_Samuel BRATTON _____+
| (1801 - ....)
_William B. BRATTON _|
| (1836 - ....) |
| |_Mary BROWN _________
| (.... - 1846)
|
|--William Clyde BRATTON
| (1879 - 1965)
| _____________________
| |
|_Hannah C. MILLER ___|
|
|_____________________
__
|
_CAPT FOZZARD _______|
| |
| |__
|
|
|--EDWIN FOZZARD
| (1868 - 1944)
| __
| |
|_DIDIA MARIAH DAVIS _|
|
|__
[1701]
Note age is 101 years.
= = = = = =
Alice May Mathews Wolfe
by Charity Wolfe Clement
November 27, 1980
(Written in honor of Mom's 90th birthday)
THIS IS YOUR LIFE
It was the year 1890! It was Halloween and on the Mathews Hereford ranch at Kinsley, Kansas, a "Blessed Event" occurred. Alice May Mathews was born!
She spent her early years there on the ranch where prize winning Hereford cattle were bred, raised and sold. The cattle were shown at Fort Worth, Kansas City, Chicago, and at the National Western Stockshow in Denver. They won many blue ribbons and G.L. Mathews is listed in the Cattleman's Who's Who at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C..
In those early days, the house didn't have a bathroom. When the child was yet tiny, Grandma Mathews told how she came into the house one day and said there was a "wat" out there. Not being able to understand what the child was trying to say, Grandma followed her to the out house and found a big snake coiled inside.
One of the joys of Alice's childhood was her tree house. A big tree grew close to the kitchen with large, low, spreading branches. With a little help from her father, she constructed a tree house and enjoyed many happy hours there. I have often heard her say how much she missed it when her special branch had to be sawed off to make room for the new house to be built.
She was taught to read and write at home by her father. After his long day with the cattle and hired hands, he would take the little slate and chalk and teach her her numbers and letters and how to read, write and spell. When she was about eight, she began to attend a near-by country school and completed the eight grade there.
She attended high school by driving a horse and buggy five miles to and from Kinsley every day. She always had to cross the Santa Fe railroad tracks to get into town. A fast passenger train came through just about the time for her to be crossing the tracks. A daily ordeal was to try to beat the train so it wouldn't frighten the horse or else if she was a little late, have to wait for the train, hold the horse and then be late for school. She graduated from high school in 1909 in a class of six girls and one boy.
After two sessions at "normal" school (something like our junior college) she passed the test and received a teaching certificate. At the age of 18 she took the job of teaching a country school with thirty-two students. The thirty-two students encompassed all eight grades. She taught for three years at number thirteen near Lewis, Kansas.
Lewis is nine mile east of Kinsley - a long way by horse and buggy. When she wanted to go home for the week-end, she rode in the caboose of the local freight train know to the town folk as "jerky" because it was so rough and slow. She boarded at the Williamson's in the very house where Jack and Dosca live now. After a time a tall young man in the neighborhood who had formerly attended that school became aware of the attractive young teacher. They began to be seen together; attending pie socials and other events about the neighborhood.
I've heard this anecdote referred to more than once. I shall refer to the tall young man and the attractive teacher as Mom and Dad. There was another teacher from another school boarding at the same place Mom stayed. She too, had a young man. Dad had one of those high, noisy, new fangled machines called automobile. The other young man drove a horse and buggy. If both young couple were out on dates and Dad and Mom got home first the second young man couldn't get his horse to come in the yard. On the other hand if the horse and buggy couple got in the yard first and Dad roared in, in his noisy car, it would cause the horse to become frightened and bolt. Even then, young love as never smooth.
When Dad wasn't driving the car, he roared about the countryside on his motorcycle. I'm told he had a side car and at times Mom rode with him. Though he had a side car he never liked it, because it created a "side drag". At times Mom was persuaded to ride astride. I've even heard they raced the Santa Fe Flyer - and won! One time they got into some loose sand and took a spill. Fortunately neither was injured - only embarrassed. They brushed each other off and decided not to mention the incident. When they walked into the house, Mom's younger brother looked at them with a critical eye and said, "I'll bet you took a spill!". You can't get away with a thing around young brothers.
In the winter of 1914, Mom was attending dressmakers school in Kansas City. The tall young man arrived in town and on December 15th they were married. They spent one winter managing the ranch so Grandma and Grandpa Mathews could travel. For a time they lived at the Grandpa Wolfe home near Lewis.
February first, 1916, the first child was born, a son, at Axtel's hospital in Newton, Kansas. Meanwhile, feeling the need to become independent, Dad had made a trip to Colorado on the motorcycle. He paid $1800 for a quarter section of land east of Flagler and the young couple prepared to move west. A sturdy barn and small house were constructed. The house and all other buildings are gone but the weathered barn and the windmill still stand. Dad hired a young man to drive a team of horses with a wagon load of supplies from Kansas. He arrived safely having camped out along the way.
The horses have long since expired. The wagon with the original paint, and the harness are still stored at Josh and Ruby's. Most of their possessions came in a railroad car. Half the car being taken up with Mom's horses and cattle. The other half was filled with machinery and household goods. Dad came in the railroad car. Mom and Jack came a little later by passenger train.
