Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1903-10-29

was first being reclaimed from the In
dams:
Lived in Wapello County.
In the spring of 1898 we moved
from Wapello county to which place
we had gone from Burlington some
years before, to Galena, Ill. and faith
er rented ten acres of land on Mr..
Metcalf's place and put it in and left
the family, consisting of myself moth
er, three sisters and brother, so we
children could go to school. That was
the first schooling l had except three
days in Wapello county, when ! was
taken with the black tongue and could
not go any more for that term. Faith
er left us and he and my Oldest
brother and man by the name of
Hack came to Clayton county, taking
up claims a mile ard half east of
Postville on the old military road be-
tween McGregor and Fort Atkinson.
He broke up some ten or fifteen acres
and built two log cabins near Post
vile. The reason father did not build
on his own claim at this time was he
was afraid that the Indians would
come back and that they would fright
en- mother. The Indians We're taken
away that year and father immediate-
ly came after us to move there. We
loaded what little furniture we could
take, and mother, my youngest broth
er and my brother-i n-law all came up
to Clayton county. We could not car
ry any bedstead or stove and only two
chairs We cooked all our meals out
of doors until it got so cold in No
vember we could not stand it. Then
we cut hole through the roof of the
house in one corner and made a fire
inside, and OH my, when the wind
blew the house was full of smoke and
then we would have to put the fire out.
and when we got so cold we could not
stand it any longer we built fire
and shut our eyes until we got warm.
Father put four logs in one corner of
the house for our beds and put on
some hazel brush and cut some hay
and put that one, and then mother put
on our feather beds and we slept
nicely. We had neither cupboard nor
4 table, SO father bored some holes in
| the logs at one end of our cabin and
drove in some pins or stakes of wood
and on these some boards We're laid
for shelves to eat off from and to set
our dishes on. We lived in that way
until November 81. Father went
back to gather our crop near
Galena and he worked in the
mines until the crops were all ma
tured and when through with this he
| brought my younger sister and the
stove home. and, oh. YOU can't think
| how glad we were to see that old cook
stove. 1t was brought in the same
night and set up and you can't imag-
| inc how glad we We're.
No Floors in Houses.
II tell you we had some good times
then, for we didn't have to scrub any
| floors because we didn't have any to
scrub. Father and my brother and
brother in-law hauled supplies from
| McGregor to the soldiers who We're sta
| toned at Fort Atkinson that winter
and they used to stop with old Rattle
Trap who lived some twelve miles
from Postville, and here they would
get something to eat and get warm,
as their boots would often freeze on
their feet when they got there. She
was a very kind hearted woman, and
everyone called her Rattle Trap be-
cause she was great tallSer, but a
4 kinder hearted soul never lived than
this woman. The winter was very cold
land the snow was unusually deep. But
| we all had to sit SO close together that
we didn't feel the cold so much. for
i mother and six children and and faith
i er made eight of US; and then my
/ brother-in-law and his wife and two
4 children all living in one room cabin.
you can judge for yourselves whether
4 we We're not pretty thick OF course
I'VE had to make beds down on
4 the floor at night and you could
| hardly walk without stepping on some
one
4 Overcoming Obstacles.
4 1--WE lived that way until February,
4 when my brother in-law took a claim
j of his own and built small house on
1 it and started out for himself. When
4 he moved he took the stove, as it be-
] longed to him, and remember well of
4 his saving to my dear old mother:
i What will you do when j take the
J, stove away? My mother said: Take
4 it, we will get along some way After
4 he took the stove father cut a hole
through the logs and built a chimney
; and that made more room and
1--we got along nicely. So you see that
where there is a will there is always
some way to get along.
II Tin 1S49 father built on his own
: claim and put in q crop, and as we
4 had no fence it fell to my lot to- watch
4 the crop and / watched it all summer
!, long, and don't you think that one
I night early in the fall some cattle came
!; say that ] was very sorry, for to tell
Il the truth was secretly glad for knew
, that j would not have to watch it any
!. longer. That year the land came into
market. and | remember of my father
: going down to Garnayillo to see Judge
! Price, and Of his getting up a petition
u tie send into the city of washington
to have the land sales postponed for
a year or so, and, to the great salts
faction of the settlers, this was done.
4 You see that nearly if not quite all
u the settlers in our neighborhood We're
only squatters, and at this particular
time but few of them could raise mon
ey enough to enter q quarter. Ihe
extra time enabled them to raise q
/ slf. fNIrn a.