Page 87 - The CRAIG family

Orphanage records show that Aunt Charlotte, Uncle Ed, Aunt Gin, Daddy and Uncle George were brought to the home on May 22, 1931. Daddy was taken by Annie Hines on June 23, 1931 and later placed with grandmother (Lora Craig).
1931 – 1936: Daddy went to live with Colmore and Lora some time in 1931. Per Daddy’s memories: He lived with them until Grandma Lora became ill and they called Aunt Charlotte to come get him. Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Clifton and their baby girl (Dorothy) came for him and took him to their house.
They came on the Inter-Urban (like a streetcar operated by the Indiana Railway) because they had no car. The Inter-Urban ran from Louisville to Indianapolis and back with regular stops along the way. You could flag it down when you needed a ride. Daddy says he lived with Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Clifton on 14th Street in Jeff and he says it was about 2-3 years. He said due to hard times Uncle Clifton had lost his job and there was very little food so he had to decide what to do. Daddy said he went to Watson to see if Ellie McClure would hire him to weigh coal at her coal yard. She agreed to let him live with her and her old “crazy” brother Elmer and he could go to school.
Today, because of access to records, it is easier to put a timeline on things. Because Daddy was a child and going through what he and his siblings went through, it must have seemed like an eternity but based on records and facts, it wasn’t as long as it seemed to him. Here’s why:
Grandma Lora died in January 1936 but based on her death records, she had been ill for 1-2 years and doctors began treating her in May 1935. Daddy remembers Aunt Charlotte bringing her baby Dorothy when she came to get him. Dorothy was born in August 1935, so we know that Daddy left his grandparents’ home sometime after August 1935, when he was 11 years old. He remembers living with Aunt Charlotte for 2-3 years but that could not be the case because he was living with Grandma and Papa Adams in June 1936, so that memory is off a bit.
He must have gone to work at the coal yard in late 1935 or early 1936 and it was while he was there that he made his way to Bill and Bertha Adams on Poindexter Lane in Sellersburg.
Grandma Adams had a best friend, Ida Phipps (Aunt Ida), whose brother-in-law Jesse Phipps worked at the coal yard. She would go there with her 2 sons, Carl and Russell, to take her brother-in-law lunch or pick him up. She met Daddy while on one of these missions and Daddy and her boys, being around the same age, would play with each other. Aunt Ida found out that Daddy was an orphan and knew of his current situation and she sought permission to take him to her house for the weekends. Daddy loved going to her house and playing with Carl and Russell. On Sundays after church, Aunt Ida and Uncle Frank would go to Grandma and Papas for dinner. This became a regular occurrence and Grandma and Papa fell in love with Daddy and Daddy liked being there. As Daddy tells it: “One day Aunt Ida asked me if I would like to stay with Bill and Bertha, live there and go to school” Daddy says he didn’t have to think about it for very long – he really liked them plus he said they had good eats”.
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