November 15, 1998
Earliest Recollections
Since I was born in Hillsboro,
Wisconsin Aug. 10, 1930 and my brother was born in Sturgeon
Bay, Wisconsin Dec. 25, 1932; I am not able to put some
of the things together date wise or where, but one of
the first things that I can remember, is my dad putting
me in the crib and he sang a song which I can still
sing, and the last line said, "and rock my poor baby
to sleep." Then he blew out the lamp and left. The thing
I remember about this, is the feeling that I had been
abandoned and I was unable physically to do anything
about it. I thought he had left forever. I have no idea
how old I might have been, but the memory is still very
vivid.
Another thing that I remember
was a dress that was white with what looked like little
tic tac toe design. The design was red and the lines
that went vertical went beyond the top and bottom, in
an uneven pattern and the horizontal lines went right
also in an uneven pattern, and there was a little red
rose in the corner left by the lines. When I drew a
picture of it one time, my mother told me I had outgrown
that dress just before I was two.
The next recollection would
have been some time after that. We were living with
my Aunt Margaret & Uncle Lawrence Wood at Globe, Wisconsin;
while my parents were looking for a farm near Neillsville
or Willard, Wis. My aunt said we were going to have
company for supper. She served canned apricots for supper
and I thought that was company. I really don't remember
if we had anyone else there or not. I just remember
the taste of those apricots and I sure thought company
tasted good. To this day when I eat canned apricots,
I am reminded of that time.
My next recollection was
of a walk through a woods with my dad and we came upon
a bird nest on the ground that had about a dozen white
with brown speckle eggs in it. My dad let me look at
the eggs, but he wouldn't let me touch them. Years later
when I mentioned this to my dad his reply was, "You
can't remember that you were only two," because that
nest was on the property that he was looking at to buy;
which later became the farm I grew up on. I had to laugh
when he said that, because my reply to him was, "If
I'm not supposed to be able to remember that, how can
I be telling you about it?" The farm was purchased when
I was two years old.
I remember a little about
when he built the house. The county made a road for
us and when the road was made, the house sat right in
the middle of where the road should have gone. My dad
had miscalculated as to where the property line was
and got the house too far to the North. Of course the
second house was built to the Southwest of this house
and then they finished putting the road in.
While we lived in the first
house my dad worked away from the place as I mentioned
in another place. After a time he purchased a cow, and
I remember my parents laughing, because they had a halter
for a cow and now they had the cow. Sometime later they
purchased another cow. So my dad no longer had to carry
milk home for us. Since this was wild area and we had
no fields cleared yet, my parents would go to a near
by swamp and cut the grass by hand, bundle it and then
they would pile it in stacks near the barn (shed) that
my dad had built for the cows.
Some time later the fellow
who my parents were purchasing the farm from (John Seif),
came to see us. He told my dad that if he wanted to
get the deed for the farm he would take one of the cows
for full payment and a clear deed. So my dad told him
to go take his pick of the two cows. The fellow didn't
take the best one either. So that Christmas my parents
hung that deed for eighty acres, on the Christmas tree.
The summer while we had those two cows, we had a terrible
drought and my parents carried water ½ mile from a spring,
to water the garden. We had a beautiful garden and mom
canned a lot of vegetables from it. She also picked
and canned wild black berries without sugar, as they
couldn't afford that much sugar at one time. So we would
put sugar on them when we ate them. Also that summer
because it was so hot and dry, I remember the cows standing
under a shade tree with their tongues actually hanging
out. If my recollection serves me right that was the
summer of 1935. We would drive or lead them down to
the spring three times a day instead of two, just to
give them water.
Another memory I have is
when we lived in this first house, again I don't know
the date, other than we moved out of it when I was six;
but my parents had gone out with an ax and a crosscut
saw to cut down some big trees. The main part of the
tree was used for lumber and the branches for firewood.
My brother and I had been left in the house and it was
winter. I found a pencil and I decided to stir the fire
in the cook stove with this pencil, in the process I
dropped the pencil and I couldn't get it back out and
I remember watching it burn up. I was afraid to tell
my parents and so I put the lid on the stove and decided
to go out were my parents were cutting down this tree.
There was deep snow on the ground and I was trying so
hard to walk in the tracks left by my parents, but their
steps were so far apart and the snow was so deep that
I had a lot of trouble and fell a lot. I was nearly
to the spot where my parents were when my father spotted
me. My dad let out a yell, because the tree they were
cutting was notched to fall right where I was, and it
had already made the cracking sound that trees make
just before they fall.
