Lottie's Memoirs: A Story Standing Still

Andrew & Lottie Houston, 1920, with their children and pets. 

I never knew my cousin Lottie, but she leaves a lasting mark on me nonetheless. Her memoirs, written in 1964, give us a intimate look at life on the Nebraska plains in the late 1800's. Its a remarkable family artifact to have.

According to her obituary, the memoirs were also requested by the Nebraska Historical Society. Although the copy I have does not indicate a newspaper name, I would bet that it is from The Enumclaw Courier Herald. She passed away in 1967.  This has become a story, standing still. Lottie has told us all she can.

Cyrus H. Lee, Lottie's father

Lottie's Mother, Mary
Josephine (Lawrence) Lee

Lottie's Memoirs: School Experiences

... This is part seven in a series. Please see the initial post for explanation.


The Lee Family at Silver Creek, Nebraska

Lottie Mae Lee Houston
Mrs. Andrew Houston
1964

School Experiences

My first school attendance was in a kindergarten in a private home, started by a lady named Mrs. Frank Osborne, who came out from New York State. She had had training in one of the best normal schools in N.Y., and was very interested in the kindergarten movement which had been introduced from Germany. I remember har as a wonderful person and the kindergarten as a delightful experience. The room had many pictures which would appeal to children, and we ahd stories, songs, games and many activities. We had blocks, not large ones, but alphabet blocks. There were dolls, mostly rag dolls. She taught us to make sewing cards, to sew little blocks of cloth with simple stitches, to crochet chains with heavy cord, to knit on a spool. At one time I made a lamp mat from this knitted cord, of which I was very proud. I learned the names of different samples of cloth – calico, muslin, velvet, cashmere, worsted, gingham, etc.

By the time I was ready for first grade, Silver Creek had a schoolhouse, built much as all the early Nebraska schools, a long building with windows on both sides and an entry in the front to keep out the worse of the storms. The school grounds were large and were enclosed in a high board fence, fairly tight, with an entrance over a stair-step stile, going up and down, so that animals could not get in. There were no herd laws, and cows ran loose in the town.

The school cloakroom was the entry where there were hooks for wraps, and where we left our dinner pails. These were tall thin pails with rims into which tight covers fitted. Sometimes several children of one family brought lunch together in one pail.

The school room had desks and seats, both of which folded with hinges. They were built as double desks, with an ink well in the middle front, and everyone had a seat partner. The ink well presented a great temptation to the boys to dip the ends of the girls’

Page 19.

hair in ink, or to mark up their own faces.

Dorchester, Nebraska school class.
The teacher is Bessie Brown,  Lottie's maternal cousin.
Ca. 1900

Out in the schoolyard was the well, with a pump. The water pail for drinking water stood in the back of the room, on a bench, and when we wanted a drink we asked permission. Winter nights were so cold that the water would freeze solid in the pail if the teacher forgot to leave it empty. The teachers were entirely responsible for the janitor work, at this time.

There were wooden blackboards, not slate, at the front of the room. We each had small slates and slate pencils at our desks. Paper was expensive and we had to furnish our own. We also furnished our own books, and as I was growing up we had the McGuffey readers. At first, all eighth grade were in one room and we heard everyone recite. Later there were two rooms with four grades in each. The school was not closely graded, however, and students were assigned work according to their ability. Some of the older children who could not yet read well would be in the First Reader, while some who were the same age but more advanced would be studying algebra if there was a teacher capable of teaching it.

We studied at our desks, then were called to the front of the room to a recitation bench, to recite our lessons. We read aloud from our books, taking turns, standing to read with the book held in the left hand, turning pages with the right. For arithmetic we often put our problems on the blackboard and had them corrected by the teacher. Some teachers could not go beyond fractions, so we sometimes went over the same ground in arithmetic for several years.

We had outside toilets, one for boys and one for girls. There was a wash basin in the back of the school room with soap on a saucer, so that it was possible to wash one’s hands if it became necessary, but we did not wash before we ate our lunches, only if we got especially dirty, or fell down, or some such thing.

All the grades had recess at the same time, and there was no playground supervision. Some years we would have such good times, but sometimes there would be big rough boys in school who made life miserable for the little ones. One boy I especially remember who used to lie in wait with snowballs and really hurt the little girls. The only recourse was to “tattle” to the teacher!

We played Hide and Go Seek, Drop the Handkerchief, Tag, Pump-pump-pul away, catch, baseball, “Anty-over”, hop scotch, etc.

The town school had a full nine month term, but the country schools, even much later than the 70’s, often had only a three month winter term. It depended upon the available money in the district, number of children and attitude of the school board.