They had ambitious plans for raising an orchard, raising a big garden and selling vegetables, planting and raising crops. That first year was harsh! The fruit trees didn't grow, it was too dry to plow and put in a crop, every drop of water had to be carried to the garden. I've heard Mom say when they finally got a garden hose, she considered it her biggest luxury. That first year, the only produce they sold was 75 cents worth of green tomatoes.
Early on, Mom started raising chickens. It was discovered that the building site was in the middle of a prairie dog town. Not only were there prairie dogs but also rattlesnakes and owls. The owls loved to feast on baby chickens. Dad had insisted that Mom know how to use the shot gun for her own protection as she was often alone. She didn't like to shoot and never had the slightest intention of using the gun. One day having seen an owl devour a little chicken and the seeing three owls calmly sitting on garden posts eyeing more, she got mad! She got the shot gun, loaded it, took aim, shut her eyes and pulled the trigger. When she opened her eyes, one owl was on the ground - the other two still sitting. She reloaded and got number two. Number three took off and she shot at him too but only got a puff of feathers. At least two owls never ate any more chickens. Congratulations Annie Oakley Mathews Wolfe!
In March 1918, Mom journeyed by train back to Axtel's hospital in Newton, Kansas. On March 23rd, I was born. After her confinement, she stayed for a brief time at Grandpa Mathews and then she and I came back to Colorado by train to joining Dad and Jack on the little farm. My earliest memories begin at out "Little house on the prairie." It only had two rooms and now four of us were living in it. I remember the owl incident. I remember a time in early winter we had a terrible blizzard. Dad was away with a thrashing crew and got snowed in. Mom had all the choring to do alone. The hose froze up and she had to drag it into the house to thaw out so she could water the stock. The drifts got so high we couldn't see out the windows and Mom had to light the lamp in the day time. Dad finally got home, having walked all the way from town.
There were very few cars in the neighborhood. Duncan Farr, a college boy, who lived on a ranch on the river east of us, had a Model T Roadster. Every day or two in the summer time he would go by our house to town. When Jack and I would hear him coming we would run out doors or around the house to see the car. Even Mom would step to the window, and Jack and I would say, "There goes Dunc!"
On a cold November day in 1920, it did seem something unusual was taking place. The bed was moved to the kitchen, chairs were lined up out of the way, the doctor was there and while I don't recall the actual event, Opal was born. Now there were five of us living in two rooms. There was no electricity, every drop of water had to be hand pumped and carried in and when used carried back out - only a cook stove for cooking, baking and warmth. Often we burned cow chips. After Opal was born, Mom bought a second hand, hand powered washing machine at a country sale. Before that all laundry was done by hand on the board.
After World War 1, Land prices boomed. Dad was offered $50.00 an acre for our quarter section. He said that was twice what it was worth and he took it. The original purchase price was $11.23 an acre. He sold it for $50.00 an acre. You probably would be laughed out of town if you offered $200.00 an acre for it now in 1980.
With the sale of the land, Dad rented "The Ball" place about a quarter of mile south. It had no electricity or bathroom but it had two bedrooms, a front room and kitchen and it seemed quite luxurious until Mom discovered the house was infested with bed bugs. She spent weeks painting and fumigating to get rid of those bed bugs. It was there we got out first battery powered radio. It was one of the first in the community - a Crossly, with a big metal horn for a speaker. How excited we all were when Dad brought it out from town! There were A batteries and B batteries and a storage battery. A wire aerial had to be run from the house to a big pole Dad put up. Dad put it together and wired it up and we got surprisingly good reception from WLW in Cincinnati and Henry Field in Iowa. When neighbors came in for the evening, listening to the radio was the evenings entertainment.
One February afternoon in 1922, Mom told me I could spend the afternoon at the neighbors. It did seem a bit unusual but she got me ready and Dad took me over. I enjoyed their petting and pampering all afternoon. When Dad came toward evening and took me home there was a new baby. Ruby had been born.
Mom continued and expanded her chicken business. Each year she raised several hundred fryers which were sold sometimes in Flagler and sometimes shipped to Denver. The females were kept for egg production. Three times a day in summer, Mom mixed up ground wheat and bran and clabbered sour milk and sent us children with pans and buckets of the mash to the various coops and pens and flocks to feed and water the chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese. Dad took a picture of Ruby when about two and a half or three years old sitting on the ground with a pan of mash feeding the little geese.
One afternoon in the summer of 1924, a dreadful, vicious, black rolling cloud appeared in the sky. Dad and Jack had the team and hay rack at the north place to get a load of hay. Just as they pulled into the yard with the horses running, it started to hail. Dad unhitched and he and Jack and the horses fled to the barn. It was the worst hail I ever remember. It broke all the windows on the north and west side of the house, the garden was laid bare and several hundred of Mom's young chickens were either drowned or killed by the hail. We brought quite a few in and tried to revive them by the fire. I remember how Mom cried when the effort was futile.
On the morning of July 31st, 1925, I was a sleepy head. Everybody else seemed to be up. Opal came and shook me awake saying, "Hey, Mom's got a baby!" Betty had been born. Betty had a truly distinctive feature. She was the only one who had red hair. Now there were seven of us living in four rooms.
