| ©Barlow Genealogy 1998-2005 |
Dedicated to the memory of two grand people ...Samuel and Mary Weaver
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| CHAPTER 1 IN THE BEGINNING... |
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LONG LONG AGO.........
Away back in 1776 -- to be exact, it was October 10, 1776
-- my great - great grandfather, Lewis Barlow, enlisted
as a fifer and private in Captain Michael Bowyer's Co 12,
Virginia Regiment, commanded by Colonel James Wood. Great
great grandfather was honorably discharged October 10,
1778. The 12th Virginia was incorporated about May 1778
with the 4th & 8th. Thus, the 12th Virginia Regiment
in turn became the 8th Virginia about September 1778. (The
above record is taken from the Adjutant General's Office,
War Department, Washington D.C. dated August 11, 1908.
It is File No. 1412000, with 1,3901707 -- in red ink. Since he enlisted in Virginia, I assume that was his birthplace. I do not know who he married, but have a record that he had five children. The third daughter who was named Sarah, was my great grandmother, and records show she was born in Kentucky, the place unknown to me. She was married in Kentucky to Benjamin Wheeler. They had ten children. The tenth child was Elizabeth Wheeler, born in Frankfort, Kentucky December 28, 1815. Elizabeth Wheeler was my grandmother. |
From Kentucky, the family moved to Indiana. There Elizabeth married James Hayes whose ancestors had lived in Tennessee. They were married in 1833. Four children were born in Shelbyville, Indiana. Ellendor was born November 17, 1834, Sally was the third child but the date of her birth is unknown. Martin Van Buren was born February 24, 1840. By this time, that far western country of California was much talked about so the family decided to pull stakes and start on a journey to the far west. They traveled by boat down the Ohio River to the mouth of the Missouri River, then up the Missouri to Linden or Rockport, Missouri. No doubt this was a long tedious journey as well as hazardous for the boats were of frail construction. This permitted travel only during the daylight. Their fifth child, Angeline Geneva, was born at Linden, Atchison Co Missouri November 24, 1842, & records show she was the first white child to be born in that county. The natives from all around came to see the "white baby." The following children were born of John & Elizabeth Hayes in Linden Missouri: James K. Polk, April 01, 1845; John Cole, April 01, 1847; and Mary Elizabeth (my mother) July 24, 1850. |
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A few months before my mother was born, my grandfather (her father) left for California. His brother was joining an emigrant train that was taking provisions to that great country. He had two wagons and took my grandfather to drive one. They anticipated great profits from their sale of these provisions. Little is known about their trip, but in studying the travels of the wagon trains during that time, I know this trip to California was not easy. They drove the oxen and mules mostly because the Indians were not as interested in the oxen & mules as they would have been in horses. They drove their cows with them to help provide food along the way. One writer tells that they put the morning milk in covered pails, hung them under the wagons and by evening the jar & jolts of the wagon had churned sweet butter for their supper. The evening milk was used to drink. Their greatest difficulties were crossing streams and rivers. Very few streams had ferries to aid them in crossing and this would often cause long hours of delay for there were from twenty-five to one hundred wagons in a train, and each had to cross in turn. Many times it was necessary to take the wheels off the wagons and take them over separately because of the frail construction of the ferries. When the river banks were steep, ropes were used to lower the wagons into the water. The stock was driven into the river to swim across. Often a wagon would hit a rock in the river and be overturned, therefore, causing loss and damage to much precious cargo either by water or floating down stream. |
Eight to twenty miles per day was the average speed of travel. Speed depended for the most part upon the condition of the trail and the number of rivers to cross. The trip took from eight to ten months. In places, the trail was so dusty you could scarcely see the oxen or mules pulling the wagons. This can be understood for history tells us that as many as two thousand wagons plus stock would pass a given point in one day during the peak of travels to California. The wagons were of the prairie schooner type and packed to full capacity with provisions, necessary clothing, and fuel. The fuel was picked up along the way where it could be found, however and extra supply was always on hand in case they could not find any when camping time came. On the trek across the prairie, "Buffalo Chips" were gathered and burned for fuel - reported to be excellent fuel but I have often wondered how they smelled! Diseases such as Cholera played havoc with many trains, hundreds died along the way. Sore feet, thirst and