January 14, 1942 Diary

Wednesday 14th Day - 351 Days to Follow

Diary of Margie Arbuthnot

Another nice day.

The man came after Spotly [the cow] and lot big.

Gerald came and ground grain for the cows.

Dad and I went to Hills today for dinner.

The Athertons were there.  

Temp 20 above at 8P.M.

The Hills and Athertons

The parents of Margie's daughter-in-law Florence were Guy and Ethel (Jackson) Hill.  At this time, Guy and Ethel rented a farm on Jay Road where Guy farmed. Ethel had a sister, Luna Mae but she went by Mae.  Ethel and Mae were the only children of Amos Morey and Luna Jane (White) Jackson.  They were born in Illinois and in 1907, their family moved from  Illinois to Oklahoma.  Mr. Jackson had employed a young man who had come from Boulder County, Colorado where he had grown up.  His name was Guy Martin Hill.  Guy helped the Jackson family make the move.  Ethel in the process of moving, Ethel fell in love with Guy, who had given her a pretty dip pen to use to write to him.  She convinced her father bring Guy back to Oklahoma and hire him to work on their farm.  Ethel and Guy were married in 1911 in Waukomis, Oklahoma.  After Mr. Jackson's death, Guy returned to Colorado in 1934 when he moved Ethel and his daughters to Niwot, where his childhood friends lived.  

While Ethel had found love and marriage, her sister Mae was not as fortunate.  She had fallen in love with a man who served in France during World War I.  There, Private Smith was killed and was buried over seas, leaving Mae without the love of her life.  Mae was heartbroken.  Ethel and Mae had a cousin, Fred Atherton.  Mr. Atherton had married, had two sons and when his sons were young, his wife suddenly took ill and died.  Fred and Mae saw an opportunity to support and love each other as a family so they married.  Fred and Mae never had any children of their own, but once Fred's sons were grown, they traveled extensively, often visiting their family.  Just as they did in 1942 when Fred and Mae Atherton were at the farm of her sister, Ethel and Guy Hill's.

Seated:  A. Morey and Luna J. (White) Jackson
Standing:  daughters Ethel Pauline & Luna Mae Jackson

Guy Hill and Ethel Jackson before they were married
1910

Fred Atherton, husband of L. Mae Jackson,
in Oklahoma with his Model T, ready to cut some grain