| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| dutchy |
Posted - Jul 21 2009 : 11:08:41 AM
Can you PLEASE tell more about any authors/books etc you have read (or just know about) about the Homesteaders etc? I am very interested in learning more about it. I know I am not able to buy any here , but can always look online and read some more info.
Any help??
Hugs from Marian/Dutchy, a farmgirl from the Netherlands :)
My personal blog:
http://just-me-a-dutch-girl.blogspot.com/
Almost daily updates on me and mine :)
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| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| KJD |
Posted - Aug 05 2009 : 8:37:19 PM
An absolutely wonderful book about early Texas settlers, is the story of a woman, Harriet Potter (I know...) - the book is called "Love is a Wild Assault" by Elithe Hamilton Kirkland - I've read it twice and it's a favorite with several of my friends...Amazon has several for sale - I hope you'll check it out! |
| Celticheart |
Posted - Aug 04 2009 : 8:32:19 PM
OK....I'd better do part 3 before I leave for Sock Summit.
One Indian couple which my mother remembered well was Joshua and his wife Emma. They had been converted to Christianity and often were to be heard singing hymns. They had one habit however, which my grandmother did not appreciate and this was of their coming uninvited at least once a week and always arriving at the noon meal time. Joshua would satisfy his big appetite, then lie down on the floor back of the cook stove and enjoy an afternoon nap.
About this same year, Great Grandmother Maynard, with the children who were still at home with her, moved from Oregon and took up her abode near her brothers, the Messinger families, at Johnson Hollow. Her house was quite small: one bedroom, a living room, an L or T shaped kitchen and an attic, accessible by means of a ladder. This took care of the sleeping needs of many. The winter of 1878 some of her married children, with their families, moved in with her. Sixteen in all. Each week the women would take turn-about doing the cooking and the household chores. To add to the congestion and other problems of this home, one little girl suffered a bad infection from a burn. Then three children came down with Scarlet Fever, there was a home wedding and one young man decided to become a violinist. For this endeavor, he was often banished to the attic. Here he would wrap his legs around the stovepipe for warmth and continue weird strains of music from the instrument.
The year 1879 saw my grandparents moving from Dayton to a farm seven miles northwest of Colton, Whitman County, Washington. (This is where the first story started) The first year at this place, my grandfather broke up the sod and planted flax. My mother often commented as to the beauty of this crop, "Like a blue veil over the hills," she said. Water stood in the flats until late spring. This fertile ground became hay meadows later on. I can still smell the fragrance of that timothy-red clover hay, which would be mowed, raked into windrows, shocked, then hauled and stacked, to be baled at a later and more convenient time.
Today I cherish the memories of the past; the frog's chorus from the meadow pond; family reunions; holiday time; bird songs from the wild rose bushes along the fence rows; Fourth of July at Lyle's Grove on Union Flat; smells of the seasons, barns, harness, hay, horses, dust and round-ups; the beauty of winter; the aroma of grandmother's cooking and last but not least, of my grandparents meeting us with open arms and hearing my grandfather say, "Come een, come een! Come right on een."
Leipha Myrtle Black Johnson 1972
It's not about being perfect, but enjoying what you do. Set aside time to be creative.
Robyn Pandolph
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| Celticheart |
Posted - Jul 29 2009 : 7:00:05 PM
Pioneering--part 2
With the aid of a midwife and in these surroundings, my grandmother gave birth to two babies, both boys: one born February 7, 1873 and the other one, February 11, 1874, only a year and four days apart. The older one, Raimon, passed away with pneumonia when about three months old and was laid to rest in the Weston Cemetery.
The hardships experienced at this homestead are too numerous to mention. Due to lack of moisture, grain crops did not do well and the ground squirrels would eat the most of that which grew. By now my mother had reached school age and attended school in a one room school house situated quite some distance from the home. She had to walk to school but was fortunate in having an older child to accompany her. The nearest neighbors were great grandfather and grandmother Clark and a few other relatives,
Grandfather worked away from home most of the time. There was sheep shearing to do in the spring months of the year and this work sometimes took the crews as far east as Montana. Sturgis and LaGrow were well known sheepmen of the Weston area, and grandfather worked for them some of the time. During the early months of fall, work was plentiful in the grain fields around Walla Walla and out on Eureka Flats.