hunger for the stock was a constant worry. The Indians were always to be reckoned with. They were friendly for the most part but treacherous and had to be watched. One of their favorite tricks was to appear just at meal time and sit down uninvited to eat --cleaning up all the food in sight. To be sure, the Indians were received by gracious hosts for they did not want to make the mad - a hostile Indian was something else to be reckoned with. No doubt these were some of the things Grandfather experienced on his trip to California. My grandmother continued to operate the little store they had in Linden, Missouri and planned that later she & the family would meet grandfather in California. Well, the months and years passed and she had no word from him. Of course there was no mail service across the plains at that time, letters were sent via someone making the trip. Postage from Sacramento around the Cape was from forty cents to one dollar & twenty-five cents. Sometimes a letter was received, more often, not. Grandmother was so sure she would be going to California before too long that she permitted her two oldest daughters, Ellinor, 18, and Judith, 16, to go ahead with her sister Dicey Wheeler Gray. Two more years passed & still no word from grandfather, it was then that some of the relatives from Polk County, Iowa came down to visit and found the hardships grandmother was going through, they decided to take grandmother & her little family of five children to Rising Sun, Iowa. In 1854, the trip was made by covered wagon but they must have brought a horse with them because I have heard mother tell about taking turns riding the horse. They settled in a little house about one block east of the Christian Church. Rising Sun was on the main stage coach line. It was a thriving city of over three hundred population. Des Moines was then unknown except as a fort. Grandmother was a fine seamstress and supported her family by being a tailoress. Mother often told about holding the candle while grandmother sewed. She also said making candles was one thing she loved to do. She liked to pour the wax into the molds and fix the strings for the wicks. Shortly after they landed in Rising Sun, the Rising Sun Cemetery was laid out, & mother told of seeing the first person buried in the cemetery. It was Lewis Barlow, a cousin, buried in 1854. Mother was so frightened from seeing someone put in a hole and covered up with dirt she could hardly stand it. She also saw the first person buried in the Mitchellville Cemetery, a little child, Charley Smith, three years old, buried about 1870. Many interesting things were going on about that time. Among them, the great trek of Mormons from Navoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah. One evening someone ran into the house and cried "The Mormons are coming!" Everyone ran outdoors and looked up the road to see a cloud of dust and hundreds of people marching down the hot dusty road. Their few horses carried provisions & those unable to walk. Carts were pushed by the people strong enough to do so. This really made a sight to behold! Among the throng was a very young mother with a tiny baby. The young mother was so weary & foot-sore she attracted the attention of grandmother who took her into her home & bathed her feet, gave her hot tea, bathed the baby, put clean clothes on it, & gave them both shelter for the night, then watched them leave in the morning on that long, long journey they had ahead of them. Mother must have inherited some of this kindness for she never turned anyone away from her door who was in need. When mother first moved to Rising Sun in 1854, the Church was located about a mile south on land now owned by her granddaughter, Estee Weaver Brandt. Many times have I walked across the field with mother & she told of attending services there. If they walked, they carried their shoes until almost to church because shoes were very luxurious & had to last as long as possible. In after-years when they lived near Mitchellville on Camp Creek, James Rooker, her step-father drove to this church & also to the old Bennie Woodrow farm where they worshipped in the home. Going to "meeting" as they called it, was an event in those days. Sometimes they stayed all night. The sermons often lasted from one to two hours. In Jerry William's history of the Williams family, he tells of the first school in Beaver Township in 1851. It was held in a room over the bar room in a hotel. The teacher received a salary of eight dollars a month. She worked in the hotel for her board and room. Four scholars attended her classes. |
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| CHAPTER 2 A GLIMPSE OF CHILDHOOD.... |
