Notes on the Teenie Weenie Funny Book
This diary is for July 10 1927 to Sept 12 1927. Mother was
12, Iris 15, Raymond 17 and Oris 19. Harry was 20 and had been married 10
months. Vivian was 22 and had been married 7 years. Mother and Iris are
teenagers and sleep in the bedroom over their parent’s bedroom. Raymond and
Oris are young men and sleep in the bed over the living room. Harry and Vivian
lived away from home with their spouses. During this summer Vivian was away at
Charlottesville studying to be a grade school teacher so husband Henry has some
free time on his hands. Vivian is back home near the end of the diary. Harry
and wife Bettie live close enough to drop in often. During the summer Iris goes
to Charlottesville to spend a week or two with Vivian. The visit gets extended
a week because of overnight visitors. The summer is spent in everyday farm
family things. There is the summer revival at church called Big Meeting. The
family attends each night. There is a church social, visits to and from family
and neighbors. And work! The hard work is with handling the tobacco
crop. But there is normal work like picking tomatoes and washing dishes. And
Mom learns to milk a cow during this summer. The little fun things are looking
at catalogs, eating watermelon, writing letters, and enjoying each other’s
company.
The following populate the pages of the diary:
Mama and Papa are Lemuel (Len) and Margaret (Mag) Waller
Shirley, Iris, Raymond (Ray), Oris, Harry and Vivian are the
children
Bettie is Harry’s wife and Henry is Vivian’s husband.
Mr. Venable is the pastor at New Chapel Church; Mr. Murray
is the Revival preacher
Grandpa and Grandma are Lens parents
Josephine Puckett is a neighbor girl Oris took to church
Aunt Mollie is Mag’s sister and Bettie’s mother. George,
Hoover and Fannie are children
Cousin Lillie a neighbor? That made dresses
Aunt Ora played croquet she is an old maid, Len’s sister
Otho, Ralph played croquet, may be neighbors
Mr. Hedrick, Mrs. Talley, Mrs. and Mr. Wilkerson, Junior and
Christine Wilkerson, all neighbors
Aunt Cate: I have a picture but can’t say she is a relative,
unless she is Lem’s aunt
Uncle Alonza, Aunt Lota, Irma are Len’s brother and his wife
and daughter.
Two Chinese girls, friends of Vivian at the University
Aunt Mary, Mrs. Blackstock, Ruby. Aunt Mary is the wife of
Robert, Mag’s brother. Mrs Blackstock is Mary’s mother, and Ruby is her
daughter.
John Compton an ancestor remembered by Alonza as a joke
Gordon (Steppe) a neighbor, my father’s brother
Hassie sold ice cream at the church social, may be Hassie
Hunt Bagby, a great-aunt.
Rover the dog
I have made a best guess as to the reading in some places.
In places the handwriting is illegible to me and in other places the apparent
reading is nonsense.