The Angell home in Waverly, N.Y.

Henry Merriam, who had a hardware store there, persuaded your grandfather to move from Binghamton to Waverly in 1866. He bought the house which had been built by Merriam's partner not long before.

The Angells and the Merriams were always close friends. Your mother and Grace Merriam Stevenson, whom you knew, were "best friends" from childhood.