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About ten years had passed since grandfather Hayes had left with the provision train for California, and as yet, grandmother had not received word from him. Therefore, when James Rooker, a prosperous farmer living near Mitchellville, proposed marriage, grandmother accepted. Now her little family had a comfortable home and someone to provide the enjoyments of life. This farm home is about one-half mile north of highway No. 6 between Altoona and Mitchellville, Iowa on Camp Creek. This creek received its name because it was a favorite camping spot of travelers of all kinds, as well as the Indian. It was an ideal location -- grassy hillsides sloping down to the water, beautiful trees lining the bank, and the water facilities afforded. the. travelers a. place to do their family wash, water their stock and take baths. The Indians were friendly and only bothered the farmers for food they could not provide for themselves. They indeed made this a colorful camp sight with their teepees, dress regalia of many colors, horses, and the bouncing papooses on the backs of the squaws who did the hard work of the camp -- of course an Indian buck would not work -- his job was to hunt and fish. Mother had many happy memories of this place when a little girl, as well as later on in life. About one-half mile from her home lived Granny Glenn. She was quite old and very imaginative. Mother, who was then ten years old, would go up to see Granny, usually on an errand for grandmother, and Granny would start telling her "big stories" about how she had seen & heard big panthers and wild cats in the woods that lined the road between these two homes. |
| Mother said that when she would start for home, she would run every step of the way imagining all the while she too saw and heard Granny's wild cats. After each visit, she would vow never to go over that road again alone, then the lure of hearing more of Granny's stories of adventure and wild animals would make the visit easy and she could hardly wait to go again. August 11, 1861, Martin Van Buren enlisted in service for his country. He and his stepbrothers, Webb and Will Rooker took their own horses to use in 2nd Iowa Calvary, Company D. September 15, 1861 they were "Mustered" in in Des Moines, and marched away to their first camp -- Camp McClelland at Davenport. Early one morning many mothers & wives of these men went to what is now Road 163 (south of Mitchellville) to watch their loved ones go to war. Mother was eleven years old and often told about sitting on the grassy bank at the side of the road to watch them march past to the music of fifes and drums. She always loved to hear this music and it always brought that picture to her mind. Webb lost both eyes in battle and my brother, Birt, visited the old battlefield where this tragic thing happened. James K. Polk Hayes (quite a name) was not old enough to enlist, so he put the figure 18 on a piece of cardboard, put it in his shoe and swore he was over 18. He served in the Infantry and saw Lee surrender at Vicksburg. He once laid behind a log and escaped being taken a prisoner to the old Andersonville prison where the torture and hardships of these men endured was beyond belief. Uncle Jim, as we children called him, was a real character. He was known as our old bachelor uncle & his visits were looked forward to with much leisure. Never in history could anyone tell more interesting war stories or use profanity in such a manner, but we all loved him for his kindly manner and will always have that memory of Uncle Jim "cocking" his head on one ide, and then starting up on some great story-- which he had related hundreds of time before, always word for word, and always cussing in exactly the same spot. Because he always had his head on one side looking up, he got the nickname of "Bee Hunter" in the army. After being discharged from the army, he went to Nemihaw County, Nebraska, Republican City, and homesteaded. He died and was buried in Soldier's Circle, Wyseka Cemetery, Lincoln, Nebraska. Uncle "Mart" as we called him, was a quiet type and married Mattie Corbin when he was thirty-seven years old. Aunt Matt was twenty-two years younger. We all loved Aunt Matt and her home was always a place we loved to visit. She was noted for her beautiful quilting. As a very small child, I was always thrilled when mother would receive a letter from Aunt Angeline Clary that she was coming to visit us. It meant three things to me. First, she was my only aunt near enough to visit us and how everyone loves aunts. Second, there would be a lot of visiting of their old friends, and that meant good food and going places. Third, I didn't have to spend so much time in a "Chick Sale" looking at Sears Roebuck catalogs while the dishes were being washed since Aunt Angeline took my place at that menial task, and this latter reason was the most enjoyable of all. Aunt Angeline, you remember, was the first white child born in Atchison County, Missouri after grandmother settled there. She married Wm. Carroll Clary, April 30, 1871 at Brownsville Nebraska. They had five children - Cora Ellen, the oldest was a very successful school teacher who taught for thirty three years without missing as much as a week at a time -- and not two whole weeks counting all absences. All her teaching was in eastern Nebraska. Her Iowa visits were always memorable occasions. She died in 1920. She was never married. The second child of Angeline and Wm. Clary was Martha Ethelyn, who married John Owen Rowland, and at the time of this writing lives in Lincoln, Nebraska. They too, had