We studied hard, but had relaxation, too. On Friday afternoons we always had a little program after recess, and closed school a few minutes early. These programs consisted of recitations

Page 20.

by the children, dialogues, songs, etc. Many of the teachers had had elocution lessons and were interested in training the children to speak in public. Sometimes the teacher herself gave an “oration” which she had memorized. The public was invited to come on Friday afternoons if they wished, so sometimes we had an audience, sometimes not.

We always had a big Christmas program, holding it in the evening, in the early years. Later the school and church programs sometimes merged. There would be a big Christmas tree, decorations made by the pupils, candles in small metal holders on the limbs of the tree, strings of popcorn and tinsel. The tree usually came from the Platte River. Even in those days, Santa Claus would arrive with sleigh bells and there would be a treat for each child, popcorn balls sometimes an orange.

By the time I was ready for secondary school we had a two year high school, taught by a man whom we called “Professor Conner”. He was young, capable, and had a quick temper, I remember. He and his wife had come from the east.

Lottie's Memoirs: Clothing and Housecleaning

... This is part five in a series. Please see the initial post for explanation.The Lee Family at Silver Creek, Nebraska

Lottie Mae Lee Houston
Mrs. Andrew Houston
1964

Page 11, continued.

Clothing

Most of our clothing was made at home, boys' and girls' and grown ups'. The mothers all sewed and taught their daughters to sew. The hired girls who lived with us also helped Mother with the sewing or mending. Some widows or other women who needed to support themselves went out to sew in homes. Our mother had a sewing machine earlier than most of our neighbors, as Dad had the agency for sewing machines in his store. I believe it was the "White" machine. Every spring and fall brought a sewing period when new garments were made by every family, for the coming season. 

A "White Peerless" Sewing machine, ca. 1885.
Photo courtesy: www.sewmuse.co.uk

The little girls wore calico or gingham for everyday, cotton underclothing in summer, woolen in winter. The underwear was made at home and much of it was bulky and clumsy. In winter our under-drawers went down our legs into our shoes. We girls wore wool school dresses in winter, and usually two petticoats, one wool and one cotton. We always wore a little fancy school apron over the wool dress. When we came home from school we took this off and put on a plain, long sleeved cotton apron, a sort of coverall, to keep the school dress clean. We wore black stocking and high black

Page 12. 

shoes, sometimes laced, sometimes buttoned. We used button-hooks to button our shoes. Our men folks used a boot jack to put on their high shoes or boots. 

We wore no corsets or tight stays, as girls, but "Ferris waists", with two rows of buttons around the waist, on which to button underskirts and panties. Our garter supporters were much like those used now, but I have heard Mother tell of having buttons on the stockings and elastic strips with buttonholes in them, to support from the waist. Mother was opposed to tight or binding stays, as unhealthful, although many people wore them. Our dresses came below the knee, but were never floor length until we were about sixteen. 

The little boys wore knee pants and shirts, home made, with long black stockings or heavy socks and high shoes or boots for winter. They went barefooted much of the time in summer. For Sunday, our brothers wore starched white shirts, knee pants, little tailored jackets and little derby hats! Sometimes, for younger boys, the jacket was a kind of "Little Lord Fauntleroy" type with lace collar. In summer they wore straw hats, the Sunday one a stiff, small brimmed one, they everyday hat large and shady. Some little boys did not have their hair cut until they were four or five years old, and their mothers took pride in their curls. Boy babies wore little dresses until they were walking. 

Image Courtesy: www.breslichfoss.co.uk

As we grew older, we girls (Lottie, Bertha, Florence, Lucile) did most of our own sewing and ironing. With the long skirts and many long ruffled petticoats, the ironing was tremendous, and it is hard to understand now, how we could do it. We heated the irons on the cook stove, (or a kerosene stove in summer) and used the removable handle to change irons as they cooled. We would take turns ironing and mending, one sitting down awhile, then another. We took pride in our ironing, always trying do have things done perfectly. Linens were ironed while quite damp. Embroidery was always ironed on the wrong side to give a raised effect. Ribbons and sashes were often stiffened with gum arabic. 

Washings were done the hard way, on a washboard, in a round wash tub, on a bench. White clothes were boiled in a copper boiler on the kitchen stove. Soap was made at home for many years. Bluing was sold by stores, or by small boys, to make "pin money". We had long clotheslines and two pronged wooden clothespins. 

