General Notes

From a letter received in 1974 from Ruth Cunningham Betow of Tustin, CA--------

"I think I can shed some light on her (dau-Inez) reluctance to communicate with the rest of the family.  She is very bitter concerning the entire clan.  Her mother died when she was very small, as you can see by the enclosed sheet, and it seems that none of the rest of the family, either side, would have anything to do with them or help out in any way.  Silas raised them by himself or farmed them out to work for others.  They wee very poor and had quite a hard time of it.  Silas was a mean, harsh disciplanarian which didn't make their lot any better.  Whe will hardly mention her father at all.

Silas was married twice and had 20 some children between the two wives.  No one in the second group of children knows anything about the first.  They never met or saw any of them.  His first wife must have died, but what became of his first large brood is a mystery.  Maybe this explains why he hung on so hard to his second family after mary Jane died.  "