five children. The first one died in infancy. Gerald is a teacher in Junior College at Clarinda, Iowa. Helen married Ervine Bennett, an engineer, and at present working on a large project in Estes Park. Ralph, the fourth child, is with the State Department in Washington D.C. and Howard, the youngest, a Professor in Pennsylvania State College. All are married. It is to Cora and Ethelyn I owe [thanks for] most of the data for this story and I do thank them for their many years of gathering material, I would have been unable to obtain otherwise. Charles Carroll Clary, third child of Angeline and Wm Clary, for many years was dining car conductor on Union Pacific Railroad from Los Angeles to Chicago. He had three children. He died in Hollywood in 1946. Lulu Clary, fourth child of Angeline and Wm. Clary, married Fred B. Davis in 1898. She had two children, Fred Elton Davis and Geneva Elizabeth. Lulu died in 1909 in Sheridan, Wyoming. The youngest child was Ralph Francis. Since Ralph was only a little older than I, I have many memories of him. The first was when my mother took me to Nebraska City to visit. I was four years old and because his family made a great fuss over me, he spent his time when we were outdoors to play, throwing clods of dirt at me. However, he also defended me. When mother dressed me up in my new red coat and bonnet and we went out for a walk, some little boys hollered "look at the red bird." Ralph at once was going to fight the whole gang! He married and had three children. He worked for the railroad as an auditor in Chicago and Omaha for years. He now lives in Hollywood, California. Mother's youngest brother, John Cole Hayes, (born 1847) was married first to Sarah Entwistle, who died in 1863 of childbirth. His second marriage to Mary Ellen Barlow proved to be very unhappy and they separated after their only child, Carl C. Hayes, was grown. Uncle Johnnie, as we always called him was very quiet and reserved. His mind was always full of inventions that never materialized. For years he was in the restaurant business in East Des Moines. Every farmer for miles around made "Hayes Restaurant" a meeting place. His kitchen was spotless and food always excellent. I will always remember the food we got for 25 cents when I was a little girl - soup, roast beef, or roast pork, browned potatoes, a vegetable, a salad, bread and butter, pie, and coffee -- but all this is past. Now we cannot buy the soup for 25 cents. Uncle John later married Nancy Brown, and after leaving the restaurant business, he moved to Johnson Station northwest of Des Moines and there he had a grocery store. He and "Brownie," as he always called his wife, were very happy and devoted to each other. The wife of Johnnie's son, Carl, died and left two lovely daughters, one lives in Iowa and the other in Ohio. Since mother's two sisters Ellendor and Judith went to California so early in life, (mother was only two years old when they left) our family was not so well acquainted with them. I have never had the pleasure of meeting any of these people, but relate the story from things mother, cousin Cora Clary, and Cousin Ethelyn Clary Rowland have told me. Ellendor married Matt Stone at age 15 in Indiana and her first child, Granville, in 1854 in Linden, Atchison County Missouri, then moved to California in 1854. She, with her husband, Matt, and son, went to California with her sister Judith on the same wagon train with Aunt Dicey Wheeler Gray. Ellendor and Matt had three children, I do not know anything more of the family. Judith married James Hogan and lived in Healdsburg and Stockton, California. They had seven children. Howard, the oldest, married and had two daughters. He was a very wealthy broker. Lulu, the second child, was born on April 05, 1858. She married a Mr. Wasley and for many years has lived in Oroville, California. She has two children. Vera Davis, who at present lives in Oroville and Luleta, was teaching kindergarten in Honolula in 1939. Lulu's oldest child, a boy who lived only a few minutes was born the evening her mother (Aunt Judith) was buried. Her mother had been so anxious to see the baby that they took up the remains of her mother and buried the baby in her arms. Lulu was a very talented musician and up to this time is using her talent to teach voice and choral groups. Three of Aunt Judith's children, Walter, Cora and Ralph, died early in life. Birdena, or Birdie as we know her, married Everett W. Hale and had one child, Ralph. Her husband was an importer of dry and fancy goods and often went to Europe to purchase merchandise. He was extremely devoted to Birdie and got her anything she wanted. In Scotland, she heard the tinkle of a cow bell. She thought it was the sweetest music she had ever heard. The train was stopped and the bell purchased. For many years, she has lived at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco and has many lovely curios in her apartment. Her husband had interest in the following business firms -- Hale Brothers & Co, Sacramento; O.H. Hale and Co, San Jose, California; Hale & Co, Salivas California; Hall Bros. & Co, Pelaluma, California; Hale & Co, 244 Main Street, Stockton