An Unexpected Discovery In Her Mother's Memory Box

 As Grandma Lu was going through some boxes she found an old old photo album. It was nothing like her dozens of photo albums. It was only about ten inches long and six inches wide. It was black and soft!. When she opened it pictures, tiny pictures started to fall out. "Oh my goodness. These pictures are about hundred years old!" She did recognize some of them even though they were ever so old and faded. Here was her favorite Uncle Nate, the only fun one she could remember. The one that left her grandfather high and dry on the farm. The one that left an opening for a farm hand so that her father could finally be hired on and be with the love of his life. Oh he looked like such fun. As always God had a plan mysterious as it seemed.

 "I can remember Mom saying that on Easter Sunday her brothers would go up to the Machine Shed area out on the farm and fix dozens of eggs over a bonfire and not let her eat with them. Little stinkers. Teenagers for sure and a little pest of a sister to deal with.

As she was going through the pictures, looking for names, place years, any hints, she came across a picture of three women. One she recognized immediately. It was her grandmother, Lulu Hayes Banister, but the other two she didn't know. "Hmm, I will have to see if I can't find someone that knew those ladies, or maybe I can ask some folks that were cousins if they knew them." And she did. The lady in the middle was Catherine Ellis Hayes her great grandmother! The lady on the left was Catherine's daughter from her first marriage. "Grandma had a sister? I never heard her once say a word about having a half sister. Oh, I have a feeling there was some troubled waters there. I heard more than once that grandma was her grandma and grandpa's only child. Her father, Nathan H. Hayes, married a woman who had six sons, but never once had she heard about the daughter, Sarah. I wonder what life was like for a man to take on a widow with seven children. A man that had wanderlust in his veins, a gold prospector, miner, then a farmer and was a bachelor for thirty nine years. Oh I'm sure there was a story there."

Grandma Lu chuckled and thought, "Okay, Whitlee Jo. This is where I'll put you in a story someday. You said that you wanted to be in an old story. I think you can be my grandma and Marlee can be Sarah. They were twelve years apart in age. Sarah probably had to take care of this new baby. As a matter of fact, there was twelve years difference in age with my sister, Rosella and me. Interesting. 

There's only two years apart with you two, but it should be fun imagining how Sarah's world had suddenly turned upside down when her father died and soon would be off to a new homestead with a strange man as her step father. They traveled many many miles in covered wagon and oxen, sometimes only getting as far as two miles in a day. 

Marlee Ada Weaver 2021                                               Whitlee  Jo Weaver 2021                                                             

Just imagine these two as Lulu Hayes and Sarah Ellis in the 1870's in the upcoming stories.

She Had Opinions But Not Facts

 Once again she found herself in her mother's empty house. Empty of her mother. Her mother was settled in the nursing home about eight hours away. Her mother's house was full of memories, however. Full in the respect of her cupboards full of antique dishes that had been passed down from her mother and grandmother, glass shelves that her father had made for her mother's bell collection, and boxes of letters, pictures, and even a satin duvet that her Uncle LaVerne had given her grandmother. It had never been used. She smiled as she unboxed it, lifted the soft tissue paper and thought what a waste. It had silently been labeled "useless" because it was apricot in color and slippery and was not a full size. It had been a lovely gift, but hidden away in a box in a dark closet for oh so many years. As she was going through a cardboard box she found a little black book. "What is this, I wonder?" She chuckled and said, "I had one of these. It's an autograph book."

"Oh my, Mom. These are what some would call corny. 'Yours til the kitchen sinks'? Now that's corny!"

As she leafed through the old and yellow pages  from 1927-1929 she saw autographs from relatives and even one autograph that referred to my mother as a poor cook! The majority of them spoke of her new career as a teacher and how smart she was. One autograph remarked how you could argue with the teacher and still get good grades. Really? You taught me never to talk back to an adult. Little did they know you never wanted to teach. Oh here's one. I think they knew you were wanting to get married to dad and not teach. It's really corny; 'In the fruitcake of matrimony regard me as the nuts'. Mercy your friends were the king and queen of puns! Such fun friends you had.

