When our mother died, I found a 1902 Family Bible in her basement. I opened it two weeks ago. Tucked in the front cover was an undated story, written by our grandmother Hazel Adams Child (1898-1996) about her grandmother Kathrine Adams (1840-1917). This story takes place more than one hundred years ago between 1907-1917 starting when Great-Great-Grandma Kathrine was just my age.
Here are a few excerpts, with minimal editing. The "Grandma" referred to is great-great-grandmother Kathrine Adams (1840-1917).
Kathrine Bush Adams
"Grandma Kathrine was a regular farm lady, her hair was white, or at least it should have been, she occasionally washed it in strong tea water which gave it a light blonde color and it was very wavy. It must have been very beautiful when she was younger for it was a deep red. We would say, "Grandma you had red hair when you were young." She would always correct us and say, "not red but auburn." I guess she was right.
After my father died...my mother took my sister and me (Hazel Adams, born 1898) to stay on the farm with Grandma Kathrine until my youngest sister was born in August 1907. One time, on coming home, we found a large rattle snake coiled in the middle of the floor. My sister and I stood to one side while my mother with a pitch fork and Grandma Kathrine with a hoe killed it. Then Grandma Kathrine skinned it and put its skin on a long handle against the side of the sod house to dry.
The last time I saw my Grandma Kathrine was in 1917. She said she was taking her son Sam down to Warm Springs in Arkansas. When she got there she was going to get her a horse and some chickens and that no one would ever get her to sell them again. She heard there were badgers there. She would buy some of the skins and have a coat made for me.
Grandma Kathrine and Uncle Sam got as far as Goodland, Kansas where she died a few days later with pneumonia. She wouldn't go to bed, so she died in a rocking chair."
These few lines may be the only legacy of a life well-lived. I'm so happy I didn't miss this story! Before you toss that old box or Bible, check for hidden treasures within.
--Robyn