Children of
1
REASOR/Roberson
2
3
REASOR/Lytle
4
5
ROBERSON/Seaton
6
7
1-7 Pedigree Chart Numbering.
Showing posts with label SEATON Edna Lula. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SEATON Edna Lula. Show all posts
Monday, July 30, 2018
Thursday, March 30, 2017
ROBERSON SEATON 100 year Reunion 2016
Three sons of Fielding ROBERSON (1838-1924) and Mary Ann DENBO (1857-1916) married three Daughters of James Thomas SEATON (1851-1925) and Rhoda Helen BAYSINGER (1856-1924).
James Washington ROBERSON (1875-1964) and Mary Ann SEATON (1876-1945) married 16 Aug 1899.
William Fielding ROBERSON (1888-1978) married Eva Lavadeth SEATON (1891-1978) married12 Jan 1910 in English, Crawford, Indiana.
Reuben Russell ROBERSON (1893-1959) and Edna Lula SEATON (1894-1961) married 2 Mar 1913 at Mt. Carmel, Wabash, Illinois.
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
The Childhood of Wanda Roberson Reasor
The Childhood of
Wanda Roberson Reasor
Wanda Roberson Reasor
I was born July 30, 1921 to Reuben Russell Roberson and Edna Lula Seaton. I was the fourth child in a family of nine children. Dad grew watermelons this year and he tells me that he fed me watermelon juice at age of three days. We lived in a four room house at Pleasant Hill, a farm community about five miles from English, Indiana. Dad had planted an apple orchard which never did bear fruit. We never did know why but it must have been a great disappointment for him. He had cleared the land of persimmon and sassafras trees but not the wild blackberry bushes had taken over.
My family was probably classed as poor folks. We never had much money but I can't remember ever going hungry. Dad worked for the State Highway Department as a good democrat and then we had our garden, milk, fruit and wild berries and nuts. Hickory, hazel and black walnuts all were plentiful. Grandfather Fielding Roberson lived with us and I can remember standing on the rockers of his chair as he rocked. I must have had a deep love for him which was returned. He went to visit his son, Alva and while there fell and broke his hip which led to complications. He died soon from acute nephritis when I was only three years old. One of my uncles came by in a wagon and took me to see Grandpa before he died. I can still remember the wet kiss he gave me. I think these are my earliest recollections.
Grandma Seaton also lived with us before she died. My only remembrance of her is when I fell on the stove and burned my hand. She wrapped it for me.
Uncle Irvin Roberson and Aunt Lottie lived in Grandpa's old house which stodd where Hubert Roberson now lives. Their children Hazel and Ray were our closest friends. Hazel and I were always running away to the woods to play in the little streams. Mom often came after us and switched us all the way home. On one of these outings I left my new black paten shoes and when they were found, after a big rain, they were ruined. Hazel and I were sawing with Dad's cross cut saw while Norman (my brother) held the stick. The saw slipped and all but severed his forefinger. Hazel ran home and I got tanned good. Seems she was always getting me into trouble, still I loved her dearly. Norman and Howard were born here. I can remember Howard's birth. While he was still a baby we packed up in a small truck, had a sale, and started our journey,
I was almost five years old when Dad decided, almost overnight, that we were going to Great Fall, Montana, or rather to a ranch between Dutton and Power, Montana. We were going to live with my Uncle Grover Roberson and work in the wheat harvest. Eight of us, Mom, Dad, six children and another man made the trip. We traveled in a Model A Ford truck with the truck bed build for we children to ride in. Mom usually rode in the back with the children while Chester rode up front with Dad and the man.
There are only a few things that I really recall about this trip. These include my first taste of canned pork and beans and store bought apple butter. The trip was in the fall and we were trying to beat the bad weather. However, it does seem like we still had cold and rain. The roads weren't paved and I still have an embedded fear of winding mountain roads. They were so narrow with drop-offs that seemed to me to never end. We walked up many hills with the bigger ones pushing the truck. I remember one morning waking up in the tent where we slept and they were all gone pushing the truck up another hill. They were to come back to get us later but I thought for sure they had forsaken we small children.
Uncle Grover had homesteaded a section or two of land when he went west to teach school and had become very successful. He was very tall and handsome with a gold tooth in front and a big wide Roberson smile.
Grover told us of his first day at school when he took over a room full of teen age boys who had run several teachers away. He took a big buggy whip and dared them to do anything. He never had trouble teaching that year. He must have had mixed emotions about our entry into his life. He was a bachelor and I'm sure we must have been a terrible intrusion. Mom took over as cook. I remember her baking bread in huge pans that held four to six loaves side by side. We
had dried prunes for our only fruit in the winter. We had contests to see who could eat the most prunes. One morning I was so happy--I had had a loose tooth for some time and was sure it had fallen out, however, it was only covered with a piece of prune skin.
Dad pulled our teeth regularly. We would all line up and he would pull the loose and nearly loose teeth. This was as bad as everyone getting a whipping for something that no one would own up to.
Edna with four of her 9 children.
Marie, [Norman], Wanda, [Howard.]
I started school here in Montana. My first teacher was Mrs. Jennie Henn. Marie was in the third grade and Mrs. Henn put her back in the first grade with me. Marie had had pneumonia for three years so probably had missed so much school that she hadn't progressed as she should. Also, I think there was no other third graders.
Wanda in the 2nd Grade second from right mark above head.
That winter we were caught in our first blizzard, Dad came after us early in the afternoon because we had gone to school without coats. It started out as a warm winter day. The blizzard came up so fast that we got stuck on the way home. It was snowing so hard that when Dad would back the car up to get another run the snow would fill up his tracks. We left the car to walk back to the nearest neighbor which was about one half mile. Dad carried me but I still got both hands frozen. They thawed them out with snow and in a few days all the skin peeled off. Dad left us with the neighbor and walked home. he didn't want Mom to worry and do the chores. It was a miracle that he made it home by following the fence.
There were lakes between our house and the school which froze over and Dad would make a short cut by driving across them. One day I fell out of the truck and went sliding across the ice but didn't get hurt.
Mrs. Henn had us all make Easter nests our of grass found around the school house and every morning for about a week before Ester we would find a candy Easter egg in our nest. I'm sure this is where our family tradition originated.
We moved to Great Falls and lived in a motel. We used one room for living quarters where Mom and Dad slept and we kids slept in the other room. I remember getting up and running barefoot through snow to get down to the warm room. Dad built us a house on second avenue across the road from the motel. Our little brother was born while we lived here. He only lived three days and this was my first real grief.
Wanda, [Howard, Norman,] Marie standing in front of parents Edna Lula Seaton and Reuben R. Roberson. A canvas covers the door to keep the wind from blowing inside.