Housecleaning

Usually, each home underwent a thorough housecleaning in both spring and fall. The tools were broom, mop, carpet beater, scrub brush, clean sand, soap, ammonia, lye, feather duster, furniture oil, and soft cloths. No one felt that a real cleaning could be done without completely emptying a room, so we began by taking down all pictures, cleaning them and putting them in a safe place on a table or bed in another room. Curtains and drapes were removed next, then furniture, then carpets. Everything was taken to a porch or the yard while the ceiling, walls and floors were cleaned.

Page 13.

Carpets were lifted by taking out tacks with a screw driver. The carpet might be made of narrow strips, sewed together, either rag carpeting or ingrain, and was laid over a padding of either newspaper or new straw. At housecleaning time it was removed to an out of door clothesline where it was beaten by hand with a wire carpet beater until all the dust was out, and left in the sun for a time. Meanwhile the newspapers were removed from the floor, the floor swept and scrubbed. When dry, fresh papers were spread and the carpet brought back and tacked down. “Stretching the carpet” was almost an athletic feat, requiring two or preferably three people to accomplish it, and the use of a long forked tool to push the edges up in place and hold them while the tacks were replaced.

The furniture was cleaned outside, cloth portions thoroughly brushed, wooden parts treated with furniture oil or polish. Scratched or worn places might be re-varnished. Crocheted “tidies” or “antimacassars” were carefully washed and stretched. Lace curtains were washed by hand and dried on curtain stretchers (wooden frames with tiny metal brads along the edge). Often these stretchers were loaned from one housewife to another.  

Clothing was removed from closets, to be sunned and aired. Chests and trunks were opened and sunned. We had several old fashioned trunks of the Civil War era. Fresh mothballs were put with woolen things, after they were washed. Mattresses, feather-beds and pillows, as well as quilts and blankets were put on the clothesline to sun. Some were repaired and recovered.

Often this was the time of putting new wallpaper on walls. A “paperhanger” might be called in, or our family might do the work ourselves. Fashions in wallpapers changed somewhat from year to year, but always included delicate florals for bedrooms, with more formalized patterns for living rooms and parlors.

Windows were cleaned, inside and out, using ammonia water or powdered whiting for the glass. Screens were replaced in spring and removed in fall. Homemade storm windows were put up in fall and taken down in spring. Cupboards were cleaned, dishes and crockery washed and replaced. Silver was polished with whiting and replaced in flannel bags. Books were dusted individually and replaced in their shelves. This was one of the very pleasant tasks for some members of the family, giving an opportunity for renewing acquaintance with old favorites and for reading ahead into more and more grownup books!

Stoves were cleaned and stovepipes taken down and taken outside to clean. This was done preferably with a cutting from a long branch, with leaves still attached. This made an excellent brush for removing soot from inside a pipe. In springtime the hard coal buring stove, “the baseburner” was usually removed from the living room; in fall it was replaced for winter use.

There were, of course, no bathrooms to clean. The outdoor

Page 14.

toilet was treated with lye or lime and the small building scrubbed and sometimes re-painted. The cellar also was cleaned, old potatoes and other vegetables removed, stone jars washed and sunned, brick floor scrubbed, churn and milk cans and jars scalded and sunned.

During this housecleaning the meals were rather sketchy! The women folk tried to have things cooked ahead of time so that the family could have bread, baked beans, milk doughnuts, fruit and chees, cold meat, and of course cornmeal and oatmeal “mush”.

When the cleaning was done the more or less exhausted housekeepers needed a few days to revive! It was quite different from the present ways of cleaning with vacuum cleaners, automatic washers, etc. Also, it is amusing to think of the difference in how we dressed. No one doing housecleaning then would have worn slacks or jeans or pedal pushers! We wore cotton dresses which reached almost to the floor, dust caps on our heads, big aprons tied around our waists. 

...to be continued...

Lottie's Memoirs: The Day to Day

... This is part five in a series. Please see the initial post for explanation.

The Lee Family at Silver Creek, Nebraska

Lottie Mae Lee Houston

Mrs. Andrew Houston

1964

Page 9.

The New Land

The Nebraska soil was very new and very fertile in places, but spotted in the Platte Valley, so that some farms were all sand. Gardens did well on loam soil and with plenty of water, but dried out quickly on sandy soils. People soon learned where to pant. Wells were shallow, as the water level at that time was easy to reach. There were two water tables, on about ten feed underground, used for stock and gardening, and one at a depth of about twenty feet which was used for drinking. Both veins were soft water, good for washing. We had a windmill with a pump, and a hose, and we watered garden much as people do now. When Dad came home from the store on a hose evening he would turn the hose on the roof, porch, etc., to cool off the house. 

