The Ancestors and Cousins of Tracy Lynn DeVault

Helen Clark Tranum was born on 13 October 1912 in Washington Co., Tennessee.^4,5,1 She and Charles "Toby" Nave were married after 1934.¹ She and Frank B. Howard were married after 1934.¹ She and George Colvin were married before 1955.¹ She and Frank DeVault Hannah were married on 26 July 1958 in Los Angeles Co., California.⁶ She died on 3 November 2001, at age 89, in Santa Barbara, Santa Babara Co., California.^5,1 She was buried in Monte Vista Burial Park, Johnson City, Washington Co., Tennessee.

Helen Clark Tranum had reference number 34004. She was enumerated on the census in Washington County, Tennessee (1930.) Her Social Security Number was 410-76-8406, issued: Tennessee, last residence: Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Co., California.⁷ After Frank's death, Helen remarried and moved to California. Other husbands attributed to Helen are: Charles "Toby" Nave and George Colvin.

GRAVE MARKER

HELEN TRANUM
COLVIN
OCT. 13, 1912
NOV. 3, 2001.

Citations

[S5655] Genealogy prepared by Dana Kapp (email address)
[S5416] Genealogy prepared by Carol Robertson White (email address)
[S10182] Obituary - Frank DeVault Hannah
[S1946] 1930 Census, Tennessee, Washington County
[S6417] Genealogy prepared by kappdl (Ancestry.com)
[S8902] Marriage Records - California, "California Marriage Index, 1949 - 1959" (Ancestry.com)
[S12399] Social Security Death Index, Source Medium: Book

Family Explorer

Doris Josephine Beasley^1,2

F, #33713, b. 27 December 1927

Parents

Father	Fisher Jones Beasley (b. 1892)
Mother	Armarilla Priscilla Fuller

Pedigree Link

Family: Walter White Hannah, M.D., (b. November 1923, d. 23 December 1955)

Son	Walter White Hannah, Jr.+
Daughter	Rebecca Ransom Hannah+

BASIC FACTS

Doris Josephine Beasley was born on 27 December 1927 in Franklin Co., North Carolina.^1,3 She and Walter White Hannah, M.D., were married on 8 July 1950 in Cabarrus, North Carolina.^4,5 She died in Still alive in 2014.⁶

Doris Josephine Beasley had reference number 34005. She was enumerated on the census in Franklin County, North Carolina (1930); Baltimore City County, Maryland (1940.) After Walter's death, Doris Beasley, a young and grieving widow, bundled up her two children and removed to North Carolina. Here she was blessed in another marriage to Thomas Lee Ross, Jr., a kind widower with children. [Married 28 Jun 1960.] The two formed their families and provided a loving, caring home for their combined family. Doris Beasley Hannah Ross is still living and residing in North Carolina. (From Carol Robertson White.)

OBITUARY - Mary Fuller "Jackie" (Beasley) Peterson (sister of Doris Josephine (Beasley) Hannah-Ross)

Mary Fuller (Jackie) Peterson of St. Marys, Kansas, peacefully passed away the way she lived her life, never bothering anyone, at age 97 on Tuesday, September 23, 2014, at the St. Marys Hospital. Jackie was born August 25, 1917, in Louisburg, North Carolina, the oldest child of Fisher Jones and Armarilla Priscilla (Fuller) Beasley.
After graduating in 1938 from the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina (now University of North Carolina at Greensboro) with a BS Degree in Secretarial Administration, Jackie worked for several years at Calvert Distillery in Baltimore, Maryland. On February 14, 1942, she married Bernard Francis Peterson. They resided in Baltimore for seven years before moving to a farm on the Vermillion River northwest of Belvue in 1949 to raise their large family. Jackie adapted to rural farm life where she and Bernard raised ten children. In 1991, Bernard and Jackie moved off the farm and resided in St. Marys.
Mrs. Peterson was preceded in death by her husband in 2011, her brother Fisher Jones Beasley, Jr. in 2007, her sister Rebecca Ann Simpson in 2009 and her granddaughter, Jill Peterson in 2013. Jackie is survived by her brother Robert Festus Beasley, Baltimore, Maryland, her sister Doris Josephine Ross, Black Mountain, North Carolina, and her ten children: Robert (Margaret) Peterson, Wamego; David (Mary Jean) Peterson, Wamego; John (Roxie) Peterson, Wamego; Michael (Linda) Peterson, Surprise, Arizona; Steven (Mary) Peterson, West Linn, Oregon, Dennis (Patricia) Peterson, Wamego; Anne (Kirk) Bradford, Marysville; Thomas Peterson, Emmett; Katherine (Max Alan) Hale, Salina; and Jean (Kevin) Gualtieri, Clayton, California. In addition, she has 23 grandchildren and 33 great-grandchildren.
Mrs. Peterson will lie in state after 4:00 P.M. Sunday, September 28, 2014 at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in St. Marys where there will be a Prayer Service/Rosary recited at 5:00 P.M.
Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 A.M. Monday, September 29, 2014, at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, St. Marys. In lieu of flowers the family suggests memorial contributions to the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and sent in care of Piper Funeral Home. Inurnment will be in Mount Calvary Cemetery, St. Marys at a later date. Online condolences may be sent to www.piperfuneralhome.com.

