My mom’s paternal grandma, my great-grandmother Alta Gladys, was born in 1896, the middle child and only daughter of Ohio farmers. I never knew her; she died only twenty days before I was born. My mother has always spoken fondly of her, and from things she wrote herself, I believe she was a treasured daughter in a time and place when girls were not valued as highly as boys, who were thought more able to handle farm work and legally able to inherit a family’s land and improvements. Gladys was married in 1917, when she was twenty. Her husband, my great-grandfather Vergil, wrote on his draft registration card that same year, “not in sympathy with present war, can be of more service at home”. He was a schoolteacher at the time. In later years he was a bookkeeper in a grocery store, the manager of a motor sales company, a bookkeeper for auto sales, and a timekeeper for first the Studebaker Corporation Aviation Division and later the International Harvester Company. Gladys did housework and raised her children, and when she was only a little older than I am now, she wrote her “Life’s Story”. I have shared this before in a genealogy of the McEowen family I wrote and will again when I publish the genealogy of the Clay family that I am writing now. I transcribed it myself from Gladys’ handwriting.
“I have always wanted to write the story of my life and this very warm summer eve I am babysitting for Mickey Miller on Oakdale Drive and my clients are fast asleep and I feel much impressed to start my story. I hear crickets singing their lullaby, the night is still except for the many cars passing by. My life has been a normal one full of all sorts of mixed happenings and amusing things. I hope it may in some way help someone to press on and not give up as I am now 57 years of age and still striving to make something of my life. I was born in 1896 (December 9) in Darke County, Ohio near New Madison on the old Perry Jones farm. My parents were not wealthy but worked hard. We moved from one farm to another until father's health was poor and he was unable to farm anymore, so we moved to the little village of Savona, Ohio where many of my fondest memories began to unfold. I was 4 years of age. My father had a very small grocery store in our own front yard. I thought that was wonderful. Now I could have anything I wanted and for a short while it was just that, until my father discovered the dried peaches, which seemed to be my choice at the time, were fast disappearing and he hadn't been selling them, so my career ended and such a sad fate all too soon. We had a good well of water in our front yard also and since I was the only girl, it was my job to go get a pitcher of water, morning, noon and night. Mother kept boarders and roomers to help and really worked very hard as she always canned a lot of vegetables and fruit. I spent many hours stemming goose berries, picking and pitting cherries. Dishwashing was my job and very often in the evening I could hear the other children at play and my heart really ached for well I knew by the time I was finished with my work it would be too late to be out as little girls were not to be out after dark. My grandparents lived about 1 mile from our little village in the country. I spent much time especially during the summer out there. I was so happy through the day, but the nights were long and full of fear. I would sleep in the spare room or on the floor in Grandmother's room. One night I had a dream while in my little bunk on the floor. There were so many tigers in the room they could hardly move about, and their eyes were so bright they seemed to have lights behind them. My grandparents had been talking about weasels catching the chickens and were setting traps and doing many things to kill them. It seemed to horrify me so and was on my mind when I went to bed. I liked the spare room for my daytime naps though as my aunt May left me play with her large wax doll with red flaxen hair with large blue eyes. If the weather was too warm, I couldn't play with her as wax dolls would sort of melt or become quite limber. My aunt used to come down the little old narrow stairway with her doll and hand her to me or tell me it was too warm to play with her that day. The house was an old log house which had a couple of rooms built on. A few years later it was torn down and rebuilt into a nice country home, but the old rain barrel and cellar door remained outside. The cellar doors were wonderful and not at all hard to open as there were weights on them which helped so much to open and close them. It was worth all the effort for at the bottom of the steps and a few feet inside was a large stone jar with a lid on and inside that jar was brown sugar cookies. They always looked the same, tasted the same and one could always depend on them being there and no one watched to see how often the doors opened and closed. Old Bossy the cow stood by the garden gate chewing her cud looking so contented like. Occasionally, a new little calf or little pigs came on the scene and little baby birds would be in the nests in the old apple trees. Bees would swarm someplace, and Grandfather would fret until he would have them safely in a hive. Aunt May married and was gone now but in the dresser drawer which I was forbidden to open, she had left the most beautiful toy alligator. It was bright red China silk. All stuffed, with its mouth open and the most beautiful white teeth and large poppy eyes. I loved that thing. Sometimes I think Grandmother told me I couldn't have it so I would go in there to sleep, and it worked. I had heard of rattle