Ancestor: Elsie Hendricks Reynolds
Descendant: Carol M.
My grandmother Elsie lost her mother to the 1918 influenza. She was the oldest of five children. Her father worked for the railroad and wasn't always at home. He told her that she must quit school (she was 13) and take care of her siblings.
This was devastating for her since she wanted to become a nurse. Two years later her father remarried, but the new wife would only take the two youngest children.
One brother went to live with his grandparents; another was sent as a laborer on a farm; and my grandmother was encouraged at age 16 to marry her boyfriend (age 18), by her father. The marriage did not last.
Elsie learned to become very independent. She raised two children and worked her entire life. Her independence influenced her children and grandchildren.