Mrs. Elspeth P. Udall Diaries

Elspeth Paterson Udall (1878-1967) was the daughter of James Paterson (1845-1925) and Isabelle Harvey Morse (1842-1903). A graduate of Craftsbury Academy in 1897, Elspeth became a teacher in local schools. She attended the Mary Fletcher Hospital School of Nursing and Johns Hopkins University Hospital for an obstetrics specialty. She next worked as a public health nurse in Baltimore, Maryland.

In 1904, she married Bertren "Burt" Udall (1868-1925), a dairy farmer, and returned to Craftsbury. They had two daughters, Isabel (1906-1991) and Martha (1908-1994, married Linwood Dill (1907-1993) in 1935). After Burt died, Elspeth moved to Craftsbury Common and took in Craftsbury Academy student boarders. She returned to the nursing profession to provide for her daughters' education in Home Economics at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York.

For nearly 40 years, Elspeth worked as an in-home aide to the Simpson family, which consisted of Alice Simpson and her adult daughter Mary Jean Simpson. Alice had a variety of medical needs and Elspeth's responsibilities were described under the title "companion" (see Census records) but included nurse, cook, housekeeper, and close friend. In 1936, they moved to Washington, D.C. while Mary Jean was employed as the Bill Clerk of the U.S. Senate. The next year, they moved to Burlington when Mary Jean Simpson became Dean of Women at the University of Vermont. They returned to Craftsbury after Mary Jean's retirement in 1955.

Elspeth was a member of the Athena Club and Women's Union of the College Street Congregational Church.

Elspeth had five siblings: Mary Lois ((1880-1975), nickname "Maylo," married Zuar Hanson (1879-1935)); Helen ((1881-1971), married William Dustan (1875-1944) in 1908); James Robert (1882-1964); Martha Belle (1883-1965); and Deane Adelphia (1885-1888). A family tree is available. Note that some sources spell the family's last name Patterson, with two Ts.

[adapted from Elspeth Udall's obituary]