THE PICKERING FAMILY

LIFE IN SHERWOOD FOREST, CLARK CO., WISCONSIN

Excerpt from Lloyd D. Pickering's Family History (pg. 28 - 58)

(This is a copyrighted work and the following is presented with the author's permission, given prior to death)

Part [1]  [2]  [3]  [4]

David Sparks, Myron, Dave & Earl Pickering

The grandchildren often gathered together in Nevins to play on the farm.  These were years of great delight.  Helen took many pictures with the use of  glass negatives.  Each of the families kept an almost identical album, but the one that was passed to Helen’s great granddaughter, Robin Selvig, had every photo identified, so we knew who these people were.

Edith’s children were Ward, Blanche, Irene and Byron.  Helen’s children were George and Bernice.  We will identify the pictures by the first names of the children.  Jessie was born in April of 1889, Ward in May of 1891, Blanche in July of 1893, Irene in November of 1895, George in June 1896, Bernice in November of 1898 and Byron later in November of 1898.  The children were close in age and played well together. 

Ward, Jessie, Bernice, George, Blanche,

Ireene & Byron

The family gathered together often and sang hymns in the parlor with the organ providing the background music.  Ward Wilson remembered well the good food and all of the good times they had together.

On December 31, 1902, Ona and Ernst Watts were married.  In the spring of 1903, they migrated to Omemee, North Dakota.  They hoped to get rich on the large wheat crops, but the crops never came.  They were the first family members to move so far away. 

Byron’s brother, Ephraim, was born in South Gibson, Pa., on February 18, 1829.  He was married to Mary Daniels on July 3, 1853.  On July 3, 1903, Ephraim and Mary celebrated their fiftieth anniversary in Plainfield, Wisconsin, with an elegant dinner and fireworks in the evening.  A Mrs. Elizabeth Messenger was present, a cousin whom Ephraim had not seen for fifty years.  Among those attending were Byron and Hannah Pickering of Neillsville and Marcus and Edith Wilson of Minneapolis.  Also in attendance was Robert Davenport Sparks, a Baptist minister.  Robert had married again on March 16, 1884.  His wife was Mrs. Margaret Wilson, whose husband had drowned in a shipwreck.   She was Marcus’ Wilson’s mother and grandmother to Edith’s children.  Thus, Edith’s children could visit two grandmothers when they came to Nevins.
 

Byron--Ephraim--Robert Sparks

Hannah--Mary--Maggie

Byron Wilson listed all of the names on the pictures in his album, so we also have him to thank for knowing who these people are.  Below the picture of himself with his Grandfather he wrote, “I want it!”  The children came often to play together at the Ranch House.  There was a lot of room on the farm for them.  The open fields must have provided plenty of opportunity for fun and games.  In the winter they could come and play in the snow and in the summer they could come and play in the pastures.

Dave Pickering

 On August 11, 1903, Eda and Dave became the parents of a baby boy, whom they named Leon Clarence.  He was a bright, curly-headed little fellow, who kept his mother on the go.  Eda’s sister, Ella, was now teaching at the Nevins school, which was just next-door, and she was boarding with Eda and Dave.  Leon used to slip out of the house when he could barely walk and go over to the schoolhouse to see Aunt Ella during school hours.  This proved somewhat disrupting for the classes, so Eda tied a rope around his middle and attached the other end to the back steps so he could be outside, but would be under control.  This was not entirely satisfactory because Leon would get to the end of the rope and cry for release.  One day, when he had exhausted himself in his frustrations, he lay down on the warm, sunny ground and went to sleep and then Eda took his picture.

Leon at the Nevis School House

  On December 30, 1903, Myron and Mary were blessed with the birth of their daughter, Edith Elizabeth.  They were extremely happy together, living in their little home.  There were now many little babies at the gathering of the family as they enjoyed a good meal around the old table at the Ranch and sang with the accompaniment of the organ in the parlor.  The living room rocked with songs and laughter.

The Pickering Parlor at Nevins, Wisconsin

There were still many good times among the families of the community.  There were lots of parties and fun times and they had outside activities in church and politics.  Pittsville Times—December 31, 1903—“The Program given at the Sherwood hall last Thursday evening was a grand success.  The evening was perfect, though a little cold and a large turnout was present, between 200 and 300 people.  The program consisted of recitations, songs and dialogues and two violin duets.  A solo, ‘Twas Christmas Eve,’ was sung by Miss Jessie Pickering and was exceedingly fine.  After the program candy and presents were distributed.  All reported an excellent time.”