The men and boys in our family looked after the vegetable gardens, mostly, while the women looked after the flowers. None of our women worked in the fields, and were shocked to see women working in the grain or hay fields, as some did. Of course, no women wore overalls or slacks. The "foreign" women in the fields wore heavily dark calico or chambray dresses, with long plain skirts. They usually tied three corned scarves over their heads.

Mother always raised flowers, both indoors and out, and we girls helped. Some years it was so dry that not much grew, but usually we had lots of colorful annuals and perennials, and always she had blooming geraniums, cactus, and other plants for winter, on window sills in the kitchen and in the bay window.

Food

Our mother always set a good table, and we had a big family. Besides Dad, MOther and the children we usually had a hired girl, sometimes a hired man, sometimes someone who clerked in the store. To feed all these required much planning and cooking. For breakfast we always had either oatmeal or graham "mush", cooked a long time, often started to cook the night before. On it we had cream from our own cows and usually brown sugar, as it was cheaper than white. Mother made all our butter and we always had homemade bread. Often for breakfast we had "gems" (muffins) made with our milk or cream, soda, eggs from our chickens, and graham flour. Sometimes it was pancakes, cooked on a large griddle. The men always had eggs and perhaps bacon or ham. The children could have these too, but only after finishing our oatmeal! Four our noon meal we had meat, potatoes, a vegetable, bread and butter, milk and some dessert. We had lots of sornstarch puddings, bread puddings, custards, cooked dried apples and occasionally pie or cake. We always cooked and planned with supper in mind also, so that we did not have to begin all over again with getting a meal in the evening but could have sliced meat, creamed potatoes, etc. For Saturday night we almost always had cornmeal mush with milk and often corn syrup or molasses or sorghum. We raised sorghum.

Page 10.

We rarely saw oranges, and apples were also a luxury. Dad always sent to Michigan every year for a barrel of apples and a supply of maple sugar and these were a great treat. We had little apple trees, but so far as I remember they did not bear when I was a child, and later on they were small and usually dry. We probably did not know hot to care for orchard trees. We picked wild plums, wild grapes and choke cherries along the creeks and the Platte River. We made grape jelly, plum jam, etc., and used the fruit in steamed puddings, cobblers and for sauce. Berries were a great luxury and we did not raise any except strawberries. Years later we sometimes saw fresh raspberries or blackberries which were shipped in to the store, but they were usually nearly dried up. 

We dried or salted food for winter use, but except for jams, jellies, preserves and pickles, we did not can, when I was a child. We cut corn from the cob and dried it, and that was a job! We spread clean, old sheets on boards or screens, placed the cut corn on this white surface and put mosquito netting over it to keep off flies. This corn had to be turned by hand at least once a day, and as I grew older it was often my job to reach under the netting an turn it. The hot sun and dry air dried it thoroughly, and it was very good when soaked and re-cooked in winter. Sometimes we parched it, after it was dry.

We raised fine popcorn, and often popped corn on the kitchen range, in a wire popper. The kitchen would be full of children and we poured the fluffy white corn into a big dishpan and poured melted butter on top. This was usually on Friday nights, and Mother often made molasses taffy to go with the popcorn. Sorghum molasses made especially good taffy. She would cook a batch and then give each child some to "pull", and the excitement would be very great. We each ate what we pulled, in whatever condition it turned out. 

Dad had gathered nuts every fall, in Michigan, and he especially prized hickory nuts. He always had nuts sent from relatives in Michigan, hickory and black walnuts, usually. We cracked them with a hammer, on an old flat iron, and they were very good. Mother had a silver nutcracker, kept for best, which I still have have. We made other kinds of candy, besides taffy, sometimes using nuts in it. We used brown sugar, molasses or honey for sweetening, often, although we could get white sugar at the store. As new grocery products were developed by the wholesale houses, we learned about them and tried them, almost as soon as in the cities, because of our father's business in the store. 

The store carried "boughten candy", but we children were never given candy there. We could buy it, if we had pennies, just as other children could. It was kept in wide, clear glass jars, with glass covers. There was one jar for long stick candy, one for peppermints of each color, on for lemon drops, and these different jars looked very inviting. I can remember when I was very small, standing in front of the counter, gazing up at those jars of colored candy The stick candy was striped, or plain red, or plain white

Page 11. 

flavored with lemon. There were licorice sticks, too. Most of the candy sold for a penny a stick, and children saved pennies for these purchases. Our father occasionally gave candy to some child who never could buy any, but usually he gave out ginger snaps to children, from a big barrel or box where the supply was kept. Children loved ginger snaps, and there was more food in them than in candy.

