Elliott Coat of Arms The Elliott Clan
Gam's Diaries
Introductory notes

Researched and compiled December 2001 & January 2002 by R. Bruce Elliott
     with much valuable help from the Exeter Historical Society.

At right: Gam at sweet 16 in her high school graduation photo (click it to enlarge it).
The original photo was monochrome. Color was added later by hand, date and artist unknown.

Marion Louise Tyler

She was born in Exeter (#1), New Hampshire, on October 14, 1894, and grew up in that small town, home of the well-known boarding school for boys, Phillips Exeter Academy (#2) . P.E.A. was just a few miles from the seacoast and the Massachusetts border, and was founded in 1781 by Dr. John Phillips, a Harvard graduate who resided in Exeter. In 1910, when Mother turned 16, there were 516 students at P.E.A. and tuition was $150 per year. Originally for boys only, the Academy became co-ed in 1970 (visit its website at www.Exeter.edu). Her father was Rolla A. Tyler (#3), born May 15, 1847 in Bernardston, Massachusetts; he came to Exeter in 1868 to attend P.E.A.; after graduating in 1871, he married a local teacher, settled in town and built his business there. For more about him, see his obituary in the Supplementary notes. Her mother was his second wife, Elizabeth Emily Judson Dearborn. His first wife was Mary M. Drinkwater. MLT had three sisters: Ruth born June 17, 1893, Evelyn (Ebbie) born January 1, 1897, and Mildred (Millie) born February 25, 1898. She had two brothers: Clarence born February 11, 1889, and Ralph born August 31, 1891. There were also six half-brothers and sisters (three of each), progeny of her father and his first wife: Albert, Elizabeth, Rolla D., Harry, Alma and Mabel. Families with twelve kids were not at all uncommon back then.

On March 30, 1918, MLT married LAE, Lowell Allison Elliott, who grew up a few miles away in Haverhill (#4), Massachusetts, where he was born on January 30, 1894. Haverhill is about 15 miles from Exeter and barely across the border into Massachusetts. As her diary shows, Mother and her family often shopped in Haverhill. But apparently she never knew her future husband until they met during their summer jobs at Poland Springs House in Maine, while she was attending Boston University's Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (see Supplementary notes.) in Boston and he was attending Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. She called him Red, as did nearly everyone else, because his hair was definitely red. He died August 30, 1984, seven months after his 90th birthday. He called her Maya, her kids called her Mother, her 13 grandchildren all called her Gam, and her many friends called her Marion. Her married name was Marion Tyler Elliott and she liked to put the initials MTE on some of her personal things. Gregarious, talented, fun-loving and ever so much more, she was a loving and much-loved mother and grandmother. She died in Laconia, New Hampshire, on October 19, 1966, five days after her 72nd birthday.

She bore five children, two of whom are living as of this writing (December 2018):

She first began keeping a personal diary in 1909 when she was 14, and made almost daily entries during that year and the next two. Many years later she made a typed copy of each annual diary, apparently quite complete, for the benefit of her beloved older sister, Ruth. Presented here is a complete verbatim copy of those typed pages for each year. Italicized text in square brackets [like this] are side notes to Ruth that MLT added at the time of copying. See each diary below.

On this page and elsewhere in the website, underlined/non-italicized texts (blue initially, red after use) are links to information of interest elsewhere in this or another website. A pound sign and a number enclosed in parentheses, such as (#4), is a link to an item in End Notes that expands on what you are reading. In the Supplementary notes, there are various items associated with Gam, one way or another: a love poem she wrote to her husband, some of her favorite recipes, pertinent newspaper articles, recollections by some who knew and loved her, and information on outside resources. Some in the family may have other informnation or comment to add to the notes. If so, please contact Bruce/Dad/Uncle Bruce/Grandpa (webmaster of this site) so the family may know more about Gam's early years and also her later life and what she is to us.

Return to Homepage of The Elliott Clan