What were your mother’s date/place of birth and circumstances of birth?
Here is a partial entry from my mother’s history as written by her.
On the 4th of July in the early 1900’s, the custom of shooting high-powered rifles at sun-up on July 4th and 24th was still being followed by many small Utah towns. It was a custom to have an early morning parade followed by a meeting. The parade was led by a special float carrying the queen for the day (although that term came into use many years later.) Two very young girls were selected as attendants. The queen was chosen by a committee who selected her because they felt that she truly represented the best qualities of youth. There is no similarity between today’s queens who vie for titles by wearing bathing suits and formals, performing talents and undergoing interviews before panels of judges. … Afternoon activities involved games, relay races, etc. There was something for everyone but the babies. I remember, especially clearly, the gum chewing contest where we were to chew the gum and mold it into the shape of an animal. The winner was the first person to come up with a recognizable piece of gum sculpture.
Early in the morning on Tuesday, 4 Jul 1916, however, Charles and Alvira Hansen were much too preoccupied with the arrival of their first child to be concerned with the local celebration commemorating the birth of freedom in America. Dr. Joseph Peck and Grandmother Westover were present to assist with the birth. I made my debut at 8:40 a.m., in Centerfield, Sanpete County, Utah. Mother was a beautiful woman with lovely long , very dark hair that had never been cut. She has said that she vowed to dye its hair if her baby was born a blond. I was saved from that fate by the fact that I had an abundance of dark brown hair at birth. Of course it soon fell out, as with most babies; and the new hair was very straight and very little darker than blond. By then mother wasn’t at all concerned about the color of my hair.
The 24th activities were much the same as those of the 4th. For me, there was one major difference, however. Since my birthday was on the 4th and everybody celebrated that day, I never had birthday parties. The celebration did provide an exciting substitue. Mother’s homemade cakes were delicious but simple.
