Two Funerals—and a blizzard.
A Cousin’s Letter from the Winter of 1888.
In a March 19, 1888 letter to Stephen’s father, Joseph Wakeman Mather, his cousin,
Ann Elizabeth Lockwood writes of the arrival of the body of his younger son, Josie, who passed away in San Francisco on February 4th. She writes…
“We were thankful the body reached here without any trouble. Steve & Mother came with it, we made it as pleasant for them as we could, the friends & neigh-bours came to the Funeral…the house was well filled…” [Joseph Wakeman Mather had remained on the West Coast.]
She then goes on to add…
“We little thought to have another sad gathering so soon, on Friday we had word Harriet Bell was dead, would be brought up on the noon train, we set our house in order for another funeral… [Harriet Bell, granddaughter of Deacon Mather died March 1, 1888.]
And then, she goes on to THE BLIZZARD…
“…snow drifts most as high as the house commenced Sunday night a regular Blizzard we were all snowed in. We had a barrel of coal in the kitchen so we kept warm. Tuesday George Mather, William’s son, came here. I think the Lord sent him. He thought we might be suffering for something…”
“…[snow] came into the kitchen through cracks around doors & windows all over the room, so we could hardly get through the kitchen into the old room in the milk house… I went to the well Wednesday to get water that was full of snow so I could not get any. George made a hole through it so we got water…I don’t believe we shall ever have another like it…”
According to Weather Underground: “Few storms are as iconic as the “Blizzard of ‘88”. It was the deadliest, snowiest, and most unusual winter storm in American annals. No storm of similar magnitude has occurred anywhere in the contiguous United States since.”
