Chalkboard Thoughts

    My husband’s family had a bit of family lore about their Great Grandfather Charles R. Mather. It was said that he died in a shootout at a brothel in San Francisco. There was an argument over a lady there. Perhaps he had been trying to help her.  Perhaps he was an innocent bystander and was shot in the crossfire. Perhaps he was not so innocent and refusing to pay the lady for services rendered. It was a terrible scandal.  Of course, this all happened so long ago. It was thought that this was how Grandma Maria Santini Mather became a widow.    My husband was told this story when he was around 40 by his Cousin Cheryl.  He asked how long she had known this.  She said she had heard it when she was little. He asked why she had not told him. Cheryl said that Don was too young to hear such scandalous stories. Don reminded her that he was only one year younger than her.     I was curious about this story. Surely it was t...

    Dr. William A. Winters and Emily “Etta” Whisler Winters should have lived a charmed life. They lived in Newcastle, Indiana just after the turn of the century. He was a dentist in the bustling and growing Indiana town. He had studied dentistry in Chicago. The young couple eventually had two children, Catherine and Frank on June 22nd 1906.    In 1908 Emily (Etta to her family and friends) traveled to Poynette Wisconsin to visit her family in the Summer. Her two children got to enjoy their family and all the fun of summertime.    Shortly after returning to Indiana, Emily began feeling ill.  She had a lingering cough that wouldn’t go away. She was diagnosed with Tuberculosis.    Many people felt that a dry climate would help heal those with tuberculosis.  Colorado Springs was recommended as a place to recover.* And so, Emily reluctantly left her children in Newcastle and traveled with a friend to Colorado Springs...