"It Wasn't All Beer & Skittles": One Family's Journey Through Difficult Times

In 1947 Arthur and Peggy Patten finally settled down in Cuttingsville, Vermont. It was the end of a fifteen-year search for the right community. They and their growing family had lived in seven different houses, in different states, since their marriage in 1933 in Newark, New Jersey, including several stints at Peg's Aunt Charlotte's large home in Derby, Connecticut. Along this journey they were helped by relatives and neighbors as they survived financial difficulties, an epidemic and rapid social and economic changes, all of which they documented in frequent letters home and regular diary entries. Art and Peg speak in their own voice, revealing a couple who knew the value of family and community and who exemplify the early Twentieth Century American struggle to find the place they belonged.