Image Courtesy: 

http://www.yelp.com/biz/illinois-nut-and-candy-skokie

We always had good meat, usually from our own farm. We kept chickens and usually also turkeys, geese and ducks. We raised pigs and fattened steers. Butchering time was busy and strenuous. The pig was scalded, scraped and dressed in the yard lot and hung up to cool. I twas then laid on planks and cut up. Hams and bacon were but in brine and afterward smoked. Side meat was salted down in big barrels, chops and roasts were used fresh or else roasted and put down in lard. the fat was "tried out" by cooking it over a slow fire in a large black iron kettle. We usually did this on the kitchen stove, but many people did this out of doors. When it was melted, a large peeled raw potato was dropped in and cooked in the hot fat until it attracted the bits of blackened meat, and so clarified the fat. The melted lard was then poured into big stone jars or tin pails, and kept covered. The jars and tubs were kept in the cellar, where they would be cool, or if the season was winter they might be stored in a big out building. 

Beef halves were hung high to keep dogs from getting the meat, and were often left to freeze in a cold building for weeks. From time to time a piece of meat was cut off for cooking. We also made our own salted dried beef at times. We had little seafood or fish. Dad was not much of a fisherman. Sometimes after high water in the Platte, there would be fish which could be caught, and we had some occasionally. 

...to be continued...

Lottie's Memoirs: My Eighth Birthday

... This is part five in a series. Please see the initial post for explanation.

The Lee Family at Silver Creek, Nebraska

Lottie Mae Lee Houston

Mrs. Andrew Houston

1964

Page 8.

My Eighth Birthday - Aug. 5, 1881

One of Dad's bill collecting trips I remember well, because it was my eighth birthday. I had been very ill for weeks, with "congestion of the brain", and was just getting well enough to go out. Our family was very sad, too, over the death of our baby brother, Mortimer, in July, and my birthday did not promise to be an especially happy one.

However, Dad asked me how I would like to go with him over across the Platte River, into Polk County, to collect bills. He had to make this trip, driving from farm to farm with our old horse, Topsy, hitched to a buckboard. A buckboard was a four wheeled vehicle with a spring seat mounted on a wooden cart frame, boards or slats for the floor, and no springs. 

The roads were used mostly by wagons with two horses, so that deep ruts were made by the wheels during the wet spring weather. This left a high, grassy ridge in the middle. Topsy had to stay on this ridge to keep the wheels in line in the dry ruts. Fortunately the wheels were large and the wagon box high, but Topsy was not pleased, and I remember being a little concerned. Roads then did not follow section lines but cut across from one farmhouse to another. 

It was a lovely August morning and we started early. I wore a little pink cotton dress, I remember, and a pink sunbonnet. I felt very important, going with Dad, and he was very good company. Everything I saw and did that day stands out vividly in my memory. 

Dad asked how I would like to go to visit Lily Swartwood, at one of the farms where he was going. She was a little girl whom I liked very much, whom I knew at Sunday School. It was four or five miles to their house and we made several other stops before we reached the Swartwoods. They lived in a sod house, one of the few left in that part of the country by 1881. The virgin sod, with heavy grass roots which had grown there for centuries made a material like heavy brick. It was cut into wide blocks and set together like a brick house, leaving spaces for doors and windows. Poles were used for the roof, covered over with layers of sods. The grass on the roof would be green in spring and early summer. 

This house was whitewashed inside and out, had glass in the windows and a wooden door. The walls were thick and it was comfortable both summer and winter. The window sills were very wide, almost like seats. lily was very glad to see me and we spent most of the day playing dolls on the wide window sill. I can remember so well watching my father, out in the yard, talking to her father and then driving off on his business. He returned to have dinner with us, a very good dinner, as the Swartwoods were very hospitable. It was a day I shall never forget. 

...to be continued...

A Look at Lottie's Memoirs

I have very much been enjoying the chance to read through cousin Lottie's memoirs again, by transcribing them and posting them into my blog. It's been a fun little dance down memory lane; as I think fondly of the first time I read them, over ten years ago, with my Dad. He would tell me stories about the life he remembers, growing up on a dairy farm, and connecting the two; giving the words real life for me.

I have to imagine that Silver Creek, Nebraska, in the Platte Valley, is not know by everybody. So, I decided to break up the pages of the memoirs with some information on where Lottie grew up.

Silver Creek is in Merrick County, not too far from Omaha. The southern border is the Platte River. Some of my other ancestors, the Brown's, settled in Colfax County, which is just to the north and east of Merrick, also along the river.