My parents stopped sawing
my dad came running, and my visual recollection of this,
was my mother standing on that side of the tree, trying
to hold that big tree up. Well, as you can tell I made
it and I wasn't hurt in any way, but I'm sure my parents
must have about had a heart attack. As for the pencil,
my parents found the metal that held the eraser and
did a lot quizzing as to how that pencil top got into
the ashes. Back then we didn't have pencils lying all
over like we do today and so they had missed it, and
looked for it. My dad thought maybe it had gotten in
with the wood somehow and I just let him think that
it had. As I look back it was lucky I didn't set the
house on fire. My brother and I probably wouldn't be
here today, had that happened.
Below is the pattern I described
earlier of the design in my dress that my mother said
I out grew before I was two years old.
School Days
and School Trips
I attended a one-room country
school. In the township of Seif, in Clark County, Wisconsin.
We never had more than 14 students in grades one through
eight. Some grades had only one student. I happen to
have three in my grade until seventh grade when one
moved away.
Our school day began at 9:00
am with the pledge of allegiance to the flag. We then
had singing acappella, since the school didn’t have
any instruments. Most of our songs were from The Golden
Book of Favorite Songs. Which were mostly religious
and patriotic songs; plus songs like Old Folks at Home,
Flow Gently Sweet Afton, and Way Down Upon De Sewanee
River, to name a few.
After our singing we would
have reading for the little people. The teacher would
ask the first grade students to stand. They (if there
was more than one) would stand beside their desk and
wait until the teacher said ’pass.’ They would go to
the front of the room near to the teacher’s desk and
be seated in chairs. They would then read out loud and
many times another student in the next grade up would
assist with the hard words; after the student had tried
to sound it out by himself. After the first grade students
were finished they would ‘stand pass’ back to their
seat and the next class would be called upon in the
same manner.
After the third grade finished
the first three grades were dismissed for recess. On
most days recess meant going out to the playground to
swing or play tag. No, they weren’t supervised. In inclement
weather we would play in the entry to the school or
in the basement. We happen to have a walk out basement.
Next came arithmetic. Again
the students were called upon in the same manner with
‘stand pass’ to go to the front of the room. The black
boards were behind the teacher’s desk, where they would
do problems on the board after handing in their assignments
for the day. When finished they again would ’stand,
pass’ to their seats and the next class would be called
upon in the same way until all remaining classes were
done. The remaining student were given a fifteen minute
recess also, then the bell would ring.
Following recess was spelling
time. The classes were allowed to stay in their seats
and write their spelling words, as the teacher would
pronounce them and use them in a sentence. Usually classes
were combined such, as 5th and 6th grades would be together.
We then exchanged spelling books with another student
unless you were the only one, and the usually the teacher
or student would spell the word aloud and we would correct
each other’s work. I might say at that time it was not
my best subject. After spelling, we had geography and
then it was lunchtime. Everyone carried his/her own
lunch usually in a tin Karoä syrup pail. Only rich ones
had regular dinner pails as they were called. Yes, dinner
was at noon.
We had an hour at noon and
as soon as we were finished we could go out and play.
We played ‘work up baseball’ a lot of the time, we played
‘Pump, Pump Pull Away’ ‘Red Rover’ ‘Prisoner’s Goal’
and in the winter ‘Fox & Goose’ in the snow, plus a
lot more.
After lunch, we had art,
and a lot of times we would have a radio, which was
tuned to Wisconsin School of the Air. There would be
a story, and then we were to draw pictures about the
story told on the radio. Some times we studied painting
and the life of the artist that painted them. Some I
still remember studying were, ‘Pinky’ ‘Blue Boy’ ‘Boy
With The Torn Hat’ ‘The Gleaners’ ‘Mona Lisa’ to name
a few. Some of these were done via the radio and some
the teacher would read about. The lower grades would
then have coloring and they would have to color pictures
in the colors it called for, which was a hand, eye,
and reading Skills. While the little ones were coloring,
the upper grades would then ‘stand pass’ by grade for
their reading and history classes. We also had a subject
called agriculture. We lived in a strictly farming area,
so it was to taught to boys and girls alike.
We had a mid-afternoon recess
like in the morning, depending on which classes were
taught first. The classes in the afternoon were sometimes
switched around. At 4:00 pm we were dismissed to walk
home. Everyone walked home except the Oldhams and Weisners
as they lived too far, so the parents would take them
to and from school each day. We had no buses and I believe
the State or County reimbursed the Oldhams for transporting
the children.
