I got peace of mind and elbow room
I love to smell the sage in bloom
Or catch a rainbow on my fishin' line
We've got county fairs and rodeos
There ain't a better place for my kids to grow
Just turn 'em loose in the western summer time 
... Chris LeDoux, Western Skies

"Hope you will enjoy the stories, the memories, random musings...  Diamonds N' Spurs ©SDB2003-2015 All Rights Reserved

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was quite fortunate growing up that I still had many grandparents still living, not only my maternal and paternal grandparents, but quite a few of my great-grandparents as well. In total had 7 grandmothers(includes the great-grandmas) and 5 grandpas(also includes the great-grandpas) when I was born.

This writing is about just a few of the treasured memories I have of the times spent at one of my great-grandmothers and her sister, my great aunt, that lived in Cedar Vale. We seemed to spend most weekends and all holidays and many summer days going to Cedar Vale which we always called going "up home". To this day, my family will ask if we are 'up home" or 'down home' when we visit on the phone. We had plenty of family and friends that kept us quite busy visiting, as both my Mom's and Dad's parents, my grandparents, some of my great-grandparents, along with many aunts, uncles, cousins lived in Cedar Vale or nearby in Sedan. My Dad's parents then lived in Sedan just a short drive away and for a time lived in the little town of Chautauqua, then my grandad moved back to Cedar Vale after my grandmother passed away. 

Genevieve (Vieve) G. (Hills) Barger  was my great-grandmother. I and my siblings have wonderful memories of her and my Great Aunt Vilette(Vi) Hills, her sister. Aunt Vi lived with my great-grandmother after my great-grandfather died in the 1930's. They were the daughters of my gg-grandfather and gg-grandmother (Col. F.M and Annie (Proper) Hills. They had 11 other siblings, plus 3 half-brothers. Col. F.M Hills was the first mayor of Cedar Vale and also was elected mayor two other times. His brothers came to Cedar Vale around same time as J. R. Marsh in 1869 and had one of the first businesses with Marsh. Col. F.M. and his wife Anna(Proper) Hills and their 3 oldest children came a short time thereafter around 1872. Great-great Grandpa Hills also had 3 children from his first marriage.  They would have seven more children, all born in Cedar Vale.

Grandma and Aunt Vi  were well into their years when I was born. Fortunately, I was blessed to have them in my life all my growing up years. It always seemed that they had just had their hair done as it was always perfectly styled. Grandma had white hair that had a golden tint laced throughout the finger waves of her hair, whereas Aunt Vi's hair was tight silver curls and a few waves as typical of the hairstyles at that time. Both were short in stature with brown eyes that seem to twinkle whenever we were around. At times they almost seemed fragile, but they were hard workers and very independent women. In order to be able to support themselves, they took in washing and ironing for many people in Cedar Vale. I was mesmerized by how they did their laundry and as a child thought it was a wonderful treat to be able to go and help them. Although, as I grew up, I realized how hard they worked for such a pittance of a fee they charged for their efforts even though it was probably in keeping for the times. They had a wash house out behind their home and they used wash tubs that the water was heated in and kept hot on an old cast iron burner.  Many trips were made back and forth hauling fresh water as needed. They would wash the clothes on an old washboard in hot sudsy water, then rinse them in the tubs of clean hot water and wring them out with an old hand wringer. They would dip the clothes in starch water before hanging to dry on the clothes line.  They then would use an empty pop bottle filled with lemon or lavender scented water and added a sprinkler type top you purchased that was made especially for this purpose in order to sprinkle the clothes to slightly dampen the clothes in preparation to make it easier to iron.  In earlier years before they had an electric iron, they would heat up a couple of cast hand irons on the stove so that they always had one hot and ready to iron with as one would cool off and have to be re-heated. Often when we came to visit, there would be clothing and linens hanging up, having just been freshly washed and ironed waiting on their owners to come pick them up. They continued to do this until the late 1950's when Grandma  was in her late 70's. 

