neighborly support from the Brooks family, Gladys doesn't seem to feel that she can really tell her off.

Gladys takes the farm off the market for now.

Lots of rain, too much to plow the garden, but the car gets stuck in the mud.

Note:  "Mrs. Brooks" is Claudine Celestine Rivry Brooks (1885-1967), Arch Brook's second wife.
She was born in France and moved with her family to Kansas in 1897 and then on to Cabool in 1903.
The Rivry estate plus the Brooks land surrounded the Potter farm.

"Marshal Brooks (1899-1951)" was neighbor Arch Brooks' brother, one-time local lawman, and real estate agent,