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, Ivene and last week the first part of Vivian'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
- Ivene's story (Part Two) by clicking here
- Vivian's story (Part One) by clicking here
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| IMAGE: A serious discussion is being held between Vivian and Verola Emerson. Taken in the summer of 1927, older sister Lola was the photographer. Notice the Emerson barn in the background. Digital image from the family files of Edwin J. Ostrom. |
Last week Vivian's story was a collection of her memories and interactions with others in her family. This week she shares a bit about each member.
MEMOIRS
of Vivian Emerson Cowe
January 1996
Vivian's introduction message: These memories of my childhood are in response to a request made by our daughter Lynn; and then presented to her on her 50th birthday.
ON TO THE FAMILY...
PAPA By the time we younger ones came along,
Dad was well into middle age. He was aging and his step slowed a bit. The
depression years were upon us. Providing for a family became a stressful
concern. The one characteristic of him that I do remember above all else was
the ease and steadiness while in his labors. If he was spading in the garden or
cleaning the barn or carrying endless pails of water to the house, it was done
with precision, ease, a steadiness until it was finished. He never seemed to
hurry, yet he accomplished much in a short time. I do not remember that he ever
spanked us. If our behavior needed repair, all he had to do was say “GIRLS”. It
was the tone of his voice that signaled the degree of his tolerance. Whenever
he would go to town he would return with a bag of candy, lemon drops. It was
the only candy we had as children.
He had a buddy, Jake Endersen, a neighbor who drove a 1925 Dodge. He
would come on his way to town and want Papa to go with him. Papa often did join
him. Jake liked to bend an elbow at the local pub in town and Dad kept an eye
on him that he didn’t overly imbibe for Dad did not drive a car and his
priority was to return home in one piece. When Jake came to pick Papa up for town,
he would get out of the car; pull the gas throttle on the steering wheel down
as far as it would go so the motor would roar. He and Dad would stand by the
car and yell at each other over the roar of the motor. It was hysterical! When
they finally started off, Jake would release the clutch so fast the car would
jerk violently for a number of feet. I do recall one time we three girls were
invited to go to town with the two of them. We got permission and climbed in
the back seat. As he prepared to release the clutch, we three started jerking
in preparation to be in sync with take-off, and then we laughed all the way to
town! Papa was a patient man, generous in his praises if you did a good job.
Mama Perhaps one of the lessons she taught has
stayed with me more than the others. How many times did she say to me and
others, “Learn to put things back?” If she said it once, she said it four
thousand and three times. Fortunately, the teaching proved positive, for to
this day, I am fanatical about putting things back. Thanks Mama!
There were times when Mama’s day was filled with anxieties and pressures
I knew nothing about. Often they were aligned with discord among the children.
It was at these times she would throw her apron over her head and have a moment
or two to escape the mundane and enter into ‘that place’ for refilling and
refueling.
As children we did not attend a church. The only church near was the Lutheran Church Anderson ,
Indiana. Each Sunday, we would gather around the kitchen table after breakfast
for Bible Study. We each read portions of Scripture. It was always challenging
to read better and faster than V! Mama would always pray and occasionally she
would ask one of us to pray. That was a challenge, for much of the time my mind
would wander; I wanted to go out and play.
She always planted a huge vegetable garden. Once it was planted, we kids
had to weed it. Pails and pails of water were carried from the well to give
moisture to the young seedlings as there were no hoses in those days! Mama was
proud of her garden. She spent much time in her flower garden as well and took
delight in showing company on a Sunday her beloved flowers.
During the winter months, she crocheted rugs and made quilts. I remember
well the many times I was required to card wool from the sheep for those
quilts. Tiny fibers would fly through the air, find my nose and I would sneeze
a lot. There was never an end to the making of clothing for the family. I
cannot remember her ever using a pattern, she simply measured.
When we needed correction, her favorite punishment was a gentle pull on
our hair right there behind the ear, that tender spot. Where in her Bible did
she find instructions to punish a child in that way? The Good Book took
precedence over Dr. Spock!
RUBY My earliest memories of Ruby were her
letters. When her letters would arrive, Mama would wipe her hands on her apron,
sit on a chair closest to her and read out loud her coveted letter from her
number one daughter. Almost always, she would wipe a tear or two from her eyes.
It was good to hear from the children. I do remember one summer Ruby came with
all her family of five to visit. Mama looked forward to this with great
anticipation. The day they arrived, they stopped in front of the house. There
were kids hanging out from every window in the car. I had mixed feelings. Was
this going to be competition or playmates and there goes my bed! That is all I
remember of their visit.