One day at school I was standing in line waiting for the bus to take us home and just as the bus arrived, an Indian boy Jimmie Billadeaux came running and shoving and pushed me under the bus. Both front and rear wheels ran over my legs between the knees and ankles. The snow on the ground kept them from breaking. I was quite the important one for a time. A girl gave me a beautiful China doll--my first.
My teacher for third grade was Myrl Cody and here is where I got the idea to spell my middle name. No one seemed to to know how it was supposed to be spelled.
My first lesson in, "Thou shalt not steal," was learned here. All the kids had money for penny candy and I found where Mom and Dad kept some change in a pocket so i helped myself. Several times I did and kept taking more until I had to own up to stealing. I got a good talking to and I am sure a spanking. I'm sure that as poor as were were every penny was missed.
Dad sold our house after a short time and we moved into a tent on Second Avenue South while he dug a basement for a new house. We moved into the basement and never did finish the house. Our basement was curtained off with yards of white material with tiny red boats printed on it. Mom and Dad's bed hung from the ceiling on chains. Here we went to 4H club and I saw my first ventriloquist. We got a nice Holstein cow to produce 5 gallons of milk a day. She kept running away to join the steers that still ran loose on the prairie. I was scared of the steers. We would get a treat once in a while at the root beer stand. It was in the shape of a barrel and the waitresses wore orange and brown uniforms. I think we must have always been a little hungry or maybe things tasted better then than they do now. Rattle snakes were everywhere and occasionally we had sand storms. Dad got a nail in his hand and was sick with blood poisoning for several days.
My boy friend was Billy Madison who had a cousin Leroy Johnson. Their fathers ran Johnson Madison Lumber Company in Great Falls. My first remembered embarrassment was Billy seeing my black garters. All the other girls wore supporters which were fastened to loops on their undershirts. I longed for supporters. We wore long cotton socks and some were too short, or my legs were too long.
One night we came home from school and were told we were going back to Indiana the next morning. We just left all our stuff except Mom's sewing machine. She had it shipped. We stayed in better motel and some farm homes. Dad was a great personality and would talk people into keeping us for the night. The roads were better and our trip was fun even though we were more crowded because we were larger. We would all lean together and get the car swaying around corners until Dad really laid it on us.
Back in Crawford County, Indiana we started living in rented houses. First, we lived in one of Alice Roberson's homes close to Grantsburg. We walked to school at Grantsburg. Joe was born here. Our teacher was Helen Reaor. We were all in the same room at school. Then we moved to a house at the top of Needmore Hill near English. It had three rooms and we went to school in English. Our old house became vacant,the one that I was born in, and we moved back to it. We had to walk two miles to the school bus. Lots of times we carried our shoes to the gravel road, washed our feet in the creek and put our shoes back on. I guess I was getting older and more dreamy. I loved our walk through the woods. Junior Longest carried my books and later my trombone. I took advantage of his mooney eyed love for me.
Wanda in the 8th grade
My first love happened during the eighth grade. I was tall, skinny, and homely as sin. I had started wearing horned rim glasses in the 7th grade and found out how near sighted I was and what the world really looked like. I would wear a pair until they broke and then after weeks or even months of not having any, Dad would take me to Louisville to get new ones. These were special occasions for me to be alone with Dad on the train trip. We would stay for a couple of days. he would get me a couple of new dresses and treat me to a lot of little things that we never had at home.
Anyway Earl Cox, a tall dark haired boy with a Roman nose came into my life and for at least two years was constantly in my thoughts. I'd spend the nights with Ester Smith and we would go to night school at Jerico and Earl walked me home. That was the nearest I ever came to dating him. I mean just the sight of him was enough to speed up my heart beat. We wrote love notes which I wore in my shoe to keep the teacher from finding them. I kept them until I got married and then destroyed them.
cousin Hazel and Wanda
(Marguerite Hazel Roberson daughter of Irvin Ember Roberson and Lottie Merry)
We walked to town at noon from school, just to walk back with the boys. I even played hooky a couple of times and nearly got caught by Dad. I played 1st trombone in high school band and orchestra. I graduated in 1939, with a class ring and attendance at the prom. Everyone went to the prom since a date was not required. The prom was mostly a big dinner. I won a scholarship to Indiana University but with no encouragement at home I didn't take it. Instead I went to beauty college at Kentucky Beauty College in Louisville. I graduated in three months and went to my first job in Madison, Indiana. I earned $10 a week with room and board. We slept in a third floor room above the shop.
left: Mary, Joe, Howard, Norman, Marie, Chester, Amzel with mom Edna Lula SEATON (1894-1961) and dad Reuben Russell ROBERSON (1893-1959). Wanda is not pictured.
Friday, August 29, 2014
Edna Lula SEATON ROBERSON
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Memories of Edna Lula Seaton RobersonLife History of Edna Lula Seaton told to daughter Wanda Roberson Reasor. This was at the time she and Mildred Jean Roberson came to visit in Orem, Utah, 1960. Kay and I found it in my records July 1986. Born June 19, 1894 to James Thomas Seaton and Rhoda Helen Baysinger; Grantsburg, Indiana. About the first thing I can remember is sitting as a child and saying "Ma's asleep, Kitty's asleep and baby's awake." Always wore shoes with some holes for laces and hooks-up the rest of the way. Went to school at Pleasant HIll, one year (3rd grade) at Tunnel Hill to Grover Roberson. First school teacher was Minnie Brown. About 9 years old, playing on logging wagon with Dora Grant. Wagon went out of control over the Needmore Hill in English. Dora's dress caught in the wheel. Mom yelled "Dode's killed" but neither one of us was hurt. Pa was alwyas buying Chrismtas pesnets. One time brought home a musical album. Ma told him to take it right back. She wove carpets to help make a living. Pa sold Indian Herb pills. Walked from town to town. I remember one summer Ma was sick and I fanned her all summer long and carried water for long distances. I was about 10 or 11 years old. Asleep one night, heard some one cough, and light went out. I sat on Willie's bed till everyone came home. Slept in the same room with Mom and Dad until I got married. Always afraid when I woke up, would call Ma and Pa. Pa would always say, "what the devil to do you want?" Crawford County Democrat, May 1960: In memory of my husband, Reuben R Roberson who passed away May 2, 1959 Little did we know when we left home That I would be coming back alone To have to love and then to lose Is the hardest thing I ever had to do. Sadly missed by wife Edna and children
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written December 1988
I will now write a little about my children's grandmother, Edna Seaton Roberson. Grandma Edna was a quiet gentle patient and hard working person. I don't remember her yelling at us very much and we always had to wait for Dad to get home to get our whippings when we had been bad. She loved to go to town on Saturday. She would carry her eggs in a bsket and walk the two and half miles to town where she stood with her friends along the street talking and getting caught up on the news (all afternoon). She then would carry, pack, as she would call it, her little dab of groceries home. There wasn't much to buy since we lived on a farm and produced most of our food. There was always a nickel's worth of candy for us kids.