OBITUARY - Thomas Lee Ross, Jr. (second husband of Doris Josephine (Beasley) Hannah-Ross, Davidson College newsletter; Davidson, NC; Summer 2006; Internet:

Thomas Lee Ross ’36 died May 6, 2006, at Northeast Medical Center with his family by his side. A lover of fine music, art and food, Mr. Ross slipped away as his children helped him eat strawberry ice cream. Mr. Ross had been a resident of The Pines at Davidson for four years. Mr. Ross grew up on West Depot Street, what is now Cabarrus Avenue. President of student government at Concord High, he was a graduate of Harvard Business School and remained close to Davidson and Harvard throughout his life. He generously supported the classical music radio station WDAV. He traveled throughout the United States and Europe became a lover of the Ross and Leslie tartans. He was with a Concord group attending the 1939 World's Fair in New York when RCA demonstrated a new technology—television—for the first time, broadcasting a speech by President Roosevelt. A skilled amateur tennis player and golfer, he competed in events at the Cabarrus County Country Club and attended the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open tennis tournaments. After graduate school, Mr. Ross worked as Mr. C.A. Cannon's personal assistant. In 1949, he joined Cabarrus Bank and Trust Co. and became bank director, vice president and trust officer, president and trust officer, and chairman in 1972. After the bank's merger with Northwestern, Mr. Ross was regional executive vice president until his retirement in 1984. He stayed on as chairman of the local Northwestern board. He served as president and director of the Cannon Foundation and was an active member of the Concord Rotary Club and a deacon and elder at First Presbyterian Church. He received an honorary doctorate from Barber-Scotia College and the Wingate Medallion from the trustees of Wingate College. He was preceded in death by an infant son, Marshall Dean Ross, and by his first wife, Jane Capus Ivey. Survivors include his wife, Doris Ross of Davidson and seven children: Elizabeth Jane Ross Bare of Concord; Thomas Lee Ross III of Blowing Rock; Leslie Calvin Ross of Raleigh; Rebecca Hannah Patten of Concord; Walter White Hannah of Concord; David Fuller Ross of Black Mountain; and Laura Ross Loehr, M.D. ’89, of Durham; nine grandchildren: Elizabeth Warren-Mikes of Chicago; Adelle, William and Hannah Ross Patten of Concord; Caroline Ross of Charleston, S.C., and Hadley Ross of Washington, D.C.; Laura Hannah of Swannanoa and Ross Hannah of Raleigh; and Millicent Loehr of Durham; and one great-granddaughter: Caroline Elizabeth Mikes of Chicago.