JAMES The oldest brother had a good many
friends, fellas and girls. He always had a spiffy car. At a young age, we
instinctively knew we had a lot of clout with him. He would put up with most
anything and we pushed him all the way! One Sunday we saw him coming up the
road. V and I pushed a chair on each side of the door and when he made his
entrance, we each jumped on him, searching his pockets for gum and candy or
both. He had two buddies who were brothers and they would often come with him
to the farm. They were men of the world, single and on their own. Elmer and
Ivar Rensaugen were their names. Ivar was a swarthy fella with booze colored
skin and white, white teeth and he smiled a lot. I had a mad crush on him. I
was, I believe, about seven years old. He picked me up once and put me on the
organ. My heart was beating so madly, I was in fear he would hear it! My mouth
was dry; I felt like there were cotton balls on my tongue. When he lifted me
down, I ran as fast as I could for the door to run and hide!
GENEVA She wrote letters too. Mama went through
the same ritual, the apron, the chair, and the tears. The letters were always
read aloud. Martin and Geneva California
LOLA My most vivid memories of Lola are the
years she and Stuart lived in Douglas. They were a young married couple living
in a small town. V and I spent a week with them one summer, our first
introduction to ‘city life.’ We were given a lot of liberty, no rules or
regulations. It was scary! We played house much of the time in an area in her backyard.
They often had their good friends, Emma and Hugh Hanlon, over for an evening to
play cards. They laughed a lot! I do remember the letters she wrote after they
moved to Alberta. Those first years were rough and stressful. Much of her
letters told of the struggle to survive in that harsh and undeveloped
environment. It was hostile and virgin land. It required fortitude and courage
and cash, which was in short supply. They built a log house that leaked in the
rainy season. Lola would take their two small children and crawl under the
kitchen table to keep dry. Such events she would describe in her letters. As
usual, Mama would take off her glasses, pull up her apron and wipe her eyes and
spend a moment regaining her composure. I remember her gathering some items for
mailing to Lola, one of which was a piece of linoleum. I asked her what she was
sending that for and she explained it was to patch the leak in the roof!
BILL Lived at home until we left Dakota. He was
short, but all muscle and worked hard. He was more often hard on us kids and
very critical. We never did anything right. V and I were more often requested
to sing and play the guitar for various functions. The more we were applauded,
the more he criticized. I wanted so badly for his approval, just once, but it
never happened. We were asked to sing a duet on the KFYR Farmer’s Union Hour in
Bismarck
He had a lot of girlfriends, but as young as I was, I made the decision
they were far too young for him. Why didn’t he pick on someone his age! He went
to dances a lot and came home when the sun came up.
OLE Immigrated to Alberta Canada
ALICE Dear Alice. She would spend hours and
hours and hours teaching and coaching V and me to sing in harmony. She would
set us on the day couch with the Hawaiian guitar and coach us in the cording,
one strumming, and the other moving the bar. I would suppose we were about six
years old. She taught us an endless number of songs, all sad! She was relentless
in her training and insisted we practice, practice and practice! We were
requested to sing for social functions and in front of large groups of people.
At first we liked the applause, but sooner than not, we became bored and
protested when asked to sing. The protests turned to rebellion, so much so we
would run upstairs and hide under the bed when company would come and ask us to
entertain them with a duet. I do recall one Sunday; our cousins from Berthold
came to the farm for a visit - the precious Olson sisters and Aunt Ida. Mama
insisted we sing a few songs for them. We asked what they would like us to sing
and of course they were the sad ones. We sat outside on the front steps of the
house and as we sang, the tears would roll down their cheeks and they would
wipe their eyes. I could never understand why they always requested the sad
ones. They were strange, I thought.*
ESTELLE One spring, Alice and Estelle decided they
were going to have quarters of their own, no doubt for more privacy which was
in short supply in our small house. A brooder house was emptied and moved south
of the house on the edge of a grove of trees. They cleaned and scrubbed and
washed calcimine over the interior. Curtains were hung on the window, crocheted
rugs were laid on the floor, a colorful pieced quilt on the bed, a “potty” with
a lid was put in the corner with a curtain for privacy and a sign on the door
saying KEEP OUT! The minute they went out for the evening, Ivene, Verola and I
invaded the premises. The dressing table was the main attraction, the make-up,
the jewelry and flashy beads, then the high heeled shoes, and the curling iron
sitting in the globe of the kerosene lamp.
Estelle flirted with the young fellas who worked on the super highway
that was under construction a half mile north of us. Dad had contracted with
the road foreman to supply them with water for their equipment and drinking. Several
times a day a water truck would come to our well for a fill-up. More than
often, it would be some handsome young man who had seen this blossoming young
lass from afar and had volunteered to go for the refill. I was very
apprehensive when he invited her in the cab to ride to the worksite with him. I
thought, ‘Estelle, you are going to get in trouble with Mama’ and ran as fast
as my short legs would carry me. Mama said nothing and Estelle did return in a
short time and no harm was done. Then she went to live with Sister Ruby to help
on their farm with their growing family, a journey to the eastern part of the
state.
