The Emersons : According to Ivene, Part Two

Ed's Day Wednesday

Dear FOLKS,

Each Wednesday I continue to share family information that was provided by my late cousin Edwin J. Ostrom. We now focus on stories and anecdotes regarding Ed's maternal grandparents, Reinert Immanuel Emerson and his wife Dora Elisa Nilson. We have learned of the records found for Reinert that I wrote earlier as a report. You can see this report by clicking here.

In recent weeks the memories have included those of their children Ruby, Geneva, Lola, Ole, Alice and part one of Ivene's story. These you can read through the following links:

• Ruby's story by clicking here
• Geneva's story by clicking here
• Lola's story (Part One) by clicking here
• Lola's story (Part Two) by clicking here
• Ole and Alice's stories were combined here
• Ivene's story (Part One) by clicking here

Continuing from last week, the next of Reinert and Dora's children for whom I find written memories is their daughter Ivene Alvina Emerson (1918-2014). We know she wrote her story sometime before the year 2000 but we are unsure exactly when. Ivene's brother Ole Emerson died in the year 2000 and she tells of him in the present tense. So we can ascertain that she wrote about him before 2000.

In Part One, Ivene shared her recollections of Emerson family members: Papa, Mama, Ruby, James, Geneva, Lola, William/Bill, and Ole.

IMAGE: Emerson children, L to R: back row-Bill,
Estelle, Oliver, Alice, front row-Vivian, Ivene,
and Verola (ca 1929). From  the family photo
collection of Edwin J. Ostrom. Notice the
girls all have their white socks rolled down.

Childhood Memories, Part II

By Ivene Emerson Goemaere

Alice Emerson Ostrom        # 7

   I remember Alice and Tootsie together. What one didn't think of the other one did. They got tired of sleeping in the crowded upstairs in the summer. Since Mother didn't raise so many chickens, the brooder house was empty. Bill pulled it up to the south side of the house on skids with the tractor. Those two went to work, scrubbed and cleaned, added curtains to the one window, pictures on the walls and made a rack to hang their clothes. We younger ones were to stay out but of course we didn't. They had to move back into the house when the weather turned cold.

   We were early-to-bedders. One night after dark a young man knocked at the door. Dad opened it and this guy asked for Alice. Dad said, she's in the brooder house and shut the door in his face. I imagine that remains a puzzle to this guy to this day. Then Tommy Ostrom began to come. Dad called him the “sly fox.” Alice would eventually marry him.

   Alice was very patient with we younger ones. She curled my hair with the curling iron hung in the lighted lamp for the heat. Out of eight girls in the family, five had curly hair.

   I was told that when the twins were born, there were lots of diapers to wash. That was Alice and Tootsie's job. One day Alice, exasperated with that messy work, lifted the diaper in the air and said "Fifty cents for the diaper and a dollar for the s--t!"

Ray Emerson        # 8

   Ray was a mischief maker. That may be putting it mildly. When the old kerosene stove wore out it was put between the granaries. It was a perfect place to play house. Mostly the twins and I played there, sometimes Toots joined us but she was beginning to get bored in childish stuff.

   We filled Mother's empty spice cans with fine dirt and empty vanilla bottles with water. Then we made mud cookies. After drying we nibbled on the cookies pretending to have coffee and cookies. There came a time when we opened the bottle and it stunk to high heaven. I think Toots figured it out and said, "Ray peed in the bottle". We accused him. He asked us how the cookies tasted.

   He liked to go to Douglas with Dad and the team and wagon. There was an occasion where city kids called him a hay seed. He jumped off the wagon and took them all on. Dad was proud of him. He told Mama he climbed back into the wagon leaving many laying on the ground. Mama said he shouldn’t be fighting.

   He rode a stallion forbidden by the owner and both Mom and Dad. The stallion was kept in our barn as the owner left him with us for a short time. Ray saddled the horse and got on him in the barn. They came out of the barn like a shot out of a gun. Ray fell off with one foot caught in the stirrup. He was dragged through a barbed wire fence cutting his lip badly. We all were screaming thinking Ray was being killed. We didn't go to doctors much in those days, but for this he was taken in for stitches. He was left with quite a scar.

