15-16-17th. – Worked at the mill. Iva’s birthday.
Iva Iona Watson was 11 years old when Jesse met her at the Mascot Hotel in Gate City, Thurston County, Washington, and today in 1901 she turned 12. If Jesse mentioned it in his diary, maybe the hotel visitors celebrated the day, and if they did, how was the occasion marked?
Iva’s family moved to Gate City recently since the 1900 federal census listed her parents and siblings as tenant farming in Vermont. That makes seven kids, Iva’s dad and stepmom staying at Fred Ernst’s Mascot Hotel.
In 1905 at 16 years old, Iva married William Winfield McClellan. After William died in 1912, she married Ora Glen Bates.