As she started reading some of the letters addressed to her mother the tears trickled down her cheeks. It was during the Great Depression and the letters were from her dad. "Oh my goodness. I had no idea. He worked in the fields picking 70-80 bushels of corn a day by hand, did barn and animal chores morning and night then to add to his money he sold Christmas cards door to door. 

She had never ever heard that story before. She thought she paid about four dollars for a box of Christmas cards. With inflation that would have cost folks now over sixty dollars for a box of cards. Hmm. I have a feeling you didn't do so well doing that, Dad. I have a feeling people sent penny post cards for the most part in those days to wish their friends and family Merry Christmas. 

One letter said that he had a little over thirteen dollars, but needed a blanket and some boots. That left him only a little over nine dollars. He was so worried that he wasn't going to earn enough money for them to get married. Then the next letter said he went to a movie with his brother. Hmm, I doubt if Mom really wanted to hear that one, Dad." She opened one up that said, My dearest Zoe. Well, I never heard you call her anything but Mommie, Cookie, or Gladys. Zoe was her middle name and her very best friends called her Zoe or Zoda, but never her dad. The letters she read had many threads. Threads of loneliness, hopelessness, but also fear. Fear that he wouldn't be able to support her and a family, but most of all fear of her father, G.D. Banister, my grandfather, son of G.W. Banister. Both of those men were so stern, I never saw my grandfather smile, nor a twinkle in his eye. Dad knew the reputation of both of your grandfathers, Mom. I would be scared to death too. But he won the prize above all odds. He was so in love with you until the day he went to live with the angels. This wedding picture is a prize with a story of course.

He did eventually win a job of being a farm hand for your parents. I have no idea how he wangled that one.  I think from the sound of dad's letters your brother Nathan also had a wanderlust personality like his namesake grandfather and had gone off to sow his oats out west. That left grandpa short handed on the farm. Was it too show just how angry your parents were that they did not attend your wedding? You said that their excuse was that their baby chicks just happened to be hatching that day and couldn't be left. You were married in hundred degree weather in August. I think those chicks were just a very convenient excuse. Of course, that's just my opinion. Interestingly enough your parents had a huge wedding being the son and daughter of the first settlers of Cherokee, Iowa. With hand sewn seed pearls on the beautiful dress many people attending, loads of food and games during the day; the whole ball of wax. Not fair, Mom. You were their only daughter after all.  Yes, see here is their wedding picture taken by a photographer, not a snap shot. She could almost feel the censure of her mother as she was thinking the negative thoughts of her grandparents. She didn't know the whole story and never would. She did know that her grandmother loved her dad. Oh the good times she could remember about them. "Okay enough, girl. What's done is done. You need to get busy."

She had pretty much gone through the boxes of keepsakes of her mother's and put them to one side to take home with her.  There was so much to do. She had throw away piles, keep piles and sell piles. Piles to take home and piles to give to relatives and a stack of things to take to her mother. Of course, the house had to be sold, her bills paid etc. She found a key to her mom's safety deposit box that needed to be tended to.  She had three weeks to get everything done. But she had a plan.

 She had often cleaned her mother's cupboards for her over her latter years, but she would later find something in one of them that gave her new insight into her mother's life.

                                                          *********

I did find penny post cards in a box of stationary of mom's as well as one and three cent stamps, ration stamps from WWII and so many other little keepsakes. I did use a computer picture for one of the photos of the postcard because I'm not home to take pictures of them. However one of them is from my family. What is interesting is that the postcard remained one penny for many years....One to my great grandfather in 1914 the other in the 30's same price. When I did open her box of stationary it smelled of roses just the same as the letters she had sent me throughout the years. A quick side note I found so many rolls of toilet paper I was shocked. That was something that people that lived through the Depression did hoard. She would have been all set during our current pandemic.