Edith, Helen, Ona & Jessie

When it was no longer profitable for the big lumber companies to operate the mill, it closed.  After the closing of the mill, Byron and his sons, Myron and Dave, built a combination lumber, lath and shingle mill.  The logs and shingle bolts were obtained from their own land and also purchased from their neighbors.  Some of the neighbors were employed, giving them a chance to supplement their meager income.Pittsville Times--February 25, 1904—“The Pickering saw-mill is doing a good business this winter and having a large run.”  Ward Wilson wrote, “Until my grandparents moved from Wisconsin, I spent my vacations on the farm.  I would work, after the mill shut down for the day, cleaning saw dust from about the saws and, if the shingle mill was still operating, I would pack shingles with my Aunt Jessie.  One week I operated the mill engine.  Thus I would take home some spending money.”

The wedding of Allie Pickering and Dorcas Borgers, Mary’s sister, took place on August 24, 1904.  It was an outdoor wedding.  Pastor Longenecker performed the ceremony.  Dorcas wore a blue, heavy weave cotton dress with a choker neck and a separate waist and skirt.

Dorcas & Allie's Wedding

By this time everything was changing.  The couple knew that they were not going to stay at Nevins, so Allie and Dorcas did not build a house.  They chose an idyllic little spot and spent the first night outdoors under the stars.

Hanah, Jesse, Earl, Byron

On November 20, 1904, it was thundering and lightening as Dave said, “like sixty.”  Dave left the house long enough to hurry up the road to get his Aunt Bloomy Sparks to attend to Eda for the birth of their daughter, Darthea.  Aunt Bloomy stayed until morning.

Now that the mail route was instituted, Byron’s branch post office in Nevins was discontinued and the postal job that had been his livelihood for so many years was gone.  He farmed for a year after this, but he considered the land to be poor and unfit for farming.  The lumber industry was all but finished.  There was nothing to do but look elsewhere.

On April 24, 1905, Byron and Myron set out for Oregon to file claims for homesteads.  On the way Byron wrote a letter to Helen,

Arrived at Merrill all O.K. Boarded train for St. Paul and opened up lunch bag.  Conductor wanted to know if we were running a bakery or a lunch counter.   We told him we were going into Egypt to prepare for a famine.  We are running through nice rolling farming country although rather sandy with here and there a stone bluff.  Thirty miles from St. Paul.  Beautiful rolling prairie, soft mellow ground, not a rock bed.  Hope I shall never be tied to an old rock bed again.  We got our tickets from Neillsville through, $29.40.  We do not have to stay on our claim, only to choose and locate and pay $200.00 for the claim and go where we please.  I suppose I have forfeited a good deal of respect by taking this trip and perhaps have made more promises than I can fulfill, but shall do all I can to fulfill and hope for the best.  Helen, I send this to you as Ma will be with you soon.

Byron wrote again the next day,

April 25, 1904

Overnight at Minneapolis.  Good time.  Boarded Great Northern.  Open Prairie and prosperous looking farmers.  Our train of nine cars have been crowded all the way to Minot.   We left the train at Rugby intending to turn up to Omemee, but they told us we would have to wait twelve hours, so we went back to our train and went ahead.  Now at Wolf Point in the Badlands.  I guess by the look of the country some Ranchers and lots of Indians.  The pastures are brown and short as can be but the ponies and cattle look fine.  Now we are getting farther away from the Missouri River and it is fine looking country, but I suppose it is so dry that nothing will grow.  Will mail this at next stop.

Byron wrote to Edith later that same day

Past a piano box and shoebox as a family residence and a beer keg out back.  The shoebox is for a back kitchen.  Not room enough inside for a saloon so they keep two tumblers and a beer keg under the eaves.  About a dozen Chinamen on the train and they are gambling and smoking opium the whole length of the car.  Makes them boisterous.  Have seen some of the effects of irrigation, grass is green where there is water.  Myron just saw an antelope hopping away.  Rain turned to snow, looks like a settled storm.  Edith, will send this to you and you may forward to Helen.

In fact, they filed claims for all four of the boys for timberland in the mountain foothills near Roseburg, Oregon.  Byron wrote a letter to Hannah saying, “This is a beautiful country out here.  I talked with a man who is making railroad ties and he clears $6.00 a day.”

It was necessary for claim applicants to be present when filing, so Dave and Allie left for Roseburg, Oregon, in May of 1905.  Dave wrote home and spoke in particular of the trip from Spokane to Portland down the Columbia River.  He said, “We are gliding over one of the most beautiful countries in the world.  Oh, Eda, if we only had a farm here we couldn’t help but be happy.  Many were the young wives on the train going west to meet their husbands.  I asked one of them what her husband was doing and she said he was getting out telegraph poles and clearing five dollars a day.”