snakes and as I grew a little older, I would walk down the old country lane to Grandfather's farm. It seemed so lonesome and quiet except for crickets and katydids. I used to walk backwards sometimes thinking there were snakes coming after me but how secure I would feel as I opened the orchard gate and walked thru the orchard which was between the road and house and see Grandmother sitting on the porch in her old rocking chair with her old sun bonnet lying on the floor beside her singing 'When the Roll is Called Up Yonder’. Grandfather’s chair was there too and when we saw him coming, we never waited but very gently arose. That was his and we knew it. I always knew when it was fall for in the corner of that old orchard was a Maiden Blush apple tree and I knew when they were ripe for that smell never told a lie and those rosy cheeks were a beauty to behold. In another corner was a tree that had my favorite place to sit. It was an easy tree to climb, and I spent hours sitting up there imaging and dreaming what a great person I might be some time and how I might help someone. I always wanted to do something for someone and to make them happy. One Easter time I was at Grandfather’s, and I was almost to believe this Easter Bunny business wasn't quite what I had been thinking, but I took a little basket and opened the orchard gate. After gathering a few beautiful eggs, I looked up and a real live rabbit went thru the fence and hopped off thru the pasture field. My question was settled. It was so real there could be no doubt now. The rhubarb in the garden was so good with salt on it and the green apples in season, many times Grandfather would hitch the horse up to the old spring wagon and take me home sooner that I had planned. Grandmother didn't wish to be kept awake by a little girl with a tummy ache. Mother always knew the symptoms and if I took a nice dose of castor oil, I could hold my sleeping doll. Sometimes I wonder, was it worth it! There wasn't much candy in those days except at Christmas time, but my how wonderful those brown sugar lumps were and how happy we would be. My grandparents' health began to fail and soon they moved to our little village of Savona. Grandfather passed away in a short while and Grandmother followed just six months later. I felt very sad. I felt my world had suddenly dropped beneath me, but Aunt May's babies kept me quite busy for there was always one to think about. I quit school and went to work in the grocery store when I was sixteen and could not assist her after the sixth one came. After I was married and had two children of my own Aunt May had her 11th child and passed away leaving her family that needed her so badly, including the tiny baby. Again, I felt I had lost a good old pal for it was through her I learned many things. She didn't have much of worldly goods but had a heart of gold. She taught me patience, sacrifice and endurance. I spent much time at brother Earl's home on a farm near Arcanum, Ohio. Helen our first niece and grandchild came to us and what a prize. I felt that heaven had opened, and she just dropped in our laps. I did the cooking and dish washing and cared for Helen while Sylvia worked in the fields many times. All my life I have loved children and enjoyed the care and study of them. I wanted to be a nurse, but father couldn't stand having me away from home and I didn't have the high school education. I never gave up working and striving to make my life a success. If I couldn't do the things my heart desired to do, I would reach for something else. I taught a Sunday school class, was president of the young people’s Christian association and had charge of the cradle roll department at one time. I loved it and was able to see the most of my Sunday school pupils save while I was working in the general store. I enjoyed every moment of it. I felt that I was doing something. My pay was a small $5.00 per week and my two meals each day. It was hard but not too hard, handling strong butter that came in was much the worst feature. I was sworn in as assistant Postmistress which kept me quite busy during slack moments and busy ones. Some had no box number and would come several times a day to inquire "Any mail?". Around four o’clock in the p.m. the old Cincinnati Northern would roll through our little village and bring the mail and oh, what a rushing time. All the townsfolk would be in to shop for the evening meal, especially May Rose who would come for her 'cold cuts' lunch meat, cookies and the mail. Bill McEntire was the huckster who went on the road with the rolling grocery wagon. I helped to sack sugar from a barrel. The brown sugar would become so hard and dry we used an auger to bore it loose before we would sack and weigh it. The store was old, and many keepers had owned it and many goods had been collected and stored that they didn't know they owned. I began to dig out and explore. I found dishes, pans, shoes, yard goods, corsets and covers, underwear, towels and all sorts of trinkets and out of date things. Some dishes were buried in the dirt which had been mud in the basement. I was full of enthusiasm and had counters put thru the center of the store, dug out, washed, cleaned and prepared for a big sale. Everyone was as thrilled as I was. One day while the sale was in progress a band of gypsies came through, and it was such an exciting time! The women had long pockets in their skirts and the men would occupy our time and attention by buying some small article, taking our attention away from what they were doing. I enjoyed the food Clara, our boss's wife, would