Whitlee Asks Grandma Lu For a Favor

 Grandma Lu got up to see who was at the door. She was stiff from sitting so long in her rocking chair. "It's time to let that go for awhile. I've been sitting too long. I wonder who is ringing the door bell." When she opened the door she was surprised to see Niki standing on the steps. She said, "Is Marlee ok? Oh look here comes Whitlee. Did you want to come in?" She was a little confused because they had never been to her house before. She only saw them at Marleewood. Niki said, "Well actually Whitlee wants to talk to you."

Grandma Lu grinned from ear to ear. "Well of course! Come in Come in. I'll get some snacks for us. I just love company. Did B come with you? Where is Marlee? Oh she's in school? Well come in out to the kitchen. Excuse the mess. I've been going through old papers of my mother's. Seems like I've been at it for a long time, but love learning about all of my ancestors. I can't put them down it's so fun to read."

She got everyone seated with a cookie and a drink and looked at Whitlee and said, "Okay, little one. What did you want to talk about?" Whitlee said, "Want to be in your story."  Grandma Lu chuckled and said, "Well you were in the last story about Unicorns, remember?" Whitlee said, "Want to be in old stories." Grandma Lu looked at Niki with a question on her face. Niki said, "Bonnie has been telling us that you have been learning a lot about your family and how they helped settle the town you were born and raised in. Whitlee wants to be in a story about them if you write one."

Grandma Lu grinned, tipped her head to one side like her father used to do, then she patted her knee and said, "I think I know just the thing for you. You give me a few days and I will start writing down all of these stories that I'm finding and then you can be in my story. How does that sound?"

Whitlee smiled and said, "Can Zeke too?" Grandma Lu gave her a hug and said, "Absolutely. That's a deal and they shook hands on it. One was a bit sticky...

After they left she went back to her boxes of papers and letters and pictures. "Oh my. I can't believe that I didn't go through these things years ago. I thought I did. Oh, now here's a story Whitlee might like to be in. My great grandfather Hayes had an adventurous side to him. He prospected for gold at Pikes Peak when he was twenty-two years old. He mined and prospected, but I'm thinking how long did it take him to get there from Iowa to Colorado. It was over five hundred miles. So much of the story is left off. He didn't get to my hometown of Cherokee, Iowa until he was thirty-three. The sad thing of it was when he was there there was no gold from what I've read. They didn't find gold until 1893 closer to Denver. I think he would be really interested to know that a woman , Kathryn Lee Bates climbed Pikes Peak in 1895 and wrote the song American the Beautiful. It has a plaque there with the words that were in the song. What a wondrous thing that would have been to see.

 I can't believe it. I had Marlee prospecting for gold when she was just about Whitlee's age. I'm going to look back and see if I still have some of those pictures. Oh look at that little Marlee. She loved those mini donkeys and horses out at the Mini Farm. I had so much fun writing her little adventures. If I remember right she learned a valuable lesson in that story; true gold is family and love of family." Then she started to laugh when she remembered that Marlee had packed ice cream and potato chips for the trip the night before. It was all over the kitchen floor. "Oh B was not a happy camper. That was a fun story to write."

"Well, Whitlee Jo, where shall I put you in a story of my ancestors if I ever get down to writing one? Should I put you in Scotland in the 1700's or in the 1800's where my great grandparents had such an interesting life. Of course, I could put you in my mother's life, or even my life growing up on my Great Grandfather Hayes' farm. Well, first I have to get through all this stuff, but I will find a place for you little miss and of course,  Zeke.

Trials Of Pioneer Life

Two weeks after G.W. and his wife, Margaret, were married they loaded up all of their personal belongings into a covered wagon and headed west to their new home. G.W. had built a log cabin next to an ever cold spring that flowed down the ravine to the creek. He had broke down some land using a plow and two yokes of oxen. Being young and in love they were excited to get there. "Oh my, thought Grandma Lu. They were either in love or crazy; probably both." The newspaper said that on the the last day out there was a high wind which tore the cover from the wagon. "That wind must have been something. They made those covers or in those days they called them bonnets out of heavy canvas." They arrived after dark at the the ford in the Little Sioux River known later as the Scurlock Ford. Still later the Scurlock bridge was built near there. As they could not see to cross over by night they camped on the bank and the next morning, November third they crossed to the west side only a few miles from their new home."

