23rd – Frank & Geo. Bench went down to Jim Williams & got 6 cows. Charley & I ground corn. Pa, Ma, Geo. & Rosa & Geo.B. & Charley, Mary & I all went to a play. Frank was in it. Those that took part were Prof. Pruitt, Frank Bench, Joe Gier, Carl Hawkins, Minnie Braden, Florence & Susy McMillin, & Mattie Flinn. The name of the play was “Thompkins Hired Man”. It was real fine. Those on the side were Fae Watson, Banna Kerr, Katie Gier, the 2 Webster sisters & Myrtle Hawkins.
There are a number of J. and James Williams in the area in the 1900 federal census, so it is hard to sort out which one Jesse mentions.
Professor Pruitt cannot be found in the 1900 census in Livingston County. Teachers were transient and might have been missed or at his previous location at the time census takers recorded his information. There is a Pruitt farming family in Jackson, Livingston County. It is possible he is related to that family. Later, Jesse meets with Professor Pruitt at the Lemon Hotel in Utica. It is possible Pruitt is a boarder there.
Joseph Flavian Gier was 14 years old, and his younger sister Katie Gier Hartshorn was about six years old. They are grandchildren of the Bonderer family in Utica.
Walter Carl Hawkins was twenty-two years old and living on the Green Township Hawkins farm along with his seventeen year-old sister Myrtle Hawkins.
Minnie Ethel Braden Stillwell was a seventeen year-old attending Utica School.
Susan Golda McMillen was seventeen and her fifteen year-old sister Florence Jessie McMillen were students attending Utica School. In the next year, 1902, Susie went on to marry Walter Carl Hawkins.
Mattie Josephine Flinn is twenty-one years old and living on her widowed mother’s farm with her three siblings.
Fae Watson is not easily show up in the 1900 census, at least in Utica.
Banna R. Kerr is listed as the youngest daughter of Isaiah and Eliza Kerr in the 1900 census, but there are no other records connected to a Banna. There is a Ruby Lenora Kerr Turner listed as the youngest daughter in other records, and perhaps Banna is a nickname for Ruby.
The Webster sisters are probably Allie and Lottie Webster, daughters of Harry C. Webster, newspaper editor.
Tompkin’s Hired Man was written by Effie W. Merriman. Antique copies of the script occasionally show up on Amazon.
