THREE BABIES
No one in the family ever expected to see a photo like this! Here are three women in their 40’s, each of whom is holding a baby. They don’t exactly look like mothers of babies, but two of them definitely were.
On the left is Harriett, holding baby Sally. In the middle is her brother’s wife Abbie holding one of her twins, Elbert. On the right is Harriett’s sister Della holding the other Cate twin, Delbert.
Abbie and Clifford had a lovely family of three sons (Leroy, Ralph and Hoyt) and one daughter (Dorothy). All were teenagers and busy with their own lives. After being a widow with one son for many years, Harriett married Arley Eaves. He also had three grown sons and a daughter from his first marriage.
Harriett still felt she had been deprived of having other children and longed for “one more child.” Arley thought the idea was a bit ridiculous at their age, and Abbie cautioned her against getting pregnant at her age. Then came one shock after another. Abbie was shocked to find she was pregnant and with twins! In late July they were born, and Harriett went to stay with her a week or so to help out. She had just found out she too was pregnant but kept her secret a few more months. In January, she had me!
This photo was probably made the following summer, when I was about 6 months old and the twins about one year old. All the Cate siblings got together at Clifford and Abbie’s house for a summer reunion, and Della found herself aunt to a second niece and two more nephews.
For most of my childhood, I lived close to these cousins and went to school with them. All three of us were definitely surprises to our parents!
Seeing a story 