Our big events for trips
were held in the spring. Early in the spring we would
all go to Neillsville for ‘Grain Judging’, which consisted
of many different seeds in little containers and we
had to judge whether or not the seed was Grade A B C
etc. We had to look for weed seeds mixed in, cracked
seeds, color of the seed etc. There would be about 5
dishes each, of 7 or 8 grains. All the schools in the
county did this. While one school was judging, the other
schools got to tour the Court House, the Bank, the Creamery,
News Paper Office, and various stores. This was really
exciting for us, we even got to hold a hundred dollar
bill at the bank, we got to see fossils at the courthouse
and at each place, and someone explained the operation
of the place. We were then given a lunch, after that
we attended a movie. After the movie the county winners
of the grain judging were announced. They received war
stamps good toward war bonds.
Another outing we had was
also early in the spring, at Vic Counsel’s place right
next to our school. He tapped Maple trees and made maple
syrup. He had a long roof over the vats. The vats had
fire under them and the Maple sap was being boiled to
get the moister out until it turned into syrup. Those
vats looked awfully big to me and almost scary with
all that syrup boiling. We got to taste the sap and
watch them collect the sap, from the pails hanging on
the trees. The sap was put into a bigger container on
a sled, pulled by horses. Some of the trees would have
as many as 4 pails hanging on them.
There were a lot of other
interesting things we did in school, which I have explained
in another story.
Some
time ago, I had a good hit when searching for some
info for someone else. I thought I would tell
you about it. I'm sure some of this info is
old, and you had mentioned that it might work into
the Clark Co. history since my mother lived most
of her married life there. So if you can use
any of this go ahead, and if you wish to reword
it to fit better go ahead.
My Mother, Mabel
(Braunsdorf) Wood
My
mother’s father, Albert Braunsdorf was a captain
on a ship on the Great Lakes. I often heard
my mother tell of her experiences on that ship.
Her mother was the cook on the ship and my mother
often told of sitting on the deck and throwing rock
over the side into the water.
When
my mother was 7 years old, a circus train pulled
into the town where they were docked. Someone
tried to kidnap my mother at that time. So
the gangway was pulled in due to the scare.
My grandfather had allowed the rest of the crew
to go ashore that evening. In the night the
ship caught fire and no one could get on board to
wake the family. So they threw stones on to
alert them. My grandfather being very near
sighted, grabbed his glasses in one hand and his
shoes in the other. He didn’t remember that
he had sent the crew ashore the night before and
was on his way to the other end of the ship to save
the crew. He sat down under the burning boom
to put his shoes on, not seeing the danger.
The boom burned through and fell on him. It crushed
his skull and broke his leg. He also had numerous
internal injuries. He was taken to a hospital
and his leg was amputated. He lived six weeks
with his brain exposed.
My
grandmother had asked him where he wanted his leg
buried, and his reply was Clay Banks Cemetery, which
is where he also is buried.
As
I was going over this information in my mind, I
began to wonder about all of this I decided to do
a search to see if I could find the name of the
ship and where it may have been docked at the time
of the fire. I struck out the first few tries
and then I decided to enter “Great Lakes Ship Braunsdorf”
and I got a hit. Someone told me the ship’s
name was ‘The Adriatic’ and is preserved in Bowling
Green, Ohio and even gave me the site so I could
get a picture of the ship.
I wrote
to the site at Bowling Green, trying to find out
more of the details about it. They in turn
sent my query to Madison, WI. Madison in turn
sent my query to a person called Ship Nerd.
He in turn sent it to a fellow in Sturgeon Bay,
who is presently under contract with Amazon to write
a book about the Adriatic. I have exchanged
many e-mails with this fellow and he has called
me on land line numerous times. He has sent
me news clipping of the event and has requested
pictures for his book. He is a writer and
a reporter and has a column in the Sturgeon Bay
paper. He put one of my letters in the Sturgeon
Bay paper and I have received mail from a relative.
My
great grandfather had a lot of property up in the
area of Sturgeon Bay, WI and this fellow sent me
plat maps of all the property. There is even
a beach called ‘The Braunsdorf Beach’ and is still
called that today.
After Clark County, Wisconsin
This isn't
really a Clark County picture; but I decided
to include it anyway.
This is the
OPA ceiling prices
that was posted in our cafe, at New Auburn,
WI.
My parents
purchased this cafe when they left Withee, in
1946. Just enjoy the prices and moan a
little.
Elaine (Wood)
Greene/Jenson