When she married her young hero, she mailed a box of mementos from their
wedding celebration - a piece of cake, a dried floral piece, a cigar and
several other items. Mama wrapped a ribbon around the box and deposited it in
the trunk at the foot of Bill’s bed, where all things of value were kept. A
year or so later, on a hot summer morning, we three were instructed to change
all the bedding on the beds upstairs. We were also told to turn all the
mattresses. Mom, Dad and Bill were going to town with some produce and would be
gone most of the day. It was hot upstairs! We stripped the beds of bedding and
began to turn the mattresses when one of us made the suggestion to explore the
trunk and its contents. The wedding box was lifted out and the ribbon removed.
We laid the contents on the mattress. The cake was too old and dry to eat, let
alone taste, but the cigar had possibilities. Should we try it? The matches
were brought forth. We considered cutting it in three parts, but no, we would
just take a few puffs each. The room was filled with smoke. Oh it was fun
seeing the smoke rise to the ceiling! It wasn’t long until we began to feel a
bit dizzy. We giggled, and then the giggles turned to groans. We didn’t feel
good at all. Our stomachs ached and we felt nauseous, but still we puffed away.
It wasn’t long before we were lying on the mattress instead of turning them.
Giggles gave way to regrets. We didn’t feel much like making beds!
Our main concern now was to rid the room of the odor before the owners
returned. We worked feverishly to restore the room to normal. We opened the
window wide and waved sheets toward the open window. If indeed they noticed the
odor, they never said.
OLIVER Oliver was Dad’s right hand man, even if
he was a kid. At milking time, when he finished milking one cow, he would pick
up an empty pail and his milking stool and do the Charleston
IVENE Ivene, V and I were like a trio. Ivene was
two years our senior and we did most everything together. She would on
occasion, display her seniority like having first picks at the ‘dress-up’
clothes and shoes. She would often declare her preference on tasks allotted to
us, and V and I had no clout. She was older, so our conflicts were short-lived.
I learned at a tender age that she was a sensitive person. I often guarded my
behavior, for I loved her very much.
I remember her first date. A neighbor boy came one warm spring evening
in his brother’s car. Where they went I do not remember. It was an occasion for
V and me to embarrass and hassle her. We made the most of it! Before he arrived
V and I hid in the big truck parked by the house. It had high sides built on
the chassis for hauling various things. We could see a little through the
cracks, a perfect vantage point for viewing her departure. We decided we would
giggle loudly so she could hear us, after all, weren’t we bratty little
sisters? When he opened the car door for her, we let out a whoop. She turned
her head slightly toward the truck and hurriedly got in the car. We achieved
our goal and we laughed until our sides ached!
We three daily did the dishes together. Water was heated on the stove in
a dish pan, summer and winter. Mama was strict about proper rinsing of the
dishes, pots and pans. I often wanted to by-pass the rinse cycle, but Ivene
exhibited her authority and said, “Mama said RINSE!” I believe Ivene wore
mostly ‘hand-me-downs’ from older sisters. It was rare she got anything new. Verola
and I wore her hand-me-downs for every day, but being we were two of a kind, we
had new ‘home-sewn’ dresses for Sunday best.
One fall, Mama invited some Evangelists to conduct services for a week
in our school house. Our brothers loaded our organ on a truck and delivered it
to the school house for the music. One evening the Evangelist was conducting a
Bible lesson and asked a Biblical question. He pointed a finger at Ivene. When
she answered, he said, “Good, that’s right.” I was so proud of her and wondered
how she knew the answer. Mama’s teaching around the kitchen table had paid off!
VEROLA Or Verie or V Much has already been said about V and
sharing our childhood. I will jump ahead a number of years. Our first year of
high school was an experience in ‘firsts’. It was the first time we had lived
in the city, first time we attended a school with more than one room or eight
students and the first time we three, Ivene, V and I had slept, cooked, ate,
dreamed and quarreled in one room with the bathroom down the hall. It was the
residence of a cousin who owed Dad money. It was paid off by our 'rooming’ in
one room in his large house on South Hill in Minot. We had a one-burner
electric plate, but no refrigerator. A door opened onto a porch where food was
kept in the winter. There was no clothes closet. Our few garments were hung on
a short line stretched across the corner of the room. Mama would bring fresh
baked bread, butter, fresh poultry, canned vegetables, milk products and
freshly baked cookies. When the weather was severe and the roads blocked with
snow, it made it difficult for delivery of fresh supplies. We had no money to
buy food. I remember well, eating potatoes three times a day because they kept
well on the porch. Another first was being introduced to hunger. I would
sometimes sit on the bed with my back against the wall and look at magazines
advertising delectable dishes and pretend I was eating the food! We often
cooked our potatoes in the coffee pot. They cooked faster that way, as our
kitchen supplies were limited.
