Hay Time

March 6:

Richard and Hollis bring home hay from LaPlata. The chickens love it. You should see them rearranging their pen. Not only do the chickens love playing in the fresh hay in their pen and house, but the hay will help protect some of the muddy spots which surely are emerging as winter turns to spring.

As the ground thaws, the mud emerges. The ground is very vulnerable. We are eager to do all we can to protect this soil.. Isn't that what humans are supposed to do?

Grandmother Lottie's Home in 1909

Glinda writes:

Mother and I had erands to run at the Court House on Tuesday. On the spur of the moment, I suggested we stop at the Recorder's Office. I hadn't told her the reason. I asked the attendant if we could find the exact location where my Grandmother lived in 1909. I assumed the farm would have been listed under her father's name Robert Nelson Hart. We were led into an area in that office that surely came right out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Without an exact date of transaction, finding the listing was not as easy as I expected.

But Mother, who was right beside me, said: "I think Dwight and Judy Hart live there now." I chuckled. She is amazing.

Later in the week, I talked with Dwight, who I now know is my 3rd cousin. His Great Grandfather Richard Warren Hart and my Great Grandfather Robert Nelson Hart were brothers. Both of the brothers (with 1 other brother, their mother, and 2 sisters) are pictured in the photograph put on the blog earlier.

Dwight and Judy do indeed live in the same location. The old house is gone. It was torn down in 1945 when his parents built and moved there. What intrigued me most was that he said that the name "R. N. Hart" is in the old cement stairs out front.

I told him the story of Great Grandfather Nelson taking Lottie to the train depot at either Greentop or Sublette every week as she was on her way to the Conservatory of Music in Kirksville. I asked him how far the farm would have been from either of those 2 locations. He said it was 6 miles to Greentop and 7 and 1/2 miles to Sublette. I can imagine that driving the horse and buggy over those roads in those times would have been quite interesting.

He further talked about 2 barns on the property, which he believes are original. One is now covered with tin. Originally, it was red with "battens" or strips inbetween the boards.

I shared this will Mother. We know a field trip is coming up in our future. Further, we smile about the barn. Mother has a picture of her Grandfather Robert Nelson Hart with 2 of his horses standing in front of a barn which matches the description Dwight provided. Aunt Lula Hart had written on the back: "I think this [is] your Grandpa Hart and his horses on west side of barn." Is it the same one? We shall be excited to see what Dwight says.

This is like mystery unfolding all around us.

1909: Events, Facts, Life Styles

Glinda writes:

In thinking about Grandmother Lottie Hart (later, Brenz) and her experience at the Richard Wagner Conservatory of Music and Languages, I am also wondering about her life and times. While she was practicing her piano during those long dedicated hours and en route to something that meant a great deal to her:

What was happening in 1909 in the world around her?

I had fun with this. Here is a look at what I found. Please note that the more I found, the more I wanted to know. (Sources are numbered at right and shown below.)

Events and facts:

