Thank you Grace and Mary and Lill and -pig -- and the List! I'm posting because I'm HAPPY -- this is solved! There was the essence of truth in my late husband's entertaining story of his birth -- the blizzard, the epidemic, Aunt Nan's death, the visiting doctor, Chicago -- however, thanks to Mary -- who found Aunt Nan's death record -- and looked up newspaper articles -- it all didn't happen on the same day. And Bob was right -- and NOT -- because DuPage was the location -- but not a suburb of Chicago -- but actually in DuPage County. The blizzard was 3 days BEFORE Bob was born (on New Year's Day, 1927) -- Aunt Nan died 3 days AFTER Bob died. The mumps epidemic was six months BEFORE -- but there were stories about whooping cough right then -- and 3 weeks later, MEASLES was being reported as having reached epidemic proportions. And Aunt Nan's death record states "Winfield Township -- DU PAGE COUNTY" And Aunt Nan WAS Bob's mother's aunt -- Nancy Abigail Eagy -- ANOTHER Colonial family, here in America before the Revolutionary War. So much for Bob's thought that he might be 3rd generation American. Maybe German. HIATT is an old Quaker name -- and Bob's HIATT family came with William Penn's second ship. LOTS of entertaining stories on the HIATT list -- and the HITE and HYATT -- some of the stories going back to the Spanish Armada. I LOVE genealogy! All of Bob's memories of family stories had a built-in potential for error -- as he'd heard (or overheard) them as a child -- for he left home at age 12, after his mother died. Without his mother to run interference between two hard-headed Hiatt's -- Bob didn't last under his father's roof for even two months. His Dad gave him a dollar when he left. He hitchhiked to New Jersey (from Maryland) -- and worked his way thru 9th grade (he tested out of 8th grade) at a 7th Day Adventist boarding school (Plainfield Academy), his last year of formal education. (GED in the service, 2 years college credit by exam, and a lifelong reading habit -- I have more academic credentials -- but -- he was a smart man.) Before he was 15, Bob was driving race cars in Florida, then working on a cattle ranch in Texas, working with forest rangers (fire tower) in the national parks out west -- and at age 16, on June 25 -- he went and registered for the draft for WW2-- claiming it was his birthday. So he got drafted. One way to get in to the service when you're under age, and aren't living with a parent -- who would NOT have signed for permission, anyway. Bob told me he grew five inches his first year in the service -- and at age 18, was a Forward Observer in the Phillipines -- and was one of five men who survived the experience -- and his hair turned white. He had an interesting life -- many jobs, many moves, many wives (:-) until he met me after his 3rd divorce -- and got me to move five times the first year we were married. Then I bought a house -- and I would NEVER move again. Or divorce him (:-) I did compromise -- we traveled. And camped every weekend. In an RV -- so I could take my house with me. He died in 2002, age 75 -- heart complications during/after appendectomy surgery at Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH. I miss him every day. Finding the FACTS behind this family story has been so satisfying for me -- and such an eye opener. I only took a break for four years from the intense genealogy work Bob and I had been doing -- and the resources seem to have expanded immensely! Thanks to everyone who took the time to give me advice, or to "remember" how things used to be, and especially to Mary -- who kept GIFTING me with data, including Bob's Army record -- with the 1925 "birth" date. Thanks for asking me to post the follow-up, too -- I'm a retired social worker, and writing this does give me such satisfaction! ANOTHER puzzle is solved. Amazing! This list has been very good to me! Warm regards, Karen King Hiatt Rocky River, OH (suburb of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH). Now to save up and fix the RV -- and talk some grandchildrenin to traveling with me while we look at pioneer routes that took HIATT from Pennsylvania to Missouri (the last place we'd tracked his family, just before Bob died.) ----- Original Message ----- From: "grace w gathman" <wallace26@juno.com> To: <lill734@aim.com> Cc: <KarenHiatt@kingfamily.com>; <COOK-CO-IL@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, November 17, 2006 10:57 AM Subject: Re: [COOK-CO-IL] Geography! "du page highlands" as a 1926 suburb of Chicago About that time, there were many developments starting on the outskirts of Chicago. Du Page Highlands rings a bell for me, but I can't quite place it. I THINK it was a development in the Downers Grove, Westmont area, but I could be wrong. It probably was an area near a town, and now has become part of a town. I live on what was a farm, subdivided by a builder as Wheaton Farms--forever lost to anyone but the tax assessor and still appears like that on our tax bill. When you solve this puzzle, will you post to the list? The forever curious need to know! Grace

What a wonderful story!!! I really enjoyed reading all of it. Lois in CA ----- Original Message ----- From: "KarenKingHiatt" <KarenHiatt@kingfamily.com> To: "grace w gathman" <wallace26@juno.com>; <COOK-CO-IL@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, November 17, 2006 11:56 AM Subject: Re: [COOK-CO-IL] Geography! "du page highlands" as a 1926 suburb ofChicago > Thank you Grace and Mary and Lill and -pig -- and the List! > > I'm posting because I'm HAPPY -- this is solved!