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Selma's

Aunt Naomi’s Story (Part 40)

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How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood
When fond recollections presents them to view
The orchard, the meadow, the deep tangled wildwood,
And ev’ry loved spot which my infancy knew.

I was born at Selma’s Place on Tanner Bridge road, but we moved to the “7th Place” before I was one year old.  The farm I grew up on was 140 acres.  It had three springs.  One was at the edge of the southwest woods so we never saw it much but the other two were close by.  One lay in the ravine to the south and the other in the ravine to the north.  The farm animals drank from these.  The south spring ran on down to what we called the first waterfall and then on down through the Watergate to the second waterfall.  This is were we liked to fish and sometimes swim.  Further down from the second waterfall was a real good swimming hole.  Erosion has changed all of this since I was small, but the springs are still there.

We had an area of flat, blackish rocks, like someone poured bumpy concrete, to the top of the west hill on our land.  We played house here a lot.  One of the rocks formations looked like a bed with pillows.

Uncle Vernon’s Story (part 14)

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Before we left Selma’s place electricity was installed in the house, but when we got to the next place (Stressnor – the 7th place) we were again without electricity until after WWII, about the spring of 1948. In the summer of 1941, Daddy and I cut logs on the Hemeyer place. The idea was that we cut enough logs (lumber) to make two silos, one for us and one for uncle Henry. We built Uncle Henry’s silo, but didn’t have enough lumber left to build another one, so we were without a silo for several years. We built a silo at Schubert also and tore it down and took the lumber along to Selma’s place, but never got around to reassembling it.

The silo we later built on the Stroessnor place was much larger, 28 ft tall. Beatrice and I both helped build that one. I had corn out on Selma’s place, Uncle Henry’s place, and also on the Uncle George Miller place, plus 17 acres on the Stressnor place that we took care of. That marked the end of my formal education. I was 15 that fall and they had a birthday party for me.

Margie was more fortunate than I. she got to finish high school at Eugene. The war with Europe and Japan started that fall. It became hard to get gas to market products in Jefferson City like we did at Schubert, so we sold our milk in the bulk to the Kraft cheese factory in Eldon.

Daddy read some article about genetic engineering done in Germany for the purpose of producing female offspring and I on occasion had to go to the drug store in Jefferson City to purchase this product. One time they asked me what it was being used for and of course I couldn’t tell them. The purpose was to produce heifer calves instead of bull calves. Normally they are more male calves than female calves, so I think it may have worked.

 

Uncle Vernon’s Story (part 13)

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Dorothy Hemeyer and Clarence Propst were married while we lived at Selma’s. They had a chiverie for them at Hemyers’s place. For the ones that didn’t live at Selma’s place I can tell you that it was quite a humbling experience going from a 9-room house with electricity to a house that had a hole to crawl through to get to bed. The girls had to go through the boy’s room to get to the girls room and it didn’t even have a door on it. To get the furniture into the upstairs bedroom, we had to take the window frame out of the window and pull the furniture up through the window.

We lived at Selma’s from March 15, 1940 until August, 15, 1941. Mom and Daddy met Omar Bates at a funeral at Honey Creek church sometime in the summer of 1941 and engaged him to move us on August 15, 1941. That day we had everything packed: the stove dismantled and Omar didn’t show up. Daddy was so mad he wanted to cuss Omar out, but Mom saved the day. She sweet talked him into moving us anyway and she also called in friends of his. I think there were 2 or 3 trucks involved. And again I did lots of hauling with the mules from Selma’s to the Stressnor place.

 

Uncle Vernon’s Story (part 12)

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We were very poor while at Selma’s. It it hadn’t been for Elizabeth and Justin bringing groceries out for us, we would have been in bad shape. Bud sent money for Margie and I to buy school clothes. I wore Daddy’s wedding pants to Walther League meetings at Honey Creek. Ha! I was always a big boy with big feet, so Bud and Felix always kept me in good shoes (army shoes) they got from the CCC camps.

The Ford truck that we used for about five years didn’t have much power when we went from Schubert to visit the Honey Creek folks. We put two farm wagon seats in the back of the truck and we would ride back there. When we got to the Honey Creek hill, the truck could not make it up, so we all had to get out and push…when it would stop or stall, we had to block the wheel so it wouldn’t roll back down the hill. I finished up the 8th grade at Honey Creek.

 

Uncle Vernon’s Story (part 11)

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Elizabeth and Justin married while we lived at Schubert. They moved into a completely furnished 5-room home: a new kitchen, dining room, living room and two bedrooms. Justin had a good job. I suppose he must have saved his money. He was in his late twenties when they married.

I’m not sure how this happened, but I believe that one of the families that Sis worked for in Jefferson City moved to St. Louis and they took her along with them. Later, she met and married Ted Kuegele. Their wedding took place at Honey Creek. Ted’s dad officiated at the wedding. We had the chiverie at our house (Selma’s). We were very poor at Selma’s. The farm was smaller yet than the one at Schubert with no electricity.

I rented ground from Uncle Henry and also Uncle George Miller. I did go to Eugene high school one year while at Selma’s place. Naomi was born on Selma’s place in 1941. Margie started taking confirmation instructions from pastor Bultman then, along with Gilbert Stressnor. She was confirmed in a separate adult class and not with the regular 8th grade kids.