Name/Title
AU Harris, Paul Joseph Jr. - 1992-03-06 letter to Malcolm Lambert SmithEntry/Object ID
1996.1.5Context
3923 Seeley
Downers Grove, IL 60515
March 6, 1992
Mr. Malcolm L. Smith
1330 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Apt. 609
Washington, DC 20005
Dear Malcolm,
It is with deep regret that I return the book "Meet the Edgertons" in such a tardy manner. However, I have extracted copious amounts of information from it that I included in the computer database. There are many Lambert cousins that I might otherwise not know about. I am sorry it took me so long to get it done.
I marked the picture on page 25 to indicate Mary Ann Vernon Embree, our great great grandmother. I am enclosing a photocopy of another picture of her. That is how I recognized her in the Edgerton book. Also, a copy of a picture taken in 1931 of "Grandfather Embree's Farm," apparently referring to Israel Embree, Mary Ann Vernon's husband.
I am afraid that my genealogical efforts have been somewhat interrupted since last summer. As you may have heard from Doris Braley, my ex-wife passed away on 10 June 1991. She had suffered for eleven months with colon cancer. My children, Paul, fourteen, and Abby, twelve, came to live with me in June. We were making the adjustment to the Mr. Mom routine just fine. I was senior enough at Midway Airlines to hold day trips which meant I was home every night. The children adjusted very rapidly to their new school in the fall and were very happy here. Northwest Airlines was going to buy Midway and I was going to have a secure job with great benefits and a retirement. It was as if life was all coming together for me—-until Northwest reneged on their offer and Midway shut down on 13 November 1991. Since then, life has been a nightmare!
After two months of unemployment (Merry Christmas!) I was "fortunate" enough to get "a job." The only problem is that taking the job has created as many problems as it has solved. I am working as a DC-9 captain for Braniff International Airlines (the third). I have gone from seventy—five thousand dollars a year at Midway to entry level wages at Braniff of thirty thousand a year and no retirement. The company is in bankruptcy and is shaky at best. This is probably a temporary job.
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The biggest problem is that I have had to go from being home with the children every night to being gone from home for five or six nights in a row. I am currently based in Newark, NJ, and must commute to work on other airlines. My biggest problem has been trying to find someone to come in and stay with the children while I am away for several days at a time. Until now, they have stayed with different neighbors in the evenings and been pretty much on their own during the day. With all the relatives I have tracked down, I wish I had located one near enough and available to help with the children. I am trying to hire someone to come in, but have been unsuccessful. I need to come up with a better solution or quit this job. The parental guilt is very powerful, but there are not many jobs out there for anyone right now, let alone a forty-five year old airline pilot. At the present time my choices seem very limited and my stress level is the highest it has ever been in my life. I feel so bad for my children.
I hope this has found you in good health and busy as ever. It sounds as though you have taken on quite a responsibility there.
I am so glad you got to meet Doris Lambert Braley and her daughter. She is so enjoyable to talk with. I met her at the Lambert reunion in Wisconsin in 1990.
As you can see, my time available for genealogy has changed dramatically. I should mention that two weeks before Midway Airlines shut down I bought a business quality copier for my home office, paid sixteen hundred fifty dollars for it. Wrote a check! I sure could have used that money two weeks later, but I am glad I have it. I intend to use it to copy many old letters, newspaper articles, and documents onto acid free paper for preservation. I used it to make my own copy of the Edgerton book for future reference.
You should know that I have acquired an acid free box for the preservation of Elizabeth Stanton's Bible. I am very greatful for your generous gift to the archives and will treasure the responsibility for it. I will eventually make acid free photocopies of the family record contained in it and make copies available to anyone who would like them.
I now have a small trunk that belonged to Daniel Webster Lambert. I also have a letter that he wrote to his son, Alva, in which he mentions where and when he purchased the trunk for $1.50. I will send you a photo when I get time to make one. I sure wish you could visit the archives here. I know you would enjoy seeing all of the documents and photographs I have collected in my travels.
I am enclosing photocopies of four poems written by Alice Selby Folsom; one published and three handwritten. I am also
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sending a copy of a letter written by your mother to my grandmother, Bertha Lambert Harris, in 1933 in which she mentions finding your brother, Homer. I would think this
letter is of significant value to you and your family. I have the originals of all five of these documents and believe someone in your branch of the family should have them. Please let me know if you would like them sent to you or if you think there would be a better repository for them. I would like to mail them only once.
Malcolm, I have thought of you and our marvelous family often. I wish I could have the time and resources to be more involved. I truly have been preoccupied with other
priorities, but I hope something better will come along in the way of a job and things will settle down a little. Until I can get to Washington again, my sparse correspondence will have to do. I do hope you will keep in touch and I would love for you to meet my children someday.
Yours truly,
Paul J. Harris, Jr.
PJH:pjh
enclosures:
Book: "Meet the Edgertons"
Photo: Mary Ann Vernon Embree
Photo: Grandfather Embree's Farm
Four poems: Alice Selby Folsom
Letter: GSS to BLH