On May 16, 1905, Rex Albert was born to Allie and Dorcas in a small room in Nevins.  He was such a cute little boy that everyone loved him immediately. When Allie returned from Oregon, he knew that they were on their way somewhere else.  Ona was persuading them that there was a lot of opportunity on the plains.

Having filed his claim, Dave returned to Nevins to await the process of confirmation, which would take some time.  Back with his family again, Dave also had some misgivings about going west into the mountains.  He said years later, “There was beautiful timber in those mountains.  We finally arrived at the cabin of a settler, who was willing to take us to the section of country where our claims lay.  It was a steep, rough, rocky trail and, though there was a wealth of timber there, we could see that the job of getting it out of the hills would not only be extremely difficult, but so long and tedious a task that all of the profit would be absorbed in the process.”

Thus it was that the boys changed the course of the family history.  Dave decided a year later to move north to the property that he had purchased.  Myron and Allie moved to North Dakota to a claim not far from that of Ernst and Ona.  Byron and Hannah went to stay with Ernst and Ona and then established a claim near Fairview, Montana.  The area around Fairview became the home of five of the children--Myron, Ona, Earl, Allie and Jessie.  Edith stayed in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Helen lived for many years in Spooner and then Eau Claire, Wisconsin.  The closely united family went their separate ways.  Helen died Feb. 10, 1938 and Edith died Feb. 6, 1965.

THE FAMILY DISPERSES

In 1906, Byron and Hannah left Nevins.  It was a sad day because Byron was one of the “main stays” of the community.  He was an active member of the local-township and school boards.  When Byron went to town for supplies--sixteen miles--it was not unusual for him to return with ten one hundred pound sacks of flour and several large bags of sugar.  He was thus ready to supply his neighbors, whether they could pay for it or not.  Byron evidently went to spend some time in Kissimee, Florida and Hannah and Jessie stayed for a while with Edith and her family.

Then Byron, Hannah and Jessie went to Omemee, North Dakota, where they spent some time with Ernst and Ona Watts.  By this time Myron and Allie were also there with their families and Earl was there as well.  Byron and Hannah stayed in North Dakota for nearly a year before coming back to Nevins to gather up their belongings for the move to the claim in Fairview, Montana.

  On March 8, 1907, Byron and Hannah sold eighty acres to Charley and Jessie Pitts for $1600.  The sale was notarized in North Dakota.  This was the property on the east side of Elizabeth and David St. Germain’s home.  On March 26, 1907, Byron sold the Ranch and all of the property to L. G. Cornelius for $500.00.  This document was also notarized in North Dakota and witnessed by Sylvia and Ernst Watts.  It was sold so cheaply because there were liens and back taxes to be paid.

Pickering claim in Montana

  April 18, 1907—Neillsville Republican Press—Byron Pickering formerly of this town, is here packing his goods to ship to Montana where he has taken up a claim.

May 2, 1907—Sherwood News—Mr. Pickering left for Montana where he will make his home.

 Byron, Hannah, and Jessie then went to the claim in Fairview, Montana.  Most of the time they lived with Myron and Mary.  Later, they moved with them to Crane and lived there as well.  In September of 1916 Byron and Hannah celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary in Crane.  Hannah’s sister, Elizabeth, was there for the event.  By this time Ona and Ernst were also there and the entire families of Myron and Allie, so there was a great gathering.  The last year before Hannah died, the family was concerned because Byron had gone to Florida for the winter and left their Grandma at home.  She was very ill and the family wanted Byron to be there.  Helen went down to Florida and brought Byron back.  Hannah died in Crane on January 1, 1917.  Byron was visiting Cy and Helen in Spooner, Wisconsin when he died on January 11, 1920.  He was buried beside Hannah in the Pickering cemetery in Crane.  Their graves are now over grown with a giant lilac bush.  The stones read only, “Mother” and “Father.”  At the head of the family plot there is a large stone reading “Pickering.”

Hannah & Byron Pickering

50th Wedding Anniversary

In September of 1916 Byron and Hannah celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary in Crane.  Hannah’s sister, Elizabeth, was there for the event.  By this time Ona and Ernst were also there and the entire families of Myron and Allie, so there was a great gathering.  The last year before Hannah died, the family was concerned because Byron had gone to Florida for the winter and left their Grandma at home.  She was very ill and the family wanted Byron to be there.  Helen went down to Florida and brought Byron back.  Hannah died in Crane on January 1, 1917.  Byron was visiting Cy and Helen in Spooner, Wisconsin when he died on January 11, 1920.  He was buried beside Hannah in the Pickering cemetery in Crane.  Their graves are now over grown with a giant lilac bush.  The stones read only, “Mother” and “Father.”  At the head of the family plot there is a large stone reading “Pickering.”

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