• 76,000,000 Americans live in 46 states. Source: (1)
• Shackleton’s expedition finds the magnetic South Pole. (2)
• The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded. (2
• Theodore Roosevelt completes his Presidency and is followed by William Howard Taft. (2)
• Construction of the Titanic begins.
• Joan of Arc is declared a saint by the Roman Catholic Church in Rome. (2)
• Alice Huyler Ramsey, a 22 year-old housewife and mother from Hackensack, New Jersey, is the first woman to drive across the United States. She is accompanied by 3 female companions, none of whom could drive a car. Her adventure takes her 3,800 miles from Manhattan, New York to San Francisco, California, in 59 days. Her vehicle: A Maxwell. (Alice is one of my new heros!) (2)
• The United States Navy founds a navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (2)
• 259 miners die in a fire at the St. Paul Mine in Cherry, Illinois. (3)
• Benny Goodman (2) and Katherine Hepburn (3)are born.
• Frederic Remington, Geronimo and Red Cloud (Lakota) die. (2)
• The United States invades Nicaragua. (3)
• Bird banding society is formed. (3)
• Louis Bleriot is the first man to cross the English Channel by plane. (3)
• Orville Wright tests the 1st U.S. Army airplane, flying 1 hour and 12 minutes. (3)
• A subway car with side doors goes into service in New York City. (3)
• Serbia mobilizes against Austria-Hungary. (3)
• Workers start pouring concrete for the Panama Canal. (3)
• The 1st Lincoln head pennies are minted (3) marking a time of putting dead U.S. Presidents on coins.
• The world's 1st air race is held in Rheims France. (3)
• The first credit union in the U.S. is established. (3)
• Comte de Lambert of France sets the airplane altitude record of 300 meters. (3)
• The Sultan of Turkey Abdul Hamid II is overthrown. (3)
• Robert E. Peary (a white), Matthew A. Henson (a black) and 4 Eskimos are believed to have reached the North Pole. (2)
• Nannie Helen Burroughs (1879-1961) opens the National Training School for (Black) Women and Girls, combining classical and trade courses with required black history classes. 7 students enroll. (4)
• The average worker made $12.98/week for 59 hours. (1)
• Life expectancy for females was 47.3 years, males was 46.3, blacks was 33. (1)
• "Full suffrage" (which means the right for all groups of women both to vote and run for any office) would not happen for 11 more years. (9) (I wonder about Blacks, American Indians, and other groups historically disenfranchised from power?)
• The Model "T" Ford (or "Tin Lizzy") was beginning to roll off the assembly lines. (13)
• 1909 was a very dark time for the nation's natural resources due to drastic overuse, unregulated use, and the fact that people were not self regulating. Deer and Turkey populations were way down. Bison had been reduced from 30-40 million before settlement to less than a 1000. Elk had been eliminated from most areas. The land and wildlife were treated as commodities without a conservation ethic. (14)
• The last Passenger Pigeons could only be seen in zoos. Passenger pigeons were slightly larger than Mourning Doves and common to deciduous forests in the eastern half of the United States. At one time, they numbered 2 billion. (14)
• Laws regarding environmental protection and food safety associated with industrial processing were only beginning to be enacted.
• As a result of Teddy Roosevelt's 1908 White House Governors' Conference which focused on national conservation policy, states began forming conservation departments.
• The biggest problem (for education) was cited as population growth due to the influx of immigrants to America. (1)
• Teacher education improved during this decade. (1)
• I wonder about American Indians who had been pushed off their lands and were now living on reservations in most cases far from the familiar. What are the stories of these Grandparents?

Life Styles:

• People were very clothes conscious. Gibson girl styles promoted the feminine ideal. Huge hats were in. Skirts brushed the floor. (7)
• George Eastman developed the lightweight, easy to use Kodak box. (1)
• People could buy homes from Sears Catalog of Modern Homes. (1)
• Many novelists produced 'happiness novels' because women were the greater readers of fiction. Popular novels of the time included: Frank Baum's The Wonderful World of Oz, Jack London's Call of the Wild. (1)
• Leisure time was spent in family get-togethers, baseball, picnics, long Sunday drives (mostly horse and buggy). In the evenings, families gathered for sing-alongs around the piano. (1)
• "The Great Train Robbery", was America's most popular film. This story-driven film is considered the first true Western. (10)
• Silent films were in. (11)
• Music reflected changing events and times: "Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis". Others showed racial prejudices of the period: "Bill Bailey Won't You Please Come Home". (1)
• Radios brought music to the countryside and the 1st hand-cranked victrolas allowed those privileged to have them to listen to opera stars. (1)
• Vaudeville was in. (1) and (12)
• Scott Joplin made ragtime popular. (1)
• Irving Berlin and George M. Cohan were opening on Broadway. (1)

Sources:

