Saturday, April 5, 1919

Cloudy. Mild. Wet. In bed all day. Did not eat anything. Feel rather dull. Dr. Kathan here in morning. Temperature 102. Snow about all melted.

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Poor Stanford! I wonder what was wrong with him?

Friday, April 4, 1919

Cloudy. Mild. Snow melting fast. Did not feel well. Stayed home from college. Dr. Kathan here in evening. Temperature 104. Went to bed and took sweat.

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Uh-oh. Another illness. Wasn't it nice when doctors visited you at home? Imagine all the money that was saved on health care in those days! No trips to the emergency room or disposable surgery kits ratcheting up the expenses.

Dr. Kathan was probably Dayton L. Kathan, who lived on Union Street in Schenectady in 1920. He was a graduate of Albany Medical College and in 1919 was 63. Dayton had a brother Sherman who was also a physician, born in 1864 and therefore 55 at the time Stanford was treated. But Sherman lived in Conklinsville, 42 miles from Schenectady, so was probably not the doctor who attended Stanford.

Sherman Kathan was kind of interesting. He apparently lived for a while in the Minnesota territory. He's listed in the census as living in Aitkin, MN (29 miles East of Brainerd) in 1895 with his wife, Carrie, who was seven years younger than him. They'd only been married a year then. He was already a doctor, having graduated from Albany Medical College in 1891. They must not have liked it there because by 1900 they were living in New York City.

He died in 1929 in an automobile accident. His wife, however, died in 1921 at only 49 years old. They had no children.

Thursday, April 3, 1919

Bright mild day. Thawed. Some wet. To College 8:30 to 12. Studied. Helped mother clean our room. Down town. Bowled at Morse. Changed tire on ford. To KSII meeting at church. Walked around. Retired 10 P.M. Thank God for all worldly things.

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Wednesday, April 2, 1919

Cloudy in A.M. Cleared up in P.M. To college 8:30 to 12. Vacation in P.M. Return of soldiers. Big parade. Lots of people out. Bowled at Morse 239-137. Studied and read. To bed 10:15. Thankful for parents.

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Tuesday, April 1, 1919

Windy. Cold. To college 8:30 to 3:30. Let lower flat 108 Park Place. To Library. Supper. To April fool social at church. Miss Proper's eighteenth birthday. Fine time. To bed 12 P.M. Thankful for health.

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Not sure who Miss Proper is, but she must have been a friend. If I learn her first name, I can perhaps find out.

Monday, March 31, 1919

A little snow. Cool. To college 9 to 2:30 P.M. To Silliman Hall to do some work for Goewey [?]. Bowled at Star alleys. Studied. Played Piano. Quite a little snow on ground. To bed 10:15. Thankful for Education and Comforts.

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It was a little hard to make out the name of the person Stanford said he was doing "some work for," but I tried Goewey and found a Union student by the name of Hobart F. Goewey, who in 1920 was a senior at Union College from Chazy, NY. He later became Reverend Hobart F. Goewey. He may be the Goewey Stanford refers to. I wonder what kind of "work" Stanford was doing?

Sunday, March 30, 1919

SET CLOCKS AHEAD. Cold. Windy. Wet. To Church and S.S. Took Centenary pledges. Dinner. Uncle Charlie hear [sic]. To County House to meeting. E.L had charge. 5 couples to Lillian Weber's home. To Epworth League and Church Service. To bed 9:15.

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Ah, the good old days when Daylight Savings Time came at the end of March instead of at the beginning!

Lillian Weber was probably Miss Lillian Pearl Weber, a girl about Stanford's age who lived in Schenectady with her mother and a boarder at 936 Albany Street. Lillian was a dictaphone operator for GE. She later married and died in Florida in 1986.

Her mother, Lotta, shows as married in 1920, but a family tree shows him as dying in 1918, so I don't know what the real story is on that.

I wonder who Lillian was dating at the time? Stanford mentions 5 couples, so probably Lillian was half of one of those couples.

Here is a picture of Lillian when she was a bit older:

 I got this from a family tree on ancestry.com. I think she had a nice face.