Their first winter their was a long cold one. The chimney blew off the roof and when it was replaced it blew more smoke inside than out according to the letters. "Hmm, I guess my great grandfather wasn't much of a mason, or he had little to nothing to work with. The latter, I am presuming."

The Indians were sometimes curious and always hungry. They frequently would come to the one tiny window of the cabin and make motions with their hatchets. Her husband's young brother said, "Just ignore them. Then he yelled, "Go away there's no man here, but Margaret hushed him and yelled, "Go away or my husband will shoot you." Some of them left but there was one man that was insistent on coming in and made menacing motions with his hatchet. She faced him, but dodged every time the man swung the hatchet at her. Her young brother-in-law said, "Why dodge? He won't hurt you." About that time the angry Indian swung the hatchet and broke the glass and sent the broken glass scattering across the room. As the story goes she told her family she did not think that last man was an Indian, but a white man; a renegade.

"Oh my, sighed Grandma Lu my great grandparents not only survived angry Indians, blizzards, and so many other hazards, but soldiers! They were hungry and one day came to their cabin and took all of their homemade laundry soap ( a great big barrel of it )and canned goods as well as 200 chickens and a baby cradle. (They had moved far away from their cabin because of an impending war so the cabin was unattended.) The story went on to say that shortly thereafter G.W. enlisted in the Army and fought in the Civil War leaving his family behind.

Grandma Lu thought and thought of her immediate family and wondered what G.W. would think if he knew that many of his male and female ancestors also had joined the Armed Forces; Army and Navy that she knew of. Her grandson was the youngest. He would be my great grandfather's great great great or something. Mercy on us! Just think of that!"

When the small village of Cherokee was finally considered a town Margaret Banister, my great grandmother, helped to sew the very first flag for it. "Well, she didn't have a sewing machine so all of the stitching had to be done with poorly made thread and a needle. (Nell was the lucky one. She had one of the very first on the market.) The flag in 1856 had only 31 stars and there was no particular layout that was used. 

The interesting thing about those ladies and their sewing is that I have actually seen my grandmother's beeswax ball that she used to keep her thread from tangling and knotting. In those days the thread was of very poor quality. They called two strands of thread a ply. It was called two ply, six ply etc. as the years went by and the quality became so much better because of the machines used to weave it were improving. My mother kept her mother's bees wax ball for many years. I wonder if that was also because of the poor quality of material she had to use. I think she also had some needles stuck in that bees wax.  Many of my dresses were made from flour and feed sacks. That material was not smooth and soft, but had to be starched and ironed. Oh my those were the days." she said to herself.

Grandma Lu was so involved in her family's history and her mother's saved newspapers and letters she almost didn't hear the door bell ring.

Do Grandma Lu And Felix Both Find What They Are Looking For?

 Grandma Lu couldn't wait until her brother answered the phone. She had finally joined that ancestry group. She got two weeks free. Hopefully she would find all she needed or wanted in those two weeks, but if she didn't she figured she deserved to spend a little money on herself. She didn't have many hobbies, so anyway..."Oh, Keith! You are never going to believe what I found on this new website I joined. A whole biography of our great grandfather G.W. Banister in a book. I think there just might be even another book that has more information about him. More than we realized. Anyway we knew he and some other men came to the Iowa territory looking for cheap land.

 But they had made a mistake and thought that the land that was just there for the taking had not been purchased, but it had. It was called Sioux City and many people had already settled there so they decided to look further and found land by the Sioux River right by our farm." She chuckled and said, "It was just up the road about five miles and we never even knew it. Just a second I'm going to send you a picture of G.W. and his pals on Messenger. It even has a picture of the first cabin built and a map and the names of all those first men that came with him. He is on the first row clear to the right. He looks just as stern as our grandfather did and was." Grandma Lu chuckled to herself and kind of shook her head. "Oh those memories of him are for another day." They talked about their ancestors and visited then they decided to call each other with more tidbits from the past whenever they found something interesting.

