After discovering genealogy I asked both grandmothers to write down some of their memories, and they did.
Grandma Ruby Emma (Blohm) Neal wrote mostly topic by topic, but she also gave hers a title: From Prairies to Plazas–from Meadows to Malls. She grew up in town, but became a farmer’s wife. From her memoir:
The Farmer’s Wife’s Work
“Don’t ever complain how hard you have to work. I have done washing for 6 on the board [washboard]. I have gone to the barn and chored alone when the snow was so deep you couldn’t see the fences–dug corn out of a frozen pile in front of the crib and carried it across the lot to the bunks for the cows.
“I have milked summer and winter and once in the summer I milked 18 cows alone [by hand]–some were nearly dry and some were fresh. [Farmwives didn’t do this work alone unless her husband was working somewhere else and couldn’t get home.] We had an awful good cow when we lived south of town. You could put the chains on her [to keep her from kicking or knocking over the pail of milk] but when you got ready to take them off–watch out, as she would kick the daylights out of you.
“I have shoveled off big loads of cobs, on a boarded up hay rack, into the basement [usually through a basement window]. I have unloaded coal and wood, also. I have picked up clean cobs in the lot, enough to keep the fire going all winter, except when some coal was added to held the fire. Some of the cobs, coal, and wood was carried up the basement steps to the kitchen. The ashes were carried outside. Thus, the energy cycle was complete.
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“One fall, Dad [her husband, Kenneth Neal] picked up 100 tons of pumpkins that they had planted in with the field corn, and he hauled them to the Canning Factory in Dexter, to be canned. [Kenneth’s dad, O.S. Neal, did the hiring for the Dexter Canning Factory, and also contracted with farmers to raise sweetcorn and pumpkins.] This was a bonus as we had a good corn crop that year anyway.
“Dad thought I should help him pick corn, but one time out and I lost that job. . .”
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Here Ruby Neal introduces her memoir. Her Grandmother’s Aprons story.
Farm wives worked very hard. My mom was a farm wife.
I’m the first generation not on the farm. When I watched Mom sew up a baby pig (whose mother sow had stepped on it) in the back room, I decided I didn’t want to marry a farmer!
Indeed a farmer’s and farmer’s wife’s work was never done, and hard at that. But it was that hard work that shaped the values they had. My grandfather and dad worked a dairy farm together. No vacations on a dairy farm. Those cows had to be milked! When his father retired, Daddy couldn’t run the farm by himself, so he went into carpentry and masonry work. Required to work for him in the latter anytime we weren’t in school, I decided it was too hard and went into something less physically taxing–teaching–and found out that mental work can be as taxing as manual labor!
You’re so right, Dennis. Did those cows need to be milked twice a day? (Manual labor is also harder on a bad back.)
The original American Gothic!
Grandpa even mugged for the photo!
What wonderful memories of your grandmothers! This is so precious.
Thank you, Lisa. All five of my books are about my mother’s side, so it’s been fun to feature Dad’s side!
I’ll bet your grandmothers didn’t look at their hard work as anything extraordinary. It was the common work ethic of the times.
I bet you’re right, Pete!
What a story. Took me back to my days with a farm. Milked at 6:00 AM and 6:00 PM seven days a week. Births and deaths and hard work in between. One vivid moment was walking a goat post-surgery until the anesthesia wore off at midnight.
You grew up on a farm? Milked by hand or machine? Oh, the poor goat, and you! When I watched Mom sew up a baby pig in the back room, I decided I didn’t want to marry a farmer!
Wow, Ruby was a very impressive woman! I loved hearing about the life of a farmer’s wife in her own words.
Especially since she grew up as a town girl, my only grandparent to finish high school.
Good point!
No one knows how to work like that any more.
I bet you’re right, GP!
I loved her telling about her days and work in her voice! Wonderful story and photos.
Thank you, Eilene.
Your grandmother wrote down her farming processes very well, Joy, and the pictures are great! My paternal grandparents were farmers, but didn’t write about their processes.
When I got started in genealogy, I read a book that suggested asking older family members to write their stories. Both of my grandmothers did! I transcribed them long ago to share with cousins, but am enjoying them again, thankful for the book that suggested it!
😍
Ruby Neal’s details about her work day was impressive. There certainly was no time to be sick or tired! 🙂
You’re so right, Nancy!