Grandma was a wonderful cook and I remember many of my favorite foods she would make with my aunt; salmon cakes, vegetable soup, chicken and noodles that would melt in your mouth, chocolate cupcakes with white icing flavored with lemon extract instead of the usual vanilla extract which was a welcome treat anytime and many more of our favorites. One of my favorite meals was and still is, were the delicious salmon cakes they would make for us. The meal was not complete without fried potatoes, and creamed corn. We all had our own special place that  we always sat at for meals. The oak chairs seemed so big when I was younger that surrounded the old oak table with claw feet. I felt so special that my place was always between both Grandma and Aunt Vi.

They had a cistern in the big enclosed screened porch attached to the back of the house just beyond the kitchen that we children loved to be able to fetch water as we watched the metal cups come around as they filled the metal pail full of water. It was a white pail trimmed in red that had a wire and black wood handle. They kept it sitting by the kitchen sink complete with a matching white metal dipper outlined in red and covered with a crisp white tea towel that had the days of the week embroidered on it. Even though ice seemed to be scarce, the water from the cistern was always cold and quenched our thirst. Their refrigerator for years was an old wooden ice box, but the icebox they had at that time was still antiquated in my child's mind as it was white box with attached legs that stood on the floor with some black outline trim around the doors that had silver handles and had some type of fan contraption on top of it. The phone they had was a candlestick type phone with no rotary dial and had it's own special ring so they would know that someone was calling them. They did not have a dial phone until the late 1950's or early sixties and were still on a party line for several years. They did not acquire a TV until late 50's, maybe early 60's and even then the picture was a bit fuzzy. They did have a radio but I don't really remember listening to it or watching the tv much. as most of the time everyone was busy visiting and catching up on what was going on in everyone's life. One might wonder if they had indoor plumbing with all the vintage appliances they still used from years past, but, they did indeed have indoor plumbing.  You had go past the stairs just beyond the dining room which were located in what was a pantry in order to get to it. I don't know if it was added on at some point in time or built at same time the house was constructed. It was complete with all the modern plumbing of the era it was built and had a big white porcelain claw foot tub, a pedestal based sink and a commode, which was replete with the wooden water tank box above with a chain pull. It eventually was replaced at some point in time with a more modern one.

When we were younger, we loved to sit on Grandma and Aunt Vi's  laps and cuddle with them. They both had their own special chairs they liked to sit in. They had this wonderful old black leather furniture with walnut wood arms and legs, which included a sofa, a big rocker and and oversized stuffed chair.They also had an old wooden rocker that had a leather seat and it wore through several times as I was growing up. We then used a pillow where the leather had worn thin until the seat was replaced again. There was a big gas stove in the living room that was used to heat the entire house.  In the summer time, ceiling fans kept us cool along with handheld paper fans.

As children, we always seemed to somehow be called upon at some point in time during our visits to perform for Grandma and Aunt Vi. Our parents apparently were quite proud of our accomplishments much to our chagrin. I was quite shy during my younger years, and  it would seem that my parents thought maybe I would overcome that by showing our family our latest acquired talents. By the time I was 4 years old and one of my sisters was 3, we began taking dancing lessons, and in a couple of years we began taking piano, expression lessons, and other lessons to enhance our lives. My grandmother and great aunt were a very enthusiastic audience, so as we grew up, it became less of a chore for our parents to persuade us to perform for them.

I loved going to Grandma and Aunt Vi's as it was like stepping back in time, although as a child wasn't quite aware of how really back in another era it was when we would walk up onto the front porch to enter their home. To us, it was just Grandma and Aunt Vi's home. As you opened  the Victorian style screen door, there was ad wooden front door with a frosted etched glass pane in the top half of the door which held quite a fascination for me.  I spent many daydreaming moments conjuring up stories in my mind about the people that seemed to come alive for me that was etched into the frosted glass. It was a winter time skating scene with a couple of skaters arm in arm gliding across the ice, along with many children and other skaters. During those times that we were "seen and not heard' while the adults visited,  I would become lost for a spell in that scene  with nothing more than the simple but vivid imaginations of a child. Some of the windows in Grandma's home also held my interest and they seemed quite large and at the top of some of them they had stained glass, which I was not accustomed to seeing other than in church. There was also a type of window seat in the dining & living room. They had two bedrooms downstairs and another bedroom upstairs that you accessed just beyond the dining room right before entered the pantry area. The bedroom we slept in seemed quite large as it had two big iron beds in it and room for a cot as well.  In the summer time the windows were open and most times a cool breeze soothed us as the rhythmic sounds of the cicadas serenaded us and lulled us to sleep.  When I hear the cicadas now, it immediately transports me back to those summer nights in Cedar Vale .

