Marshall &Kay Family  Histories

 

Yvonne's Birth Stories

 

When I was born May 1, 1931 and we were living in an apartment in Oakland. -

If we're going to start at point one, then I have these birth stories I need to tell. I have two birth stories that I was told when I was growing up at different times, and in different ways. 

The first one is; 

I was the second grandchild on my father's side of the family, but my father(John Black Kay), from what I was told, was my grandmother's favorite son. And so she had wanted, and was anxious to see her first grandchild. And I guess in those days, or maybe Scottish people had favorite children, which is hard to picture, but I guess they did. My father was the so called baby of the family and, as I said the favorite. His mother(Margaret Young Kay, my Grandma Kay, had been Relief Society president of her ward, the Oakland Ward. And she had gone out the Christmas before I was born, and it was very bad weather. But she kept going out to bring things to people, especially families that were in need, that sort of thing. And she had become quite ill, and finally came down with pneumonia. I'm not sure how soon after Christmas this was, but she had been sick pretty much since Christmas time. I was born in May and she was living with my oldest Aunt, my father's oldest sister, Aunt Katie (Catherine B. Blyth) and her husband (James Hamilton). In those days when you went into the hospital to have a baby, they kept the mothers in the hospital for ten days, if you can believe that. They were not allowed to do anything for ten days. I was born May 1st, 1931, so mother brought me home after ten days. And then because my grandmother was still ill, I guess they had been advised not to take the baby around her very soon. So some days after that my parents brought me over to my grandmother because she was very anxious to see this new baby, and she was still too ill to get out of bed, or anything. So they did, they took me over to see her, and the story that I'm told is that they took me into the room where she was in bed and she held me in her arms. And I guess she called me little bonnie. The Scottish name they call a baby. (It means pretty or charming) But I guess that's what she called me , and handed me back to my mother and they went out of the room, to let her rest. And I'm not sure the exact time frame for all this, but then I was told when they went back into the room they found her dead. She had died. I guess it always touched me because it was quite touching to my parents I guess, especially to my father, because he realized that's all she was waiting for. That she had been so ill and ready to go and that's all she was waiting for. I don't remember this of course, but that was my first birth experience story. 

The second experience; 

I was told about when my mother(Mary Ingham) was driving in a car with her brother, my Uncle Ward, and with her mother(Mary Agnes Pack-or Grandmother Ingham) and my Aunt Pearl, who was my Grandmother Ingham's sister. And I don't remember who else was in the car, but I think there was someone else in the car. I'm not sure where they were headed but I had been sitting on my grandmother's lap in the back seat, then I was about one year old. My mother tells me that she suddenly handed me to my mother, who was sitting in the front seat. And told her something about, she thought she shouldn't hold me any longer. But mother was surprised because she thought everything was fine in the back seat, that that was unusual. And just a moment after she handed me to her, that they were hit by a drunk driver. They were hit on the side of the car were my grandmother was sitting, and she was knocked out of the car and she was killed instantly. I guess my Aunt Pearl was injured and my Uncle Ward, they were all injured. But mother said she wasn't, she was the one that was holding me. So I don't remember either one of my Grandmothers, and both my Grandfathers past away long before I was born. I think my parents told me these stories because they thought that was important that I know. And they felt that those instances were rather important that both my Grandmothers had held me right before they died. I think that's the reason they told me those stories, is because they thought that that would be very meaningful to me as I grew up. That's my two baby stories.