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.