Out of all the times I broke my ankles, the story of how it happened never made it to the newspapers. And I broke them both. Luckily, I broke them on different occasions. But my great-grandmother? You probably don’t know this, but she stepped on a stick, fell off a porch and dislocated her ankle. See the image below [1].

After reading that story, I’m wondering how they treated a dislocated ankle in 1906. And did her dad say, “Yeah, all you need is a little ice and you’ll be okay,”? Did her friends read the thrilling tale of her fall and drop by for a visit to console her?

All these questions about my great-grandmother’s injury reminds me of the time when my mom stepped off the porch to turn off the water to the hose. One step and she broke her ankle in two places. It took the entire neighborhood to carry her into the house. (And what I mean when I say neighborhood is our friends Ed and Scott from down the street.)

My dad had left for an afternoon round of golf he never got to play. When he arrived to check in for his tee time the golf course sent him back home to care for my mom. She got a cast. I’d like to think I signed it and drew something cool on it. Too bad my mom’s story never made it to the papers either. The Daily Republic in Fairfield, California just didn’t know what they were missing with that story. Neither did my dad, who was kind of disappointed. He thought my mom should have done something cooler than taking one step off the porch if she was going to break her ankle.

I mention my dad’s disappointment for a purpose. You see, some folks gloss over small stories like the one I found for my grandmother. They feel as if the information is too mundane, or not on a large enough scale to be worth collecting. I think otherwise. Reading and collecting the small factoids, tales, stories helps you to know and connect with your ancestors if you take the time to think and ask questions about the circumstances surrounding them. I may not know more about the dislocated ankle. How bad was it? How long did it put her out of action? Did she receive any cuts and bruises from the fall? Since the injury happened in November in Missouri, was it snowy or icy out? Did snow or ice contribute to the fall?

However, I can learn about how they might have treated the injury in 1906. Or if they even considered a dislocated ankle the same thing as they do in 2025. I can learn a few other details that might help me understand her life better or how teenagers might have responded to an incident like an ankle injury. So I am grateful for the story.

And I am a bit jealous my ankle brakes never made it to the paper. Not jealous because of my ego. But jealous that my descendants won’t be able to discover those stories in the paper and feel closer to me. If we’re lucky though, maybe this story about my mom’s ankle will still be floating around for them to find.

[1]. "Miss Maud Hoover," Monett Daily Record, (Monett, Missouri), p. 1, col. 3. 20 November 1906. Newspapers.com. (https://www.newspapers.com/image/1201120467/ : accessed 22 July 2025).