A Peek Into the Past

I must admit I have some strange ways of entertaining myself. One of the things I LOVE to do is go through old pictures. Even though I’ve been through them many times over the last years, it seems that each time I look at them I make new discoveries.

In yesterday’s entry I told you about my maternal Grandmother’s family hiding from the Indians by submerging themselves in a slough and breathing through reeds until the Indians left. Below is a picture of that family taken a number of years after the incident, of course. That’s my Grandmother standing in back on the left behind my Great Grandfather.

Next is a picture of my Mother’s parents, Adam and Sophie, on their wedding day. Adam was married once before to a woman named Tilda who died shortly after they were married. Less than six months later he married Sophie. Apparently Adam was a mover and a shaker back then and wasn’t going to waste any time!

Through the years they had eight kids – six sons and two daughters. That’s my Mom on the far left with all the braids wrapped around her head. This was taken in 1918. My Mother would have been thirteen at the time. Look at the frown on my Grandmother’s face, and doesn’t it look like she’s lost all her teeth?

At the time the above picture was taken the family was living in southern Minnesota. My Grandfather had purchased land in north central North Dakota and sent his two oldest sons and oldest daughter there to manage it until he could get his Minnesota farm sold and move the rest of the family.

Here’s a picture of how they moved – yes, that’s right – in a boxcar. They loaded up all their farm equipment and livestock and someone had to ride with the livestock to take care of it. I don’t know that the women rode in the boxcar, but that’s where the men stayed.

Now the two oldest sons, George and Oscar, and the oldest daughter, Hulda, were at the North Dakota farm for about two years before the rest of the family came. I believe Hulda was about eighteen years old at this time. The Great Northern Railroad ran through town and there was a very “dapper” man from Sioux City, Iowa, who ran the railroad office. His name was Al, and he and Hulda started “keeping company.” Al was substantially older than Hulda, and he must have been a fast talker because the next thing you know Hulda ended up “in a family way” as it was so genteelly stated back then. They were married “on the fly” and shortly thereafter a baby girl was born named Adeline. Unfortunately Adeline was epileptic and because they didn’t have all the medications back then to treat epilepsy, she died having a seizure at age eight. They never had any more children.

Here’s a picture of some of the family members taken shortly after their wedding. That’s Hulda in the dress with the white bib front and Al standing to her right in the three-piece suit.

Okay, enough entertainment for today. I really need to get started with my day. I’ve got a lot of ground to cover and sitting here doesn’t get that done.