Grandma Lizzie was a quilter

I  remember as a little girl going to dinners at my Grandpa and Grandma Hicks house.  By the time I was old enough to remember much about them they had moved off the family farm to a house in El Dorado Springs.  I love old time stories and wish I remember the old home place but sadly I don't and the only picture I have found of the old homestead is one painted by my Aunt Grace.   I remember at those same dinners her salmon patties,  sour kraut with hot dogs,  macaroni and tomatoes and her hot rolls.  I still love all of those today!

As I got a little older I remember going to Grandma Lizzie's house where she took me to a little room off the kitchen and taught me how to sew on her old treadle sewing machine..  I own that old machine today and treasure it.  I don't remember what we sewed.  It was enough to just know I was SEWING!  And those old machines wanted to go backwards if you didn't do it just right!  

As I spent time with my Aunt Alean these last few years she would tell me stories of what she remembered growing up with her mom.  She told me my Grandma Ruth Elizabeth who was always called Lizzie was known in the area she lived for her quilts.  The ladies would get together and make quilts and that was probably their time of socializing. My dad called them "quilting clubs".  

My Aunt Alean had several of my Grandma Lizzie's quilts and my favorite times were when I would spend the nights at her house and would crawl  into bed and pull one of those quilts up over me knowing I was touching something my own Grandma touched and loved also! 

Notice the hand stitching I have enlarged on one of the quilts?  Beautiful and labor intensive!  My Aunt Alean treasured these old quilts also and made sure they were displayed on the beds in the spare bedroom.   There is a part of me that wishes I too was  a quilter and lived in those days until I remember the hardships they lived through.  Homesteaders had to be a tough bunch!   So instead,  I will treasure quilts made by those gone on before me!

Here's a picture of my Aunt Alean who has since passed away with one of my Grandma Lizzie's quilts.  I have snuggled under this quilt many times in this bedroom.  I use to tell Aunt Alean just to put my name on the door cause I was there so often.  Times I now treasure as the memories we had together is all I have left.  I miss her but know she is enjoying heaven and being reunited with her beloved husband and her mom!

My Grandma Lizzie also made the throw pillows on the bed.

I think of all the time it took to hand stitch her quilts.  A labor of love for sure!

This old Chatty Cathy doll always sat first on the bed at my Grandma Lizzie's house and then later my Aunt Aleans.  I believe my Aunt Alean made the hat and dress for this doll.  I do remember it sitting on my Grandma's bed but was she was wearing is pretty vague in my memory bank.  

I hope you enjoyed taking this little trip down memory lane.  Quilts were an important part of life on the homesteads.  Not only for warmth but they added color to a world that could use some cheer.  I love old quilts and have several that I have found at auctions and flea markets.  You will find I adopt their owners too as my ancestors.  

 I have made a couple quilts in my time.  One I made with my daughter in law before she married my son and I have given that quilt to her hopefully to treasure and the other I still have.  But I have also found with today's hectic schedules I don't have the time and patience to put into making quilts.  Now,  smaller wall hangings are a possibility!  

Here's a picture of my Grandparents on the Hicks side.  My Grandma Lizzie is holding my brother and my Grandpa Art is holding me.

And this is a picture of my Grandma Lizzie probably dreaming of the days gone by....

And one last picture of me with some of my Grandma Lizzie's quilts.  Aunt Alean had moved from her home in Carthage following the death of her beloved husband and the Hicksie Chicks moved her into a house she bought in El Dorado Springs.  We loved helping her unpack her treasures including Grandma Lizzie's quilts!  

If you are fortunate enough to have had old quilts handed down from one generation to another consider yourself blessed.   Old quilts are a treasure indeed!

Taking Aunt Alean to Pacetown, Mo. on a journey down memory lane...

 Aunt Alean was almost 95 before she passed away and her mind was still sharp and she loved to talk about history and especially the early years when she was a child living on the "old home place".  So one day I took my recorder and we decided to take a drive to see how much still looked familiar to her even though where she grew up was long gone.   We were  in the truck and there use to be a road that went directly from the old home place to a little town called Pacetown.  She said as a child she would  walk barefoot from her house to the little store there to get items her mom (my Grandma Hicks) needed and then walk back.   We found the old road going through to Pacetown was no longer driveable so we took another route along the highway to get there.