It was scary going to a big school with all those strange kids and stern
teachers. I could never have made it had it not been for V to lean on. We were
required to take algebra our freshman year. V had a skillful teacher, mine was
a coach first and an algebra teacher second. He admitted the first day, he
himself knew little about teaching algebra. I surely would have failed had it
not been for V helping me every night with my assignments. She was a far better
teacher than the esteemed coach.
Our wardrobe during our high school years was very limited, black
skirts, black long-sleeved pull-over sweater, a white middy blouse and saddle
shoes. They were comfortable and easy to maintain except for the middy collar
that had to be pressed every day.
We sometimes used our ‘identical’ twin status to our advantage. We had
all the same subjects and teachers, but different periods of the day. If we
were to have a test in any of our classes, one of us would study and prepare
well, take the test twice, once for ourselves and once for our twin. None of
our teachers knew us apart, so we pulled it off every time. All the kids knew
our scheme, but said nothing. It was sometimes scary, but gambling is always
exciting! We did double date on a few occasions. It was not uncommon on the
first date to switch partners during the evening. It was difficult for us to
keep our composure and we would giggle and act silly until our deception was
exposed. Some of the fellas laughed along with us, others DID NOT!
Then V met the man who swept her off her feet and out of my life! It
would come sooner or later. When she told me she was going to get married and
join him in Texas
When D-day came, ‘departure day’, I pretended to be happy for her. Deep
within me was an intense dislike for the young lieutenant who was taking her
out of my life. Mom and I took her to the train depot. The place was filled
with military people coming and going. Our country was deep into World War II.
I kissed and hugged her goodbye and made a hasty exit. I sat in the car until
Mother joined me. I spoke little on the trip home. I’m sure Mama knew well the
emotions I was going through for she chatted on and on about nothing. I didn’t
hear a word she said. Will I ever get over this? Will I ever adjust to her
absence?
When we returned home, I walked into our bedroom. Her side of the closet
was empty. I threw myself on the bed face down. How would I survive this? I
knew I had to do some soul searching and gave myself a good talking to. This
was selfish, I was being self-centered. I got up, looked around the room and
made a decision to redecorate the bedroom. I would paper the walls; get new
curtains, a new bedspread and some new throw rugs. I had more room in the
closet for my things and who needed V anyway!
In time, I accomplished all the redecorating plans and it looked nice. I
was proud of myself! I stood looking at my achievements and decided it would
make a far better guest room. I moved upstairs where no one else ever went and
where I didn’t have to make my bed. I never had it so good! The Good Lord
healed my wounds, even my scratches! V wrote often. She was blissfully happy. What
more could I ask for? God is good!!
How many people are blessed with an identical twin?
We are extremely sensitive to each other’s emotions. We knew what each
other was thinking and we could almost read each other’s mind. We experimented
with each other, like poking long nails down each other’s ears to see how far
they would go. We would hit each other with boxing gloves to see how much of a
blow would bring on a bloody nose and run close to the mean goat to antagonize
him to take after the accomplice. We pulled each other’s hair a lot. Then we
hugged much. We went arm in arm into battle with each other, but our combat was
short-lived. We dared anyone to harm the other, don’t you touch my sister!
Someone has said, “God gave us memories so we can have roses in
December.” If that is true, I have roses all year around!
..... THE FINI
* An additional memory from Vivian, written in May, 2001:
“I do not know how we got the guitar. It
was a Hawaiian guitar, one of us would strum it and the other would move the
bar, cording, that is. Am quite sure Alice bought it for us, she was
the one who taught us how to play it and all the songs we sang. She was a hard
taskmaster, she made us sit and practice, practice, taught us harmony. When we
got a bit older we moved on to a four-string guitar and Verie usually played
it."
"We sang at all the Farmer’s Union monthly
meetings and one time on [radio station] KFYR in Bismarck
Once again I want to thank cousin Ed and his family who made it possible to share these wonderful stories written by the children of Reinert and Dora Emerson. It was amazing to see that so many wrote their memories for us. They have given us their insight coming from a large family that homesteaded in Torning Township in Ward County, North Dakota and collectively we have had a chance to vicariously experience life during the 1920s & 1930s that included significant events of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression.
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Please comment regarding this post by clicking the URL above and then use the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Or contact me by email at dsteff4246[at]gmail[dot]com. I hope you have a good week.
Copyright (c) 2016, Darlene M. Steffens. All rights reserved.
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