The homestead was sold in 1877 for one thousand dollars. Paid in full with twenty dollar gold pieces. These were kept in a 'yeast powder can' and buried for a time under the step of the plank house. The family returned to Dayton. This time they lived in town and across the street from the woolen mill. The output of this mill was blankets and brightly colored yardage, much of which was sold to the Indians who camped and fished along the banks of the Touchet River. This was also the year of the Nez Perce Indian War and the news of the tragedy was brought to the Dayton area by the scouts. The Indians around Dayton however, appeared to be friendly and caused no trouble......to be continued.
If you are interested in more information about the Nez Perce Indian War you can find it here:
(http:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nez_Perce)
When Chief Joseph surrendered he gave the speech to his chiefs with the quote"....from where the sun now stands I will fight no more, forever."
It's not about being perfect, but enjoying what you do. Set aside time to be creative.
Robyn Pandolph
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| dutchy |
Posted - Jul 29 2009 : 09:20:26 AM
marcia, what a wealth to have this account of your ancestors!!
my grandmomma told many stories but none as detailed as yours!!!
Hugs from Marian/Dutchy, a farmgirl from the Netherlands :)
My personal blog:
http://just-me-a-dutch-girl.blogspot.com/
Almost daily updates on me and mine :)
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| Celticheart |
Posted - Jul 29 2009 : 09:13:32 AM
I forgot about Little Heathens. I read that book last year. It was great! Also the books Cold Sassy Tree and Leaving Cold Sassy are both very good.
Are you ready for Pioneering? This was also written by my grandma. I think she must have written these for something to do with Daughters of the Pioneers of Washington because it was with some other DPW things my mom gave to me. This story precedes the first story by 20 years and is about her grandmother or my GG grandmother.
My grandmother Nancy Jane Clark, was born at North Yamhill, Yamhill County Oregon, June 17, 1849: daughter of William D. and Phoebe Stewart Clark, Oregon pioneers of 1844 and 1847. My grandfather, James H. Maynard, was born at Muncie, Delaware County, Indiana, May 24, 1846; son of Nathan and Elizabeth Messinger Maynard, Oregon pioneers of 1863. (She includes all of these dates and places to prove eligibility. To belong to DPW you need to prove an ancestor in Oregon Territory before 1850 or in Washington Territory before 1870. That doesn't sound too difficult except that the greatest influx of pioneers into this area happened in the 1880's and 1890's. When my daughters joined DPW, because my mom insisted, they had 17 ancestors between there dad's family and our family here before 1870.)
My grandparents were married at LaFayette, Yamhill County, Oregon, Feb. 7, 1867. Previous to his marriage, my grandfather served from December 1864 to July 1866 with Company B 1st Oregon Volunteers. The Indians were causing trouble at this time and he often drew scout duty.
When my mother(the woman from the first story)was three years old, my grandparents decided to move to Dayton, Washington, where some relatives had located. They left Yamhill with their belongings packed in a wagon drawn by four horses to one of which was tied the milk cow, since she had not been trained to lead.
Upon their arrival at Dayton, they lived about a mile north east of the town and at the mouth of Johnson Hollow, in a house that belonged to grandfather's cousin, Andrew Messinger. That winter the little family suffered the loss of their milk cow. Quite a tragedy no doubt, since my mother remembered it so vividly.
In the spring of 1873, grandfather filed on a homestead near the town of Weston, Umatilla County, Oregon. (No offense of Oregon, but I wouldn't live there NOW.) Here the family lived in a "dug-out" with a box style room in front. They called this the 'plank house', since it was made of boards twelve inches wide and over an inch in thickness. These planks were nailed upright to a frame. The cracks on the outside were covered with narrow strips of wood called battons, while those on the inside were chinked with cloth or paper...........to be continued..............
It's not about being perfect, but enjoying what you do. Set aside time to be creative.
Robyn Pandolph
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| dutchy |
Posted - Jul 28 2009 : 11:02:21 PM
Yes, thanks again marcia. I tahnk y'all for your input :)
Hugs from Marian/Dutchy, a farmgirl from the Netherlands :)
My personal blog:
http://just-me-a-dutch-girl.blogspot.com/
Almost daily updates on me and mine :)
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| Mother Hen |
Posted - Jul 28 2009 : 10:58:59 PM
Marcia, I came upon this thread tonight and have read it all. I would like to thank you so much for sharing your families story thus far. It reads like a good book and I am anxiously awaiting your next entries.
Blessings to you,
Cindy
FARMGIRLS CAN DO ANYTHING!!!