Our first stop was to see this building which she said was the old store she use to walk barefoot to.  She remembers taking  eggs to trade for groceries  they needed.  

This little church is across from the store and Aunt Alean said she use to go to church there some.  I see the name on it is Pleasant Ridge -Pacetown Missionary Baptist Church.  I can't read the fine print to tell when it was established.  Wonder how it feels to be 95 and going back to see where you use to walk and spend time as a young child?  

She was born just a few miles from this little town and lived there till she married her first husband. At that time they rented a place near Spooky Springs  which I believe is also in the general area.

 Once he joined the service she went back home to live with her parents and lived here with them after her first child was born until her husband came back home from the service.  So she spent many years in this vicinity.

This is a hand painted picture of the "old Hicks home place" .  She described the rooms to me .  The bedrooms (only two) were on the main floor and the family room and kitchen were on the lower level which was built into the hill side.  I only wish I remember this place but I was too young when my grandparents moved into town to remember it much.  And actual pictures have not been found to exist yet.  

Here Aunt Alean is looking at a newspaper clipping of her and her sister Artie and other classmates.  She attended White Hall School as a young girl and walked to that school with her sister.  Artie was killed in a car accident in 1967 and Aunt Alean is about the last of those classmates still living.

Aunt Alean is on the front row in the plaid dress and her older sister Artie is on the back in a matching plaid dress. I'm sure my Grandma Hicks made their dresses.  She was well known in the area for her sewing skills and for her quilts.   I so love these old pictures and stories!

 

 This is a picture of Aunt Alean  with  Artie.  The old home place is in the background

Aunt Alean  told me in this picture she is with her dog Old Tip and is counting her pennies.  She said she was this little when she started walking to the little store at Pacetown.  That's probably why she is counting her pennies.  I love this kind of family history! She had a special little hoe made for her and she would go to the sweet potato patch with her mom every day and hoe the sweet potatoes.  She was a hard worker from the start.

Another picture of Aunt Alean as a young child.  She has a fascinating story beginning at her birth where she was so little the doctor spent the night not expecting her to live.  If you would like to read more about this fascinating, strong-willed woman I will be posting more of her life on this blog.  She was  an inspiration to me and  knowing her has been a blessing!

Old Fashioned Flour Feed Sacks

When I was a little girl about 1960 or so my school had a school program where we all were suppose to wear white skirts, shirts and socks.  I don't remember too much about the program but I remember that little white skirt.  It was made by my Grandma Reaves and I loved it!  I thought she could do anything because she had a treadle sewing machine and could sew!  It was like magic!  You took something like an old feed sack that contained animal feed and when it was empty it became a new dress or skirt or whatever your imagination could make it.  I lived in a small town in rural America and I'm guessing I wasn't the only one wearing a skirt made from an old feed sack that day in that program.  

Now as an adult I dig through bins and shelves at flea markets trying to find those coveted feed sacks.  My Grandma Hicks embroidered days of the week on tea towels and gave me a set for a wedding present. My Aunt Alean gave me a set of those tea towels before she died that my Grandma Hicks had made.  Aunt Alean was still using them!  They are a real treasure to me now! To be passed on to my daughter and grand-daughter someday.

 My skirt was plain white because it was probably made from flour feed sacks  but those old feed sacks came in printed material also.   Times were hard back in those days and nothing was thrown away.  Today feed sacks come in a plastic material and meant to be thrown away.  What kind of treasures will this generation save back to pass on to their kids?  Certainly won't be feed sacks that's for sure!  So hit those flea markets and find those items made from feed sacks and save them for the next generation!  That's my plan!

Grandpa Art

I love looking at old pictures not only of the people but the buildings, the animals and the surrounding countryside. Here's my Grandpa Art sitting on a stump with his dog, his guitar and his wife by his side. Hope the importance to him was not in that order. I think my brother has the guitar. Love looking at my grandmothers clothes, shoes and particularly that hat.