Grandma and Aunt Vi seemed to always buy things alike, but they always bought them in different colors, Grandma's would be in blue and Aunt Vi's in pink or red. One of my sisters and I always got the same  identical items from them for Christmas and birthdays, no matter what it was, mine was always pink and  my sister's was blue.

One year the Easter bunny left us the usual assorted eggs to find, but also baby chicks. Mine of course was pink and my sister's was blue and my other sister's
was purple, and my brother's was green.  The chicks somehow managed to survive and were becoming too large for us to keep. We were not too happy with having to give them up and fretted over what was going to happen to them. We were finally informed and delighted to find out that we would be taking them to Grandma's and Aunt Vi's as they raised chickens and sold eggs and had a chicken coop. I don't think it ever dawned on us at the time that those chickens could wind up being on our dinner plates. I do remember that eventually, one by one they all seemed to succumb to the hereafter, except my dear Pinky even though he had become quite cantankerous. In later years, I learned that my Grandma and Aunt Vi, refused to let Pinky have an untimely demise as Pinky, the cute little chick had grown up to be a rooster and ruled the roost in that chicken pen, but their main reason for saving Pinky was because I was so attached to my fine feathered friend and was my pet. One of the first things I would do after arriving at Grandma's house was to go out and check on Pinky out in the chicken coop. I was always afraid he would forget me, but I would call out to him and he would come running over to me.  It was a stand off attachment and love at least on my part, mainly due to the fact Pinky liked to peck at a person  and I certainly was having none of that and Pinky wasn't fond of letting anyone get too close to his flock. So I was quite grateful and I'm sure Pinky was as well for the chicken wire that separated us. We always had quite a chat back and forth with his crowing and my childish banter until my folks, grandma, or Aunt Vi would let me that someone was going to complain because Pinky had crowed long and loud enough for all to hear.

Grandma and Aunt Vi only lived a couple of blocks on what was known as the Hills block for years south of the main  hub of town. They did not own a vehicle and walked everywhere that they needed to go.  On Saturday afternoons, the big treat of the day for us when we were visiting, was that we would get to walk to  town with Grandma and Aunt Vi. We would go to the Hankins Drug store and get an ice cream or cherry coke after Grandma and Aunt Vi had shopped for groceries they needed from the grocery store.  Then at 3:00pm the town would have a drawing for money in the middle of Cedar street  and many of the residents would show up to see if they had won that week. 

We spent a lot of time outside playing the typical games of red rover, jumping rope, hopscotching, hide n' seek,  jacks, blind man's bluff and other games as well as playing anything we thought up. A couple of girls who we became friends with, Ula and Ola would come to visit us sometimes when we were at Grandmas. For some reason, we all loved playing Red Riding Hood off the curb under a couple of big old elm trees. That curb appeared to be so big & high as a child. . Now when see it, I have no idea why we thought it was such big curb and held the fascination it did for us.  When we tired of playing, the double glider surrounded by a trellis arbor full of flowers and roses, which was a welcome respite that we loved to just glide slowly back and forth  and let the breeze we created from gliding back and forth cool us off.

Due to their meager income, their gifts to us at Christmas time must have presented them a great hardship, but somehow they always managed to give us something special. I still have a couple of the beautiful hankies that they gave to us at Christmas. The gifts though, were not what made the holiday special. One of my favorite memories of Christmas time is that the company my dad worked for always had a Christmas party for the families complete with Santa, gifts and mesh Christmas stockings filled with an assortment of candy, particularly hard candies. We, children always saved all the hard candy out of each of our bags and would put the candy in pretty containers and give it to Grandma and Aunt Vi, both of whom loved the hard candies. They always acted so surprised and excited to get this annual gift.  We also would entertain them with a dance or sing Christmas carols.  The meals they prepared  and just being with them and other family members were the best part of the holiday.

