Ada's Autograph Book

In the spring of 1892, several weeks before her eleventh birthday, Ada Hern, Lois' aunt, acquired an autograph book. Carefully, she wrote her name and address inside the front cover and then proceeded to number the 62 pages in the book. One can only imagine her excitement at owning such a book and then her anxiety to get some autographs in the book. Not surprisingly, the earliest entries are those of her mother and father and her younger brother Robert. The book has poems and autographs from friends and neighbours and relatives. The last entry is in 1900 when Ada would have been 18 or 19. While there are no entries after that point, the autograph book must have remained important to her. Through the many moves and upheavels in her life, Ada's autograph book remained with her, and after her death as an old lady in the 1960's the autograph book was moved to me.