Mom sewed and made all of our clothes. I remember sitting on the floor and peddling her sewing machine with my hands. I don't know if that was a help for her or to keep me busy. When the clothes were worn out, she would tear them into strips, sew them together in long strips and crochet them into rugs. She would also tat lace for the babies clothes. I remember her being pregnant, only because she sat around more. She never told us anything about the facts of life. She wore wrap around dresses to hide her pregnancy. They were comfortable and she usually had one at all times for convenience for nursing her babies. She was either pregnant or nursing a baby.
She always seemed to be a solid patient influence, always there but nevrr showing much affection to any of us except Dad. I remember many times of feeling that no one loved me.
Mom could be very jolly and enjoyed people after she got to know them. She waited on Dad hand and foot. I often wondered how she could put up with some of the things he did and the expectations he had of her and the family.
Some of her well used phrases were--"well I declare", this was to express surprise or astonishment, "I'll swanny, for goodness sake, I'll be there directly, hushup, Lordy Lordy."
She sang some cute songs to us kids which I have sung to mine. One was, "Over the river to feed the sheep, over the river to Charley;s, over the river to feed the sheep and bake a cake for Charley. Oh Charley he's a very fine man, Oh, Charley he's a Dandy. Charley loves to treat the girls with sugar, wine, and candy."
Another was, "First I met was a blind man." You'll have to get the words later if you want them.
Dad had rules about us using the battery radio. Mom would listen to Helen Trent, and Our Girl Sunday,both soap operas and one other every day. She loved hill billy music, especially sung by Grandpa Jones.
She lived in many homes. Dad had rambling blood and she would pull up and go whenever he said go. She would take the children in the middle of the school year or break up a courtship of one of the older ones. She loved to fish and could be ready in a minute. She loved to quilt, first because of necessity and later just to have someting to do. Just before she died in the hospital, although she had no needle or thread, my sisters said her hands were still going through the motion of sewing.
Mom wouldn't baby sit for any of us. She said, "I rasied my family, you raise yours." She was a good cook and none of us can bake bread or biscuits as good as hers. When she baked pies it would be five or six at a time. I don't remember many cakes. She found a recipe for four pounds of fudge. She made that almost every year after that for Christmas. We are still trying to come up with her persimmon pudding recipe. We are getting closer but not exactly.
Mom had a sweet tooth. No matter what we had to eat for dinner or supper there would be a dessert. Mom could make a dessert out of nothing. She often made vinegar pie or green tomato pie. All of the Seaton's had a sweet tooth.
There were always Seaton/Roberson reunions. They were held in English for years and then near Mt. Carmel, Illinois. We would stay at Aunt Leora's home. I loved to sit and listen to Mom and her sisters and brothers talk. Mom would take salmon patties to the reunion and they were the first things to be gone. Dad liked to find different things to eat. Salmon, oysters were among them. Dad always had a car and it was always full of kids. When we moved to Montana we left our house empty. When we returned from Montana we moved back into the same house. It had sat empty while we were gone. It never did have paint on the outside of it. There was a living room, kitchen and two bedrooms. There was also a cooking/summer porch. Dad moved the stove out there in the summer time. In the one bedroom there was always three beds. We kids slept in there.
Mom had to get false teeth when she was very young. She and Amzel went to Louisville on the train and the dentist pulled out all of Mom's teeth. She still walked home two and a half miles from the train station. She had lots of trouble getting used to her teeth. She always kept them in a cup of water at night. She would entertain the grandchildren by slipping them in and out of her mouth, then asking them to try and do the same. She told about one time while fishing in the creek, her teeth fell out and she almost lost them. Kay, this is probably where you got your wonderful first poem which ended, "Oh my teeth! They fell in the creek! The rest of the poem had nothing to do with teeth or creek.
Mom and Dad joined the Presbyterian church about 1940. Dad had a heart attack and it scared him into thinking about mortality and death. I talked to Mom when she came to visit us in Orem about our church. Her answer, "It was good enough for Dad, it is good enough for me", meaning the Presbyterian church. They sent us to church with Aunt Annie and Uncle Jim. The only time I remember going to church with them was while we lived in Montana on the ranch. We went quite regularly then and I'm sure Mom would have gone any and all times if Dad would have taken her.
We went to the Logan Temple after Mom died. I was proxy for her and Lee was proxy for Dad. It was as if I was going through for the first time. I could not remember any part of the endowment. Always before this I would dream about Mom and Dad and they were never together. Mom would say, "I haven't seen Dad yet." After the work for them was done, in my dreams they are always together. This is a testimony to me that the work was accepted.
When I called to tell her I was pregnant with Sandi, all she said was "well". That was about as excited as she ever got. She and Dad are buried in Rest Haven Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky. However, she is nearer to me in my own home than when I visit the cemetery. Writing this has caused me to shed many tears.----------------------------------
Memories of Edna Lula Seaton Roberson
My most choice memory is of the summer of 1961 when I was 14. I went to Louisville, Kentucky on the bus from Provo , Utah to stay with Grandma Edna. We had such a special time together but she really didn't want to be here. She was ready to leave this earth and I really think she just gave up living. Grandma had been sick when I got there. She didn't like being alone and my cousin, Jeannie, had stayed with her most of the school year. My cousin, Phillip, came over to mow the lawn, Aunt Mary did the grocery shopping for her, Aunt Amzel did the bank business. Aunt Marie talked to her on the phone but didn't visit with her the whole summer I was there.
Our life was pretty much a routine. I cleaned the house in the morning, which took 30 minutes. We cooked oats and biscuits for breakfast. Most lunches Grandma would have tea and soda crackers. I ate peanut butter. And then I learned to cook supper. She would tell me how to do things and I just listened and did it. I made biscuits, bread, fried chicken, minute steaks, and even made pies. But the most important thing she taught me and that I treasure most today is the fun of piecing a quilt. We sat in rocking chairs facing each in front of the windows, with a little breeze blowing in. It must have been very hot in Kentucky but I don't remember the heat or humidity. We sewed by hand most of the afternoon and evening. As we sewed we talked and oh how I wish those conversations were recorded. I remember trying to understand why she didn't believe in eternal marriage and she showed me in the Bible where it said that marriages are neither given or taken away in heaven. I hope she was pleasantly surprised to find that you can be sealed to your husband. And I hope she and Grandpa Rube are together and happy.
She made me sew with a thimble. After several days she watched me for a while and finally came over by me to see what I was doing. I was wearing the thinble on the tall finger, where most people wear their thimble, but pusing the needle with my ring finger. The ring finger was bloody. She said, "Kay put that thimble on the other finger." I have worn it on that finger ever since, and literally cannot thread a needle without a thimble on my ring finger.