prepare. She used much food from the shelves in the store, which was different from mother’s cooking which couldn't be beat for she could make a delicious meal from her garden or shelf of home canned goods, homemade bread, pies and cookies. One day when I was about 18 or 19 years old, I was in the store all alone. The old C&N passenger train went south and up the railroad track came a young man, handsomely dressed, walking so straight and sprightly; he entered the store, came up to me and asked if I could direct him to the members of the school board. I was very glad to oblige and did so very carefully. After he left, I went into the kitchen, for the store was in connection with the house and told Clara all about it and how thrilled I was and certainly hoped he would be successful in his efforts. A short while later he was back seeking a place to room and board! It was a very small town, and our home was about the only place possible for such accommodations, so he found a room at our place. Somehow, I felt from the start that he was my knight in shining armor. I was very careful not to be forward and to not let it be known that I was interested. My dad was very cautious and watched every move. Before church time he would invite the schoolteacher to go to church with him away early so that there would be no chance to go when I went. This went on for quite a while until one night I came home from my cousin Loretta's house to change my dress, and the folks had gone onto church, and he ask me to walk over with him. I did and when we walked in my poor old Dad looked so sad as if he had failed. It was from this time on we went places together and when school was out, he came down for weekends and were married when I was 21 years old, and he was 23. It was on August 15th, 1917, and when school began, he was teaching at Ithaca, Ohio, just 8 miles from home. At first, I spent many lonely hours and would be homesick. In the spring when school was out, we went to Dayton and roomed at Rev. Ora Arnold’s home, and we were expecting our first child. We came to my folks’ home on the Joe Pearce farm and on July 19, 1918, our boy Hubert was born around 3:30 in the morning. Olive Ashbaugh was there to help. Dr. Ira Hawes came out from Arcanum, and all went well except the folks were threshing that day and so busy. Dad hitched up the horse to the old spring wagon and drove down to brother Earl's to tell them we had a boy. Earl's house had no phone, and Dad couldn't wait to spread the news. They came up in the evening. I was so proud for now my dreams had come true. I had a baby of my own, but soon our trouble began. He cried and cried until we were all worn out. I was ill and exhausted. Herman Warner, a roomer came down the stairs one morning and took one look at him and gave out a "Huh! Whatever is the matter with him?" In the fall we took our crying baby and went back to Ithaca where our furniture was in the house we had left. I felt my world had dropped out from under me again. I wasn't very well and with a cross baby I didn’t see how I could ever manage. We had no car and occasionally Dad would come for us, and we would tie the big reed baby buggy on the side of his car and off to Grandma's we would go. Despite all my worries and fretting he grew to be a man and has five children of his own. I think he has done about everything any normal boy has done and perhaps some they didn't think of for he like myself hasn't wasted many moments. He used to be so disgusted when a vacation rolled around. He would have measles, or some other ailment and he had to waste time lying around in bed. He wrote a poem about it once. "What a Vacation Means to Me" was the title of the poem. When school was out in the spring, we moved our furniture and all our belongings back to the country with my folks. My husband came to Fort Wayne where he went to International Business College. Hubert and I remained in the country until in the fall when my husband called by phone one day and said he was sending the moving van for our furniture, and we should be ready to come. It was a busy time on the farm, but everyone helped to gather our belongings together and one evening the van arrived and was loaded. The movers were there all night and left early next morning. At noon my folks took Hubert, who was one, and myself to the train and started us off for our Ft. Wayne home. My dad's heart was broken. His daughter had moved far away. He could scarcely eat his lunch at noon. My brother and family came out to visit us late in the fall. It was wonderful until time came for them to leave. I shall never forget how I stood and watched them leave until they were out of sight. I thought my heart would break. This house was small and full of stoves and such a lot of things that we soon found a larger house which was much more comfortable. When Hubert was four years old, he had a little sister come to live with us, Doris Virginia. He was very happy but very disturbed. Would we have to hang her on the line when she got wet? She was also a very cross baby. Mrs. Clem Foley, a dear friend of ours, came to help us out. Doris cried until Mrs. Foley was exhausted and almost let her slip out of her arms. I was a busy mother. Hubert started to school and seemed to contact all the children's diseases during his first school year and Doris took them from him. I really had my chance to care for someone, as my dad once said, "They certainly will not have anything else unless something new comes out."
Next week I will have more to say about Gladys.
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