She went back to the old newspapers and started reading about her great grandmother, Margaret Allison. "Oh so that's where that name keeps appearing in my history. If my last baby had been a girl I would have named her Allison, but Allison was also used for my Uncle Leslie's middle name. Hmm. Oh my goodness I have to tell Keith about this someday. She was something else. She was only seventeen years old when G.W. went back to Hardin County and married her. I can't imagine letting my daughter go with a man she barely knew. Oh well so many things have changed over these many years. Oh here is a story my boys will love."

G.W. had been gone for some time either fighting in the Civil War or on one of his many trips to grind corn or barley. He also went to Des Moines to buy furniture and dishes when he needed to. Whatever the reason Margaret was in charge of the farm and children. One day she looked out the window and there was a flock of turkeys. Oh how good a roast turkey would taste. So she got the shotgun off the rack and proceeded to quietly walk close to those many turkeys. And then she shot! Well, she missed all of them. She was later accused of shutting her eyes when she pulled the trigger. They had cornbread pigeon pie that night for supper. Well, not what I would have chosen, but I'm sure it filled their bellies. What a fun story.

While Grandma Lu was looking through the old newspapers and letters she had no idea that Felix had taken the perfect opportunity to sneak into Marleewood. He saw a lady and a dog leave so he quickly went into the doggie door. He didn't much like the plastic swinging in the door, but he was on a mission. He had a zoom meeting with two potential clients. As he made his way into the Quiet Room he was so surprised. Another cat was actually talking to one on the computer. He had been hacked!

He jumped up on the desk chair and said, "Okay, what's going on here? I had a meeting with two potential members of my Historical Society of Long and Forgotten Felines. Are you trying to squash my sale? he said to Tiger. Tiger was a well known trickster so Felix was well aware of his sometimes underhanded dealings. Mouse was on the computer and said, "I don't want anything to do with either one of you. I'm over and out."

Felix was not a happy camper. He had no sales today and he was going to leave without his commission he was counting on. Before he left he hissed at Tiger and said, "You'd better get out of here before Grandma Lu comes back. She was not a bit happy when she found you in the bathroom. I'm just warning you for your own good. Now I'm going to have to go back to my humans and schmooze them for additional treats and of course a new toy. By the time I'm finished I won't need a job. I will make sure they get up at the crack of dawn with my breakfast and before I retire for the evening they will be trained to give me my midnight snack.  I could retire here I guess. I'll just see what the future brings. Oh yeah this is the life. Puurrrfect...."

Felix Is Saving For A New Gig; Grandma Lu Is Finding Answers

 Felix loved the sunshine and his beautiful new home. "Oh this is the life. I've given up on my old life with Santa at the North Pole and moved further south where the sunshine actually warms my old bones. It didn't take much to get adopted by these people. All I had to do is get on a computer and Google someone that wanted a cat. Of course, I gave Santa a year's notice.  I've been here for awhile now, but their computer or internet is down. I'm not good with that. My new job at the Historical Society of Long and Forgotten Felines means I need to have access to a computer. I've got a zoom call scheduled for this afternoon with some future clients that would like to join. If they join that means I can start saving up for a better gig.  I've been watching over there at Marleewood. They have a doggie door I could sneak into, but they also have a dog that I can see in the window. I wonder if he would be much of a problem. I might just saunter over there for awhile and lay on the steps in the sun to see what he would do."

Laura had just stopped by to see if Grandma Lu was there, but found that she wasn't. She would try to see if she could catch her at home. She called Patches and then Marleewood was empty.....