We watched wome word game show and the news on TV. We read the newspaper in the evening. Sometimes we would go to Aunt Amzels for the afternoon. But Grandma really liked to stay home. Mrs. Hornbuckle, a neighbor, would walk over and visit. I remember thinking how strange that they called each other "Mrs."
Towards the end of the summer I spent some time in English and then one week-end with Uncle Lloyd. While I was there Grandma fell during the night and they took her to the hospital. For the next week we took turns sitting in the hospital. Aunt Marie rallied to the crisis and was there with her cot to sleep every night. After about a week Grandma was able to come home. We brought her home from the hospital. Everyone was at the house that day. All the daughters and daughter-in-laws were cooking lunch. I was ironing and packing. I was supposed to leave for Utah the next day. Grandma was resting in her bed. I went in to talk to her for a few minutes and then went into the other room to iron. I was the last person to talk to her. She had a heart attack a few minutes later and by the time the ambulance got there she was almost gone. I felt so alone. I went into the bedroom and prayed and prayed. Aunt Mary found me and we just hugged each other and cried and prayed together.
Grandma's funeral was a southern Protestant event. The viewing was several nights long at the funeral home and then they brought her body to her home for the last evening. The sons took turns sitting up all night long. The family gathered in her home that evening. I was so relieved when my parents arrived from Utah and I could share my grief with them. I remember the funeral as being very cold. The minister called her "Mrs. Roberson" but really didn't say much about her. He had visited her once during the summer. This was my first real experience with death and the experience left me cold and wanting to understand the gospel of Christ more.
Grandma Edna was a spunky woman. My mother comes by her personality very honestly. Edna loved her children but she loved her husband the most. I think she was greatly relieved to die and not have to be alone any more. She told me the hardest part was trying to sleep alone. She taught me many practical skills but I loved her most for who she was, a hard working, creative loving woman! She loved to fish, dug her own worms, donned a pair of overalls, a big hat and went at it. In later years I would watch my mother's hands as she stitched and realized her hands looked just like her mother's hands. My hands look like my mother's and therefore like my grandmother Edna's hands. What a wonderful reminder of two great women.
Obituary of Edna Seaton Roberson
Obituary: Louisville, Kentucky Courier Journal; died 9 Aug 1961
Mrs. Reuben R. Roberson, the former Edna Seaton, died Monday at 12:45 p.m. at her residence, 7508 Glaser Lane. She was 67. Her husband died in 1959. Survivors include four daughters, Mrs. Maurice Brown, New Albany, Ind., Mrs. Lee Reasor, Orem, Utah, and Mrs. Joseph McKinney and Mrs. Russell Walts; four sons, Howard Roberson, Rapid City, S.D., Joe Roberson, Miami, Fla, and Chester and Norman Roberson; two sisters, Mrs. Leora Belcher, Mount Carmel, Ill., and Mrs. Bill Roberson, Fredericksburg, Ind.; 20 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. The body will be at the McAfee Funeral Home, 3928 Bardstown Road, until Thursday, when it will be taken to the residence. The funeral will be Friday at 2 p.m. at the McAfee Funeral Home. Burial will be in Resthaven Memorial Park.
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Eulogy of Edna Seaton Roberson
Eulogy:
Edna Seaton Roberson the daughter of James and Rhoda Seaton was born June the 19th 1894, at Grantsburg, Indiana, where she spent her childhood days. She was married to Reuben Roberson, November the 2nd 1913, and started a home and family, thinking always of the health and well-being of her family first and herself last.
To Reuben and Edna was born 9 children, one an infant lived only a few days. The others have enjoyed the fruits of her labors and her pleasant personality all these years. She joined the Buechel Presbyterian Church on March 22, 1949 to better fulfill her spiritual obligations and remained sincere in her fellowship.
A happy smile, and warm personality, honesty and an undying interest in everyone are the rich blessings that will be missed by all those who survive her. Her children . . .
Amzel Walts, Chester Roberson, Marie Brown, Wanda Reasor, Norman Roberson, Howard Roberson, Joe Roberson and Mary McKinney; 20 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren; 2 sisters, Leora Belcher of Mt Carmel and Eva Roberson of Fredricksburg, Indiana and many friends and relatives. She departed this life August 7, 1961 at her home in Louisville, Kentucky.Ancestral Chain: CR / MRR / Wanda Myrl ROBERSON 1921-2012 / Edna Lula SEATON 1894-1961 / James Thomas SEATON 1851-1925 and Rhoda Helen BAYSINGER. 1856-1924
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Grandma Wanda at Two Years Old
1924 The oldest of the nine children of Reuben Russell ROBERSON and Edna Lula SEATON: from left: Chester Lloyd ROBERSON, Janet Marie ROBERSON (BROWN), Norman Lee ROBERSON, Wanda Myrl ROBERSON (REASOR), back Amzel Nadine ROBERSON (WALTS).
Seen in background-left is the home of their grandfather Fielding ROBERSON.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Grandma Edna and Grandpa Reub
Edna Lula (1894–1961) and Reuben Russell ROBERSON (1893–1959) Family Memories
From Histories by Amzel Nadine ROBERSON WALTS (1914-2003) and by Grandma Wanda (living)
From Histories by Amzel Nadine ROBERSON WALTS (1914-2003) and by Grandma Wanda (living)
Amzel: "In a quaint little country village of English, Indiana, my father Reuben was born [tenth] of the twelve children of [Fielding ROBERSON and Mary Ann DENBO.]" " A few miles away in still a smaller town of Grantsburg, Indiana, my mother, the ninth of nine children was born to [James Thomas SEATON and Rhoda Helen BAYSINGER.]"
Wedding of Reuben and Edna: 2 Mar 1913 Mt. Carmel, Wabash, IllinoisAmzel:
"The way the two got together wasn't a miracle because two former SEATON girls had married ROBERSON Boys. The Seaton girls, Anna and Eva raved because she was getting ready to marry into the ROBERSON family."
James Washington ROBERSON (1875-1964) married Mary Ann SEATON (1876-1945) 16 Aug 1899.
William Fielding ROBERSON (1888-1978) married Eva Lavadeth SEATON (1891-1978) 12 Jan 1910 at English, Crawford, Indiana.
Amzel: [1914] "My parents lived in Mt. Carmel, Illinois. My dad worked fort the railroad and we lived close by in a little cottage. As long as I live I will never forget the train rides, especially the ones back to Mt. Carmel to visit my grandparents. Their house was a very very busy place with all the "cousins by the dozens" gathering there for a big get-to-gether, also there [were] many visits to our place, after we moved to the farm."
Reuben ROBERSON far right with neck tie.
