1881
Mar 21, Anne Robinson Ripley was born in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, IL to Joseph & Joyce Pierce Ripley. (Gv Jun 1950)
Oct 29, Rowland H was born, the oldest son of Rowland Gibson and Mary Pierrepont Bushnell H (www)
1885
Sep, Dr Bob entered the Summer St Elementary School in St Johnsbury, VT. (DBGO 12)
1886
Aug 29, T Henry Williams was born in South Woodstock, CT. (AGAA 65)
1888
Lois Wilson’s parents, Dr Clark Burnham and Matilda Hoyt Spellman, were married. (LR 2)
Mar 18, Henrietta Sieberling was born in Lawrenceburg, KY, to Judge Julius A and Mary Maddox Buckler. (AGAA 83)
Summer, Dr Bob (turning 9) had his first drink from a jug of hard cider. (DBGO 13)
1889
Jan 2, Bridget Della Mary Gavin (Sister Ignatia) was born in Shanvilly, County Mayo, Ireland. (SI 44, 306, LOH 372)
1890
Aug 15, Elvin Morton Jellinek was born in NY. (GB 171)
1891
Mar 4, Lois Burnham was born at 182 Clinton St in Brooklyn, NY. She was the eldest of six children from a distinguished and affluent family. (WPR 54)
1893
Dec 27, Samuel Moor Shoemaker was born in Baltimore, MD. (www)
1894
Sep, Dr Bob (age 15) entered St Johnsbury Academy. (DBGO 15, GB 34)
Sep, Bill W’s parents, Emily Griffith and Gilman Wilson, were married (PIO 13, BW-RT 15, RAA 137)
Dec, Bil W’s uncle, Clarence Griffith, died of tuberculosis in CO. (BW-RT 31, BW-40 25, PIO 28)
1895
Nov 26, Bill Wilson was born in East Dorset, VT in a room behind a bar in the Wilson House (formerly the Barrows House) a village hotel run by his grandmother. (BW-RT 15, CH 4, NG 10, PIO 13, 407, RAA 138)
1896
Jan 2, Harry Morgan Tiebout was born in Brooklyn, NY. (HT vii)
Apr 29, Edwin (Ebby) Throckmorton T was born in Albany, NY. (EBBY 20)
1898
Dr Bob first met Anne Robinson Ripley during his senior year at St Johnsbury Academy. (DBGO 16, GB 34, WPR 3) After graduating from St Johnsbury Academy, he entered Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH. (CH 2, DBGO 348)
Dorothy Brewster Wilson, Bill’s sister, was born. (PIO 15)
1901
The Charles B Towns Hospital for Drug and Alcohol Addictions opened in NYC. It was a private “drying out” hospital for the affluent. It initially opened on 81st and 82nd Sts. and later moved to 293 Central Park West. Towns also later opened an annex (behind the Central Park facility) at 119 W 81st St to provide treatment for patients of “moderate means.” Hospital fees had to be paid in advance, or be guaranteed. Treatment fees for alcoholism ran from $75 to $150 in the main hospital ($1,560 to $3,120 today) and $50 ($1,040 today) in the annex. (SD 84-85, SW 125)
1902
Harvard professor William James’ presented the Gifford Lecture Series at the U of Edinburgh. The lectures were published as The Varieties of Religious Experience. James was also called the founding father of American psychology. (GB 47)
Dr Bob graduated from Dartmouth College. During his school years, drinking was a major activity. In the eyes of the drinking fraternity, he was “summa cum laude.” The school itself had a reputation as “the drinkingest of the Ivy League schools.” (CH 2, DBGO 22, 348, NG 30, RAA 172, GB 34) After graduation, Bob went through three years of drifting and selling heavy hardware in Boston, Chicago and Montreal. (GB 35)
Bill W’s mother, Emily, spent much of the year in FL with his sister Dorothy. Bill wrote several letters asking when she would be returning home. (BW-FH 18)
1903
Bill W’s family moved to 42 Chestnut Ave in Rutland, VT. Bill attended the Church St School. (PIO 20)
1904
Emily and Gilman Wilson’s marriage was stormy. Others noticed that something was wrong. (BW-FH 12, BW-RT 17)
Oct 15, Margaret (Marty) Mann was born in Chicago, IL to Lillian Christy and William Henry Mann. (GB 119, MMM 13-16)