   Another time he rode a horse too fast going after the mail. There was some snow and ice on the road. The horse fell , throwing him. Ray walked into the house moaning. The sleeve on his jacket was crooked. His arm was out of joint. Bill came in and told him to lie on the bed. Bill braced his foot against it, took Ray’s arm, gave it a quick pull and the arm went back in place. I thought Bill was so smart.

   I have to tell you about our mailbox. It was made of half a wagon axle with one wheel attached with the other end of the axle forced into the ground. Mailboxes were then set on the wheel and when the mailman delivered mail all he needed was to turn the wheel. That mail drop and delivery took care of about six families. Pretty clever!

   Ray was 16 when he went with Ole to Canada. We were then in the midst of a severe depression.

Estelle Emerson Olson        # 9

   “Toots” was a bundle of energy. She didn't flow with the ordinary and possibly was the most independent member of our family. Not much daunted her.

   When we kids had impetigo, we tried everything to get rid of it. Remember, we were twenty-four miles from a doctor and couldn’t afford one anyway. Mother prayed a lot. Eventually we survived it, but Toots ran out of patience with it all. She had a bad spot on the inside of one elbow. She said, "I'm going to get rid of this once and for all". Mother kept the medicine cabinet in a corner of the kitchen cabinet. She found a bottle of carbolic acid and put some on the sore. Toots never went to school that day. The last I saw was her walking the floor, moaning and as white as a sheet. The impetigo went away.

   Guys were attracted to her. I remember a dance at Rice Lake where she had to go to the outhouse. One of her admirers followed and tried to force his way into the outhouse with her. She came running out with the guy following. She ran into the lake to get away from him. When he hit the cold water, his ardor cooled and he gave up.

   Dad had a shoe resoling outfit consisting of an iron bar that sat on the floor and different sized foot-shaped pieces that fit on top of the iron stand. Toots had a favorite pair of shoes that needed resoling and took them to Dad to repair. He said they were too far gone. Toots set her jaw and worked that pair over for some time and then took them to Dad. He pronounced it a good job. Toots had a flair for clothes. I thought she always found the cutest shoes. She was four years older than I but I wanted to do all the things that she got to do. I resented it when I couldn’t.

   The county government was widening the road north of us. They needed water for the horses and to keep the dust down. They made a deal with Dad and came with the water tank to be filled at least once a day from our well by the barn. Toots found an excuse to hang around the barn about that time as there was at least one good looking young man. She soon had a date with him.

   Evelyn Jacobson also had a yen for this guy. Toots went to Ruby's to help her with something and she was gone several weeks. During that time this guy dated Evelyn. She tried to get Toots out of the picture by telling him that Toots was pregnant and had gone to have an abortion. When Toots returned he told her what Evelyn had said. Toots put a note in Jacobson's mailbox saying she wanted to talk to Evelyn. No answer to her note. So Toots played the waiting game and kept a watch on the road from Jacobson's house to the mailboxes. It was quite a while before Evelyn was seen walking on the road to get the mail. Toots hot-footed after her. They had it out at the mailboxes. Toots told Evelyn that she wouldn't settle for nothing less than Evelyn telling this guy she lied. Toots must have really scared Evelyn because she did confess to the guy. He said he was sorry for believing Evelyn. By that time Toots was tired of the whole thing and the guy as well.

   She was the most daring as we played in the barn, walking the cables and jumping from the hay slings into the hay far below. The name Tootsie was given her by the older ones in the family as a magic formula to end more babies. It didn't work!

Oliver Emerson        # 10

   Geneva tells that Oliver was a pretty baby and so patient with me. When he dressed to go outside I said I wanted to go too and asked him to wait for me to get ready. He stood there waiting so patiently while I dressed in all our cold weather clothes. We always headed for the barn and together we filled the mangers with hay for the cattle and play with the cats and kittens if there were any.

   Mother cat made the neatest nest in the hay with the kittens snuggling next to her. They liked the barn as it was warm from the cattle bodies and good smelling hay. Also the men poured warm cow’s milk into a dish for the cats to drink.