I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. Psalms 34:1 |
| Catherine Seiberling Pond |
Posted - Jul 27 2009 : 08:36:19 AM
I have a large collection of what I call "back to the land" books that seem to go back to the 1940s during WWII, post-Depression years when many people left the cities and suburbs to have a farm. This is definitely happening again now. If you are interested in this genre from that era Lois Bromfield is the king of back-to-the-land (but in a grander style than most) and writes with great perspectives about the land and agrarian issues.
It's not a homesteader book, per se, but a recent book called LITTLE HEATHENS by Mildred Armstrong Kalish is a wonderful account of growing up on an Iowa farm during the Great Depression: www.little-heathens.com
Mildred is a true Farm Girl! As for other more recent books, in addition to Farm Girl suggestions, just do a search on Amazon.com on "19th century homesteading," "living of the grid" or "back to the land" and you are likely to find many references to books in and out of print.
There is one more recent memoir that I'm anxious to read, but the name escapes me, about a family who went off the grid for a year, and may still be. That concept intrigues me although I could never go there completely.
Blessings,
Catherine
Farm girl at heart and in practice. Food/memoir writer and historian. Check out my blog at www.InthePantry.blogspot.com |
| Celticheart |
Posted - Jul 26 2009 : 6:07:06 PM
Karen,
How sweet! You're welcome. I will post more of their stories later this week. As I said in an earlier post, I have another one by my same grandma about her grandmother this time and then I will also get the wedding story from my mom. I didn't know these stories existed until just recently. My mom brought these copies to my house and gave them to me. I think we do tend to romanticize so much that went on and the reality is it was so much more harsh than we will ever know. I know that is what struck me about the book A Sudden Country when I read it. Those people were so unprepared for what they had to face! Later I will also tell you all something about my Great Grandma on my mom's side. I knew her well because I cleaned house for her every Saturday when I was a teenager and she lived to be 103. She defied her father and came west, alone, to teach school in about 1905. We have a video taped interview with her on her 100th birthday. She said that the book Christy was as close to what her early life as a school teacher was like as anything she had ever read.
It's not about being perfect, but enjoying what you do. Set aside time to be creative.
Robyn Pandolph
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| RaspberryBee |
Posted - Jul 26 2009 : 3:42:54 PM
Dear Marcia
It is a rather stormy day here and I am sitting on my back porch enjoying all around me. Never did I think I would read a wonderful family story that would make me think of my dear grandmother. Her mother rode a mule in the Oklahoma land rush for her family at the age of 14. She lived with her parents on the land and then raised her family there as well. My grandmother did not like to talk about her youth on the homestead and told me not to make Laura Ingalls' books into fantasies I wished I could visit. It was hard for me to understand but as I grew up I learned more from books, others tales and a bit from my father. Life was hard and what they did in Payne(I think)county was fight to survive and she did not want anyone in her family to live they way they did in a soddie with hungry tummys. Without her courage we grandchildren would not be able to laze about on a sunday afternoons surfing the web wondering what snack sounded good...oh and could the husband please bring it to her! Thanks for the little trip today and thanks everyone for all the book choices. I have requested a few from our library and looking forward to there arrival.
Karen
I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.
-Henry David Thoreau- |
| Lessie Louise |
Posted - Jul 26 2009 : 11:28:56 AM
Jenny, I think the same skinny woman is inside me...but she settles down for cake! I'm glad you enjoy this book too, I think if they re released it it would be a big hit today. Take good care,
how sweet it is to love some one, how right itis to care |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Jul 25 2009 : 4:31:51 PM
Oh Carol..that IS a good one. What I like about it most is that it tells you how to do things that you don't have a man around to help do. Like heavy hard things..easier ways to do them. It is written for women about women doing things. I love it! I have had my copy, bought used..for years and years.
Jenny in Utah
Proud Farmgirl sister #24
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
| Lessie Louise |
Posted - Jul 25 2009 : 3:13:38 PM
One of my favs is called Counrty Women, a handbook for the new farmer, by Jeanne Tetrault and Sherry Thomas. It may be out of print so try ebay. About 30 years ago it was the only farm book I could afford and it got me raising rabbits and chicks and helpd with canning. It talks of building fences and butchering goats! It is also about Sherry's journey and learning to farm alone. Full of very useful knowledge. I still refer to it mostly cuz it was my first home stead type of book. Try the library for it
how sweet it is to love some one, how right itis to care |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Jul 25 2009 : 09:08:12 AM
Hey Marian...just email me your address and I will get it right off to you. How fun that my book will travel further than I ever have!!
