Laura described the trip, which took overnight, in this way:\u00a0 \u201cThe car, tho not as luxurious as the present day Pullman [she was writing in 1919<\/em>], was provided with seats having iron head rests of the shape of a half circle within which you were supposed to rest your weary head while in the embrace of Morpheus.\u00a0 This arrangement not being conducive to sleep, my fellow travelers and myself engaged in conversation and in the course of the night, which was a long one, we made the discovery that the gentleman had been raised in the same neighborhood in Ohio as myself until a boy of fourteen years when my father had bought his father\u2019s farm and the Tucker family moved to Indiana and we had lost all trace of them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis little episode helped to while away the weary hours of the night and at daybreak we arrived at the great city whose smoke laden air was almost stifling to one who had always been accustomed to breathing the pure fresh a Laura was met in New Richmond by a another young man who had been sent from the house where her sister was staying, to take her there.\u00a0 Ann Denman Parker was staying at the home of the Donaldson family, while her husband was absent in California, presumably because Mrs. Donaldson was her sister-in-law.\u00a0 The Donaldson house was described by Laura this way:\u00a0 \u201c..English mansion located far up on the hill overlooking the Ohio River, which at times was dotted with boats plying up and down on its placid waters.\u00a0 The proprietor of this mansion had built in English style, \u2013four square in its outer dimensions, partitioned into four large rooms with a spacious hall running the entire length of the building, while a wide staircase led to the upper rooms, one of which my sister occupied and where much of my time was spent the next four months in caring for her and her young son.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Parker, husband of Laura\u2019s sister Ann, was anxious to hear from his family often.\u00a0 Ann was not strong enough to write, so it fell to Laura\u2019s lot to carry on the correspondence.\u00a0 I can picture her sitting at a small desk in her sister\u2019s room, or maybe by the bed with a lapdesk, writing for her sister.\u00a0 Perhaps Ann dictated and perhaps she only told Laura what she wanted to say and left it to the writer to put into words.\u00a0 One specific that Laura described was the discussion that her sister and she (and likely the rest of the Donaldson family) had about the name to be given to the young son just born.\u00a0 The final decision was to name him Frederic Donaldson Parker.\u00a0 When Laura wrote to Dr. Parker that his son was named Frederic D. Parker he assumed it was for Frederic Douglass, \u201cthe great colored orator of the day\u201d.\u00a0 Laura doesn\u2019t tell how she responded to this, but moved on to telling about the excitement over slavery running high in those days.<\/p>\n Soon after this, Laura\u2019s mother sent word that she wanted them all to come home if Ann was able to travel, and \u201cshe would take her to Cleveland to a doctor who she thot could cure her.\u00a0 Arrangements were hastily made and we set out on our journey.\u201d\u00a0 The kindness of the conductor and some men traveling in the car helped improvise a bed of sorts for Ann.\u00a0 The men spread their overcoats on a seat to cushion it for her.\u00a0 They were met at New London by their \u201cmother and brother Charles who went on to Cleveland with Sister Parker while I took little Fred and went to my Father\u2019s the with sister who had come for us.\u201d\u00a0 The treatment by the Cleveland doctor was very successful and by the end of 6 weeks Ann was able to return to her parents\u2019 home and take up the care of her little son.\u00a0 Laura was free to look for other employment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ann Denman had married Dr. William Tell Parker who was from the southwestern part of Ohio, and gone there to live.\u00a0 When he left for the gold mines of California she was left living with some of his relatives in …<\/p>\n![\"2551141204_87afec08b8_o\"](\"http:\/\/genealogygals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/2551141204_87afec08b8_o_thumb.jpg\" "\\"2551141204_87afec08b8_o\\"")
<\/a>ir of the country.\u00a0 I was met at the depot by a brother of my sister\u2019s husband who escorted me to a hotel and arranged for my stay until the riverboat for New Richmond should start up the river.\u00a0 This was a new experience for me, \u2013riding by steamboat on the Ohio River,\u2014and one I greatly enjoyed.\u00a0 Never shall I forget the fine scenery along its banks as there came into view the vine-clad hills laden with the great clusters of the purple fruit.\u00a0 The waving grain and field of clover all spoke of the richness of the alluvial soil.\u201d\u00a0 This was in the fall of the year and I suspect that the purple fruit she saw![\"view](\"http:\/\/genealogygals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/view-of-Augusta_thumb.jpg\" "\\"view")
<\/a> was wild grapes, maybe riverbank grape.<\/p>\n