In my lifetime,Uncle Floyd, Mother's youngest brother, seemed to be a really sober citizen. Seldom laughed , and then for brief bursts. He enjoyed family outings, but seemed seldom to be really happy.
As time went by, through the process of osmosis(?) I found out some of the reasons for his sober aspect. --As a child or adolescent, one has very little interest in his family, except for food, clothing and content. However, at some time in my younger age I found out that Uncle Floyd had been married to another lady besides my aunt, "Auntie Florence", who had been a cousin of Auntie Florence. This marriage had lasted about 10 years and there were no children or pregnancies of that union recorded for me. Although I do not have any confirmation, it was my impression that she died of "The Flu", being one of the last casualties of the great world epidemic of Influenza of the last half of the "teens" of the 20th century. She died in February 1920.
Floyd and Florence were married in 1920 or 1921. Their son Robert was born in 1922. To the best of my knowledge his was the only pregnancy of their marriage.
Floyd had wanted to be an engraver of metals,-silver, gold, pewter, etc.. After spending a very few years at that he developed signs and symptoms of chest difficulties and was told to work out-of-doors to avoid the possibility of tuberculosis. Which he did, living and working on a farm the rest of his life.
He always seemed healthy to me, but "the family condition",- inguinal hernias-, did not avoid him. This situation probably kept his spirits low . I do not know the cause of his demise, but I suspect it was one of the complications of inguinal hernia. After his brother ,Harry, died of post surgical infection, he and Arthur were very sceptical of any active treatment of their hernias.
It is of interest to add that Robert never developed a hernia,died of leukemia, and with his wife the produced 3 healthy children.
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