   Bill pointed a cow’s teat and shot a stream of milk toward a cat as she stood on her hind feet catching it in her mouth.

   I saw Oliver in a barn corner standing up relieving himself. I had to squat and thought it wasn't fair. I went to Mama and asked if I could be a boy. I noticed her shoulders were shaking; she had her back to me. She said go ask Papa. I did. He said go ask Mama. That was my first experience with passing the buck although it wasn't called that at that time. I gave up on that subject and went to play with our dogs; seems we always had two.

   Alice and Toots were side-kicks, the twins had each other and Oliver was a boy doing things I couldn't do. I gave up and made the dogs my pals to run with.

   Oliver had a friend, Lawrence Enderson, who lived about five miles west of us. He came over to visit occasionally and we played in the barn. He called me, "his girl," once. I avoided him after that. When Oliver was sixteen he joined the C.C.C's (Civilian Conservation Corps) and was gone a lot. He learned a lot of new cuss words there and when he came home, I was afraid he wasn't the same nice boy he once was.

   When we played bible lotto he was quite bored. One of the questions, "Where was Solomon's Temple built?" Oliver very sassily answered, "on the side of his head". We kids thought that quite clever. We laughed and laughed.

Ivene Emerson Goemaere        # 11

   I remember Mama asking me why I was so whiney and always complaining. I hated clothing that was too tight around my neck. It made me cranky for one thing.

I remember trying to hide in the kitchen when my older sisters’ beaus came calling. It didn't work. I remember too, a picture of me at about age two and it showed I was still bald. Geneva said I looked like the Johnson kids and they weren't the best looking people.

   One of my jobs was to clean the kerosene lamp chimneys on Saturday. First a piece of newspaper to clean out the soot. My hand was small enough to fit inside the chimney. Then they were washed in soapy water and dried with a clean towel. I  learned a little later to trim the wick so that it wouldn't soot up so badly.

   Oh, the day that we got the Aladdin lamp! Instead of a wick, it had a gauze-like cone that lit up the whole room. After supper, during the winter, everyone retired to the front room. It was warmed by the pot-bellied stove with icing glass around the front and sides. It was cozy to sit there and watch the red glow through the glass. Often the twins and I stayed in the kitchen. Out came the paper dolls of men, women and children we cut from expired catalogs. We gathered up all the catalogs, doilies etc. The catalogs covered with doilies for carpets were the upstairs. We also cut out furniture from the catalogs to make it look like a house. We made up names. Vivian's name was Florence Tillingson, Verola's was Peggy Jackson and mine was Hazel Wilson. Our families visited one another. We played until the kitchen got cold. In the summer we had a massive suicide of the paper dolls in the big stock tank down by the barn. Bill complained to mother that we kids had to clean out the tank as the horses shied at the mess and wouldn't drink.

   I used a screw driver to chip minerals off the sides and bottom of the tea kettle making it much lighter to lift after that.

   Sundays were not a day for work. After Sunday school around the kitchen table and noon meal was over, we kids took pliers and headed for the barn to hunt for ticks on the sheep. If found we'd squish them.

   We acquired a male goat. He was a meanie and our teasing didn't help him any. We took him to the barn and made a swing from the rafters. We let go and swung right over his head. When that got boring we lowered the swing until just brushed his head. He lowered his head and really came for us. Once he was out in the yard. We dared each other to “make it” to the lumber wagon and climb into it just before he got us. Oliver’s run for it was the most spectacular. Just as he jumped over the wagon tongue, the goat caught up with him and sent him flying.

   After one of our Sunday school lessons we kids went to the barn to pull the usual ticks but somehow we didn't feel like it. It isn't really clear how it was done but it is clear to me that I had made a commitment to Jesus. I told mother. She said she was glad. I felt so clean and full of joy even at that young age. As I grew I forgot that commitment, but God didn't forget me. I am thankful for that forever.

   Many times while playing I ran into the house for something and found mother on her knees. She had a large family to pray for. She was faithful and God was faithful to her.

