Week 27: Solo (or, I want to be alone) and a bit of COVID diary

Edited on March 4, 2021:  I have to put an addendum in here.  It turns out that Dwight Melvin did marry twice and had a son born of each marriage.  Webb Belknap was my grandfather Melvin's half brother, nearly a generation older than Melvin.  Webb was a veteran of the Spanish-American War, and continued to live in Michigan after his father left.  I don't know if they were estranged in the conventional sense of the word, though I wonder if they just sort of lost interest in each other:  Webb signed off on having no interest in the Washington state property when his father died.  On the other hand, he married a woman named Grace which means that both brothers married women named Grace, and the two Graces corresponded for many years so obviously they had not lost touch entirely!  

This was meant to be for the week of July 1-7, but here I am on the 16th, so obviously that didn't happen.  Things continue to reopen in the pandemic, although cautiously, but here in Skagit County we are definitely seeing a rise in cases.  I want to be alone might be a life-saving strategy.  However, we were anticipating a visit from our son Matthew and his girlfriend in order to see the dog (an elderly Golden) and that meant a more thorough than usual cleaning of the house.  A glitch developed when they realized that they might have been exposed to COVID-19 but fortunately, all tested negative.  They came for the scheduled six-day visit  so I haven't been alone for a while.

So, solo.  I don't know of any only children--even those who were the only child born to one parent ended up with half-siblings when the surviving parent remarried--except for my maternal grandfather.  And he was an only child because his own father had been forced to go ... solo. 

Dwight Melvin Belknap was born in Macomb County, Michigan in 1841.  He owned property around Kalamazoo--not a huge amount--and there were other Belknaps in the area.  He married Damaris Miller rather later in life for both of them, November 22, 1886.  Dwight was about 45 and Damaris was apparently 37, almost 38.  My grandfather, Melvin Dwight, was born in 1889 and Damaris died in 1892.  Following Damaris's death, Dwight took my grandfather Melvin, who was about two according to the family story (possibly three or this doesn't make a lot of sense) and homesteaded in eastern Washington state near Mabton.  He had a quarter section of land, 160 acres, which was used to raise wheat and other grains.  I know the land existed because I saw it when I was in my mid-teens, and it remained in the family until 1970.  

These were people who didn't talk a lot about themselves so most of what I know comes from public records.  Dwight died in 1907 in Yakima county, Washington.  His son Melvin would have been about 15, and held on to the land somehow though I believe there was a question of back taxes that needed to be paid.  I'm guessing that most 15 year olds don't know much about paying taxes.  Dwight apparently never remarried, so he remained solo, and my grandfather Melvin was an only child so he remained solo until he married my grandmother.  If I have not confused my great-grandfathers, this photo is of Dwight Melvin Belknap and I have to say, he seems a rakish sort.  Maybe he enjoyed the solo life!