Amzel: "From Mt. Carmel, my parents and I moved to Louisville, Kentucky, in a little cottage down on Madison Street. To me that sounds bad now but in 1916 that was the heart of Louisville. My dad was a street car conductor....We lived next door to my Aunt Dora and Uncle Charlie Roberson...."
Reuben ROBERSON Street Car Driver.
Amzel: "It was the fall of 1918 when my dad and mother decided to load us all up and move to the farm.... We moved to Craig Patrick's farm in Grantsburg, Indiana on a very small place."
Amzel: "Now as I write I think of one great memory. back in those days we had outside privies. mom took the slop jar to empty and I saw her coming back, feet high in the air and slinging the slop jar. What was the matter? She had seen a big snake in the privy. Talking about snakes, the place was lined with them. Mom wouldn't let us outside the house."
Amzel: "My grandpa [Fielding] Roberson had given my dad 40 acres, with no house, two miles south of English, Indiana. It was there he became a carpenter, which was later to be his entire career. He started a two room house. It was very cold weather when we were ready to move in. It was crude, but a nice home and it was ours to have and to cherish and bring back pleasant memories years after."
Amzel: "The picture my sister Wanda Painted now hanging on my living room wall prompted me to write this book."
Amzel: "Finally dad built a porch across the front of the house..., I can see my mother sitting and rocking, with one child or another on the porch."
Amzel: Also, dad started his first farming. When the crops were over, he worked on the railroad in English, Indiana to pay the taxes and to buy shoes and keep bread on the table for us."
Amzel: "The fall of 1918 we started a very cold and bad winter.... It still bareds very strong in my mind. The jouy was seeing my mom and dad and Uncle Irvin and Aunt Lottie [Roberson] sleigh riding down the hill having fun. Also, my Uncle Irvin hooking up his beautiful team of horses to the sleigh. Mother would gather up quilts and us kids and away we would go. Eight miles to see my Aunt Bertha and Uncle Charlie Laswell. We sang and had a wonderful time, plus the bountiful dinner she put on the table."
Amzel: "[1919, Mom was expecting her third child.] We all got the flu. Mother went into Pneumonia. She was very ill...."
Amzel: "Mom kept getting worse. The doctors expected her to die. Our Doctor Hammond told dad a Doctor Pallie from Louisville, Kentucky could operate and maybe save her. But before he would come he had to have the money, $100.00. So dad sold our only horse, 'Mid Nite' so the surgeon would come down and operate as it was impossible to move her. Oh, what a night for a child to remember. He prepared the kitchen table and it was there he operated on my mother hoping to save her life. The part that stands out very clearly was Mrs. Sudduth, Mrs. Austin and Mrs. Patton who stood out on the porch to wait for her to die so they could lay her out. but in the night the doctor went out and said that he had given her a shot that would either cure or kill her. With that he left. My dad was very [a] good nurse. He worked day and night for 21 days. It was a very dragged out process but she lived. [Three months later the baby was born.]"
Amzel: "..Dad started building on to our house. My grandpa [Fielding] Roberson was coming to live with us. Hebuilt two rooms across the back and another porch that we used as a summer kitchen. My Grandmother Seaton was weaving rugs for people so she wove us a wall-to=wall carpet for our sitting room. It consisted of an organ, couch, chair, a three-quarter bed and of course the old wood stove. Also, an Aladin lamp, a library table and a wall telephone."
Wanda: [The year I was born, 4th of 9 children, Dad grew watermelons] he tells me that he fed me watermelon juice at age of three days....
Amzel: "...My dad had a wagon load of watermelons and cantaloupe ready for selling. That was our cash crop for the year (10 cents each.)"
Wanda: We lived in a four room house at Pleasant Hill, a farm community about five miles from English, Indiana. Dad had planed an apple orchard with never did bear fruit. We never did know why but it must have been a great disappointment for him. He had cleared the land of persimmon and sassafras trees but now the wild blackberry bushes had taken over."
Wanda: "My family was probably classes as poor folks. We never had much money but I can't remember ever going hungrey. Dad worked for the State Highway Department as a good democrat and then we had our garden, milk, fruit and wild berries and nuts. Hickory nuts, hazel nuts and black walnuts all were plentiful."
Amzel: "Every evening my dad had to read to Grandpa Roberson...."
Wanda: "Grandfather Fielding Roberson lived with us and I can remember standing on the rockers of his chair as he rocked, I must have had a deep love for him which was returned...."
Amzel: "My memories [of living in the Indiana country are great.] Such as dad getting out the apples and sitting around the stove, or me dipping my hand in the sour kraut barrell and eating it fresh. Oh boy that was good."
Amzel: "The times were hard but the family grew....It seemed like the work grew harder but we were a very happy family. I can remember mom often bought ten yards of material at five cents a yard and made us all dresses alike."
Amzel: "Our Christmas's were really great and very simple. The dolls were put away in October and guns were hid. Come Christmas morning we had new doll dresses and caps for the guns, and our stockings were filled with oranges, apples nuts and candy."
Amzel: "In the summer time the Veterans of the Civil War had and held what was called and still is the English Reunion. They made and served chowder and since Grandpa Rorgerson was a Civil War Veteran we could all have our dinners free. So at 6 in the morning the horses were hitched to the wagon and us with our new dresses and away we went for the festivities of the day. After eating dinner and seeing all the people, they always gave us kids all the lemonade and bananas we could drink and eat. My brother Chester ate and ate and was pretty sick of bananas.
Amzel: "It was in the summer of 1924 that Grandpa and Grandma Seaton came from Mt. Carmel, Illinois for a visit with us. She had a stroke and died at our house.
Wanda: "Grandma [Rhoda Helen BAYSINGER] Seaton also lived with us before she died. My only remembrance of her is when I fell on the stove and burned my hand. She wrapped it for me."
Amzel: "When Grandpa and Grandma Seaton came, Grandpa Roberson took his suitcase and went to visit his daughter, aunt Bertha Laswell. He fell and broke his hip and died that fall.
Wanda: ...He went to visit his son, Alva, and while there fell and broke his hip which led to complications. He died soon from acute nephritis when I was only three years old. One of my Uncles came by in a wagon and took me to see Grandpa before he died. I can still remember the wet kiss he gave me. I think these are my earliest recollections."
Amzel: "My big thrill was coming home from school on a cold winter evening, snow falling and walking in and getting a sniff of cookies baking and supper on the wood cook stove. Those days not much work to do at night, only what mom couldn't get done in her busy day....They tore down the school and built a new one-room school house. All eight grades attended. It wasn't a very large school but we got our learning there, carried our lunches and sat by a big pot bellied stove. It seemed every new college graduate taught their first year there. Three of my double cousins (yes, remember three sisters married three brothers,) taught at the school."