Grandpa and his horses. Grandpa always walked with a limp and my dad said a wagon ran over his leg when he was little but his mother would not let the Dr. amputate the leg - a fact which he was very thankful for later.

And this picture shows he raised sheep. Fascinating. Take time to listen to your ancestors tell their stories before it is too late. I plan on visiting one of my dad's cousins who is in the nursing home to see what he can tell me about this side of the family. Hope his memory is still good enough to be able to do that. My dad and his one sister are the only children living of Grandpa Art and Grandma Lizzie.

I've heard stories about how famous my Grandpa was for his huge watermelons and after looking at this picture I can see why. Now those are heirloom watermelons is my guess!

I only knew my Grandpa after he moved into town. But my favorite memory of him is teaching me as a little girl how to play a game called Fox and Geese. He made his own game board and we would play it every time we got together.

He always promised me his railroad watch and told me it had diamonds in it. Never did know what happened to that watch after he passed away but I do have the railroad watch belonging to his brother.

Now that I think about it I don't guess I can think of a singe thing that I have that belonged to either my Grandmother or Grandfather and I have a house full of ancestral treasures. I guess I need to see if my dad has any mementos left that belonged to them that he's willing to pass along. Hmmmm......

Grandma Lizzie and her chickens--we're kindred spirits

Grandma Lizzie's Mackerel Patties

As a little girl I have wonderful memories of going to dinner at my Grandma Lizzie and Grandpa Arts house in town. They lived at the top of what seemed like a very steep hill especially when trudging up it after swim lessons which I remember as being awfully early in the morning and always cold. I remember Grandma as being a good cook and I can still see her lifting a giant granite pan full of patties out of the oven.
Here's the recipe from my sister Carol for Grandma's patties:
For each can of Mackerel, Salmon or Tuna (which has been drained well and deboned) add 1 egg and crackers that have been crushed up very fine. Salt to taste. Mix well into patties and fry slowly in hot oil till brown.

Kick it up a notch by Granddaughter Joyce- Add green pepper, celery and onion and wrap a piece of bacon around each patty held in place with a toothpick. Then fry till brown.

Sister Carol assures me Grandma fried them so I can only think she must have put them in the oven to keep them warm until family arrived.

I also remember eating Sour Kraut with wieners, the most wonderful homemade rolls, Lemon Pies and another favorite was baked pie crust sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. May have been during hard times but I remember the food tasting wonderful!

The Tandy and Narcissia Pike story...

These short stories were taken from my Grandmother Ruth Elizabeth (Lizzie) Pike's journal and I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I have. JLW


My Grandmother and Grandfather. Grandma is the one writing this "History" as she calls it.



Here's the final chapter in her Pike family history.


So Tandy and Narcissa's life was one of a real pioneer life of hard work but they weathered the storms of life, they fought a good fight and their life's race was won and both passed on to a better world. They are both buried at White Hall Cemetery or perhaps we should say Mt. Hebron Cemetery for that is the real name of the old church and cemetery. When the school was still standing and was across the road from the old Mount Hebron Methodist Church and cemetery everyone called it White Hall Cemetery. All the Pike family attended this little church. The old church building has been gone for a long time and the school house was sold and moved away after the country schools were consolidated. So to pass by the old cemetery gives you a lonely feeling of sadness.

The old Pike log house burned in 1912 and a new frame house was built in its place which is still there although vacant for a long while. The old farm is all in pasture now. There were two very large maple trees in the north yard and a large cottonwood tree in the south yard next to the kitchen. These were killed by the fire and had to be cut when the new house was built.

So this ends the story of a fine old pioneer family. I have only written of some of the most interesting things of this family. Tandy passed away on April 8, 1899 and Narcissa died in July of 1905 and both are buried in the old White Hall/Mt. Hebron Cemetery.

This is the story of my Grandparents. Written by a Grand-daughter (Lizzie)

Oldest son marries and leaves home...