                                                                                 ******

The next day Grandma Lu decided that she would go through her mother's papers again. It was a long task, but oh so very interesting. "They sure put things in the paper that they don't nowadays. This ad on how to put up peas takes me back to when I was just a child. My mom had a huge garden. She used to tell stories on how I used to "help" her. When she was planting pepper plants I would pull them out because I thought they were weeds. Weeds had to go you know. One year my Uncle Leslie's sheep got into her garden and ate all of her pea plants. They ate them clear to the ground. Oh how she scolded her brother for not making sure they were far away from her garden. As the story goes she never had a better crop of peas. She canned 99 pints of peas that year. I can't even imagine how many days that took. I do remember her picking peas and as she picked them she put them in her apron and walked back to the old farm house. Then she sat in the doorway where there might be a breeze. She shucked them for 'a mess' either for eating or for canning. Sometimes the peas were muddy from a rain so then she would put them in water she pumped from the well and washed them. Then she would spread them out on one of her dishtowels to dry. What a long process it was in those days. She didn't get a freezer until I was about ten I think.

Grandma Lu sighed and thought of her mother's youngest brother Leslie Allison Banister. He lived to be over one hundred one years old. He was the oldest World War II veteran in the county. She and her husband had visited with him a few months before his birthday. He was hard of hearing and had poor vision, but when I mentioned his Aunt Nettie he chuckled and said, "Aww yes, the old spinster. She was something." The word spinster has carried with it a connotation of  'not worthy of marriage or too old for marriage' for centuries. Nowadays being a single woman usually means a career woman that wears power suits, including astronauts, CEO's, editors Oh so many differents careers that are now available for women.. Of course, women are single for an assortment of personal reasons. I know many women that just like being single.  "You just don't hear that word spinster much anymore. Of course, Uncle Les's aunt wanted him to go to college like she did. However he loved the farm and later owned a mill that he took to farmers to grind their grain. He did that for many many years.

 His grandfather took barley for over fifty miles with a pair of oxen to have it ground. And my mother would buy fifty pounds of Gold Medal flour from the store to bake her rolls, bread, cookies and cakes for a little over two dollars. (My great grandfather bought the farm we lived on for a little over two dollars for an acre.) I can remember she sold a dozen cinnamon rolls for thirty-five cents. Then she would use the flour sacks to make my clothes. "Oh mom, the work you did for your family. I never once heard you complain. Look at this. You made the news! It's so interesting how the generations correlate down through the ages."

She very carefully started going through the yellowed brittle newspapers and said to herself. "I knew you would have this Mom. The poorly spelled Banister history from Aunt Nettie ( the college graduate) that was printed in the newspaper in the 1920's. Oh I have to have a cup of coffee and sit a spell. This is so cool. Then I need to call my brother and then I'm going to see if I can't copy this for my nieces and nephews and grandchildren. It's a little scary because they are so brittle. Okay here we go." I should probably call Grandma B and let her know what I'm doing. I won't be over to Marleewood for awhile. I really want to get this done."

Nell Misses The City

 As Grandma Lu was about to quit for the day she saw another entry she had missed in the old journal of Nell's. It said, "Oh how I miss the city. The big hotels and restaurants and people. It is so quiet out here all I hear is the prairie grass blowing in the wind and crickets chirping. And kids saying that they are hungry. They are always hungry! I have no flowers, money or friends. Is this what I thought I was getting into? All I do is cook and clean. I am no good at either. The floors are always dirty and my cooking is usually burned or tasteless. I look out the only window of this log cabin and see the sun rise and the sun set. There has to be more to life than this. That old cat out there isn't even friendly to me. He hisses every time I go outside."

Grandma Lu felt sorry for the city girl stuck out in the middle of nowhere, but knew how the story would end. It would end with her and her children's children and theirs. Grandma Lu grinned as she thought of her daughter and her family living in St. Louis. They had a beautiful home and lots of friends. So unlike the young girl that traveled by herself to a land unknown by covered wagons and oxen. The Iowa territory was mostly unsettled and wild with angry Indians because the white men often broke their treaties and killed their buffalo. The hardships were too numerous for Grandma Lu to think of or for that matter to imagine. "It's too bad that she didn't know she would be remembered by her ancestors. Good things were coming. She just didn't know it. was going to be for her children's children."