(1) Kingwood College Library; (2) Wikipedia, 1909; (3) Hisdates; (4) National Women’s History Project; (5) NativeAmericans.com; (6) history.eserver.org; (7) Wikipedia, 1900s fashion; (8) Wikipedia, Gibson Girl;(9) About.com: Women's History. (10) The Picture Show Man: 1890-1960; (11) Silent Era (12) Wikipedia, Vaudeville; (13) Wikipedia, Ford Model T (14) Richard Crawford.

~~~~~

Postscript: I shared this list with Mother last night and it brought up more memories. We are on a roll!

Gratitude

Glinda writes:

I awoke early this morning as the soft light of a new day was breaking through the night's blanket of darkness. The song in my heart was entitled "Gratitude". As the meaning of morning deepened into my fuzzy brain, I knew deep down that I was awakening to yet a new day. I get another day. On this day, I choose to bring more love into the world, to dance the dance my heart is intended, to learn and grow, to reach ever toward my fullness.

Time Capsule

Mother has a scrapbook which Grandmother Lottie Hart kept from about 1906 until the mid 1940s, when she was in her early 20s until her mid 60s. The fragile, tattered and cumbersome book underneath is entitled Woodward & Tiernan Missouri Edition of the Rand McNally Grammar School Geography. A page in the back says in careful fading script: "To R.N. Hart, from Father and Mother, October 25, 1876". R.N. Hart was Robert Nelson Hart, Lottie's Father (b. 1857; d. 1913).

As was the custom in those times, Lottie cut and pasted (or sometimes just tucked inside) into an unused book countless newspaper articles, including marriage announcements, obituaries, news of local social affairs of her family, extended family, and friends. Significant events in the world around find a place in her book: a picture of the sinking of the Titanic, announcement of the death of Carrie Nation, picture of a soldier in New York City surrounded by confetti at the declaration of the end of World War II. Recipes, cartoons, health and hygiene articles, poems, and pictures (some of flowers) find their way into her book under her careful hand. This scrapbook is a time capsule of her life and times.

I carefully turn through the pages and read selectively those articles that jump into view. One of the 1st articles I am drawn to read describes the curriculum at the Wagner Conservatory and her graduation recital. The date must have been shortly after her graduation program June 29, 1909. The article reads as follows:

The summer school of the Richard Wagner Conservatory begins July 6; tuition for this term but $10. Studies in piano, organ, violin, voice culture, harmony and history of music, method of music, German and French. Studio--506 E Harrison St., just opposite the north ward school building.

Notwithstanding the intense heat a large and select audience assembled at the Baptist church Tuesday to hear the delightful musical program rendered by the members of Richard Wagner's graduating class. The class consisted of four young ladies. Miss Lottie L. Hart, Greentop; Miss Edythe F. Kaster, Greentop; Miss Stella Quigley, Melbourne; Miss Eva H. Stuck, Kirksville. The class was assisted by Miss Grace Foncanon, soprano and Miss Senta Goldberg, accompanist. The difficult music rendered showed the careful training of the master in music, and the entire program was well received by the audience, Misses Hart and Kaster, meriting special mention. Professor Goldberg's address, "Wanted--a Musical Atmosphere," was thoughtful, instructive, timely. At the close of the exercises, the graduates were presented with their diplomas and the musical degree, Baccalaurea musical was conferred upon them.

With this virtual time capsule, Grandmother Lottie becomes a guide and companion as we seek to reclaim our family's stories. We shall be treating this precious text with the tenderness that it deserves as an old sage. We shall be looking into ways to preserve it and to copy articles for our families' archives. What a find!

Nature Notes

Glinda writes:

March 2: While I focus eagerly on family history, the face of the Seasons is changing. As we head into early March, we are at the crossroads of the grand dramas of 2 seasons: Winter and Spring. You can almost see and feel them as they enthusiastically push their energy into the space around us. "I shall not let go my hold. I'm Winter!" "No, I'm here. I'm Spring!" It's almost like 2 exuberant kids on the playground.

The last couple of days, Spring has had her hold and we have loved every minute. Yesterday and throughout the night, we had Canada Geese and various ducks making their way overhead. The Canada Geese were low and you could hear their wonderful calls signalling spring. Directionally, they were headed from South to North. Today we have had flocks of Snow Geese flying overhead. At one point, they were from horizon to horizon. Mostly they were heading from East to West and seemed to be riding the variable currents of the wind.

We know these wonderful migrants are headed far to the North. Some may even be flying over the land where we lived so long and the friends we know so well. We look up, send them joyous wishes for their glorious nesting season and ask they say "Hello" from us to those precious human friends below.

Tonight, it is supposed to snow. "I shall not let go my hold!"

Round Robin Letters

Glinda writes:

February 28: I am drawn more and more to family history. With Papa's passing last summer, I am more aware of unanswered questions. Certainly returning to my home county draws up questions too. In reclaiming family traditions on the farm, we find stories and questions tucked into old photos, recipes, seams of quilts, family memorabilia.

The photo above shows some very special written treasures. In the early 1980s, Mother suggested to her 2 sisters Louise and Ruthie that they write "Round Robin" letters between them where they would share stories from their childhoods. Plus, there's more. In 2000, Melanie took a Women's Studies class from Kathy Coudle King at the University of North Dakota where she focused on the female line and women's history in her family. She wrote questions to her Grandmother (my Mother) and Great Aunt Ruthie, to which her Grandmother and Great Aunt gave written responses. Sweet...