Amzel: "I'll never forget when we were kids and if dad asked 'who did it?' and no one answered, he would line us up against the house and whip us all. Then he was sure to get the right one. "
4-Wanda (bare legs), 6-Howard, 5-Norman, 3-Marie, standing in front of mother Edna and dad Reuben. The house belonged to an Uncle. The door is covered with canvas to help keep out the cold wind.
Amzel: "Times were getting worse every year. It was impossible to live on a small farm so dad started talking, selling and moving to Montana. Now us larger kids didn't care to go and leave our friends. But he even tually sold our farm and bought a big truck and built it into a van. we had a sale and sold our furniture and packed our clothes..."
Wanda: "Dad decided almost overnight, that we were going to Great Falls, or rather to a ranch between Dutton, and Power, Montana, to live with my Uncle Grover Roberson and work in the wheat harvest. Eight of us, mon dad six children and another man made the trip. we traveled in a Model a Ford Truck with athe truck bed built for we children to ride in. Mom usually rode in the back with the children while Chester rode up front with dad and the man."
Wanda: "There are only a few things that I really recall about this trip. These include my first taste of canned pork and beans and [store] bought apple butter. The trip was in the fall and we were trying to beat the bad weather. However, it does seem like we still had cold and rain. The roads weren't paved and I still have an imbedded ear of winding mountain roads. They were so narrow with drop-offs that seemed to me to never end. We walked up many hills with the bigger ones pushing the truck. I remember on mourning waking up in the tent where we slept and they were all gone pushing the truck up another hill. They were to come back to get us later but I thought for sure they had forsaken we small children. Uncle Grover had homesteaded a section or two of land when he went west to teach school and had become very successful. He was very tall and handsome with a gold tooth in front and a big wide mouth, Roberson smile. I am more of a Seaton and look like my mothers family.
Amzel: We had our problems on the way, but on May 8, 1927 we arrived in Dutton, Montana. Dad raised wheat on 320 acres of my uncles Farm, so that put us all to work. I shocked wheat right along with the rest....
Wanda: Grover told us of his first day at school when he took over a room full of teen age boys who had run several teachers away. He took a big buggy whip and dared them to do anything. He never had trouble teaching that year. He must have had mixed emotions about our entry into his life. He was a bachelor and I'm sure we must have been a terrible intrusion. Mom took over as cook. I remember her baking bread in huge pans that held four to six loaves side by side. We had dried purnes for our only fruit in the winter. we had contests to see who could eat the most prunes. One morning I was so happy-- I had had a loose tooth for some time and was sure it had fallen out-- it was only covered with a piece of prune skin.
Wanda: Dad pulled out teeth regularly. We'd all line up and he'd pull the loose and nearly loose teeth. This was as bad as everyone getting a whipping for something that no one would own up to.
Standing-mother Edna
Seated-Marie, Norman, Wanda and Howard photo taken in Montana
Wanda: I started school here in Montana.
Amzel: Now it was fall and we had to start school, you could see the school from our house. We had been warned of bad blizzards, so we had plenty of food and coal in.
Wanda: That winter we were caught in our first blizzard. dad came after us early in the afternoon because we had gone to school without coats. It started our as a warm winter day. The blizzard came up so fast that we got stuck on the way home. It was snowing so hard that when dad would back the car up to get another run the snow would fill up his tracks. We left the car to walk back to the nearest neighbor which was about one half mile. Dad carried me but I still got both hands frozen. They thawed them out with snow and in a few days all the skin peeled off. Dad left us with the neighbor and walked home. He didn't want mom to worry and do the chores. It was a miracle that he made it home y following the fences.
Amzel: The winter came in fast and dad started after us. The storm hit and we got stuck. The kids stayed at a neighbors while dad tried to make it home. The storms aren't simple out there. The next morning it was 50 degrees below zero and four feet of snow on the ground. The horses went in to their bellies.
Wanda: There were lakes between our house and the school which froze over and dad would make a short cut by driving across them.. One day I fell out of the truck and went sliding across the ice but didn't get hurt.
Amzel: Now Christmas was coming and it was very bad, but one day dad and he and mom went into town. Dutton, Montana was eleven miles away and that is where they bought our Christmas. That was the year I got the Kodak camera I still have. Then dad bought a car. A top heavy ford. We went to Great Falls shopping. When dad missed a road he had to back up and he noticed a tire gone. Some one had stolen our tire. so back to town we went and got a new one. That was to be our one and only Christmas on the farm.
Wanda: That year mom cut my hair real short and it stayed straight. I guess the dryness did it. Anyway I only had memories of my long curls.
Amzel: Dad bought a lot in Great Falls, Nontana, dug a basement and we moved in. It was there I started High School. It was a new school and a friendly place. I had plenty of friends.
Wanda: We moved to Great Falls and lived in a motel. We used one room for living quarters where mom and dad slept and we kids slept in the other one. I remember getting up and running barefoot through snow to get down to the warm one. Dad built us a house on second ave. north across the road from the motel. Our little brother was born while we lived here. He only lived three days and this was my first real grief. [1929 - Infant son not given a name.]
Amzel: [When the baby came] Mom got real sick so it was thirteen year old Amzel who had to take over. By this time I had said several times, 'If I ever marry I'll never have any children.' The thrashers came, thirteen men and I did all the cooking, with mom's supervision, and washed all the dishes. I'll never forget the old gentleman from Walla Walla, Washington, who said to the men 'Any one who leaves his plate and cup on the table had to give me a quarter.' So I had some help. I cooked and took care of them for ten days.
Montana school Wanda in the 2nd grade.
Wanda: One day at school I was standing in line waiting for the bus to take us home and just as the bus arrived, an Indian boy Jimmie Billadeaux came running and shoving and pushed me under the bus. both front and rear wheels ran over my legs between the knees and ankles. The snow on the ground kept them from breaking. I was quite the important one for a time. A girl gave me a beautiful china doll--my first.
Wanda: My teacher for third grade was Myrl Cody and here is where I got the idea to spell my middle name. No one seemed to know how it was supposed to be spelled.
Wanda: My first lesson in, "Thou shalt not steal," was learned here. "All the kids" had money for penny candy and I found where mom and dad kept some change in a pocket so I helped myself. several times I did and kept taking more until I had to own up to stealing. I got a good talking to and I am sure a spanking. I'm sure that as poor as we were, every penny was missed.
Wanda: Dad sold our house after a short time and we moved into a tent on 2 ave. South while he dug a basement for a new house. We moved into the basement and never did finish the house. Our basement was curtained off with yards of white material with tiny red ships. Mom and dad's bed hung from the ceiling on chains. Here we went to 4H Club and I saw my first ventriloquist....We got a nice Holstein cow to produce 5 gallons of milk a day. She kept running away to join the steers that still ran loose on the prairie. I was scared of the steers. We would get a treat once in a while at the root beer stand. It was in the shape of a barrel and the waitresses wore orange and brown uniforms. I think we must have always been a little hungry or maybe things tasted better then than now. Rattle snakes were everywhere and occasionally we had sand storms. Dad got a nail in his hand and was sick with blood poisoning for several days.