Jenny in Utah
Proud Farmgirl sister #24
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
| dutchy |
Posted - Jul 24 2009 : 11:58:58 PM
I LOVE all the info on this thread! It has given me an even more respect for our forefathers and mothers. I remember when my grandmom was alive she used to tell some stories about her childhood too. NO she wasn't born in the USA lol. But here in the Netherlands they had rough times too and women had to work hard on the land and raise a family and do all the other work as well.
Thanks for all the info so far gals, love reading more and more, ;)
Aunt Jenny, in answer to your offer on lending me the book: Yes please!! I'd love to read it. If the offer still stands that is :)
Hugs from Marian/Dutchy, a farmgirl from the Netherlands :)
My personal blog:
http://just-me-a-dutch-girl.blogspot.com/
Almost daily updates on me and mine :)
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| Old Spirit |
Posted - Jul 24 2009 : 7:47:21 PM
Thank you Lisa. Mary Jane's forum has to be the best in the world, I have learned so much and get connect with people that like the same as well 
Rae
...those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles:...
Isaiah 40:31 |
| nubidane |
Posted - Jul 24 2009 : 4:54:33 PM
Rae
I will either see her Sunday or Tuesday night at a meeting. I will email you with her name & contact info if she is all right with that(I can't imagine that she would not be; she lives for this stuff!) |
| Old Spirit |
Posted - Jul 24 2009 : 4:30:43 PM
Oh Lisa that would be awesome. I love studying Oregon Trail and of course Laura Ingalls being some of her story took place in MN.
Rae
...those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles:...
Isaiah 40:31 |
| nubidane |
Posted - Jul 24 2009 : 3:41:38 PM
I am interested in these also, & hope that soon my work will slow down so that I can read more.
I go to church with a gal that is SOOO educated about the Oregon Trail(esp the women) & takes vacations a few times a year out west to study & see this area. (I know a year or so ago she was out there driving a stagecoach!) If any of you are interested in contacting her, let me know & I will make sure it is OK w/her to email her & let you know. She has oodles of info & books. At our spring fling at church, she set up a table with more Laura Ingalls gear than I have ever seen. She is just a wealth of info. |
| Old Spirit |
Posted - Jul 24 2009 : 3:09:09 PM
Just think of all the things these people saw. I think of my Grandmother. She grew up on a farm with horses for transportation. Lived through the 1918 fire here, which destroyed many towns and killed many. Went on to see cars, electricity, radios, tv and color tv, microwaves, etc.... The house and barn often were connected and just divided in half.
It is so interesting how brave and wise they were.
Rae
...those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles:...
Isaiah 40:31 |
| Celticheart |
Posted - Jul 24 2009 : 2:07:34 PM
There's a great older book about homesteading in Texas and the Oklahoma Territory.....um.....I think it's Anonymous Was a Woman. The focus is mostly on pioneer women, their quilts andother needlework. Many of them created works of art while living in the most horrible places.
It's not about being perfect, but enjoying what you do. Set aside time to be creative.
Robyn Pandolph
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| Jennifer Mulkey |
Posted - Jul 24 2009 : 1:53:17 PM
Homesteading and early frontier are two of my favorite subjects. I started out as a history major in college, and my interest was on homesteaders. My great-grandfather was a sooner, and we've been in this part of the country ever since, and worked and lived on farms and ranches and homesteads. We have the original paperwork for my great-grandfather's homestead in Guthrie, Oklahoma, and I've been there a few times myself.
Two of my favorite books, centering around homesteading are "Tears of Sorrow, Tears of Joy, a woman struggles for independence in the Oklahoma Territory", by Granvil L. Hays. Although some of the grammar is not correct, and in some places, the writing could have been better, it's a good book. The second is "Sod-House Days, Letters from a Kansas Homesteader, 1877-78", by Howard Ruede. It's a first hand account of homesteading in Kansas. John Ise also wrote " Sod and Stubble". I have several others, but they are put in boxes, but if I can find them, I'll let you know.
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| Celticheart |
Posted - Jul 23 2009 : 6:05:40 PM
Part 3:
Aside from the loneliness, my mother experienced some real "Western Thrillers." At that time, cattle rustling was rampant in the area. Often in the night she would hear bands of cattle being driven along the road. One morning when she was milking the cows in the corral a rustler raced by with the posse right on his heels. Evidently the rustler had a better horse for he made his escape.
The main road to Sprague was not far from our house and many transcients would stop and inquire the distance to that town. If I remember correctly, it was 27 miles. A few times, if we should happen to be away from the house we had people stop and fix themselves something to eat.