California, and others. In 1939, Nellie Hogan (do not know her married name) was living in Hollywood with her daughter, Evelyn, who was the wife of Jack Mullhaul, a star of silent films. Nellie also had a son. Judith Hogan made trips back to Iowa every seven years as long as her mother lived. On one trip she brought my mother a plain gold band ring. This trip was made by boat around Cape Horn to New York City, and then by train as far as Dubuque, Iowa, then by stage to Mitchellville, Iowa. In later years, mother gave me this ring and when I was preparing to be married, my fiancé had it carved for a wedding ring which has added much significance to its value. I think it was on this same trip that Uncle James Hogan had a great number of Studebaker covered wagons made especially for emigrant travel and beautiful harnesses for horses. He got together a large group of people and left on an eventful trip by way of the Oregon Trail for California. One night when they made camp (they drove the wagons to form a large corral for the horses and stock), an Indian called upon them. They thought it was a friendly visit but afterwards decided he was a scout. The Indians came in great numbers and raided the corral, taking the horses. Mr. Hogan was shot in the leg by one of the Indians, and in turn shot the Indian. He required medical help immediately so when a new day dawned, another emigrant train appeared and one of the wagons that was driving horses instead of oxen was paid a large sum of money to get him to the nearest doctor for help. Those left on the prairie without horses were finally taken on by other emigrant trains. I have always regretted that I have never had the privilege of knowing any of these relatives. |
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| CHAPTER 3 ROMANCE..... |
After mother had grown into the teen age, she went to work in a home of a friend in which there was a new baby. This was her first experience away from home, and after three days, she began to have a very queer feeling. She lost her appetite, did not sleep well, and had a strange lump in her throat. The symptoms were finally noticed by the lady she worked for and properly diagnosed as home sickness and she was taken home. Se was paid one dollar for her work which had lasted almost a week. This was the first money ever earned by mother and there was one thing she wanted -- and that more than anything else -- hoops. They did not meet the approval of all concerned, but she won her point and the coveted hoops were bought. It was in August of 1876 that the Rock Island Railroad was finished to Ft. Des Moines from the east. At this time, mother was sixteen years old and she often told about the day the first passenger train was run to Ft. Des Moines. People came from miles around to watch for the train andwhat a thrill it was to see that wonderful invention of iron and steel go "thundering" by at a speed of nearly twentymiles per hour. The building of this railroad was for mother a memory of great significance, for it was being built just one-half mile north of where she lived, and it was really a wonderful engineering feat, and the bridge over "Camp Creek" was the highest bridge in that part of the country. The railroad brought many changes to this country. |
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Names play a strange part
in our lives. Mother said when she was young, she despised
the name "Sam," and
declared she would never marry anyone named "Sam." Well,
it does not pay to brag about what we will not do for one
day a young man was walking across a field going to old Mitchellville
which was located northwest of the present town of Mitchellville.
Along the trail this young man found a tiny belt belonging
to a girl's dress. This boy stuck the belt in his pocket
and remarked "When I find the girl this belt belongs
to, I'll marry her." It was not long until he found
the girl -- a little slim girl with curls all around her
head. Her name was Mary Elizabeth Hayes. He liked the girl
from the first, but there was one thing that was against
him. His name was "Sam." It was Sam Weaver, my
father. .The meeting spelled
ROMANCE and they were married April 28, 1870. They began their housekeeping in a small house across from grandmother's home. Their furniture was for the most part, wooden boxes. One large box was used for a table, smaller ones to sit upon. An old team, a cow and a few chickens were their meager possessions, but, they were very rich in their thoughts for the future and their belief that the sun would shine for them. The following July after they were married, father's uncle, Jonas Biery and his young son were drowned in Skunk River. It was then father and mother moved to the Biery home northwest of Mitchellville to help the widow care for her farm and remaining family. It was father's duty to write this sad news back to Allentown, Pennsylvania, where his parents lived. I am using the first paragraph of this letter to compare the style of writing in 1870. |
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| The letter continued to explain the tragedy
and console the bereaved back there.