Wanda: ...My boy friend was Billy Madison who had a cousin Leroy Johnson. Their father ran Johnson Madison Lumber Co. in Great Falls. My first remembered embarrassment was Billy seeing my black garters. All the other girls wore supporters which were fastened to loops on their undershirts. I longed for supporters. We wore long cotton socks and some were too short, or my legs were too long.
Amzel: Then dad started building a house to sell. It sold and then another one. As I started my third year in High School dad decided to move back to English, Indiana. Mom was home sick. He bought a star car and we loaded in. It took seven days to get home. By that time my mother was pregnant [with the 8th of what would become 9 children]. Dad Rented a house at Granstsbur, Indiana.... Dad finally got a job building a firehouse in English.
Wanda: One night we came home from school and were told we were going back to Indiana the next morning. We just left all our stuff except mom's sewing machine. She had it shipped. We stayed in better motels and some farm homes Dad was a great personality and would talk people into keeping us for the night. The roads were better and our trip was fun even though we were more crowded because we were larger. We would all lean together and get the car sawying aroung corners until dad really layed it on us.
Wanda: Back in Crawford County we started living in rented houses. first, we lived in one of Alice Robersons close to Gransburg and walked to school at Grantsburg.... Our teacher was Helen Reasor. We were all in the same room at school. Then we moved to a house at the top of Needmore hill near English. It had three rooms and we went to English to school.
James Russell WALTS (1914-1983) and Amzel Nadine ROBERSON (1914-2003).
Amzel: In the summer of 1932 mom and dad went over and rented the house we sold and fixed it up. It was that September, 1932, that I met the man of my life. The man I was to marry, Russell Walts. He lived at Centerfield, Indiana, ten miles away. He walked that to see me every weekend and spent the night at his aunts in Pleasent Hill.
Wanda: Our old house became vacant, the one that I was born in, and we moved back to it. We had to walk two miles to the school bus. Lots of times we carried our shoes to the gravel road, washed our feet in the creek and put our shoes back on. I guess I was getting older and more dreamy. I loved our walk through the woods. Junior Longest carried my books and, trombone later, I took advantage of his mooney eyed love for me.
Wanda 1938.
Wanda: My first love happened during the eight grade, I was tall, skinny, and homely as sin. I had started wearing horned rim glasses in the 7th grade and found out how near sighted I was and what the world really looked like. I would wear a pair until they broke and then after weeks or even months of not having any, Dad would take me to Louisville to get new ones. These were special occasions for me to be alone with dad on the train trip and stay for a couple of days. He would get me a couple of new dresses and treat me to a lot of little things that we never had at home....
Wanda: I didn't get involved in extracurricular activities much at school because we lived so far away. Mom and Dad went to town on Saturday but we girls did the cleaning and laundry etc. on Saturday. Saturday night was when the kids went to town but we could not go....
Wanda: I graduated from Hi School in 1939, with a class ring and attendance at the prom. Everyone went to the prom since a date was not required. The prom was mostly a big dinner. I w3on a scholarship to Indiana U. but with no encouragement at home, I didn't take it. Instead, I went to beauty college at Kentucky Beauty College in Louisville. I graduated in three months and went to my first job in Madison, Indiana. I earned $10.00 per week with room and board. We slept in the third floor room above the shop. It was while working here that I met Lee... the man who was to become a big part in my life....
Wanda: "There are only a few things that I really recall about this trip. These include my first taste of canned pork and beans and [store] bought apple butter. The trip was in the fall and we were trying to beat the bad weather. However, it does seem like we still had cold and rain. The roads weren't paved and I still have an imbedded ear of winding mountain roads. They were so narrow with drop-offs that seemed to me to never end. We walked up many hills with the bigger ones pushing the truck. I remember on mourning waking up in the tent where we slept and they were all gone pushing the truck up another hill. They were to come back to get us later but I thought for sure they had forsaken we small children. Uncle Grover had homesteaded a section or two of land when he went west to teach school and had become very successful. He was very tall and handsome with a gold tooth in front and a big wide mouth, Roberson smile. I am more of a Seaton and look like my mothers family.
Amzel: We had our problems on the way, but on May 8, 1927 we arrived in Dutton, Montana. Dad raised wheat on 320 acres of my uncles Farm, so that put us all to work. I shocked wheat right along with the rest....
Wanda: Grover told us of his first day at school when he took over a room full of teen age boys who had run several teachers away. He took a big buggy whip and dared them to do anything. He never had trouble teaching that year. He must have had mixed emotions about our entry into his life. He was a bachelor and I'm sure we must have been a terrible intrusion. Mom took over as cook. I remember her baking bread in huge pans that held four to six loaves side by side. We had dried purnes for our only fruit in the winter. we had contests to see who could eat the most prunes. One morning I was so happy-- I had had a loose tooth for some time and was sure it had fallen out-- it was only covered with a piece of prune skin.
Wanda: Dad pulled out teeth regularly. We'd all line up and he'd pull the loose and nearly loose teeth. This was as bad as everyone getting a whipping for something that no one would own up to.
Standing-mother Edna
Seated-Marie, Norman, Wanda and Howard photo taken in Montana
Amzel: Now it was fall and we had to start school, you could see the school from our house. We had been warned of bad blizzards, so we had plenty of food and coal in.
Wanda: That winter we were caught in our first blizzard. dad came after us early in the afternoon because we had gone to school without coats. It started our as a warm winter day. The blizzard came up so fast that we got stuck on the way home. It was snowing so hard that when dad would back the car up to get another run the snow would fill up his tracks. We left the car to walk back to the nearest neighbor which was about one half mile. Dad carried me but I still got both hands frozen. They thawed them out with snow and in a few days all the skin peeled off. Dad left us with the neighbor and walked home. He didn't want mom to worry and do the chores. It was a miracle that he made it home y following the fences.
Amzel: The winter came in fast and dad started after us. The storm hit and we got stuck. The kids stayed at a neighbors while dad tried to make it home. The storms aren't simple out there. The next morning it was 50 degrees below zero and four feet of snow on the ground. The horses went in to their bellies.
Wanda: There were lakes between our house and the school which froze over and dad would make a short cut by driving across them.. One day I fell out of the truck and went sliding across the ice but didn't get hurt.