Citations

[S1837] 1930 Census, North Carolina, Franklin County
[S2177] 1940 Census, Maryland, Baltimore City County
[S2753] Birth Records - North Carolina, Birth Indexes, 1800-2000; (Ancestry.com)
[S5416] Genealogy prepared by Carol Robertson White (email address)
[S8979] Marriage Records - North Carolina Marriage Records, 1741 - 2011 (Ancestry.com)
[S11253] Obituary - Mary Fuller "Jackie" (Beasley) Peterson (Sister of Doris Josephine (Beasley) Hannah-Ross)

Family Explorer

Rebecca Ransom Hannah¹

F, #33714

Parents

Father	Walter White Hannah, M.D. (b. November 1923, d. 23 December 1955)
Mother	Doris Josephine Beasley (b. 27 December 1927)

Pedigree Link

Family: William Bradford Patten, Jr.,

Son	William Patten
Daughter	Hannah Ross Patten

Citations

[S5416] Genealogy prepared by Carol Robertson White (email address)

Family Explorer

Walter White Hannah, Jr.¹

M, #33715

Parents

Father	Walter White Hannah, M.D. (b. November 1923, d. 23 December 1955)
Mother	Doris Josephine Beasley (b. 27 December 1927)

Pedigree Link

Family:

Daughter	Laura White Hannah
Son	Ross Hannah

Citations

[S5416] Genealogy prepared by Carol Robertson White (email address)

Family Explorer

William Bradford Patten, Jr.^1,2

M, #33716

Parents

Father

William Bradford Patten

Pedigree Link

Family: Rebecca Ransom Hannah

Son	William Patten
Daughter	Hannah Ross Patten

Citations

[S5416] Genealogy prepared by Carol Robertson White (email address)
[S12452] U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 1 (Ancestry.com)

Family Explorer

Ernest J. Stone¹

M, #33717

Pedigree Link

Family: Rebecka Wagoner

Son	John Wesley Stone (b. 27 February 1893, d. 1943)

BASIC FACTS

Ernest J. Stone had reference number 34009.

Citations

[S6659] Genealogy prepared by M. Rebecca (Margheim) Jamison (email address)

Family Explorer

Rebecka Wagoner¹

F, #33718

Pedigree Link

Family: Ernest J. Stone

Son	John Wesley Stone (b. 27 February 1893, d. 1943)

BASIC FACTS

Rebecka Wagoner had reference number 34010.

Citations

[S6659] Genealogy prepared by M. Rebecca (Margheim) Jamison (email address)

Family Explorer

Marion Malone Smith¹

M, #33719

Pedigree Link

Family: Mary Frances Hawkins

Son	Henry James "Jim" Jones+ (b. 28 January 1889, d. 24 March 1976)

BASIC FACTS

Marion Malone Smith had reference number 34011.

Citations

[S6659] Genealogy prepared by M. Rebecca (Margheim) Jamison (email address)

Family Explorer

Mary Frances Hawkins¹

F, #33720

Pedigree Link

Family: Marion Malone Smith

Son	Henry James "Jim" Jones+ (b. 28 January 1889, d. 24 March 1976)

BASIC FACTS

Mary Frances Hawkins had reference number 34012.

Citations

[S6659] Genealogy prepared by M. Rebecca (Margheim) Jamison (email address)

Family Explorer

Henry James "Jim" Jones^1,2,3

M, #33721, b. 28 January 1889, d. 24 March 1976

Parents

Father	Marion Malone Smith
Mother	Mary Frances Hawkins

Pedigree Link

Family: Helen Wilma Marker (b. 4 November 1904, d. 8 April 1949)

Daughter	Phyllis Jean Jones (b. 16 March 1924, d. 24 February 1997)
Daughter	Wilma Maxine Jones+ (b. 28 May 1925, d. 27 May 1988)
Son	Frank Duane Jones (b. 25 November 1926, d. 28 June 1987)

BASIC FACTS

Henry James "Jim" Jones was born on 28 January 1889 in Tom Nolen, Choctaw Co., Mississippi.³ He was born about 1894 in Kentucky.² He and Helen Wilma Marker were married in 1922 in Great Bend, Barton Co., Kansas.³ He died on 24 March 1976, at age 87, in Great Bend, Barton Co., Kansas.³ He was buried in Great Bend, Barton Co., Kansas.³

Henry James "Jim" Jones was also known as James Robert Smith.³ He had reference number 34013. He was a Laundry - home (1930.)² He was enumerated on the census in Barton County, Kansas (1930.) His Social Security Number was 510-34-0516, issued: Kansas, last residence: Great Bend, Barton Co., Kansas.⁴ From Rebecca (Margheim) Jamison:

I knew Grandpa Jones very well. He was a very nice, gentle, loving, kind, generous man. He was a good business man, good parent and grandparent. I tell you that for a reason. He married Helen Marker and had three kids, Phyllis (my step-mother), Maxine and Frank. My brother and I grew up with Maxine's kids---school, work, play, etc. I roomed with Maxine's oldest daughter in college our first year. We knew Jim Jones's oldest daughter from a previous marriage. She was our Aunt Katherine. The family called her "Kak". She was a frequent babysitter as we got measles, mumps, chicken pox as children. Katherine was married to Homer Dyer and lived later in Oklahoma, where she died in 2000. Katherine had 4 children and one of her grandchildren (Pat Milburn) shared this story with me a few years ago.
I always wondered who Katherine's mother was, but never asked. Just didn't think of asking! Can you imagine that? I kind of grew up in a household (like many did) where you didn't ask about certain things. And my mom said many times, "It doesn't matter where you came from, what matters is what you make of your life." It was obvious she was not going to talk about ancestors. My mom, Phyllis (Jones) Margheim (actually she was my step-mom), raised me and my brother and was married to my dad for 47 years. She died in 1997 and I started doing family research in 2000. Katherine died in 2000 and, when her daughter and granddaughters were cleaning up her house to sell it, they found papers, letters, photos, etc. in the bottom of a laundry basket that was full of clothes!
So here is the story: Henry James (Jim) Jones was born James Robert Smith. He was born in French Camp, Choctaw County, Mississippi. He was married to a woman named Minnie Kite and had a daughter they named Gladys. Evidently Minnie was a very mean, abusive (maybe even crazy) woman. I don't know the details, but, when Gladys was about 7 or 8, James took her away from Minnie--slipped away in secret---maybe during the night---and left the state. Keep in mind this was 1920 or so. He let Gladys pick a new name and she chose Katherine. She also chose her birth date. He changed his name to Henry James Jones. I think he picked that name because it was very common in that part of the country. At some point his brother Ephraim left too and changed his name to Hamilton Henry Jones. I don't know their trail, but I sure can't find them in any 1920 census. Dad says he remembers hearing that they went to Arkansas, but somewhere (maybe in a census) I read that Katherine said she was born in Illinois. Henry and Katherine settled in Great Bend, Kansas. Here Henry married Helen Wilma Marker and had 3 more kids and they raised Katherine. That's why, in the 1930 census, now living in Great Bend, Kansas, he says he was born in Kentucky. He's not telling the truth because he was "in hiding" from the family of Minnie Kite. Even in Katherine's obituary, it says she was "Raised by Jim and Helen Jones". Still keeping the secret.
Pat Milburn sent me lots of copies of letters Helen wrote in later years to Katherine and many photos of Jim Jones throughout his life. Even one of him and Minnie with Gladys/Katherine on Minnie's lap. I had never seen photos of my mom (Phyllis) before her high school graduation picture! We don't who all knew this story before Grandpa Jones or Katherine died. It seems the family must have known it and that's why they discouraged any talk of family history. Anyway, Pat Milburn says this is our family's "Alias Smith and Jones" story.

Citations

[S5255] Genealogy prepared by Barbara Henkle
[S1691] 1930 Census, Kansas, Barton County
[S6659] Genealogy prepared by M. Rebecca (Margheim) Jamison (email address)
[S12398] Social Security Death Index, Source Medium: Book

Family Explorer

Unknown Hebard¹

M, #33722

Pedigree Link

Family: Unknown York

Daughter

Marian Alberta Hebard (b. 16 January 1946, d. 22 January 1988)

Citations

[S2777] Birth Records, California, California Birth Records (Vitalsearch)

Family Explorer

Ernest Ludwig Margheim¹

M, #33723, b. 8 August 1921, d. 13 May 2014

Parents

Father	John Ludwig Margheim
Mother	Amalia Koleber

Pedigree Link

BASIC FACTS

Ernest Ludwig Margheim was born on 8 August 1921 in Wakeeney, Trego Co., Kansas.¹ He and Phyllis Jean Jones were married in 1951.² He died on 13 May 2014, at age 92, in Canyon City, Fremont Co., Colorado.²

Ernest Ludwig Margheim had reference number 34015. World War II, U.S. Army.¹ Ernest was first married to Ruby Nadine Flanders.