   We had a dog that mama suspected of eating her chicken's eggs. One day she saw the dog enter the chicken house. She told me to run down with a switch and give that dog “what for.” He heard me coming and came out of the house with his head hanging. I felt so sorry for him. I gently laid the switch on his back and then hugged him. When I got back to the house I told mama I gave the dog a whipping and he would never do that again. Mother’s back was toward me. I saw her shoulders shake. Later I overheard mother tell Dad I just petted the dog. I think that dog came up missing later.

   I had a date with Lawrence Enderson. I didn't want to go with him but Dad said they were good neighbors and I should go. His older brother Wally drove the car. I don't remember where we went but on the way home we were in the back seat and Lawrence wanted to kiss me. I wouldn't so he got on his knees and begged, please, please. That was the end of him.

   The Rovig twins were built like square block houses. One asked me for a date. They looked so much alike who knows which one it was. Vivian and Verola kidded me. For an entire week, one twin held me down while the other one kissed me. I was so scared that when they showed up, I ran and hid. That was the end of that too.

   Alfred Nybakken was slender and good looking. At one of the Farmer's Union meetings, we young people were outside while the older people were strategizing inside the hall. Alfred was squatted on the ground. He invited me to sit on his knee which I did very gingerly. The outcome of that was a date to a movie in Minot the next Saturday night. At first I thought Saturday would never come. When it did I was so tired of thinking about Alfred and the movie I almost didn't go. He came one other time to the house but I brushed him off. He never returned.

   I picked up dried cow pies to make a fast fire for cooking meals during the hot summer months. We hated that job.

   Mother brined a leg of pork before smoking it in our makeshift smokehouse. We sliced the ham and fried it quickly with the chips as fuel [an obscure sentence fragment at the bottom of the original page; unable to recover what it says] Went out to the garden, got some leaf lettuce, lined the platter and put the ham on top. Bill twitted me about that so I never did that again.

   We had a Maytag gasoline washing machine. Mother always had to have white clothes so out came the big copper boiler. It was put on the hot stove and filled with water. As the white clothes were washed and put through the wringer, I put them into the boiling water in the boiler. Mama removed the clothes with a strong stick fashioned for that purpose. Next back into the washer, through the wringer, into the bluing rinse and through the wringer again. The clothes were hung on the line. No matter how hot the day, the clothes were washed this way. Ironing was another hot job. We got a gas iron but that let off a lot of heat too. Winter washing was interesting. Everything went on the clothes line no matter how cold it was. Near evening we pried each piece off the metal line with our bare fingers. We ran into the house often to get warm. Mother put up clotheslines in the kitchen. As we brought in the clothes to her, she hung them on the lines. It was amusing to watch them still stiff over the line and then gradually go limp. Dad’s long underwear was the biggest challenge. We had to enter the door with it sideways as it was so stiff. We were afraid the arm or leg could break off as it had not freeze-dried like the lighter weight clothes had done. Took a while for it to thaw enough to be hung on the line. At supper time we dodged the clothes as we ate. They were dry by morning as the fire was kept going all night for that purpose.

   I was paid to wash the schoolhouse floor, windows and such. In September before school started, a major cleaning job became available. The pay was five dollars with every follow up month, one fifty. I soon was quite wealthy until the new Penny's catalog came. Too many goodies caught my eye. One of the items was the cloche hat.

   I was born during a blizzard. Dad hitched up the team to get Mrs. Pitts the midwife. Dad had to carry her from her house to the wagon as the snow was so deep.

   The twins got the chickenpox. One of their jobs was to herd the cattle, taking turns with me. There was never enough grass in the pastures because of so little rain. We had to move them into the open prairie and stay with them, bringing them in at noon for water. After an hour or so we took them out again until about six o'clock. While they were sick it was totally my job. Sometimes the cattle were so mean and they were never satisfied with the supply of grass. I ran after them bawling and calling them every kind of name. The worst was the bull. He would lower his head, beller and throw dust over his back. I was afraid of him and kept my pocket full of rocks just in case, as though that would have stopped him!

   I got into bed with the twins trying to catch their disease but it didn't work.