Amzel: Now Christmas was coming and it was very bad, but one day dad and he and mom went into town. Dutton, Montana was eleven miles away and that is where they bought our Christmas. That was the year I got the Kodak camera I still have. Then dad bought a car. A top heavy ford. We went to Great Falls shopping. When dad missed a road he had to back up and he noticed a tire gone. Some one had stolen our tire. so back to town we went and got a new one. That was to be our one and only Christmas on the farm.
Wanda: That year mom cut my hair real short and it stayed straight. I guess the dryness did it. Anyway I only had memories of my long curls.
Amzel: Dad bought a lot in Great Falls, Nontana, dug a basement and we moved in. It was there I started High School. It was a new school and a friendly place. I had plenty of friends.
Wanda: We moved to Great Falls and lived in a motel. We used one room for living quarters where mom and dad slept and we kids slept in the other one. I remember getting up and running barefoot through snow to get down to the warm one. Dad built us a house on second ave. north across the road from the motel. Our little brother was born while we lived here. He only lived three days and this was my first real grief. [1929 - Infant son not given a name.]
Amzel: [When the baby came] Mom got real sick so it was thirteen year old Amzel who had to take over. By this time I had said several times, 'If I ever marry I'll never have any children.' The thrashers came, thirteen men and I did all the cooking, with mom's supervision, and washed all the dishes. I'll never forget the old gentleman from Walla Walla, Washington, who said to the men 'Any one who leaves his plate and cup on the table had to give me a quarter.' So I had some help. I cooked and took care of them for ten days.
Montana school Wanda in the 2nd grade.
Wanda: One day at school I was standing in line waiting for the bus to take us home and just as the bus arrived, an Indian boy Jimmie Billadeaux came running and shoving and pushed me under the bus. both front and rear wheels ran over my legs between the knees and ankles. The snow on the ground kept them from breaking. I was quite the important one for a time. A girl gave me a beautiful china doll--my first.
Wanda: My teacher for third grade was Myrl Cody and here is where I got the idea to spell my middle name. No one seemed to know how it was supposed to be spelled.
Wanda: My first lesson in, "Thou shalt not steal," was learned here. "All the kids" had money for penny candy and I found where mom and dad kept some change in a pocket so I helped myself. several times I did and kept taking more until I had to own up to stealing. I got a good talking to and I am sure a spanking. I'm sure that as poor as we were, every penny was missed.
Wanda: Dad sold our house after a short time and we moved into a tent on 2 ave. South while he dug a basement for a new house. We moved into the basement and never did finish the house. Our basement was curtained off with yards of white material with tiny red ships. Mom and dad's bed hung from the ceiling on chains. Here we went to 4H Club and I saw my first ventriloquist....We got a nice Holstein cow to produce 5 gallons of milk a day. She kept running away to join the steers that still ran loose on the prairie. I was scared of the steers. We would get a treat once in a while at the root beer stand. It was in the shape of a barrel and the waitresses wore orange and brown uniforms. I think we must have always been a little hungry or maybe things tasted better then than now. Rattle snakes were everywhere and occasionally we had sand storms. Dad got a nail in his hand and was sick with blood poisoning for several days.
Wanda: ...My boy friend was Billy Madison who had a cousin Leroy Johnson. Their father ran Johnson Madison Lumber Co. in Great Falls. My first remembered embarrassment was Billy seeing my black garters. All the other girls wore supporters which were fastened to loops on their undershirts. I longed for supporters. We wore long cotton socks and some were too short, or my legs were too long.
Amzel: Then dad started building a house to sell. It sold and then another one. As I started my third year in High School dad decided to move back to English, Indiana. Mom was home sick. He bought a star car and we loaded in. It took seven days to get home. By that time my mother was pregnant [with the 8th of what would become 9 children]. Dad Rented a house at Granstsbur, Indiana.... Dad finally got a job building a firehouse in English.
Wanda: One night we came home from school and were told we were going back to Indiana the next morning. We just left all our stuff except mom's sewing machine. She had it shipped. We stayed in better motels and some farm homes Dad was a great personality and would talk people into keeping us for the night. The roads were better and our trip was fun even though we were more crowded because we were larger. We would all lean together and get the car sawying aroung corners until dad really layed it on us.
Wanda: Back in Crawford County we started living in rented houses. first, we lived in one of Alice Robersons close to Gransburg and walked to school at Grantsburg.... Our teacher was Helen Reasor. We were all in the same room at school. Then we moved to a house at the top of Needmore hill near English. It had three rooms and we went to English to school.
James Russell WALTS (1914-1983) and Amzel Nadine ROBERSON (1914-2003).
Amzel: In the summer of 1932 mom and dad went over and rented the house we sold and fixed it up. It was that September, 1932, that I met the man of my life. The man I was to marry, Russell Walts. He lived at Centerfield, Indiana, ten miles away. He walked that to see me every weekend and spent the night at his aunts in Pleasent Hill.
Wanda: Our old house became vacant, the one that I was born in, and we moved back to it. We had to walk two miles to the school bus. Lots of times we carried our shoes to the gravel road, washed our feet in the creek and put our shoes back on. I guess I was getting older and more dreamy. I loved our walk through the woods. Junior Longest carried my books and, trombone later, I took advantage of his mooney eyed love for me.
Wanda 1938.
Wanda: My first love happened during the eight grade, I was tall, skinny, and homely as sin. I had started wearing horned rim glasses in the 7th grade and found out how near sighted I was and what the world really looked like. I would wear a pair until they broke and then after weeks or even months of not having any, Dad would take me to Louisville to get new ones. These were special occasions for me to be alone with dad on the train trip and stay for a couple of days. He would get me a couple of new dresses and treat me to a lot of little things that we never had at home....
Wanda: I didn't get involved in extracurricular activities much at school because we lived so far away. Mom and Dad went to town on Saturday but we girls did the cleaning and laundry etc. on Saturday. Saturday night was when the kids went to town but we could not go....
Wanda: I graduated from Hi School in 1939, with a class ring and attendance at the prom. Everyone went to the prom since a date was not required. The prom was mostly a big dinner. I w3on a scholarship to Indiana U. but with no encouragement at home, I didn't take it. Instead, I went to beauty college at Kentucky Beauty College in Louisville. I graduated in three months and went to my first job in Madison, Indiana. I earned $10.00 per week with room and board. We slept in the third floor room above the shop. It was while working here that I met Lee... the man who was to become a big part in my life....
Mary, Amzel, Joe, Chester, Edna, Reuben, Norman, Marie, Howard.
Chester, Joe, Amzel, Edna, Mary, Wanda and Reuben.
Reuben Russell ROBERSON (1893-1959) and Edna Lula SEATON (1894-1961).
Edna Lula SEATON (1894-1961) and Reuben Russell ROBERSON (1893-1959).
Ancestry Chain: great grandparents Reuben Russel ROBERSON and Edna Lula SEATON, Grandma Wanda, MRR, JR.
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