Ernie Margheim: I'm a Kansas native but moved to Colorado 10 years ago to be near my daughter and grandson. I retired as a Comptroller of a meat packing plant after working at the same plant for 54 years. I wish I could go to college and major in the sciences. Since I can't I just read about everything on the internet. I LOVE the old Western Music so I listen to it a lot. I love classical music and listen to it too.

Note from Ernie's daughter, Becky Jamison: In 2007 Harold J. Rutherford published his book "Dust, Wind and Tears: Life on the Great Plains in the 1920's, 30's, and 40's". It's a collection of personal accounts from the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. Ernie contributed his story to the book. It was published by Ten Mile Publishing, 9740 Peacock St., Federal Heights, CO 80260-5749. These posts are excerpts from Ernie's story.

ERNIE'S JOURNEYS
I'm a Pilgrim passing through this life for the past 90 years. Here are stories of my journey down the Sunflower Trail.

Entertainment

We didn't have electricity or radios at our house. Television didn't exist then. We had to entertain ourselves by pitching horseshoes, horseback riding, playing marbles, playing hide and seek, and flying kites when I was small. In the summertime baseball was quite an entertainment, not only for the players, but also for everyone who had gathered to watch the games. Most of the time games were played on Saturday or Sunday afternoons.
My dad and his brother loved to "noodle" for fish. They would wear shoes and bib overalls to swim and go under the water along the banks of these streams. In many places the streams had eroded away some of the bank and some tree roots extended out into the water. Sometimes the holes would go back into the bank among the tree roots and some large fish would go into the holes head first. The fellas quietly slipped up along those banks and, with their hands and arms, reached in to see if they could feel a fish. They tried to grab for the mouth and gills and pull them out. They were quite successful doing this, and would often come up with some huge flatheads (like a big catfish) or even channel catfish.
I was along one Sunday afternoon when they were all noodling on the Smoky Hill River. My Uncle Emil Koleber reached into one of those holes beneath the riverbank, and a snapping turtle grabbed and bit into one of his fingers. Snapping turtles have a reputation of being able to bite hard. Uncle Emil came right out of the water and they had to cut the turtle's head off to free his finger. The first joint of Uncle Emil's finger was disfigured for the rest of his life.

Life on the Farm in Dust Bowl Days

Mom pulled fine feathers called "down" off the breasts of our live geese and made pillows and filled them with the down. They were much softer than our mattress ticks that were filled with corn shucks. Every year we dumped out the old shucks and filled the tick up again with fresh corn shucks.
In the 1930's it was very hot in the summer during the wheat harvest. We used a header pulled with horses and also used a threshing machine part of the time. We pitched wheat by hand onto the conveyor belts to the thresher that was powered by a steam engine and huge, heavy canvas belts with a figure eight configuration. I was always fascinated by how it worked. Sometimes I got a ride on the water wagon that hauled water to the threshing machine. We usually had several watermelons floating in the tank to cool.
Dad used horses and mules to pull all our farm equipment. When the threshing crew went from farm to farm, they traveled as a crow flies. When they came to a fence, they pulled the staples that held the wire fences in place and stapled the wires on the post next to the ground. When they had moved all of the machinery through the fence, they put the fence back where it had been. Sometimes this saved many hours and many miles, moving the equipment directly through the fence rather than on the roads. Every year the same farm hands came to work in the fields. Even their sons and daughters that were married came back for the harvest. It became like a family reunion. We kids had to set out the laundry washtubs with clean water so the farmhands could wash up before the meals. We looked forward to those meals because they had goodies that we usually didn't have.
We didn't have sheds to put our farm machinery in to get it out of the weather, so we parked them alongside the closest field. During the sand and dirt storms, our farm machinery would be completely covered up. The seat and handles usually showed, but sometimes the only way to find them was digging into a mound of sand.
Where the Russian thistles blew up against the barbed wire fences, the sand would drift up 'til only the top wire of the fence showed. Sometimes the top of a fence post was all that showed. We could walk right over the top of the fences where the sand had settled as berms along the fencerows.
I don't know how many years the dust storms lasted, but some days it would be nice and sunny in the morning, but pretty soon a red cloud would drift in. It didn't blow, it just drifted or rolled in and sometimes black clouds came in from the northwest and it would become dark out by noon. Mom tore old white bed sheets in strips to push in the cracks around the doors and windows. It still got hazy from the dust that permeated the air in the house.
Most of the time a wind would blow from one direction, then in another direction and the sand and dust covered our cow pasture 'til there wasn't anything left for a cow to eat. The pasture finally dried up and we had to sell some of our cattle to buy feed to keep the rest. Sometimes the sand would cover our Spring crop 'til it was ruined. There were times the soil around our corn would just blow away and leave the roots exposed.
Many cattle died from the dust. Some people developed dust pneumonia and eventually died as well.