Let us go back to Sept. 6, 1869 where the youngest son was Joseph Albert Pike was born. Then on April 21, 1872 the youngest child was born Alice Pike. This made a family of nine children, five girls and four boys.

On Sept. 20, 1874 the oldest son George William Pike was married to Margaret Ellen Crow in Cedar County Mo and they moved on the south 40 where a well had previously been dug.

A Panther Scare.....

A Panther Scare of Many Years Ago

Our Grandfather Tully Tandy Pike built a one room log cabin a short ways west of the barn on the little branch that ran through the place and west of the home place. He called it a “camping place” for his children. After they were married they could live there until they located a place where they wanted to live. Most all of his children lived there for a time sometime during their first married years. I can remember when we lived there when there was just my brother and me.

I have heard my Aunt Ruthie Pike tell of a real panther scare they had when they were living there. Here’s that story:

One spring nite, just soon after dark, they could hear a panther coming across country northwest of their cabin. It was coming across the old Liston Place, its screams came every few steps. It seemed to be about ¼ mile away and there were no doors to the cabin, so they nailed a heavy comfort to both doors and they all kept real still, them and their two children and listened to the panther’s screams. He went on southwest about halfway between the cabin and the home. He could not have been far from either building. He kept screaming every few steps until he vanished in the distance. The next day a panther was seen sleeping in a tree only about ¼ mile from Joe and Martha Pike Pierson’s. Uncle Joe Pierson killed the panther. They all believed it was all the one and the same.

Martha Pike Pierson and Joe lived on Horse Creek about 4 miles from where Joe and Ruthie (Pike) first heard the panther so it was good news to hear the panther was killed.

We sometimes think we have rough times but I often wonder if anyone of us could cope with the hardships the old pioneers went through.

Written by Granddaughter that wrote history
Ruth Elizabeth (Lizzie) Pike

Patsy the pet deer...

The family had a pet deer which they had found as a young fawn soon after moving to Cedar County on the Jamerson Farm. The young deers mother had been killed and the young became tame with the gentle care and feeding by the Pike children . They kept the deer named Patsy until they moved from the old Francis farm to the new home they had traded for where Tandy and Narcissa lived the rest of their life.

On moving day the pet deer was left to be moved with the cattle. In late evening after everything else had been moved Tully Tandy returned for the pet deer and cattle. Just before Tandy reached the barn a rifle shot rang out and Tandy ran a few steps where he saw Patsy standing with her head to the ground and blood gushing from her nose. While standing at her side a man stepped from behind a tree and said, "I'm sorry Mr. Pike but I'm afraid I have shot your pet deer." Then Tandy relieved his anger by telling Joe how much he loved him. The man was Joe _____ (name omitted to protect any living relatives) who had been their closest neighbor whle living on the old Jamerson farm. Joe knew all about them having the deer and he knew they still had the pet deer. Patsy wore a bright red flannel band around her neck with her bell. After Tandy had gotten through telling Joe what a brute he was then he had to shoot the deer . Then he carried her home. There was a sad little funeral for their dear little pet who was a constant companion and playmate to the children.


Just a short while before this the children had raked up a large pile of leaves and they put baby Johnce in the middle of the pile and covered him up. Just then the pet deer saw them and came running and jumped into the middle of the leaves. Baby Johnce then let out a loud cry. When the deer jumped off to one side and began to paw the leaves away the children pulled little Johnce out of the leaves and Patsy ran to him and began licking his face and bleating as if to be trying to say how sorry she was .

So to lose a pet like that was like losing one of the family.

Everyday life around the homestead...

Grandfather Tandy was a shoemaker and he tanned all his shoe leather from horse and cow hides. To make all the shoes needed for his family he had all sizes of wooden shoe lasts he carved. He used these lasts -a foot shaped form-for pattern and size. One of his neighbors lost a team of large mules and gave Tandy the hides to make into boots and he got a nice pair of new boots. Tandy made hundreds of little wooden pegs which he used to put the shoe soles on for all his shoes soles were put on with little wooden pegs as there wasn't a metal tack in any of the shoes he made.