Image from Wikipedia

Silver Creek Township had a population of 634 in the 2000 census, and the county as a whole was at 8,204 people that year. There is also Silver Creek, Nebraska, which held 441 souls in 2000. At this time, I do not know if Lottie and her family were in Silver Creek Township or Silver Creek. Hopefully, more on that to come.


Having never been there myself, I Googled "Silver Creek, Nebraska" images, and came back with a lot of pictures of farm land, cows and tornadoes.

Lottie's Memoirs: The Store

... This is part three in a series. Please see the initial post for explanation.

The Lee Family at Silver Creek, Nebraska

Lottie Mae Lee Houston

Mrs. Andrew Houston

1964

Page 6, continued.

The Lee store grew from a small, pioneer venture to a large mercantile business covering more than half a block, and including warehouse buildings as well as the general store. It carried dry goods of all kinds, "notions" for sewing, etc., groceries, feed, hay and grain. People bought staples in large quantities as they did not come to town often. The groceries were shipped in from Chicago, mostly, and were in bulk. For example, rice or beans or sugar came in large sacks or boxes. There was a great "cheese block", a round piece of wood as large, almost, as a table, which we kept on a counter by itself, with a large cheese on it, covered by a wire screen to keep the flies off.  A piece would be cut off and weighed for a customer as he wanted it. The cheese itself was covered with a very fine cheesecloth which came around the mold. There were crackers in a large barrel or boxes, (I remember big wooden boxes best), and sometimes when Dad could not get home for a meal on time he sliced off cheese and took some crackers for a quick lunch. He loved crackers and cheese, and I remember that in his old age he still liked them for a snack.

As the farmers prospered they began bringing in grain in big sacks or by wagon loads, to be shipped out. A big scales was installed in front of the store so that loads of grain could be hauled on be horses, and weighed. All grain was then sacked and shipped out in freight cars on the Union Pacific railroad. Later, a grain elevator was built in Silver Creek, by a grain company.

A post office department was added to the store, and our father was appointed postmaster. The business grew, and the store was enlarged by building on, four times in all. Many settlers

Page 7.

had no cash, so Dad gave credit, with the people promising to pay when they sold their crops. Some did pay, probably most of them, but to this day many have not! Our father felt that he was doing something for his country, for humanity and for religion when he could help someone in need. Many times I have heard him say when someone said "Mr. Lee, how can I ever thank you for this?" ------ "Pass it on. Pass it on to somebody else who needs something." He was known as the kindest of men.

With the thriving business it was necessary to employ several clerks -- one being young Thomas Lee, a brother of C.H. Lee and nine years younger. Another was Warren Tolman, son of a fine Baptist family who had moved to a farm east of Silver Creek. Both Thomas and Warren were boys of about 16 when they began at the store, and they kept mattresses under the counter, which they laid out at night to sleep on. This gave the store some protection at night. Also, living quarters were hard to find. (Warren grew up to become a lawyer and to move to Washington State where he finally became a Supreme Court judge, at Olympia, Washington. He visited and was visited by Lottie, daughter of C.H. Lee, in the 1920s, where she lived at Enumclaw, Washington.)

Uncle Tom Lee was bookkeeper for the store for a long time. He worked at a high narrow desk which stood against the wall, and he sat on a high stool. The desk was built like a box on four long legs, and had a sloping hinged lid which let down to form a writing surface. When the lid was closed, the ledgers could be locked inside.

The money was kept in a large safe, and although there was fear of outlaws in the new country, I do not remember that there was ever a robbery. There was always someone at the store. Dad worked there early and late, and as I have said, the boys slept there at night. I can see Dad as he was then, a tall, good looking man in his twenties, always whistling or singing, busy unloading merchandise from railway cars, loading grain, supervising men, checking invoices, replenishing shelves, waiting on customers.

The town gradually added a drug store, blacksmith shops, livery stables, barber shop, saloons, meat market and a weekly newspaper, predecessor of the "Silver Creek Sand", ( I do not remember the name). Our Grandmother Lawrence, while she lived in Silver Creek, helped support herself by writing for this newspaper, which was owned and operated by one man. She was something of a poet, as well as a cap-writer of prose, and was always called upon for vivid descriptions of special news events and for editorials and obituaries. In those days obituaries were very complete and meant a great deal to friends and families, and I remember that many people requested the "Mrs. Lawrence write the life story of someone dear to them.

[Transcribers note: "Grandmother Lawrence" is Sarah Evans Lawrence, mother of Mary J. Lawrence, who is Lottie's mother.]