Life in the 1920's and 1930's: Our Food Supply

On our farm we raised corn, wheat, milo, cane and cattle. We milked eight cows by hand and that was a chore! We bucketed calves and separated the milk by hand. We made butter out of the cream for our own use and sold the rest of the cream in town and fed the skimmed milk, mixed with bran, to the calves. We made cottage cheese out of some of the soured milk and fed the curd to the chickens and hogs. Each spring we raised 200 baby chicks for fryers and kept 20-30 laying hens for the eggs. As we went to town each week to sell the cream, we also sold a lot of eggs. Our geese and turkeys helped keep the grasshoppers down. Every Fall we sold all the turkeys in town, but we raised the hogs for our own needs.
Fred Michaelis, one of my uncles, farmed north of Susank, Kansas. He had a smokehouse that was about the size of a one-car garage. It really impressed me as a small kid to see hams and other kinds of meat hanging in the smokehouse.
South of the livestock water tank and windmill was our garden. The overflow from the water tank and windmill. The overflow ran down towards the garden along a fence where rhubarb was growing. We grew radishes, lettuce and peas in the early spring before it became too hot. We also raised turnips, sugar beets, carrots, parsnips, red beets, cabbage and tomatoes. Along the ditch that ran alongside the garden, we raised watermelons, pumpkins, cantaloupe, cucumbers and squash. Close to the garden we planted sweet corn for our own use.
Mom canned about everything, including apricots, corn, meat, pickled watermelon rinds and tomatoes. We pickled lots of the cucumbers and canned them in jars. Some vegetables were pulled and stored in the cellar. The cellar was half in and half out of the ground with dirt on top for the roof. It never froze in the cellar and never got very warm. Most of the winter we could go out to the garden and move the straw covering the carrots, parsnips, red beets, and turnips and have fresh vegetables.
We stored watermelons in the wheat, milo, or maize in the granary. They'd stay good 'til Christmas! We always had a large pile of potatoes heaped up in one corner of the cellar. They lasted all winter, even with our family of 5. Mom made fine cut noodles and we always had lots of fruit jars filled with cream. Mom used cream in everything she cooked!