About 1928, the folks brought "The Nielson Place." It was one mile east and four north of Flagler. It was considered a well improved place in those days. There was five rooms, well built house though still no electricity or bathroom and a good set of out buildings.
Bob was born here on a cold, snowy day the first of November, 1929. Mrs. Page, our neighbor to the east, rode double on a horse behind her husband to come and be with Mom for the event. We children were at school. There was so much snow on the ground, the doctor didn't arrive in time for the delivery. Mrs. Page obviously did well. Bob trove and grew to manhood.
It was here we survived the depression, drought and the dust storms. There was very little money, crops were blown out and blown under. One year when I drove the tractor for what we called harvest, the wheat was making five to seven bushels per acre and sold for 37 cents a bushel. We survived on Mom's chickens, the cows we were able to keep and the garden we were able to raise. When the well nearly went dry, Dad and Jack hauled water in barrels from mud holes in the pasture to water the garden.
One Thanksgiving stands out in my mind. It was a pleasant day in November - quite warm and sunny. We still had corn in the field on the east place. After breakfast, Mom stuffed a chicken and put it in the oven to roast. Then all of us rode in the wagon (that same wagon driven from Kansas) over to the east place. Dad started the team down the rows. Betty, being the youngest, rode in the wagon. Ruby was next to the wagon where she could throw the corn in easily. According to age each kid took a row to pick. Mom came next and Dad took two rows on the outside. With each one picking his row and in Dad's case two, we cut quite a swath down the field. By noon we had a load and rode home on top of it. How good that chicken smelled as we came in the house!
In August of 1934, Billie was born. He was the one who hemorrhaged through the cord. He had lost considerable blood before it was discovered that he was bleeding - in fact he seemed cold and listless. Mrs. Howard, the lady taking care of him, put him in the oven of the cook stove to warm him up. Mom still has the same stove in her home now.
In 1934, we moved one mile south to the Kliewer place. Here we had a large two story house, four bedrooms and at last, electricity, running water and a bathroom. Such luxury! There were many out buildings and a large garden.
When Billie was about two, Mom suffered a severe case of mastoiditis. She became so ill, she had to be taken to Denver to the hospital for a week or so. At the same time, Billie was suffering from an ear infection. This was before penicillin and Opal and I spent most of one night walking the floor with Billie because he was in such pain he couldn't sleep.
Farming continued to be discouraging. In 1938, Dad bought the place which Ruby and Josh now own. I didn't help with the moving. I was in nurse's training in Colorado Springs. Mom didn't help with the moving either. She was in the hospital in Denver having required gall bladder surgery. Dad, Jack, Opal and Ruby managed with the help of the younger ones, the horrendous task of moving the entire household, chickens, turkeys, cattle, the dog and all the farm machinery. I'm told when they arrived in Elizabeth, the cows were afraid of the trees and wouldn't leave the barn. Ruby said the kids all pleaded to sleep in the same room the first night because they were all afraid too.
In November of 1941, Mom saw Charlie and me married in the home at Elizabeth.
In the spring of 1942, she saw Jack leave to enlist in the Marine Corps, where he served a tour of duty in the South Pacific during World War II.
While living at this place, she saw Betty, Bob and Billie graduate from the Elizabeth High School. Betty earned a scholarship and attended college at C.S.U. for a time. Later, she took some nurse's training at Denver General Hospital.
Bob worked on the farm and by the time he was twenty one, Mom saw him and Sylvia married at the church in Elizabeth.
She saw Billie enlist in the Army and serve a tour of duty in Korea.
In 1958, Mom and Dad moved to the home Mom had purchased in town. Even there she continues the chicken business and raises a garden. It was there she nursed Dad through his last days until it was necessary to move him to a nursing home where he passed away.
Mom's life has been a lesson of thrift, industry, and management. She used the skills she learned at dressmaking school to make clothes from flour sacks, feed bags, Grandma's discards and hand-me-downs. Through it all she taught each of us girls how to sew.
Mom used her teaching skills to tutor each of us through the early ABC's to high school subjects. She had the set of encyclopedias which she bought when she was teaching. It helped us with our papers and projects all through school.
From our earliest days, we always had music in the home. Dad could play the guitar. It was Mom who bought one for him when we still lived in that little house on the prairie. Later, she bought a second had parlor pump organ at a sale. Jack and I both had lessons on that organ. About 1930, finances were pooled, Dad made a trip to Denver and a piano was purchased - the same piano Mom has in her home now. Most of us had some piano lessons. Ruby says she had three. Most of us learned to play a second instrument and were able to take part in high school band and orchestra. To this day we all enjoy singing together.
It was Mom who looked after our religious instruction. At an early age she started reading the Bible stories to Jack and me. When we could, we went to Sunday School and church. If we didn't go, she often taught the lessons at home. Later on she read the Bible stories again to Opal and Ruby, Betty, Bob and Bill. Of her it may be said; "Her children rise up and call her blessed."
Mom, we couldn't all be here on your birthday to sing "Happy Birthday", so we would like to do it now.