Verola Emerson Ralston        # 12

&

Vivian Emerson Cowe        # 13

   Mother got in and out of bed with the help of a rope Dad hung from the ceiling. When they were born, Mrs. Peterson was the midwife. Ruby and Geneva were home on vacation. Mrs. Peterson instructed both girls how to bathe the babies after birth. Verola came first and was handed to Ruby. A few minutes later Vivian arrived and Geneva took her. There were dish-pans of warm water on the kitchen stove. The girls held the babies as instructed in their left hand and arm and washed them with their right hand. Vivian arched her back and Geneva almost dropped her. She has been arching her back ever since! Dad was in the kitchen watching it all. He smiled so proudly. They were the darlings of our home, of course. The older ones were tired of babies but guess that was having just one at a time. But the twins with great flourish were the end of the babies. They were identical twins. The only way they could be identified was a small wart on one of Vivian's ears. Dad called them girlies. Even after they were married he couldn't tell them apart. They had corkscrew curls and got a lot of attention. Alice taught them how to play the guitar, one strumming while the other handled the strings. They soon began to sing and play for the Farmers Union meetings. They even were on radio once.

   We had a priceless mare called Friskey. She was long legged and ran like the wind when Bill rode her. When we kids got on her she was so gentle and moved so slowly. Dad staked her in the yard to eat the grass. We kids sat on her neck. As she lifted it, we slid onto her back and over her rump onto the ground. Then we walked under her belly to tickle her teats. She kept eating and soon we got tired. The Twins got on her to ride, their legs sticking straight out, one holding the reins while the other held onto the one in front. Friskey moved so slowly. As they began to slide, she leaned so that they wouldn't fall off.

   In summer, evangelists came and preached in the schoolhouse. We Emersons were the greatest attenders of those meetings. One would get quite excited. As he preached he rose up on his toes and back down again. The next day we climbed on top of the granary and nailed a stick to the roof and attached a tin can for microphone. Vivian preached from there while Verola and I sat below as the audience. Vivian imitated the evangelist to a “T”. Verola and I held our sides laughing.

   We had to wear long underwear in the winter. The first time after washing, the legs fit snugly and didn't make so much bulk in the stocking. In those days girls wore dresses. Vain as we were, we hated that bulk around the ankle. In the coldest part of the winter we wrapped our legs with leggings from WWI. They were wool and kept us girls from frostbite. When things got too quiet, I looked for the twins and found them quite often sitting in the dirty clothes pile. This place was at the top of the stairs and back of it was a shelf -like place where we threw our clothes that needed washing. One day I caught them cutting the arms and legs off their underwear. I yelled for mama. They got into trouble.

Mother was adamant we wore underwear until the weather turned in the spring. We complained every week. We had to put them on after our weekly bath in the warm kitchen in a big galvanized tub. Many of us bathed in the same water. One night Vivian and I were doing our usual complaining. Verola was already in bed and very dryly said, “I'm glad I have on my underwear. I could put on another one.” That struck us funny and I don't think we ever complained again.

   Vivian was diagnosed with a bowel obstruction resulting in a rare trip to the doctor. She stayed in the hospital which was death for sure to our thinking. She recovered and was a celebrity the day she came home. We played hospital, doctors and nurses for weeks.

   They took the grain truck when no one was around. One drove while the other stood on the side of the grain box to look for other cars. They went around a corner so fast one lost her footing and her legs flew out. She had a tight grip on the truck and luckily didn’t fall out. Bill noticed the truck wasn't parked in the right place and asked who drove it. The twins were caught and told never to do that again. But they did and Mrs. Peterson tattled. This time they were given a serious warning, impressing on them that this was the end of the grain truck driving.

And this is the end of my story!

***************

IMAGE: Ivene Alvina Emerson (ca 1940).
Scanned image of photo. File is from the
collection of Edwin J. Ostrom

This is my rambling account of childhood

memories and some told to me.

There are typing errors, misspelled words,

punctuation errors and lack of punctuation.

This is meant for those who might be interested.

Ivene Emerson Goemaere

Shalom!

This concludes Ivene's story; she too was a good story teller. Next week I will introduce one of the twins that we have already read so much about. I hope you enjoy reading about the lives and events of the Emerson family, where they homesteaded in Torning Township, Ward County, North Dakota. 

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