Wistful Wednesday : 1880

Recently I was contacted about a blog post that I wrote about Far Guys Grandmother’s family.   A cousin found me, and could remember coming to this area and visiting when he was little.

This cousin..is not really a long lost cousin. I think we all have cousins out there that we just have not taken the time to connect with. Anyways..I am so glad he found me. He had an old tintype of Far Guys Great Grandparents.  He shared with us, and I shared some old photos with him.

I wonder what life was really like for these two young people in 1880.  They were living on a farm with Louisa’s widowed mother and six small children ages 12 to 2.  Louisa’s father was a Civil War Veteran and he died in May of 1879.  Another child Cassie close to Louisa’s age appears in the 1870 census but not the 1880 census…I wonder what happened to Cassie?

Great Grandma Louisa and Great Grandpa Louis. They were married on February 5 1880. I suspect that this photo was taken right around that time.  I can see a resemblance to Far Guys Grandmother in her fathers face..and that head of hair..lets just say it must have been a recessive gene because none of Far Guys uncles or cousins have that amount of hair.

Louis and Louisa were both born in Jefferson County Missouri. He in 1854 and she in 1860. They went on to have fourteen children with one set of twins.  One of Grandmas favorite sayings was “The first baby can come along at any time, but all the rest take nine months.” I wonder if she heard that from her mother.  Their first child appeared in August of 1880..a mere six months after their marriage.

They lived a long life.  They settled in Minnesota in 1914. She died in 1929 at the age of 69 and he died in 1932 at the age of 78. 

In Grandma’s diaries she calls them Mama and Papa and sometimes Daddy. I am almost done transcribing the diary that Grandma kept in part of 1911, 1912 and 1913:)

Drafted

The letter came in the mail. It was official looking. It was during the summer of 1972. Far Guys Mom began to cry. Drafted, it really sucked to have a low number. So Far Guy enlisted in the Air Force. He might be able to pick his specialty if he enlisted. He could pick his date to leave, he picked the first week in January of 1973. He left on the bus, we took him to the bus stop.

I was all alone, well I did have a small child and a dog, but I still felt that the best part of me was gone. Six weeks, it seemed to loom before me like a storm, something that you must get through, but you don't know how you are going to do it. Communication was limited. I could not even write to him until I got his address in the mail. One day it came, a post card, a fill in the blank form from the Air Force, that began Dear Wife, my address is..no smiley face, no I love you, just Dear Wife.. I still have this bit of communication, I saved it to remind me that The Air Force does not care about wives or children or dogs. After being a military wife for 26 years ..my opinion has not changed one bit either.


I wrote Far Guy ridiculously long letters, telling him about every minute of every day. About all the new things that our daughter Trica was doing, since she was just nine months old, she was doing lots of new things everyday. One of her new things was playing in Snuffers water dish and eating dog food. Far Guy's Mom would just go ballistic when she saw her beautiful granddaughter crunching on dry dog food. Of course Trica wasn't really eating it, just crunching it up and spitting it out. She would also go through the antics of trying to lap up water from the dog dish before splashing it all over herself and everything in the vicinity. Snuffer did not mind sharing her food or water. Trica would often hand feed Snuffer, we taught her early on that all good things come from a child's hands.

It was a long six weeks. I would never have made it through if the weather that January had not been sunny and warm by Minnesota standards. Two very special people made my life a whole lot easier that January. We had a wonderful Mail Man, his name was Tom. He was a Veteran. If I had a letter from Far Guy he would honk his horn twice. Letters were so important back then. The only other way we could communicate was through collect phone calls that were very,very expensive. Far Guy did call collect a few times, it was so good to hear his voice. The other very special person was Far Guys Grandma H. She was a pillar of strength for me. She was alone too. She would call me nearly everyday. She made luncheon dates for us with her friends, several times a week she would pick us up in her baby blue Ford and off we would go, gallivanting around the neighborhood. She told me " Call me anytime day or night." A Mailman and a Grandma and warm January weather all memories from the early part of 1973:)

A Mountain of Cookies

Far Guys Sister, Far Guys Mother, Far Guy and Chance 2005 We carried him into the Nursing Home when he was just eight weeks old. Far Guys Mom said "It's about time you kids got a dog, and he is a pretty cute little guy too. What did you name him?" We replied "Chance"..our last chance for a dog.

From that day on, Chance became a Nursing Home visiting dog. He visited every other day with Far Guy. Sure there were some days he had to stay home, muddy wet dogs have to stay home. But for the most part he was ready to go anytime we said "Lets go visit Grandma." He loved her, and she loved him, she called him "My Dog." She would save cookies for him and hide them in her room. On her bad days she might not remember much of anything, but she always remembered where the cookies were hidden. Which side of which drawer the stash of cookies was hidden in today. After all you never forget a real friends favorite treat.

Chance learned a lot from Grandma, he learned not to be afraid of a cane. He learned to walk along side her walker. He learned that wheelchairs won't hurt you. He learned to sit in front of an automatic door and wait for it to open. He learned that it was OK to put your paws on the edge of the bed to be petted, but that Grandma did not want him in bed with her! He was allowed to put his front feet on the arm of her wheelchair if she invited him to do so, often he would steal just one kiss. One kiss that was enough for Grandma! He learned that when she cried, if he cried and whined too, she would stop crying, dry her eyes and laugh at him.

Chance knew the way to the Nursing Home, the right, left, left, left turns that would get you into the parking lot. As soon as you made that first right turn in town he would start to get excited, he knew where you were going, and that the lady with the cookies was there. He knew the way to her room, straining at the leash to walk faster, he knew which bed was hers. He and Far Guy were faithful visitors for over two years.

The last time I took him into the home to visit, I told him "This is it buddy, time to say goodbye." Grandma had been sleeping for days, he put his paws on the edge of her bed and licked her hand. Her hand never moved, and poor Chance looked confused, I found a stashed cookie in a drawer and we left. Two days later Grandma left the home for a heavenly one. There is no explaining death to a dog, we humans don't begin to understand it all that well, so it is impossible to explain to a dog. There is still something he knows... He still knows the right, left, left, left turns that get you into the parking lot, but doesn't understand why he is left in the car. He would like to go in, he would like to find Grandma. I often wonder if he thinks that we have totally abandoned her. He would never abandon her, after all this time..... she must have a whole mountain of cookies to share:)