Memories
My Grandparents were married when they were 19 years old. My grandfather had made a bet with one of his friends that he could take Grandma away from this person she was seeing. He won the bet. Grandma was “with child” when she was married but it was a successful marriage I’m happy to say and lasted over 60 years. They had 8 children. Herman Ray, Harold (“Hap”), Flo Virginia, Alverna (“Al”), Elldred Eugene(“Gene”/”Moe”), Mildred June(June), Ruth Joan (“Joan”), Robert (“Bob”)Frederic.
They purchased a home that was originally located along the river. The house was moved up to High Street. They paid $485 for it and it consided of gray asbestos shingle, a side porch on the front with the entry off the porch. There were 4 rooms. Two on the first floor and two on the second floor. These are my mothers words about the house:
“There were 4 rooms and a back house. Had a front porch. Dad built on a kitchen, bath, and back bedroom, a closet upstairs and later a back porch.
(there were two rooms upstairs) Slept 3 in a bed. Joan in a crib, mom and dad slept in the same room(with the girls)
The boys slept in the front bedroom. In the front bedroom, one large bed, one cot which Moe slept on.
We fought who would sleep in the middle because it was aways the hottest place to be in the summer. Mom would put a blanket on the floor next to the screen door for those nights when we would sleep down stairs when it was too hot upstairs .
Linoleum on the floor..later a rug. No sweeper. We put corn meal on the rugs to pick up the dust and swept it with the broom. Sometimes we would take it outside over the line and we would beat it with a rug beater. Mom was a Lysol person and mopped all the floors with it.
(When you first walked up to the front door and went inside-) there was a library table with a coal oil lamp, a book case with a glass door, where we used to play horsy. One day Ginnie was on Haps back and fell off and hit the glass door and cut herself. There was blood everywhere. We put on a tourniquet and took her to the doctor. Played basket ball through the transom between the living and dining room. Later Dad took it out and made an arched door.
The dining room; there was a big old table -BIG old table.And a pot bellied stove, a kitchen range with a side oven on it and a sink. I don’t remember where they kept the dishes. Probably in the pantry (that was original but was later changed around so that the stairs were moved from the front room to where the pantry was to go up stairs.) The ice box was kept on the back stoop because you had to keep ice in it and the ice melted onto a tray. (The ice was not delivered, had to go up to the Ice to get it in Trinway, Ohio.(one mile up the road).) All the food that was perishable stayed there.
We had an old slop jar kept up stairs in the bed rooms and in the winter, it stayed on the first floor when it was too cold to go out all the time.. Mom had to dump that every day.
(Grandpa had a garden down over the hill that was rented from the town for a $1.00 /year.
The garden was on the hillside of the old Erie canal bed that was still in use when they first moved there but later drained. The children were not allowed back there.)
Illnessess and accidents:
Hap ran a pitch fork through his foot and had to go to Dr. Edwards. He was whittling once, too, and ran the knife into his leg. Moe ended up at Dr. Edwards, too. Someone shot off a firecracker…it didn’t go off Moe picked it up when it went off in his hands. The doctor thought he would go blind but lucky he didn’t. (And he didn’t loose a finger or hand!)”
For Fun:
“Our play ground was an old field where there were some cows. We ball and the cow dung was used for bases. Played on the “Indian mounds” a lot where the trestle is .I wouldn’t ever go down to the tressell(it expanded over the river and mom was always afraid of heights)
We went over to where people dumped their old stuff like old shoes and clothes and orange crates and played with those. It was fun finding the old shoes. Made grocery stores with the orange crates. Played tag. In the snow, fox and geese, snow ball fights.”
“We were not allowed to wear shoes in the summer. Only to go to Sunday school or school. Hi button shoes. Dad cut our hair beveled up the back and clipped off at the ears.
He also resoled all the shoes. He repaired everything that had to be fixed. He also doled out the strict discipline. Mom was a softy. He paddled Moe and I once with a yard stick and mom cried and cried. If we did something she would say “I’m going to tell your father’..and he would paddle when he got home. He said he didn’t want to do it but she said he was going to do it and so he did. And then she cried.
We would sit at her feet and she would peel an apple and she would scoop it out and give us a scoop at a time. Her hair was down to the floor and she would sit and let us comb and comb it for as long as we wanted . she made taffy for the church meetings and we would have a taffy pull. It was fun because you got to eat your work.
We played all day and took baths in a big tub in the kitchen. We had a faucet in the kitchen and rain water in the cistern. We didn’t have hot water and all the water had to be heated up. The fellas stayed out while the girls had their baths and then the girls stayed out when the fellas got their baths.
I think the radio was battery operated. Grandpa didn’t let them use it except for news and if it was on, it was country music because that was all there was. The lights were never left on if you weren’t in the room, the radio was not played unless you sat and listened. If you used something , put it right back where you found it. No questions asked.
Breakfast:
Oats/pancakes/corncakes/buckwheat cakes/coffee
Coffee on bread with sugar on it.
Then go peddle papers.
Lunch:
Went home. 1 mile home; 1 mile back to high school.
Always hot.
Diner:
Soup beans/corn bread
Home made bread/ potato soup
Chicken every week. When Dad butchered pigs down over the hill, we ate pork.
Sausage/gravy, pork chops. Once in a great while; roast.
String bean, lima beans, soup beans.
Snacks: didn’t have time for snack…anything left in frig u could have .
A day at school:
Same teacher taught everything.
1-6 same building.
Jr./Sr. high same building.
Walked home for lunch every day.
Illnesses:
“When I wasn’t feeling good, Two chairs together, blanket/pillow made a bed to lay down on before/noon; when I was sick. Mom carried my paper route – 52 papers and got .12 per week to buy clothes and spending money.. “
Paper route: Tumblin’s carried the same route for 17 years. One boy passed it to the other and then to the girls and , down to June.
Had a wagon to pull them.
Illnesses cont., chicken pox; whooping cough, measles.
Tonsils out at age 31
Appendix out at 18.
Teenage : ” boring. Dresden was boring. Nothing to do. Movie but didn’t have the money to go. Home coming was 1 time a year and you got .15 cents to spend. Rides were 5 cents.
You could blow it all in one night or spread it out.
Didn’t get paid for chores. What you did was expected of you.
My job was washing dishes which I hated. And canning jars.
I liked to clean even then. The only thing that made you mad was that they would come in and mess it up”.
Out house wasn’t fun. Slop jar kept in the house when it was really cold.
No new clothes. Mom made the clothes. Shoes were $1.98 per pair so we had to take care of them. Blouse was $.79. Never wore pants. Only dresses. Old cotton stockings under the dresses in the winter.
