You may have noticed I have been quite remiss in posting to this site. Please forgive me. Every time I sat down to write, add to, or create a new post I would become sidetracked by life. I have made a promise to myself, I will get this written this week and post before the week is out.
I want to talk about my sister, Madeleine. She and I have done so many wonderful things together following the stories of our families. She is the other half of the Putnam sisters in the header above. It probably was not fair to leave out our older sister Barbara. Barbara was almost seven when Madeleine was born and was almost eight and a half when I finally arrived. Barb, I will be leaning on you more now. Hope that’s okay.
When I start thinking about Madeleine and the decades we have shared, the memories and the adventures, I become teary eyed. Madeleine and I were close. We started school just a year apart and it seems we did everything together. Often we wore very similar clothes. I do remember people asking if we were twins. I didn’t think we looked alike at all. I was always blonder than her. And I finally outgrew her by at least 4 inches. In the photo below I am the sister standing.
Growing up in Visalia
Madeleine was born on Friday the 13th in April 1945 at the Visalia Municipal Hospital; to Dorothy Ada (Dougherty) and Lloyd Fletcher Putnam. Dorothy was 30 years old and Lloyd was 32. Their children; Barbara would have been almost seven while, David would have been almost five years old.
Our home was nine miles west of Visalia, and south of Hwy 99 and Hwy 198 interchange. Our home was on the Putnam Ranch (owned by our grandparents Ira “Ike” and Etta Francis Putnam). This was a portion of a section between Hwy 99 and what is now Shirk Road. An equal portion of the section just to our north, was owned by Aunt Lena Brown and another equal portion to our south was owned by Aunt Blanche Berggren. Lena and Blanche were Grandpa’s sisters.
In the earlier years there were plum trees on the ranch and Dad had at one time tried growing fields of flowers for flower resalers. While in high school he raised and showed Hogs. Really “Big Hogs.” Later cotton was grown on the ranch and I remember Barbara and David picking cotton while Madeleine and I played in the cotton trailer.
That’s our dad with the plum orchard in the background. Looking at this photo might help understand why his nick-name was “Swede.” We are not Swedish, but looking at this photo I do think we most have at least some viking blood in our DNA.
There is an earlier family Portrait, but I’m not in it and for some reason I do not have that Photo. Madeleine already had an older sister and brother when I came along. When Madeleine was told she had a new baby sister, she could have said “yip-pee skip-pee,” (a little phrase she often used). It could have been a sarcastic remark or a positive one. While we were in high school it was often aimed at me in a sarcastic tone. This time I’m going with a positive tone.
This is a favorite picture of the two of us. I had just about caught up to Madeleine in height. That didn’t last long. With our hair cut similar and my gaining on her in height maybe they thought nonidentical twins.
When Madeleine was quite young she had her tonsils taken out. Many little girls played dolls. We had lots of dolls, but Madeleine always wanted to play Doctor and I was her patient. Her dream was to be a doctor. This was a big dream, and our mother was always one to encourage us with “you can accomplish what ever you set your mind to.” Madeleine always knew what she wanted. And she worked to make it happen.
Placerville after 1956
The Late Summer of 1956 Mom, Dad, Madeleine, and I moved from the Putnam Ranch in Visalia California North 234 miles to the Historical Gold Mining town of Placerville, located in the Sierra Nevada foothills, east of Sacramento. Dad had given up working on the ranch during the war. He began working road construction as an operator of heavy equipment, specifically driving a caterpillar. In 1956 our father had a long term job working on a construction project widening Interstate 50 through Placerville, California. Barbara had just graduated from high school and moved to San Francisco with a girl friend. Dave had just finished his sophomore year at Mt. Whitney High School and wanted to stay in Visalia were he was active in sports and had lots of friends. Our paternal Grandmother agreed that David could remain with her on the ranch while he completed high school. The summer before the big move Mom had spent some time in the hospital with bronchitis. This change would provide some relief for Mom from all the dust on the ranch that had contributed to her bronchitis.
The move was a huge change for us country kids. Living in town was so different. I hated the move but Madeleine seemed content and even happy with the change.
Madeleine started the sixth grade in Placerville. Her first two years we both attended Sierra Elementary. In 1958 Madeleine was transferred to Placerville Elementary for the eighth grade. That was a little strange for me. She was no longer at the same school and she made new friends.
The following year Madeleine started high school and she became more involved with kids I was unfamiliar with. She became a member of Rainbow Girls and was also a member of the Future Nurses Club. Once I was old enough, I too joined Rainbow Girls. She worked after school as a “Candy Stripper” at the local hospital. As a volunteer, she delivered flowers to patients and had a cart with reading material that she would take around to the patients. We didn’t come from a wealthy family so there wasn’t much money for college. For Madeleine being a Candy Stripper lead her to working as a nurses-aid. Also one or two summers she worked at the fruit packing plant in Placerville, packing pears. Madeleine was elected Worthy Advisor in Rainbow during her senior year.
Midlife
Fast forward 20 years:
Forty years ago Madeleine asked if she could help me with our family genealogy. Of course I said ”yes, let’s split it in half, you take the Paternal side and I’ll do the Maternal side.” It has worked so well. She got the half that has been in this country since the colonial times. Yes that means we had the good the bad and the ugly. But it also meant that for us we had history that we knew about from our early school days. Starting with the California Gold rush which brought our 3x great grandfather to California in 1849.
One of our first trips was to visit the San Joaquin County Records Office in Stockton, California. That was to get the records for our 3x great grandparents Joseph and Mary Ann Fletcher Putnam. Our first surprise was to learn that Mary Ann’s parents had come to California also, not when Joseph and Mary Ann had, but about 20 years later (about 1873), when they were in their late 60’s and early 70’s.