Great -Grandma Barger was small in stature, but a hard working woman all her life. I will always remember her quiet and gentle ways. She is dearly missed by all who knew her. Genevieve Geraldine (Hills) Barger passed away at Hays Hospital in Cedar Vale, Ks. After several weeks of illness. At an early age she became a member of the Cedar Vale Baptist Church. She received her education in the Cedar Vale school. She was a Past Worthy Matron of the Order of Eastern Star, receiving her 50th year membership award in 1967. She was also Past noble Grand of the Rebekah Lodge.

"Over the river and through the woods"..... (to be continued)

 

 

Nowadays, the Sale Barn has been bought and turned into a home. The only sign that reminds one of days gone past is the road which is now called Sale Barn Rd. Many may remember those days, others just know it as the place where thousands of cattle were once bought and sold and shipped all over the country.  For me, the Sale Barn holds many cherished memories, but the most treasured of all is of a real cowboy- my grandpa.....

Over the river and through the woods.....to be continued

(These letters were written in 1977)

January 5, 1977
Dear Folks:

Your letter came today and will try to go back about 75 years and chronicle the happenings concerning the Barger family first of all.

Newt's father, Seth, came to C. V. with his family after and bought the blacksmith shop. across the alley from the Baptist church. He taught Newt the trade  and went back to Fairfax, Oklahoma where he still owned his shop.

Harvey Barger joined Newt in the C. V. shop and they added a wagon shop to the business.  Uncle Newt courted Aunt Vieve in Grandfather Hill's front parlor and were in the parlor of the home.(I remember as if it was only yesterday.).................

Newt had a home built and ready to move into and after the honeymoon of a few days began a life of real happiness together. The home was across the street from his mother, father and family. As well as I can remember there were 4 more boys, besides Newt, Eldon, Charles, Archie and Harvey. The girls names-Maude, Fern and Mable. The mother was a red head and so was Newt & Charlie, Arch and Harve were dark haired.  The girls were all red-heads. Seth, the father was a dark-haired powerfully-built Dutchman. He knew his trade and taught his sons to do it right or else.

The Barger family lived on the same block where my family lived so I saw quite of lot of them. Charlie and I used to fish a lot in Cedar Creek where we made fine catches of perch, catfish, bass and soft-shell turtles. We played run-sheep run on the prairie on the hillside between their house and the Mo-Pac depot.

Our family (my dad was a barber) moved to Caney where my father bought a shop (6chairs-2 baths-cigar and tobacco counter, etc) where we lived until I was 13, then back to C.V.  The Bargers, except Newt and Harve, had gone back to Fairfax so I never saw any of them except Charlie who came to visit Newt and Harve. he was about 5'7'' like his his father. All the Barger children went through High School. Bertha was a tomboy. No game was too rough for her to play.

One day Charlie and I were fishing on Cedar creek when he hooked a soft -shelled turtle so large it took both of us to pull it to the shore. I jumped in and got behind the turtle and Charlie got it by a front leg.  We pulled it up on the bank and turned it on it's back. Charlie then ran home and brought back a washtub. We loaded the turtle into the tub and it was so large we had to squeeze it in. We, took it to the hotel and they paid us $2.00 for it.

This sounds like a tall tale but there are many more true experiences we shared as growing boys which cross my memory and was a part of our lives to be remembered as long as we live.

Newt played on the K.O. (Kansas-Oklahoma) baseball league and when he hit a home run it usually went over the board fence at the north end of the race track at Hewins Park-(about 500 feet). He enjoyed the game very much as did Harvey and Charles.

I used to help in the blacksmith shop doing odd jobs. The most important was making caponizing tools for Geroge Beuoy who sold them all over the U.S.A.

I could go on and on but am getting tired and sleepy, so at your pleasure and request will write about the Hill's family which I assure you will be as complete and authentic as possible.

You must admit my memory for my childhood is pretty fair considering my 82 years.

Next time I'll write about the Hill's family.
Sincerely,
Frank O. Bryant
(the last of the Bryants)