They raised the flax that Narcissia spun the thread from to sew the shoes with. Flax is a blue flowered plant grown for its fiber. The flax was a source of linen as well as for the thread. Narcissia had two spinning wheels-one large and one small. She spun the thread and it was twisted and doubled and waxed to sew the shoes. A small awl or pointed tool was used to make holes in the leather. The thread was then pulled through those holes with a needle.


They raised sheep for the wool and cotton which Narcissa spun the thread which she wove into cloth to make the clothing for the family. She had a large loom she wove the cloth on and did her sewing by hand. She corded small bats from the wool and cotton to make the bed covers with. These bats were only about 8 x 12 and so it took a lot of them for a full size quilt. The quilts were much different to what we buy in the stores today.


Plenty of hogs were raised for butchering which was done at home. The heart and liver were well cooked and then put with the head meat which had been cooked well done and picked from the bone. This was all beat into a pulp with a wooden mallet. This was made into head cheese and mincemeat. Narcissa was said to be a champion mincemeat maker. The meat was washed and hung to dry after it's allotted time for salt curing then it was sell smoked with green hickory wood for so many hours each day. The sausage was packed into long muslin bags and smoked along with the meat. There was always plenty of meat butchered to last the family until butchering time next year.

There was no such thing as a refrigerator in those days so the milk and butter were hung in a bucket by a small rope in the well to keep it fresh. So all the water had to be drawn by adults so not to get it spilled into the well for if this did happen the well had to be cleaned out, which was no small job.

All the wood ashes were saved and put into a ash hopper and ran water through them for lye for making soap. Narcissia made all her soap both hard and soft soap. Tully Tandy used lots of soft soap in tanning of his hides for making the shoes for the family.


Tandy raised White Hickory King Corn , wheat, rye, barley and buck wheat which he took to the grist mill for the family bread. He also raised Sorghum Cane for a barrel of Sorghum. They also raised peanuts and popcorn for home use and in early Fall apples were taken to the Cider Mill and made into fresh Cider. After the family had drank their fill of the fresh, sweet sparkling cider the rest was kept for vinegar for home use. In late Fall there were always a large rick of potatoes, apples, cabbage and turnips and these were well covered with dirt.


Just inside the garden fence along three sides were tame Rhubarb sometimes called Pie Plant. There were also tame gooseberry bushes- the very large variety. So the family very often enjoyed good old Gooseberry, and Rhubarb and Mincemeat Pies and let's not forget the Pumpkin Pies which Narcissia always dried pumpkins for winter time pies.

Wells are dug....

The family carried all their drinking and cooking water from a Spring called "The Mercy Springs." located on an adjoining farm a half mile away from their house. Several other families carried water from this spring also. This was done for about two years when the two boys George and Robert now 15 and 20 dug their first well. They also dug a well on the South 40. These wells were 30 feet deep with plenty of soft water and were known as the best wells of soft water in Cedar County. To this day there was never a pump in them and they are as good as the day they were dug around 1871 over 100 years ago. (written in 1971)


Tully Tandy's lost his last two team of oxen after years of service and he bought horses to do his farm work. My last recollection of the oxen yokes were of being used at the wood pile for chopping blocks. They were hand made by Tandy of Hickory wood and with use and age they became tough as iron.


My Grandmother Narcissia's prize piece of furniture was a four poster corded bedstead made of maple wood handmade by Tully Tandy soon after moving to Cedar County. It was beautiful. A corded bed is a small rope woven back and forth fastened to little wooden pegs along each side . This forms a lut to hold the mattress instead of bed slats. This bed was still in use when Narcissa died in 1905.

The homestead...

In March 1862, Tandy and Narcissa and their growing family of five children moved to a farm Southeast of the White Hall School. The farm was on the Jerico Road which is now called Hwy 97 and was known as the "old Francis Farm." Here the men farmed and worked in the timber. By this time several of the Pike and Amos' family had left North Mo moving to Cedar County where some spent the remainder of their life while some in later years returned back to North Mo.

Another daughter Christine Narcissia was born in 1864 and my father Franklin Johnson (Johnce) Pike was born on April 11, 1867. At this time in history we find my Grandparents raising their 7 children living on a small farm in rural Cedar County.

