In Days Gone By: Forget Me Not

We’ve been fortunate to have three talented history writers contributing articles documenting our area’s past. Betty Lou Gaeng wrote the Looking Back column that ended with her death in 2023. Since that time, both Byron Wilkes and Brad Holden have been submitting stories about our area’s history. This latest article by Byron marks the introduction of regular column title for his works: In Days Gone By. You can find them under the “Columns” menu bar on the home page. — Teresa Wippel, My Neighborhood News Network

When researching and writing articles, I sometimes hesitate to call them “history,” due to the fact that the contents are taken from a variety of sources, and they are not always consistent, as they can reflect varying perspectives. I feel it is more accurately a “portrait” of the times that include a range of individuals and news sources.

It is rare to find a single document or article that provides you with a glimpse into the thinking of multiple people in a given time period.  Fortunately, there are a few items that have survived through the years that provide us direct insights into the individuals involved. One of these is the recent discovery of a 7-inch-by-4 1/2-inch autograph album that belonged to Bessie Schumacher in 1892.  Albeit a rather obscure artifact, it is filled with the signatures and thoughts of Edmonds’ early settlers.

Author’s note: An autograph album, or friendship album, is a book that was popular in the 1800s for collecting autographs from others. Traditionally, they were exchanged among friends, colleagues and classmates to fill with drawings, poems/rhymes, personal messages and small pieces of verse along with the person’s autograph, date and location. In the 1900s, they were largely replaced by school yearbooks.

Who was Bessie Schumacher?

Bessie Schumacher was the oldest child of William Schumacher, who arrived in Edmonds circa 1888. William and his brother R.W. Schumacher built a building in 1890 at the corner of 4th and George (Main) Streets and opened up W. H. Schmaucher Groceries that year.

Bessie’s father would later become the president of Edmonds State bank and serve as Edmonds City Treasurer and various council positions.

Edmonds in 1892

Edmonds had been incorporated for two years, but it was still a very rough logging town with saloons, gambling houses and ladies of the evening frequenting various haunts within two blocks of the waterfront.

But two to three blocks further up from the waterfront, Edmonds was a different town. Stores and other businesses were being established, along with a brand-new school building, several churches and a growing number of new arrivals.

In spring 1892, Bessie Schumacher was 9 years old and in the third grade when she received her autograph album. What is most revealing  is the fact that the book is filled with autographs not only from her classmates and teachers, but highly respected townspeople including businessmen, future mayors and clergy.

In total, there are 54 signatures and thoughts reflected on the pages. I have selected a sampling in hopes of providing a cross-section of the populace and their thoughts at that time.

The autographs and thoughts:

Here is what Mrs. Engel wrote.

Harry Brown was one year older than Bessie and both a friend and schoolmate. He wrote:

Lola Sprinkle was Bessie’s 12-year-old cousin when she wrote this note to 9-year-old Bessie:

Not all of the autographs were accompanied by serious thoughts.  Here are a few exceptions:

I dip my pen into the ink,

and grasp your album tight,

But for the life , I cannot think

One single word to write.

Ms. Lois Allen  April 22, 1892  Edmonds WA

 

When this you will see which oft you will

Remember the girl who wrote up the hill

Your friend, Daisy M. Leonhardt  May 3, 1892, Edmonds WA

  

If on this page you chance to look

Think of me, and close the book.

 

Your friend and classmate Thomas Barron   May 20 1893  Edmonds WA

I’ve looked these pages o’er and ‘oer

To see what others wrote before,

And here in this lonely little spot,

I’ll here inscribe ‘forget me not’.

Gertrude Sprinkle (cousin) April 27, 1892  Edmonds, WA

Some write for pleasure,

Some write for fame.

But I simply write

To sign my name

Your classmate Mabel Hatch  (Age 10) April 27, 1892  Edmonds, WA

Other notables who signed:

The oldest person to sign Bessie’s book was Mrs. Jane  Knapp.  She was 55 years old at the time and her husband Carlos was the Edmonds city clerk and postmaster.

She wrote:

When this you see, remember me

Mrs. Jane Knapp   May 3 1892  Edmonds WA

Her husband Carlos wrote:

What’s the use of always fretting

At the trials we shall find

Ever strewn along our pathway –

travel on, and never mind. 

C.B. Knapp  May 5, 1892  Edmonds WA

Louis Arp, future Edmonds School District commissioner and Edmonds mayor from 1914-16, was 27 years old when he wrote this:

You ask for your album a rhyme,

with pleasure I hear and obey,

Refusal were folly or crime

for who could to Bessie say “nay”

Your friend, Louis P. Arp  May 4, 1892, Edmonds, WA

Daniel Yost, the oldest son of A.M. Yost and future president of the Edmonds Spring Water Company, at age 16 wrote:

“When the golden sun is setting, and your heart from care is free, When of others you are thinking, will you sometimes think of me.”  Your friend, Daniel Yost.

In conclusion

Gail Pratton, an 15 year old classmate  of Bessie’s wrote:

“Flowers fade, they will not last

Let not our friendship fade as fast

Let us each other’s faults forgive

And love one another as long as we live.

January 13, 1898.  

Bessie was also 15 years old at the time.

Author’s note:  I was enthralled by the word choices and thoughts in many of the pieces written by the younger students. The cursive writing illustrates what was taught in school at the time and sadly has been dropped from today’s elementary school curriculum. I was also amazed that the fountain pen ink is so well preserved after 130 years.

This article was researched and written by Byron Wilkes.  Thanks to the Edmonds Historical Museum for sharing this treasure and to the Sno-Isle Genealogical Society for their help in verifying dates and information found in this article.