Sunday, 21 June 2009
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Day of Rest
What is rest?
Sundays make me wonder. If I took off and said I'm going to the lake to rest in the shade, there is that element who would be afraid my Sunday is not so spiritually spent.
But if I say,"Yes,I'm having three tables of company for dinner after church", this is doing my duty.
I love taking off to rest in the shade. Hosting a houseful of friends or family is another kind of pleasure.
Today was the Sunday for company. Lisa and the boyfriend deigned to spend time with the family today so we gathered at our house for dinner. The other ladies brought food too, it was all very uncomplicated.
Lisa grills an outstanding chicken and Joan makes a scrumptious butterfinger dessert. The rest of us filled in with the other items.
Freeman is doing his wonderful fatherly duty by splashing with the children in the pool on this 100' afternoon.
Harvest is over for our family crew. A feeling of accomplishment but there is that adjustment as Freeman goes to work again and I have to corral the boys.
Here's a total ,different subject.
Last evening the girls and I took a quick jaunt to our church cemetery a half mile from here, in search of several names I was pretty sure were there. We found these two.
Today at dinner,I asked my FIL, the local historian, about them.
"Oh yes", he said. "They lived a mile west of here, down the road from your parents." And I know exactly where he means.
Then he proceeded to tell us how Solomon Detweiler lived a quarter mile from the corner. The mail carrier didn't come up to his lane so he rigged a pulley to pull his mail box to the corner and back so he didn't have to run down there every day.
If he was so ingenious, it would be interesting to know what kind of things he fixed up for his wife.
So many stories of things that happened right here.
I love stories from the past. Sadly, there are dozens of old homesteads that are no more. It's tough to eek out a living here. As people moved out, the old places were deleted for farmland. On the section we live on there are three houses. Two on our road and one on another. The other two miles have windmills which tells you there used to be something there.
The three headstones in the front row tear my heart every time I see them. Those parents buried a baby in 1909,1910 and 1911. So many babies didn't make it in those days.
I think, 110 years ago, Salina Detweiler was sweltering in the afternoon heat of a Sunday afternoon. I wonder what she served for dinner.
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Comments (8)
WOW!!! You did it!! Thank you!! I really appreciate the photos of the headstones. And your comments were so sweet. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
I find the history in cemeteries fascinating, too. I love the stories from long ago, just like you. Even though I don't know any of the people you mentioned (or their families), I found this post and pictures SO INTERESTING!!!
Margaret - you think a little bit like I do! I often wonder and imagine what may have occurred on these few acres we now call home -- did Indians set up camp here? It wasn't known as a battlefield, but people in the subdivision have found buttons from Civil War uniforms -- did soldiers camp here? I know Revolutionary soldiers camped about three miles from here -- well, Lafayette and his troops did, and then the next night Cornwallis and his troops camped in the same place, chasing Lafayette but a day behind him. And when I go to Williamsburg I imagine what it must have really been like living in the days leading up to the Revolution. And then to live through the Revolutionary War. And on our recent trip to Israel, imagining what it must have been like to hear the Master was coming, the crowds that followed Him, etc. It becomes more than just a "this is where such and such happened" to my eyes seeing the places and totally imagining David hiding from Saul in the En Gedi, or a large group of Israelites traveling from Jericho to Jerusalem for the feasts, traveling in large groups for protection from the thieves and robbers who waited in the hills. etc., etc. Walking in all that heat through the mountainous desertland.
Imagining what it must have been like for my great-grandmother traveling from PA to Kansas City with several little ones in tow and her husband back in PA settling the sale of the property. And then after he met them in KC, moving on to OK in a covered wagon and setting up housekeeping in a sod shanty -- which was nicer than some shanty's because they had rugs she wove on her loom and was able to carpet the bare floor!!
And I, too wonder what Salina was doing 110 years ago. Had her husband been injured yet? Was she trying desperately to keep gangrene from setting in? Did she fear it would be a losing battle? And on top of all that worry, trying to keep her household together. She had 9 children at the time, the youngest was 7 months old (born Nov. 23, 1898), the oldest would have been 21. Between a son born in 1891 and the last one in 1898, she lost a little girl at 3 months, another little girl at 4 months, and another little girl at 5 months. Then she had the little boy in '98. After that she lost another little girl at 5 months -- so that's four little girls in nine years. And then to top it all off, losing her husband -- the ingenious one! Thanks so much for the pictures and the images it all brings to mind.
I ask the same questions, how did the people who lived on this proberty in the late 1800 and early 1900 make it. Some places here in Missouri didn't get electricity until the 1950's. That's only 50 plus years ago. How did they preserve all the food. I was talking to Jims's Grandma before she died and asked her these things. It was great. They canned enough for two years every year in case one year the garden or fruit didn't give it's bounty. Her sisters would help and her mom would say The girls are really able to help now and next thing they got married. So I guess the girls got married really young back then grandma died at the age of 93. I spent more time with Jims' grandma then mine. My grandma died at the age of 96 and she died over 25 years ago. My parents are 12 years older than Jim's parents. So I didn't really get to know my grandparents. getting to ask the history. Now mom and her younger sister are the only ones left of here side and my dad and his younger sister are the only ones left. Love listening to your family history and how people lived without the air conditioning and the internet. God made man smart enough to be able to land on the moon but can't solve simple things like welfare and teens having babies. Godl bless each of you ..................Dawn
@militarymomof2 - Sometimes I think my gardening is more playing around than anything. If something doesn't grow we can always get by. Still, there is a satisfaction and security in knowing how to grow our own food. The children grow up learning how to do it and some day it could be valuable knowledge.
And we can imagine what those women of a couple generations ago were doing and relate!
I am making a bread and butter pickle as I type this. I would be lost without my pressure cooker, use it for everything instead of a water bath. Have a great day. Glad I have an air conditioner. Dawn
Very Interesting!! Did you know I have a sister buried there also? She only lived 6 hours and her name was Letha Ann. She was born between Paul and I. There is a cute, little ,pink gravestone with a sheep on it where she is buried.
Love your quilt on the wall!! I have one on our living room wall!
What rich history lies beneath the surface of a cemetary. I have always enjoyed the peace of walking through a cemetary and reading the very old headstones. It can be like seeing the links of a family through the generations....and the endurance, perseverance and simple plain faith our forefathers and mothers who settled the wilderness areas had to have just to survive is difficult to imagine living in the blessed times we do today.