In 1869 when my father Johnce was two years old Tandy traded a team of oxen (named Old Buck and Ball) for 40 acres of land. This land was one and one/fourth miles West from where the family was living. On this land was a large one room log house. It had a large attic where the boys slept. It also had a large fireplace and a lean-to kitchen.

This land had been homesteaded and was what was called raw with no fencing. So the first thing Tandy did he and his two sons George and Robert split rails and fenced the farm and Tully Tandy set out an orchard of apples and peaches.

Grandfather Tandy traded another team of oxen (Old Jim and Sam) for another 40 acres about two miles south of their new home. This was also unfenced mostly in timber and it had a large one room house on it.

Pike family moved to Cedar County...

Tully Tandy Pike was born in Kentucky, Oct. 18, 1827. Narcissa Lou Ann Random Amos was born in Kentucky, July 27, 1831. This is the start of the Pike story.

They came from Kentucky to Missouri, along with their parents and several other families by covered wagon trains pulled by oxen team. The families settled in North Missouri for a few years-first living in Putman County and later in Gentry County and Platt County and Clinton County. Tully Tandy and Narcissa were married in Clinton County on Aug. 5, 1849. Three of their children, George William Pike, Robert Preston Pike and their first daughter Mary Francis Pike were born in that county also.

In 1859 they left North Missouri and traveled by south by covered wagon again pulled by four team of oxen. The family settled on a farm East of Virgil City. It was in Cedar County and then was known as the Jamerson Farm. They lived one-half mile west of White Hall School. (Known in 1971 as the Old Jake Kaufman farm.

Tully Tandy Pike in his younger days.


Virgil City had one grocery store and a drug store. Both were owned by old Doctor Kawhorn. The town also had a Post Office, a blacksmith shop and a school house. The grocery store was called the Williams Store. The Williams family lived across the road from the store. The large house where they lived was called the Williams(Wielms) Hotel. Travelers who wished to stay and rest, stayed overnight.

The Williams store was in Cedar County. The Post Office, the Williams home, the drug store, the blacksmith shop and the school were all in Vernon County. This was because the road was the county line and even today it's called County Line Road. There were no mail routes at that time so everyone had to go to the Post Office for their mail. The mail was brought by mail Hact to Virgil Post Office from Nevada Mo. In the winter time when the weather was very bad the mail was delivered but only once a month.

It was here that two more children were born to Tandy and Narcissa. A daughter Eliza Ann and Martha Ellen.

Virgil City

Taken from local History Book

This village is located on the western line of Cedar County, in the southwestern corner of Box Township, and extends over into Vernon County. It was laid out in 1869 by James Henderson and Bartlet R. Conyers. It was incorporated in 1870, though it had its beginnings only a few years before. The first postmaster was James R. Oatman who opened the post office on Aug. 6th 1867. Bartlet Conyers had purchased the land from The Government Land Office in 1857. His home was about a quarter of a mile southeast of where the town was located. He was residing here at the beginning of the Civil War but fled to Kansas after someone shot at him. Not knowing who his friends or enemies were and not wanting to take sides, he fled. When he returned after the War, he found his home and all his possessions burned to the ground. All that existed was the old smoke house which he made his home until another one could be constructed.

The town was laid out in 1869 by Henderson and Conyers. It had a hotel, a wagon shop and a general store and at times a population of 300. It was incorporated in 1870 and A. Carroll, A.N. Wallace, J.H. Challender, J.R. Oatman and Andrew Arnett as trustees. Ferdnand Huff came from Ohio in 1867 by wagon train headed for Kansas but was delayed by sickness. This delay led to his deciding to stay in Cedar County and he bought 160 acres two miles east of the county line paying less than two dollars per acre. It was unfenced and unplowed prairie with belts of timber and wonderful springs of water which made it a very attractive investment. There had been earlier settlers but renegades during the Civil War had come and burned their buildings, stolen their livestock and sometimes murdered the inhabitants. Those that could, fled with what few possessions they could travel with. For a good number of years after, stone chimneys stood as monuments marking the location of homes that had been looted and burned.

