Amidon Moore Strevell
Amidon had finished the 8th
Reader when he went to work at his father's
store in Ravena. His sisters, Jessie and Lotta, went to a New York
girls boarding school. In those days, a Reader was similar to a grade.
A Reader was book and if you had finished the book, you went on to the
next number. Amidon was a self-learner and was a wiz at math. He loved
to read. His favorites were the British authors such as Shakespeare. He
read poetry beautifully. Amidon had an Uncle out West
who once came to visit him and he brought Amidon Dickens' "Christmas
Carol". Amidon didn't like it and was actually upset because books were
so hard to come by and it was unfortunate he was given one he didn't
care for.
Amidon went to England
before he was married. He traveled through Scotland and traced out the
path that Sir Walter Lake writes about in "Lady of the Lake". He wrote
it out in the back of the book and handed it down to his
granddaughter, Jean Brocklebank-Jennings.
Amidon married Anna Palmer on May 1,
1897. An interesting side note about Anna is that both of her parents were Palmers
before they married.
At some point after Amidon
and Anna married, they went back to England. Anna had stomach problems
and was told by doctors to go overseas as the sea-sickness would cure
her ailments. It seemed to work.
Amidon continued in the
heating and plumbing business,
but not in the original store. He moved to New Jersey in 1911 when he
was 37 years old and had his business there. Amidon lived to be 80
years old, passing away in 1953.
Amidon & Anna had three children:
Hazel (b. 1898)
Roger Palmer (b. Jul 30, 1900)
Lotta Belle (b. 1906) |