We know very little about father. We know he was born December 13, 1848 in Northampton Co Pennsylvania His father's name was William Weaver and his mother's name was Levina Beiry. At about seventeen years of age, he went to Akron Ohiowith some of the Biery's and from there in the company of Charles Siberling, came to Mitchellville to the home of Johnathon Biery. We children loved him because of his quite, peaceful disposition and the contentment of his being. He taught us many lessons about contentment -- it was something you created within yourself, and would would not buy. I think his hobby was nice -- buggies and driving horses. He always owned a good driving horse or team and a good buggy. He was the first person to get a rubber- tired buggy -- a pretty surrey -- black with red rubber-tired wheels, a canopy top with a light fringe around the top. We were really proud of our buggy. When mother would suggest, "There's no sense in spending so much for such a buggy", father would reply, "This is my tobacco money." Father never smoked or used tobacco in any form. His feeling for liquor was the same. He felt he enjoyed nice things to use for every-day life more than those things. If any of our family had any musical ability, it must have come from father. He played an alto horn in the Mitchellville band and an accordion. The latter he played until his very last years. He could play anything he would hear and one of the greatest pleasures he gave his grandchildren was playing the accordion for them. They would stand around his knee, spellbound and always ask for more. I recall one occasion when Don was about three years old, he said, "Grandpa, when you die, can I have your accordion?" I am sure Don got the accordion. I think father and mother's first experience in trying to high finance was when they gathered a tub of grapes off some vines on the place where they were living, loaded them in the wagon and took them to Mitchellville to sell. They were offered two cents a pound for them -- a very good price even now for grapes -- but they never stopped to figure how much it would really amount to. They thought they had been insulted by being offered such a low price and took the grapes home and fed them to the hogs. In later years, they often laughed at their ignorance. |
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| CHAPTER 4 A FAMILY OF SIX... |
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Father and Mother lived
on farms around Mitchellville, Iowa for many years and
five of their six children were born in that vicinity.
In March 1883, they moved to a farm three miles south of Stuart, Iowa. It was on that farm that the sixth and last child was born. They lived there just three years and then moved to the Thomas Barlow farm, one-half mile east of Rising Sun and there they stayed five years. During this five years, many interesting family affairs happened. It was there that my oldest brother, Bert, or I.A., as we now call him, had his first "paying" job. He was a janitor at the Christian Church. It was there that my .oldest .brother,. Bert, or. I.A., as we now him, had his first "paying" job. He was a janitor at the Christian Church. It was really a job in the days of kerosene lamps, coal stoves, and preaching both morning and evening with Wednesday night prayer meetings and the "Protracted Meetings" in the winter which would last for several weeks. But he was making money! His pay was about sixteen dollars per year with which he would buy steel and gadgets. Retta had her first steady beau who had a horse and a two-wheeled cart as means of transportation. This affair was very profitable to me since Ora always brought me "nigger babies" (a licorice candy) or red hots to hire me to stay out of the room. Here Gailard had his first love affair at the ripe age of six years. He fell deeply in love with his first school teacher, Della Bishop. |
It was while we lived here that Mother brought
grandmother to Rising Sun to live since she and step- grandfather
were no longer able to do for themselves. She died while
there on September 2, 1888 at the age of 73 years and is
buried in Mitchellville Cemetery. |
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During this five years,
many happy and deep friendships were formed. The Rising
Sun Christian Church was the center of the social life
of that community and Father and Mother and their children
were a part of these social activities. Father had
a longing for a larger farm, so in March, 1891, we moved
to a 360 acre farm three miles east of Dallas Center. Father
was an excellent farmer and used the latest type of farm
machi nery. The first Sunday we were there, the team was
hitched to the "spring wagon" and the family
loaded in to go to a little neighborhood church on Sugar
Creek. It was an Anti-Christian Church and did not have a
musical . instrument nor did it have a Sunday School in the
Church. It was much against the belief of Judge Burns, who had ruled this congregation for many years, but mother went ahead and organized a Sunday School to meet Sunday afternoons. They did not believe in missions and had never observed Children's Day or Christmas but when June came, mother had a Children's Day program and taught me a little piece entitled "This Little Pink Box." She took a little box, covered it with pink paper, put a slot in the top, and at the proper place in my recitation, as they called them, I stopped, passed my box, and took up a collection for missions. I think Judge Burns even put something in my box. Mother got D. E. Ellis, who was later Retta's father-in-law of Rising Sun to come up and preach one Sunday every month and for years that little church prospered. |