Grandmother Lawrence later moved to Colorado, where she lived with Uncle Warner and his family. She died there and is buried at Brighton. She had a large family of children. I have been unable to keep up contact with most of these relatives, but in later years have known and valued the families of Aunt Frances Lawrence Brown, and Lula Gregory Ten Broeck. Lula's daughter, Ruth has more information about the branches of the Lawrence family.

...to be continued...

Property map from 1899 listing Mary J. Lee, mother of Lottie.
Also includes Tolman family mentioned by Lottie in her text.
(Source: Ancestry.com)

Lottie's Memoirs: The Young Family

... This is part three in a series. Please see the initial post for explanation.

The Lee Family at Silver Creek, Nebraska

Lottie Me Lee Houston

Mrs. Andrew Houston

1964

Page 4.

At Christmas time, 1870, Cyrus Homer Lee, then twenty years old, and his sister Lucy, eighteen, drove a horse and buggy from Silver Creek to Columbus to attend the big Christmas program given by the combined efforts of school and Sunday school, in Columbus. A pretty young school teacher, Miss Mary J. Lawrence, had charge of the younger children's performance, and her appearance and manner completely captivated Cyrus Homer. He said jokingly, in later years that he "froze his nose several times driving to Columbus and back that winter, but he won his girl."  They became engaged and he worked very hard to build a frame houe ont he land which he homesteaded, half a mile from Silver Creek. It was originally a small, two story frame house, painted white. He set out trees all around the edges of the place, mostly cottonwoods, and set out a small maple grove in the northwest corner, near the house. They were married at Columbus, August 13, 1872, and set up housekeeping in their new home. Later they were to build on to the house several times, adding Ls and a porch, in what mother laughingly called a "hen and chickens architectural style." The maple grove grew as we children grew and made a wonderful place in which to play.

To them were born eight children, of whom I was the first.

They were:

1. Charlotte May Lee (Lottie), B. Aug. 5, 1873, Silver Creek, Nebr.
2. Lawrence Homer Lee, B. Dec. 12, 1874, D. July 25, 1897, Silver Creek, Nebr.
3. Bertha Hope Lee, B. Oct. 4, 1877, Silver Creek, Nebr. D. Oct.   195  , New York City.
4. Florence Faith Lee, B. Sept. 21, 1879, Silver Creek, Nebr.
5. Mortimer Bennett Lee, B. Apr. 28, 1881. D. July 12, 1881, of "congestion of the brain".
6. Lucy Anna Lee, B. Sept. 26, 1882. D. Jan. 18, 1913 at Rockledge, Florida, of heart disease.
7. Elmer Eugene Lee, B. Sept. 29, 1884, Silver Creek, Nebr.
8. Roy Ernest Lee, B. Nov. 8, 1886, Brighton, Colo. D. Feb. 18, 1902, Bellevue, Nebr, as a result of a skating accident.

My brother Lawrence and I were only 16 months apart in age, and we grew up to gether almost like twins, going everywhere together, sharing in everything. We were very close to one another, and whenever he learned to do some new thing, I wanted to learn it too. For example, when he learned to milk cows, in Colorado, I got him to teach me. We learned to ride horseback, to ride bicycles, to hitch up horses to the buggy, and many other things. Also we read together, walked to school together, studied together. He went to Doane Academy first, and I followed later. 

Bertha and Florence were the next "pair of twins", and they also did a great many things together, sharing many interest and experiences, both in childhood and later life.

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Then baby Mortimer, "Little Morty", died in infancy of "congestion of the brain." I suppose it was what is now called encephalitis. I had the disease also and was very ill and nearly died in the summer of 1881. It must have been a dreadfully hard summer for our young parents, with five young children, serious illness and death in the family.

Lucile (Lucy Anna) was born in 1882, when I was nine years old, and Mother allowed me to take a great deal of responsibility for her care. I was very proud of this. As soon as she was out of the cradle, when Elmer was born, in 1884, Lucile slept with me in my room, and from then on we were "pals". As we four girls grew up we divided the housework between us, and usually Bertha and Florence worked as one pair, Lucille and I as another.

When Roy was a baby, in Colorado, the nurse midwife who cared for mother had to got to another case on the third day, while mother was still in bed. Women were supposed to stay in bed for ten days following a birth, at that period. Mother allowed me to wash and dress the new baby under her direction as I was then thirteen years old. She had me warm the little clothes, hands and blankets and bring them to her bedside, with the necessary warm water, warm mutton tallow, soft cloths and towels. She always put aside worn table linen to be used for soft linen to wash new babies. It was carefully washed, bleached and ironed, ready for illness.

