I Remember
By
~ Ina G. Morgan ~
I was born Feb. 14th, 1894 and grew up in Lewistown, Ill. In Fulton County. As a child, way back then, the neighboring children got together and made our own entertainment; there were no T.V., radio, movies; occasionally a circus came to town which was really a highlight in our lives. I remember our “gang” getting a show together made up of memorized poems, songs and whatever came to our minds. Once, one boy blackened his face with a burnt cork, to resemble a colored boy and sang “Way down Upon the Swanee River”. We charged a pin for admission; it was a lot of fun then.
Another outstanding occurance, was about once a year my Mother hired a surry from the livery stable and my three sisters and my Mother and I drove eighteen miles to the small town of Summum, where my grandparents, Comingore by name, lived. My grandmother baked bread for the whole town of about 150 people there; she baked at least 100 loaves a day and sold it for 10 cents a loaf. My Uncle Jim and Aunt Lizzie lived with my grandparents, they were never married. My grandfather was a blacksmith and was busy shoeing horses, repairing harness and wagon and buggy wheels, etc. I liked to watch his work with his anvil where he heated pieces of iron red hot, then pounded them to shape whatever they were to be used for. My Aunt Lizzie helped with the housework. Uncle Jim had later taken over the blacksmith business; he owned one of the first Edison Victrolas, or, the cylindrical record players, as some called them and we spent hours listening to Sousa’s marches and other musical numbers. My Uncle was a real good baritone player and played in bands in several different towns close by. Concerts on Saturday nights was one of the big attractions during the summer months.
My father was a carpenter by trade; he was deaf and my mother talked to him by sign language, making the alphabet with her fingers; she was real fluent doing this and could make her fingers fly. I learned to make out words but was real slow. My father died when I was eleven years old, after that I was on my own. I helped several families at different times. I could peel potatoes, wash dishes and that sort of thing for 50 cents a week.
When I was thirteen my mother remarried. My stepfather owned a number of ranches in Idaho and so on a Thanksgiving Day in 1907 we boarded a train in Galesburg, Illinois which is about forty miles from Lewistown, Illinois. There were no dining cars then so we took a ½ bushel basket of ham sandwiches, fruit, cookies and everything that would keep awhile. There was a pot-bellied stove at one end of the coach where we sat. It was quite an experience! We were on the train a week and were stopped two or three times; once there was a rock slide and we had to wait until a relief crew arrived to remove the hugh rocks so we could move on. Then we were held up again when part of the track was washed out. We were crossing the Rocky Mountains at that time; there was a hairpin curve where we could look out the window and see the engine and the caboose at the same time. Travel was real slow all the way. We saw real Indians; the squaws had their babies in a blanket strapped on their backs. They were all dressed in Indian garb. We stayed overnight in a hotel. The town of Stites was on the edge of the Snake River. The next day we took a stage coach and had to cross this river. It wasn’t very wide, but had a swift current. Four horses pulled the stage coach and had all they could do to pull us across the river. We learned later that two men had drowned while trying to cross the river just the day before. It was very rough trip of 18 miles through rough mountainous roads; the stage coach bounced from one side to the other; we could hardly hold on. We stopped at a ranch that belonged to my stepfather’s son, and stayed overnight, and the second day were on our way again for another 18 miles to Lewistown, Idaho, where we were to make our home. While there I started walking to the mountains which looked close; but when it began to get dark I thought I had better start back. I found out that the mountains were 70 miles away.
Our stay in Idaho was a short one. Things didn’t work out and on Christmas Eve we were back in St. Paul, Minnesota.
After this episode, I spent ½ term of school with my cousin and her husband; the next 4-5 years I lived with a family by the name of Worley and it was here that I learned good manners, housework, sewing and was baptized in the Presbyterian Church in Lewistown, Illinois. This family was very good and helpful to me and were an influence on my future life.
I graduated from high School May 17, 1912. two summers before graduation I spent in Michigan caring for two little girls five and six years old, who were living with their grandparents who spent their summers at Wequetonsing, Michigan. It was here that I spent a day visiting Mackinac Island; this is something I will never forget. We took a tour of the island. We had to board a ferry boat from Mackinaw City to the island. No cars, even now, are allowed on the island. This was a great day and cost all of $6.00 which was given me by my employers.
There are just a few of many things that happened to me which I remember while growing up.
~ Ina G. Morgan ~
Story Submitted and Courtesy of
~
Sandy Liddle Meacham ~
Note From
Sandy Liddle Meacham
Ina G. Morgan was the grandmother of Sandy's Husband
Roger Meacham