Early each spring, the sheep men from the Dayton area would drive their large bands of sheep through on their way to summer pasture. For days after, my sister and I would search, hoping to find a lamb that just might have been left behind. We did so wish to have one for a pet.
Life there wasn't altogether humdrum and drab. My father helped to form a Literary Society at Winona which had quite a few members, and some quite talented programs and heated debates were held, I have been told. His brother organized a Sunday School and the little songbook they used was "Songs of the Soul." I have never seen another one like it. There were school entertainments, spelling bees and box socials. The biggest and best of all to a child was the Christmas program and tree. The neighbors were few and far apart but ever mindful of others needs and always ready and willing to lend a helping hand.
When my parents were married back in 1886, the prevailing mode of travel was by ox team or horses and a person could look at a map on Sunday and it would be the same a week or more later. When they celebrated their 55th anniversary in 1941, aeroplanes were whizzing overhead and the map of the world was changing everyday. A few years before their marriage, Moscow, Idaho was a couple of dwelling houses and a 550 bushel grain warehouse. Three Forks(now Pullman, WA) had never heard of a State College(now Washington State University). Since the time my parents came to the Colton area in the 1870's they saw towns develop and disappear and the railway, which was no closer than Walla Walla, cover the northwest.
I am indeed proud that my parents and many of my relatives have had a part in the developement of the Palouse country. They have seen the hills of waving bunchgrass become fields of golden grain, grazing land that then provided food for cattle, horses and sheep, now provides wheat and other produce for people of the nation. The Palouse Country became the "Bread Basket of the World" during the lifespan of my parents.
Leipha Myrtle Black Johnson 1972
It's not about being perfect, but enjoying what you do. Set aside time to be creative.
Robyn Pandolph
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| Celticheart |
Posted - Jul 23 2009 : 5:20:11 PM
Oh! You are all very welcome. Actually I think I started with the wrong one first. I have another one she wrote called Pioneering that starts with her grandmother and intersects with this story. I'll do that one after I finish this one. Plus I have the written account of the wedding of the woman in this current story, written by her. Anyway.....
Part two:
During this period my mother had become a young lady, met my father-to-be, fell in love and they were married at Farmington, WA on December 19, 1886. For about three years after their marriage they farmed near Belmont, WA, then filed on a homestead near Winona, Whitman County, WA. This was in the area known as the Rock Creek Country. The terrain being very similar to that around Sprague, Davenport and Cheney. In addition to the homestead acreage, my father bought a section of railroad land which made in all 800 acres. My parents lived here nine years and during that time I was born on July 10, 1894.(this is my grandma--Leipha Myrtle Black Johnson)
To quote my mother, "It was in the fall we had sold our crop and bought some household goods, loaded our wagon and with Pearl, our little daughter between us on the seat, set out for our new home. We went by way of St. John and it rained on us all the way. The only shelter we had at the homestead was an open-faced shed. We made this do until we could get the house built. This house was 12x14 feet wuth a shed kitchen 10x14 feet. The main building had an attic bedroom. We dug a well, which went dry in the summer and made a dug-out cellar. We set a small orchard and planted mulberry, poplar and box elder for shade trees.
While living in Belmont, we bought twenty head of cattle and six or seven head of hambletonian horses from some neighbors, We were also given a few head of horses for caring for a man's livestock. Altogether, we had a real good start in livestock.
My years on this homestead were lonely ones for me, which were beset with many trials and tribulations. To begin with, we found it next to impossible to grow anything on account of the pesky little squirrels.(My GG was a crack shot, I've heard. I think this might be why.) During all the time we lived there we only were able to raise one good garden. Then there were the rattlesnakes one had to constantly be on the lookout for, and the mosquitoes! Some of the trials were having to care for the livestock all by myself. Like all homesteaders of the time, we could always use extra money, therefore Mr. Black worked away from home most of the time. Lack of water in the summertime was another problem. The lake water was not good for house use. Another problem was having to send my older daughter, Pearl, horseback to bring in the Jersey cow with a young calf. It was over a mile to the schoolhouse where Pearl was sent to school, naturally it caused me great concern for various reasons. I would often go and meet her part way, especially when the days grew shorter and darkness would be coming on."....................to be continued.........
I need to go vacuum.
It's not about being perfect, but enjoying what you do. Set aside time to be creative.
Robyn Pandolph
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| Old Spirit |
Posted - Jul 23 2009 : 3:21:08 PM
Thanks Marcia, that is interesting, will look forward to hearing more.
Rae
...those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles:...
Isaiah 40:31 |
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