Mother knew a great deal about illness and home nursing. She had a big "doctor book" which she studied thoroughly, and she read everything she could find on child care and care of the sick. She had known of Florence Nightingale's work in teh 1850s, of the discoveries of Pasteur and Lister in the '60s and '70s. She accepted the new "germ theory of disease" and tried to apply the principles of antisepsin and sterilization. During our period of growing up she had eight children, all born at home, and helped with countless other new babies in and around Silver Creek. She took care of all of us with measles, chickenpox, mumps and whooping cough. She cared for Mortimer and me with congestion of the brain, for Lucile and me several times with rheumatic fever, and for Florence with scarlet fever. We were spared the two dread diseases of diptheria and typhoid fever. The scarlet fever occurred while we lived in Colorado, and Florence was very ill at home. Mother kept her isolated in a room which opened on a hallway, and put on a special dress and a cotton scarf tied over her hair when she went to Florence. When she came out to the family she scrubbed her hands and changed her clothes. It is much to her credit that no one else caught the fever. Mother slept in the room with Florence, washed her dishes and utensils separately, took care of the linen, all according to the doctor's orders, in what we would now call "strict isolation technique."

She was known as a skilled home nurse wherever she lived, and was consulted by all the neighbors. She often sent broth or other delicacies to shut-ins or those who were seriously ill. She "sat up nights" many, many times with patients whose families were worn out with their care. There were no hospitals, and people kept

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their sick at home. When Mother was gone at such times, we girls took over the work at home. It was not unusual for us to do an extra washing for someone who was ill, or to have an extra child staying with us. Of course all these things were done as acts of neighborly kindness, never for pay.

One of the children who stayed with us was Tinley Combs, whose father and mother both died, leaving two children. Some relative took the younger boy, Bert, and our family kept Tinley for several years. He was somewhat older than I, and after he grew old enough to work in the store he helped Dad there. We always thought a great deal of the two boys and kept up with the friendship for many years. Tinley became a prosperous jeweler in Omaha, and we used to see both the Combs families often.

Mother was very strict about keeping the sabbath as a day of rest, except in cases of sickness or death. She once said that the only time she ever sewed on Sunday was once when a young woman died who had not clothes to be buried in, and she and a friend made a shroud on Sunday.

 ...to be continued...

Silver Creek, Neb. Date Unknown.

Memoirs of Charlotte Mae Lee Houston, 1964: Who Was Lottie?

This shall be the first in a series....

Among the many treasures my family has passed down is a memoir, written by my 1st cousin, 3x removed, Charlotte "Lottie" Mae Lee. Although I never met Lottie, I have heard about her what seems like all my life. She had a reputation in the family that carried over.

To give an example, she used to tell my Grandpa that if he would just add an "e" on the end of Brown, our family would be held in much higher regard, as BROWNE was of a higher class than BROWN.

That same Grandfather rented his land from her, and he operated a Dairy Farm. Every year, they would "re-negotiate" the lease, and Lottie would add $1.00 to the rent. Just $1. Just because she could.

I think you get it.

She wrote her memoirs in 1964, and the copy I have is an original, given to my Grandparents, "with love". [Ahem.]  They entail 22 pages, which I will transcribe over the next few days to be shared here.  These memoirs were written with this same attitude, so as they are posted, keep that in mind. History is stranger than fiction...

Charlotte Mae was the first of eight children born to Cyrus Homer Lee (1850-1937) and Mary Josephine Lawrence (1850-1931). For those of you keeping track, Mary was sister to my 2nd great grandmother, Frances Elizabeth Lawrence Brown. Born in Silver Creek, Merrick County, Nebraska, the majority of the family stayed in Nebraska most of their lives. Lottie completed three years of high school, and does have some higher education. On the second of September, 1903, she married Andrew Houston in Bellevue, Sarpy County, Nebraska. Between 1910 and 1913, they moved their family of three children to Osceola, King County, Washington; where they bought three "40's", or 3 tracts of 40 acres each, of land.

Mary Houston, Lottie's daughter

The Osceola community no longer exists on paper, though there are some there that still identify themselves with that name. Generally considered to be part of the town of Enumclaw, the property sits not too far from where I grew up. The farm was a continuous part of my childhood.

Andrew passed away between 1930 and 1940. Lottie stayed on in the family home, and that is where we find her, widowed, all of her children moved out, in the 1940 US Census. She passed away 7 Dec 1967, with her daughters in attendance.