Cooking, Sewing and doing Laundry in the Dust Bowl Days

Commodities
I remember those oblong baskets that we bought concord grapes in. Every year Mom made jelly from several baskets of grapes. We had to buy Sur-Jel to make the grapes gel. We kids had to wash our feet and then we put the grapes in large 8 gallon crocks and stomped the grapes 'til they were all mashed up. When we got out of the crock, our feet were purple for quite a long time.
There were several mulberry bushes and trees by the windmill. We used to climb in them and pick an eat the berries. We picked wild plums that grew along the riverbank and mixed them with mulberries and made wild plum jam. We made sauerkraut out of cabbage in 8 gallon crocks.
We bought Karo syrup in 1 gallon and 1/2 gallon buckets and used some of them for lunch buckets. They really worked great!
When we went to the store to buy commodities that we couldn't raise ourselves, we took our own jars and buckets to put the food in...foods like dried peas, corn, and various kinds of dried beans. Much of the food at stores was sold in bulk' most of the fruits and vegetables were dried. Mom, however, canned fruit, vegetables, pickles, and watermelon rinds in glass jars. She also canned tomatoes in half gallon Karo syrup buckets and sealed the lids on with a hard canning wax that melted with heat and dried hard when it was cold. When we opened the buckets, Mom took the hammer and broke the wax to get the lid off. After it was opened, we couldn't store food in the buckets until it was resealed again, as it would quickly become poisonous. We bought peanut butter in large jars and by the time we got to the bottom of the jar it was sometimes not too good!
Mom made her dresses and shirts for us kids. She also made our underwear on the sewing machine that was operated by a foot treadle. Mending was an ongoing thing. Many times Mom spent the evening sitting by a kerosene lamp mending out clothes or darning our socks. We kids wore bib overalls and Mom kept the old ones to make patches to mend our newer pants.
We had a small building called a washhouse where we did all our laundry. There was a small cast iron stove that would hold a big black iron kettle where we heated the water to do the washing. A little pile of corncobs and some coal were kept in the washhouse to heat the water. We ran our washing machine with a gas engine. Mom also used a washboard and scrubbed the extra dirty clothes. She then rinsed them in a tub of cold water, used a hand-turned wringer to get the water out of the clothes, and hung them on a line outside to dry.
The black kettle was used to make soap when we butchered a hog. We made the soap by cooking pork fat down to cracklings and mixed them with powdered lye.
Pork was a staple at many farm homes. Sausage patties were fried down and put in 8 gallon crocks and covered with lard. It kept very well then covered with lard. We ate a lot of pork. I especially liked spare ribs. Years later when my mother's brother died in Longmont, Colorado, his son said he died from eating too much pork!

Getting Ready for Christmas 2011

Last May I spent several weeks in the hospital and in rehab in a nursing home to recover from the effects of dehydration. Then in August I accidentally took an overdose of insulin, which landed me in the hospital again, as I fell during that experience and cracked my ribs in 14 places. Somehow I've made a complete recovery, tho I still have issues to deal with, but am feeling better than I have in several months.
Since I have daily visits from the super volunteers at Meals on Wheels, who bring my lunch Monday through Saturday, I am able to enjoy short visits with people. I live alone and don't drive, and that can get to be a lonely experience. My daughter Becky comes to my house to visit and help me with "chores" several times a week. And her husband Jamie stops by to do occasional repairs. This week Becky took me out on Tuesday morning to an appointment with my foot doctor. Then we went to the eye doctor where I got my glasses straightened, repaired and cleaned. After that she took me to get a (she said a badly-needed) haircut. Well, you hate to get all dressed up with nowhere to go! So after all those appointments, we went to lunch! It was a lot of fun...being out and about and visiting. We even saw Christmas lights in the daytime.
I'll be getting out next weekend as I go to Becky's house to celebrate Christmas eve with our family. I'll ask her to take pictures and share them here, for all my friends to see.
As I always say in my emails "Thanks for listenin'"!

I Don't Like Cold Weather

One way to keep our memories alive, according to Humorist Will Rogers, is to talk about the weather. I find it hard to understand how we can have CLEAR SKY, bright SUNSHINE B-U-T it is cold! I mean BELOW FREEZING. It did not quite make the forecast of 3 below last night but +2 is still cold for me. I NEVER did like cold weather. When I was age 11, we were poor. School was a mile across a pasture. My younger brother, age 9, was in the hospital dying. Mom sat with him. Dad had to feed the cattle for the folks he worked for.
In our family were twins Leonard and LaVerna, age 3. We lived in the hired hand 4 room house. It was COLD and had snowed that night, and I set out to walk to school. I got about half way and my ears, feet and hands were getting numb. I was crying and found myself a snow drift that had one of those curved tops, probably six feet high. I snuggled up out of the wind for a few minutes, then I finished walking to school. I got there late, stumbled into the one room country schoolroom - half out of it. The whole class was disrupted from my entrance. The male teacher tended to me and revived me. I remember that day crystal clear. After school a family came to pick up their kids and they took me home. That was the coldest I had or ever have been. This was in about 1932 or 1933.
My brother did die from pneumonia. It was an era when the Depression had just started. We had been share croppers in Trego County, Kansas (rural WaKeeney). We had hail, 11 inch rains, etc.
Dad had to take Bankruptcy. We moved to Mom's brother Fred Koleber's, who lived near Eaton, Colorado. After my brother Alfred died in 1933, we moved back to Barton County, Kansas. Fred Michaelis financed us to get re-established. His wife, Eva (Margheim) was my dad's oldest sister.
Shortly after that, 1935 the Dust storms rolled in. But we survived.