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| Among the many services mother rendered for the church was the baking of the loaf and preparing the communion emblems and spreading the table each Sunday for seventeen years. I can still see her carrying the loaf and wine to church in a little "peach" basket. During the three years on the farm in Dallas Center, may friends were made. When they were ready to move to Polk County, one day we looked down the road a saw a long procession of people driving toward our home. The procession was headed by a neighbor, Mr. Clark, who weighed over 400 lb's, riding in a buggy with a flag on the whip. They brought a basket dinner and a finished quilt with the name of each family embroidered in the center of the blocks. That quilt was always one of mother's precious treasures. Rearing a family of six was not an easy task, especially when the family purse was flat most of the time, but since the farm provided plenty of food and good environment, along with "hickory stick" discipline, things worked out to a good advantage, for not one of their children disappointed them -- either in thrift, industry, or character. In reading this story, you will notice the strange names mother gave her children -- we often told her she must have been out of her right mind when she named us, but she would say, "I like them, and if you girls do not like your names, you can change them if you can find a man that is willing." |
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| CHAPTER 5 A HOME AT LAST... |
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In 1894, father decided it was time to buy a farm. He made many trips back to Polk Co, Iowa to select a place he could call his own. He finally selected a fifty acre tract one mile south and one-fourth mile east of Rising Sun. It had a new four-room house on it, beautiful oak trees in the front yard, but the yard was also full of hazel bushes and the field were full of stumps. With much hard work, the yard was cleaned of the hazel brush, and with the aid of dynamite, the fields were cleared of the stumps. The down payment on this farm for which we paid $50 an acre, was accumulated from a large farm auction sale .held. before .we .left .the big farm in Dallas Center. I am sure no two people ever worked harder than father and mother to improve this place that was now their new home. here were many set-backs in the first three years. The first year, the hogs all died of cholera and they were to pay that year's interest and payment. The second year, my sister Lizzie, who had just passed her seventeenth birthday, was ill all summer and died September 26th, 1896. That was a blow, both in mental anguish and financial status. The third year, there came a bad drought along with millions of locusts screaming all day almost made you go mad. But that was not all. It made much worry to father and mother for crops not only dried up, but what might have stayed green, the locusts ate. Again it was hard to find the cash to meet payments. Finally, things changed and with hard work and good strategy, they began to make things work out right. |
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Dad planted raspberries between the rows of
apple trees, he raised cucumbers for the pickle factory,
he raised onions by the acre -- all meant very hard back-breaking
work, but the remuneration was good. I always said if I ever
held anything against my father, it was the fact that he
always planned to dig the potatoes on Saturday when Gailard
and I would be home from school to help pick them up -- an
I shall never forget those long rows of tiny onions we had
to get down on our knees to thin and weed -- and then too,
the sacks of cucumbers we picked for the factory.
The four-rrom house was built in the beginning so an ell could be added, and in a few years, this was built which gave us a comfortable six room house "with a path" and screened in front and back porches. New barns were added until it became one of the most beautiful farms on the "Runnell's" highline. Father and mother always took great pride in their yard -- the grass was always closely mown and mother had many flowers in the yard and garden. It might be interesting to know that the taxes for the farm were $9.29 in 1896; in 1906, $40.60, in 1916, $62.86, in 1926, $138.86 and in 1936, $112.83. In the forty-two years dad lived on this place, he paid $3,332.16 in taxes. It was while we lived here that the Rural Free Delivery mail service was started. The first day, Al Crawford rode into our yard on horseback carrying the mail from Altoona. Before this, we went to a post office in Rising Sun. Then later, Mr. Crawford drove a horse and buggy, and for some time ate his dinners at our home. Another great invention was to benefit us. The rural telephone system, yes, party lines, and what a lot of pleasure they were with ten or twelve neighbors on one line, and with all the rings ringing in on our telephone -- there were very few secrets in the neighborhood. The next improvement was acetylene lights. The house was piped for this gas and what an improvement it was over kerosene lamps! Then, in a few years, electric lights took the place of this gas. A battery storage plant was installed in the cave to furnish this electricity. How wonderful that was to press a button and have such good light. One day, a very important piece of mail arrived at our place. It was a letter from Bert, who was then with Sattley Manufacturing Co at Springfield, Illinois. He wrote to father and mother that he had a good place for Gailard, and if they would send him over, he would put him on this job at Sattley's. I remember the conference. Mother called father from the field and they talked it over. Gailard was away working for a