She looked through more newspapers and realized that her mom had saved the complete Centennial issue of the 1956 Cherokee Daily Times. Newspapers in those days of 1856 were often late with the news. There were no telegraph wires in those days and often contained gossip rather than news. Real news was delivered by footmen. They are now called mail deliverers. That term has also evolved over the years.

"Just think, my great grandfather was one of the very first settlers in my hometown. He even had a school named after him; Banister school. I suppose because he built it." she chuckled. "It seems to me that my grandfather's sister, Nettie Banister, wrote a big history of the Banister family. I'm going to see if I can find it. She never married, but stood up for women's rights, but by the same token gave up her home and career to take care of her aging parents in their home. That was tradition carried out years and years later. My grandparents spent their last days in my home."

 Grandma Lu grinned and thought to herself, "Oh how I waited for the mail when I was a little girl out on the farm. I was so lucky to have parents that loved to read. They ordered me the Weekly Reader and a magazine called Highlights that only came once a month. I was only three years old when that magazine was published for the first time. I have a feeling that Irene Leeds, the librarian in town told Mom about it. Oh it was such fun. It had games and puzzles and stories. I hear it is still in publication. I wonder if Miss Marlee would like it."

There were no more entries in Nell's journal, however, the history was there and her children were to help settle the then territory of Iowa. Their history was in published books, a museum, and was passed on from generation to generation. Grandma Lu will find more interesting tidbits, but there is a problem at Marleewood that no one is aware of. Felix has moved into a house across the street from Marleewood. 

Grandma Lu Finds An Old Journal

 Grandma Lu continued to look through the box of newspapers. She unfolded each one very carefully. "Oh there is so much history in these old papers. I see why mom saved them. Oh, well look at this. An old journal. It has an inscription on the inside front. "To Nell Banister my new wife and partner. I hope we live a long and happy life together." The pages were yellow and musty smelling. The cover was old and soft. As she carefully went through the pages she found  that Nell's entries gave her an idea of the kind of life they lived. "Hmm, not always a happy life. Sounds normal to me. Marriage isn't all roses that's for sure. Oh there was some sadness and anger, but some laughs. Maybe not to her, but to me. Oh, Nell, you couldn't cook for sour apples, could you? I have to read this. Here is an old old recipe for a Carraway Cake. Let sit by the fire? Oh my goodness. I don't think I could cook in those days either. How to cook a buttock of beef? Oh my you threw the cake in the fire. Probably not a good thing in those days."

"Oh dear. Here's an entry that you actually buried a chicken? You burned it so bad you buried it? I have a feeling that your first few months there were not easy. You were from the city and never had to cook. I guess your mother would take you to little diners to eat. How else would you have survived? You certainly didn't have a very nice landlady. From what I've heard over the years she was about to kick you out after your mother died. You made her a baby quilt in exchange for your rent. This is where you saw a personal add in the newspaper for Mail Order Brides wanted in Iowa territory. Even though you didn't know much about cooking you were one brave lady. I don't know If I could do that."

 Grandma Lu grew up knowing about her family's history and loved all kinds of history. Newspapers were interesting to her. She had been doing some looking on her computer and found out that the first newspaper in St. Louis was printed in 1808 close by where the Arch is now. St. Louis wasn't even a city then. The spelling was horrible and difficult to read. She grinned and thought, "but it did get much better, just like most things."

One of the first entries in Nell's journal was about moving the sewing machine into the cabin. It had been Marlee Ada's mother's and had not been used for a long time. She had found a letter hidden in the machine from Catherine to whomever her children's new ma might be. The letter wished her well and hoped that the children's new ma would learn  to support and grow fond of Nathan and her children. Sewing was the only thing that Nell really was good at. Her mother's sewing machine had fallen off the raft into the Missouri River on her way to the territory of Iowa. She had shoes on her feet that were held together only by a hope and a prayer along with  some deer skin. She had no money and had almost died of exposure in the cold barn before she was found. By the way the entry sounded to Grandma Lu there was some discussion with Nathan about not moving the machine into the cabin. Grandma Lu wondered whatever had happened, but couldn't find an entry to that effect. Nell sounded disappointed and a bit angry. She did remember her mother having a very old Singer sewing machine when she was a little girl. Surely that couldn't be the same one....

