In the January 2, 1929, post, “He is getting to be an awful pest,” Ethel mentioned Will and Uncle Boydie. The first of these two names included “Boyd” as well, so it was actually “Will Boyd and Uncle Boydie.” So now is when I confess I’d hadn’t yet decided whether to include last names yet in this diary blog. I’ve always wondered if it was wrong to post private writings about real people. While I doubt Ethel is still alive (she’d be 108 years old after all!), surely there are children of hers and of other people mentioned. While I don’t yet know how the diary plays out for 1929, this means that anything could—or did—happen.
And there’s always ancestry.com, which yes, I have access to and yes, I know some things, but I don’t want to know too much too soon.
So back to their names. Will Boyd and Uncle Boydie. Is Boydie a first name for the uncle? Or did he go by his cutified last name? Don’t most uncles go by their first names? Though unless he was already known as Boydie before he was an uncle, then it would make sense.
More research is in order. But, rather than find family trees, and death certificates, I want to explore these people in 1929. That year, that time, their story.
. . . . .
Image Credits: Fans watching a baseball game at Shibe Park from the rooftops of buildings across the street on North 20th street. —Cropped from larger image from the Library of Congress: Watching Shibe Park, 1910 (LOC)
The 1929 Diary 