Lena Potter’s “Birthday Book”

Lena Potter Hallock was the sister to my grandmother, Flora Potter Smith, and therefore my great-aunt.  She married Edwin Hallock and they lived most of their adult lives in Elmira, NY, where they owned a furniture store.  They had no children.  Lena was a somewhat imposing woman; Edwin quite diminutive.    Of all my great-aunts, on all sides of the family, she was perhaps my favorite.  As children, we would often stay with them for a week or so during the summer—I suppose to give my parents relief.  They had a canary which sang incessantly during the day.

This “Birthday Book” is in the possession of my cousin, Nancy Griffin Britton and is very similar to the “Birthday Books” maintained by my grandmother and my mother, although Lena had a penchant for also recording burial dates.  When Lena died, the book passed to Nancy's mother, Norma Smith Griffin.  Norma made some additional entries—so, for example, there are entries for both Lena's and Edwin's deaths.