Glue had dried up and had let a lock of hair fall into the crevice of the journal. There was no name or entry. There also was a dried flower that had disintegrated into many tiny pieces. "I'm looking into the life of people that are my family, but I have no clue what they were like. I don't even know what they looked like.

"Here is another tiny tintype of a little girl. I wonder who she is. I'm afraid to take it apart. I might destroy the picture. Oh so many questions and no one here to give me the answers. I wonder if I should join one of those ancestor groups. They cost money, but maybe it would be worth it."

Who Was Nell ?

 As she walked back to her mother's bedroom she stopped and stared at the pictures on the wall. One was a picture of her mother in her nursing cap and uniform. The other was her grandfather Nathan H. Hayes, her grandmother's father. She grinned as she looked at his picture. He loved children and would dress up in his fur coat and throw a bag over his shoulder. He always carried candy in his pocket and would stop children and give them a piece of candy as he made his way around town for his daily walk. "Boy, he couldn't do that nowadays, or he'd be arrested. Isn't that just the saddest state of affairs? He was dearly loved. He and his wife Catherine had only one child together, Lulu Hayes Banister, but Catherine had six children, all boys when he married her. "Wow, not many men would do that. I can remember mom telling me about you, Mr. Santa, she grinned. I think I would have liked you. I hear you spoiled my grandma even though her mother disapproved. What is your story I wonder. Someday when I'm not knee deep in life's stuff I just might look you up. I have a feeling you made your mark on this old world.

On the wall close to her great grandfather's picture was the picture of her mother proudly wearing her nursing uniform. "Well, Mom, you showed them didn't you? You wanted to be a nurse so badly, but they refused to let you. They said, 'Be a teacher, then get married.' You were such a smart cookie. You graduated from Wilson High School when you were only sixteen years old. Then went on to attend the Community College and graduated from there with your teaching certificate.  You did teach school for one year and got stranded out in the country in the one room school house. Thanks goodness your brother rescued you. I'll never forget you telling that story. I can't even imagine how scared you were."

Below her mother's picture she saw the books that she had seen her entire life. They were encyclopedias that were given to her Uncle Leslie on his birthday, by his Aunt Nettie. Oh the stories I have heard about you. You know they called you a spinster behind your back. Mom always said you were an astronomer. She said she wanted you to go to college to be a teacher like her. But eventually you had your way, but you had to wait until you were almost fifty-eight years old before you made your dream come true. I am so lucky to have had you and dad for parents. Of course, I didn't think so at the time like most kids.

"Wait what's this book? Oh I thought there were four encyclopedias. This says the History Of Iowa. Oh I might just take this to bed with me and see who I can find."

But she never got back to it. She decided to go see her mom at the hospital then she went to bed with a letter she had found from her dad to her mom when they were dating. Theirs was a true love story. But in the letter he asks her if she got a new string for her guitar. She never played a guitar. Oh my. Their story is surely a mystery. Plus her dad was a prankster. He wrote a the letter and then turned it upside down to finish it. What a card."

                                                           

                                                                       ***********

Grandma Lu jumped when the phone rang. It was her friend, Grandma B. "What are you doing, Girl? I've been baking and have a fresh pot of coffee. Why don't you come over?" Grandma Lu looked at her hand and said, "I think I'm going to pass. Can I have a rain check? I really need to get through all of Mom's things. Do you ever remember me saying anything about a Nell? No? Hmm, okay. I'll call you later."

"Who is Nell? And who is this little girl? I seem to remember my grandma having a picture of a little girl and a dog by her bed. I know this lady. You got yourself in the paper with your baking. Oh mama why didn't you label all these pictures? At least you put her first name on there. So it looks like she was a seamstress. Okay, get busy and see if you can't solve this mystery."