neighbor, so they hitched a team to the spring wagon and went to bring him home. Gailard was just past seventeen years of age, so there was much thinking and planning to be done. This was to be his decision, for neither father, nor mother, ever stood in the way of our decisions for things we really wanted to do. Gailard came home and decided to go. Then the getting ready started. Mother thought Gailard and I should have our pictures taken together since she realized he was leaving home for good. The pictures were taken, and I am sure they were the world's worst! The same day, he was fitted to a new suit, and with his few belongings packed in a fiber suitcase, he started on his way to the big city. With Pirl working on a neighboring farm by the month (he was paid $20 a month with board), and Gailard leaving, father was left alone to do the farm work but mother was better than any "hired man" when it came to loading hay or building a hay stack. Father always said she could make the best looking load of hay or hay stack he ever saw. You don't suppose he said this to get good results, do you? I was fourteen when Gailard left, so I too helped a little. I could rake the hay, run the hay tedder, and lead the horse to put it away in the barn. By this time, father had quit raising small garden stuff and fruit and he had more time for the fields so with a little extra help, he could get along. It was in 1912 that father said to me one morning, "I'll buy an automobile if you will drive it." What more was needed? So the next new thing on the place was a Buick car. That morning, after they delivered the car, I drove, by myself, down Hawkins' Lane and tried to turn around. I would back, and kill the engine, get out and crank, go forward two feet, or less, kill my engine, get out and crank. With a telephone pole behind and a ditch in front, I am sure I cranked that engine more than twenty-five times. The next day, I was too sore and stiff to move. However, I mastered it, and it was several years before father would learn to drive -- then only because I was going to Pennsylvania to spend the summer. Father eventually rented the farm land and father and mother had more leisure time together on the farm. On April 28, 1930, they celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary -- all the children and grandchildren were home except a grandson, Yale Ellis. The day was spent at the farm home with an open house for their friends to call in the afternoon. Many friends called to congratulate and wish them many more happy years to come. Father's health began to fail -- a heart ailment bothered him, but again in 1935, they celebrated their 65th anniversary. This time a family dinner was served by the ladies of the church in the Rising Sun Coliseum, which was almost the exact spot where mother lived when she came to Iowa eighty-one years before. Then following the dinner, we went to the farm home for a more quiet afternoon; then the preceding anniversary for father was not well enough to receive so many friends. Our family will always be grateful to Mrs. Dora Person, who so faithfully stayed with father and mother during their last years. her kindness to them shall never be forgotten. Father passed away on November 07, 1936 in his home after a lingering illness. He was almost eighty-eight years old. There had never been a kinder and more understanding father, and only because his going brought relief to his suffering was his going easy for his family. Mother sold the household furnishings, rented out the house, (the farm land was already rented), and went to my sister's, Retta Ellis, to make her home. She would spend a few weeks or a month or so at my home during this time and never once did she complain or say she was lonely or wish she could have a home of her own. We knew she was lonely many times, for one does not keep a home of their own for over sixty-six years and not miss it. Her last two years she spent much time in a small folding wheeled chair. The boys, Bert and Giliard, purchased the chair for her. Her mind was good to her last days. She was always interested in the activities of the church and neighborhood. Two years after father died, she decided to sell the home place. She had a good offer but refused it and took fifteen dollars less an acre because she wanted someone on it who would be an asset to the community. The people she sold it to were a young couple, Mr. and Mrs. Everertt Meacham. They were outstanding people in the church and community and kept the farm in perfect order, which was a great pleasure to mother. She fell one morning as she was going to the bathroom and broke her ankle. She lived three weeks and two days following her fall and passed away March 27, 1941. Mother was almost ninety one years old. The following obituary written by my late husband, J.C. Mason, tells much and expresses the many things I would like to close with. |
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This closes this little story about my ancestors.
I hope you have enjoyed reading it. There are many things
left out which I am sure you would have said, but I have
done this to the best of my ability and sincerely hope some
one will carry on from where I have left off.
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and a happy, prosperous New Year. I hope that wherever we go or whatever we do, we keep our records clean and our characters above reproach. --by Matie Delthea Weaver Mason |
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See also: Descendants
of James Hayes, Jr. and Elizabeth Wheeler Elizabeth
Wheeler is the daughter of Sarah Barlow & Benjamin
Wheeler from the research of Kathy Dusek / offsite
link |
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