There was an older log school near there but a new school was built two miles east of Virgil named White Hall. Ferdnand Huff and Christopher Gish built the schoolhouse , hauling the lumber from Sedalia, 90 miles away, which was the closest railroad. The schoolhouse had two seats in the back that were slab benches with stobs bored in for legs, that had been brought from the old log school. Near this time a church was moved from Virgil City and located across from the school. It was Methodist and named Mt. Hebron. Many old timers are buried in the cemetery there.

By 1874 there was a drugstore where Fred Huff worked. There were two hotels, the Wielms and the Tanner. Both hotels had bars and Dr. Barter owned the drug store. Christopher Gish had a harness shop, there was an apple dryer, cider mill, stores and blacksmith shop. The city thrived because they thought the train would be coming through from Nevada. When El Dorado Springs got the railroad Virgil City which had been as large as Stockton at that time, soon floundered and within a few years only a few businesses and people remained. Now it remains only as another Cedar County ghost town.

Grandma Lizzie's Journal

My Grandma Lizzie loved to write. I mostly remember her writing while sitting in her rocking chair by the window and writing poetry. I began to do some genealogy studies of my family and unearthed a family history record that my grandmother wrote before she died. Please, please , please do the next generation in your family a favor and write down your family history before you can no longer tell it. My grandmother wrote " Where I made my biggest mistake was not writing this History long ago, when I was able to do more about it. Now I'm not able to do much about it, too many of the family passed on." At this time she was trying to track down birth dates and info on family members. She did write as much history of her grand-parents as possible and I am so thankful for that. I now have these wonderful stories of my , let me see, great-great-grandparents to read about and pass on to my children. At the end of the family history, my grandmother also wrote the following, "Many things come to my mind now that should have been written in this history, but will let well enough alone for this time I am now 81 years old and a little hard to write , but I still don't wear glasses." She signed it "written by Granddaughter that wrote history." What a great way to be remembered! As the one who wrote history!! So as I have time, I will put some of my grand-mothers writings in my blog. My husband and I hunted down the old homestead that she wrote about and took some pictures . Thankfully, it was still standing. Today's writings will be about the house and the old well. Here's Grandma Lizzie's story:

"Now Tandy (this would have been Grandma Lizzie's grandfather) traded another team of oxen (old Jim and Sam) for another 40 acres about 2 miles south of the new home. This farm also was unfenced and had a large one room log house and was mostly in timber. The family had to carry all their drinking water and cooking water from a spring called the Mercy Spring on an adjoining farm about one-half mile away. Several other neighbors carried all their water from this same spring, this was done for about two years until the two sons George and Robert, now 15 and 20, dug their first well. They also dug wells on the south forty. These wells were about thirty feet deep with an ample supply of water and were known as the best soft water wells in the county. To this day there has never been a pump on either of them. In those days there was no such thing as a refrigerator, so the milk, butter and cream were hung in a bucket by a small rope down in the well to keep it fresh. The water must be drawn by adults so as not to get it in the well for if this did happen , then the well must be cleaned out, which was no small job.
The old log house burned in 1912 and new frame house was built in its place, which is still standing but has been vacant for some time. The old farm is all in pasture now and the two large maple trees in the north yard and a large cottonwood tree in the south yard next to the kitchen were killed by the fire when the old house burned. They had to be cut when the new house was built. So this ends the story of a fine, old pioneer family. "

From what I can tell from the old records and from what living family members can tell me, it seems both my great-grand-parents died in this old house. They had 14 children, including my Grandma Lizzie. My great-grandmother Mary died first in 1923 at the age of 47 and my Grandma Lizzie and Grandpa Art moved into the old homestead and lived there until my Great-Grandfather Johnce died also in 1931 at the age of 64. He never remarried after the death of his beloved wife. My dad tells me they were not sure of what my great-grandmother died of, but that my great-grandfather sat in a rocking chair and held her in his lap till she was gone. She still had young ones at home to mourn her death. How sad! This may be boring to some of you but I find it fascinating!