Dreary Day

 Another grey November Day... 

To cheer up we went to drop letters off at the Post Office...no contact there and I used an antiseptic wipe to open the drop box.  Then we recycled....there was one person there so we waited in the car until he left. 

Then it was off to the cemetery where no one was alive.  I needed a few photos of headstones to replace some bare grave photos.  I need to go back there one day soon and get a few more photos...I have a list now.  I made that list after I got home.  I also need some obituaries...but that will have to wait until I can go inside the County Historical Museum and do some research.  It is something I should have done last winter/before Covid.  Anyways now I can make the list of what I need...it will be a start.  

We had some exciting news...a relative got in touch with us... a fourth cousin of Far Guys on his Maternal side of the family...and it seems Far Guy could belong to the Sons of the American Revolution and our daughters to the Daughters of the American Revolution.   I have to do a bit more research to back everything up ...but it is a real possibility...so fun to connect with someone else researching to share info with. 

Then it was off to the old Linnell School corner to take a photo for a friend. The corner looks so much different after the new road construction.  

I grew up on one side of this corner and Far Guy's Grandparents lived on the other side of this corner a long time ago.  Far Guy's Mom taught at this school before she was married and then again after the war.  

Far Side

Linnell School Corner

We drove on over to see what was happening with the road construction.  We are thankful that we are not included in that mess this year.

We are at the old corner and ahead is the new corner.  This is the old Linnell School corner. 

There you can see the Smoky Hills in the background.

The driveway where I used to wait for the School Bus is on the left...where the tall trees are. 

I rode two different School Busses over the years...Ivan Siegford's bus that started at Shell Lake (picked up Susan, Carolyn and Mary) and then Jim Hind's bus that came from the prairie.  I think the bus switch happened about Grade Five as that is when the country schools up on the prairie were closed and all the kids either went to the Osage Schools for K-6 or Park Rapids 7-12...that would have been about 1961.  The old Linnell School that was on this corner was closed in the summer of 1957 when the new Osage School was built.   I was suppose to go to First Grade at the Linnell School since we lived so close I could walk to school...instead I was a bus student!  After the school was torn down it became a baseball field. 

 I most often read books or studied on the bus...sometimes in the winter I would draw on the frosty window if I was lucky enough to sit by the window....in later years I would play cards...four of us would sit on the aisle seats holding a book on our lap and play Whist on the way to school. 

Far Side

Wistful Wednesday : 1940

In the Spring of 1940 Far Guys Mom was teaching school.  She was married in the Fall of 1940..and I am not sure how much longer she taught school before they moved to Omaha.

I can document where she was because of this old newspaper article.

The school had four rooms and Far Guys Mom taught 36 students of the first and second grade that year in one of those rooms. This was their Arbor Day Celebration.  The young lad holding the tree in place is a neighbor.  When I found this old newspaper clipping I sent him a copy. (He was thrilled)  I also knew the boy holding the bucket, of course he was much older when I met him..he is now deceased.  I wish the article named the rest of the children pictured..but sadly it does not.

Now why am I showing you this photo..these are the two ladies who taught at the Linnell School together back in 1940 pictured in the newspaper clipping.  Mabel Olson on the left and Far Guys Mom at the end of the table. Pictured also is Far Guys Uncle Willard and cousins Tom and Tim.  I won’t even guess whose funeral lunch it is or whose 50th Wedding Anniversary it was..Tim would remember and he would also remember the year and probably what they served for lunch.  Some people have the gift of remembering some occasions better than others.  Mable looks like she is giving Tim the old schoolmarm  “what for”..and she might have been..she was his Aunt.  Sometimes family history gets complicated..but Mabel's brother married Far Guys Moms sister.  So both of the ladies pictured are the young men's aunts:)

Wistful Wednesday: 1940’s

Years ago Far Guys Mother grew up on a farm. Kitty corner from that farm was the farm that I grew up on..and there was a school in between both farms.  The school was on the corner.

This is The Linnell School in 1942.  ( the link will take you to another blog I wrote about this school)  This photo was taken way before I was born..see those trees in the background..that is where I grew up.

In the art of photo detecting there are always the W’s to consider. Who, When, Where and Why.

Who=this is Far Guys Mom. When? around 1940 perhaps a few years earlier..I wish I could date it exactly but I cannot. Where=on the farm that she grew up on..note the chimney of the school in the background. Why?  It looks to be the fall of the year..was she teaching then? or was this one of the last photos that was taken before she was married in October of 1940?  That is one snazzy dress..very floral.

I was surprised that there are so many pine trees in the background. I remember some pine trees in the pasture..but nothing like what appears in this photo.  Today that farm has very few pine trees..the little pines that I can remember planting and watering in the yard are long gone, my baby brother and I each had our own tree…later so did my other baby brother and my sister..their pine trees are still there.

Over the course of many years thing change. The school is no longer there.  Trees die and make room for more open pastures and for tall grass prairie.  The people that used to live there are either dead or live elsewhere. Only the memories in the form of old family photos remain.  I try to document the who, when, where and why as I go through these old photos.

I was not sure where this photo was taken..until I noticed the distinctive chimney in the background.  So now this photo has two of it’s W’s answered..the other two will probably remain unanswered. I am happy with what I was able to learn about this photo:)  

Wistful Wednesday : The Linnell School

The corner sits empty, the native grasses have taken over..it seems lonely. The tall posts are remnants of a back stop from years ago when we used it as a ball field. Before it was a ball field it was a school yard. I remember the sounds of children playing outside during recess and lunch. I lived just kitty-corner from the old school, I wanted to go to school there, I could walk all by myself. I was a big girl, and I had been there many times. Sometimes we would be invited over for a Christmas Party or a program, sometimes I tried to sneak over there by myself. ..school.. I just knew it was going to be a magical place and I was going to love it. Sadly they built a new school and I had to ride a bus. The old school just sat there. After it was closed..we were forbidden from going there..but on several occasions it was just too tempting. I remember how the building echoed inside because it was empty, and how the floor was littered with broken glass.. it was finally torn down.

This photo was dated 1942, I have seen this photo before, but do you see those trees over to the right of the photo..that is where I used to live. Holy Cats!! .. .Look at all the trees!  The school was built in 1911, and remodeled in 1927. It was closed in 1957.

Far Guys Mom ( Evelyn) age 8 and Far Guys Uncle (Willard) age 6 went to school there, they lived just across the road from the school. This photograph was taken in 1923, or 1924. I believe it to be a 1923 photograph of just the Primary Students..that year they had two teachers.. Mary M. Lymburner and Mrs. Smith. I have retouched this copy of the photo..it is still not in the greatest shape..I have marked it with two little red dots just for the purpose of identifying Far Guys Mother and Uncle. Hazel Graham age 6, Morris Stephens age 7, Harry Klarer age 7 and Earl McGrane age 7 could also be in this photo. People who I knew as adults..but are impossible for me to recognize as children. They all appear on the class list in 1923.

Far Guys Mom taught at this school in 1940 before she was married. I am not sure how many years she taught there. I do recall her telling us that her Dad would walk with her on winter mornings and help her start the fire in the stove. She is also listed as teaching there in 1949 she was married by then and she may have..that was the year she was pregnant with Far Guy, he was born in early 1950..so I suppose having a new baby put the cabosh on teaching. I wonder what she did with Far Guys sister Jan? Possibly she spent the day at her Grandma and Grandpas across the road:)