Merry Christmas 2011

Dear friends and family,
Merry Christmas Everyone! Yes, 2011 has nearly expired to make room for another year. Looking back over past decades with nostalgia, I'm flooded with memories (I'm 90 years old—celebrated August 8th) of past experiences. I lived through the Dust Storms of the 1930's, the grasshopper plagues, and jackrabbit drives. That brings us up to WW2. In my Army years we crossed the Atlantic on the original Queen Elizabeth ship to England in preparation for the June 1944 Normandy France Invasion via Utah Beach. Our unit joined General George S Patton's third army across France. December 1944 Battle of the Bulge from Belgium, Luxembourg, across the Rhine River into Germany. I served as an interpreter for our unit, since I spoke German from childhood. May and June found us near the Czechoslovakia border. We returned to camp Lucky Strike—France to board a Kaiser Liberty Boat (ship) for bumpy ride across the Atlantic, with ocean waves brushing over the front deck next to our escort of Porpoise with their rhythm. We rode on the deck by the rail, feeling so sick! Then back to my job for 54 years at Thies Packing Co., highlighted in November 1947 with the birth of my twins—Becky and Dennis. The Lord has blessed me with great family and friends. Becky is employed as the Parish Administrator of a church and Dennis retired from the Army, now full time organist at Western Hills Methodist Church, El Paso, Texas. His wife Marie serves as a Major in the US Army at Fort Bliss.
I am doing fine. I made a couple trips to the hospital this year, but with good medical care and lots of hard work, I've recovered from a bout of dehydration and 14 cracked ribs. My meals are delivered by Meals on Wheels, so I have daily company in my house! My daughter Becky and her husband Larry Jamison look after me. I lean on them quite a bit.
This is a summary of life in Canon City, Colorado. Happy to be healthy and wishing each of you a joyous Christmas and prosperous New Year. Stay in touch. Oh by the way, if you have a computer, visit my blog "Ernie's Journeys" at http://erniemargheim.blogspot.com. I'd be very happy to hear from you (email me at erniemargheim@gmail.com). MERRY CHRISTMAS!

OBITUARY - Find-A-Grave

Ernest was born the first son of John L and Amalia (Koleber) Margheim. He loved Western Swing music and performed with guitar and vocals on Radio KVGB in 1939-1941 as "The Sunflower Wrangler". He was employed 54 years as Comptroller of Thies Packing/Great Bend Packing Co. in Great Bend. Ernie was a very loyal and gracious man who had a burning desire to learn. He attended college at age 78, researched extensively online and at age 89 authored his blog "Ernie's Journeys" where he shared his memories of life in western and central Kansas. Gardening was his lifelong hobby and Ernie served extensively in community organizations and in his church. He was a Controller for Theis Packing Company and Great Bend Packing (54 years) between October 1941 and December 1996.¹

Citations

[S6659] Genealogy prepared by M. Rebecca (Margheim) Jamison (email address)
[S4980] Find A Grave (Internet), Source Medium: Book

Family Explorer

John Ludwig Margheim¹

M, #33724

Pedigree Link

Family: Amalia Koleber

Son	Ernest Ludwig Margheim (b. 8 August 1921, d. 13 May 2014)

BASIC FACTS

John Ludwig Margheim had reference number 34016.

Citations

[S6659] Genealogy prepared by M. Rebecca (Margheim) Jamison (email address)

Family Explorer

Amalia Koleber¹

F, #33725

Pedigree Link

Family: John Ludwig Margheim

Son	Ernest Ludwig Margheim (b. 8 August 1921, d. 13 May 2014)

BASIC FACTS

Amalia Koleber had reference number 34017.

Citations

[S6659] Genealogy prepared by M. Rebecca (Margheim) Jamison (email address)