Mom's Memories, Ruth Wilcox

I do not know what these buildings are. The road to the right may be old track beds. Input welcome from anyone who has been there.

My Mother Erminda Belle Jones was born jan. 22, 1872 near Montrose Missouri.  My Father Leonard Gray McClure was born Sept 11 1874  near Critzer, Kansas.  My parents were married June 26, 1904 in Deepwater, Mo. They started housekeeping on their farm near Critzer.  My Grandpa McClure named the town for the man who surveyed the railroad.  The railroad was taken up several years ago and Critzer no longer exists.  (note: It still exists in Google earth - above.)  

(Mom always told us about being scotch. I will insert names from her ancestry as she mentions them).   
http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Jones   English and Welsh
http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/McClure Scottish for sure
http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Gibbs Norman, Scottish
There are other websites, I am sure. Everything on the McClure side seems to mention Scotch, Norman or Norseman. All of GB must be related to the vikings.

This gives the Critzer location with an eastern Kansas accent. My sister and I were born on a farm between Blue Mound and Mound City. We have family that still live in the immediate area. I think our home was before the big bend in the road from Blue Mound going to Mound City.

I was born August 6, 1905 at my parents home.  My Uncle Frank McClure wanted my parents to name me Ruth for Ruth Hill.  She lived in Vincennes, Ind. and her father Charlie Hill was a cousin of my Grandfather Charlie McClure.  I was named Ruth Inez and the Inez is for my Aunt Jessie Inez Sparks, my mothers sister.

If you have never lived in the area, here is something you will recognize.

I don’t remember a lot about living there.  I do remember we lived in a three room house.  The living room was on the west and the kitchen on the east.  The one bedroom was upstairs and it extended over both of the other rooms.  I remember the Christmas morning when I was three years old.  Momma told me to stay in the living room with Papa as she had to go into the Kitchen.  Pretty soon she came back and told us that Santa had been there.  The one gift that I remember was a little cast iron cookstove with iron utensils.  I am sure there were nuts and candy and an orange or two.  They always had plenty of fruit but Christmas was the only time we got oranges They just didn’t seem to be on the market.  Only then.

Early in 1909 my parents sold their farm and bought some land one and one fourth mile north west of Blue Mound.  As soon as a house was built we moved into it.  

On Jan 15, 1910 my little brother was born.   He was named Charles Walter.  Charles for our Grandpa Charles Wilkins McClure.  Walter for our uncle Walter Jones who was our Mother’s brother.  He was C.W. the same asGrandpa.  

When they brought me home from Grandma’s to see my baby brother I took one look at him and said “He looks like a little chicken that fell in the slop”.  They had greased his little head but I was just mad because he wasn’t a baby sister.  Later, I wouldn’t have traded him at all.

Momma planned to take me on the train to visit our relatives in Missouri.  Mrs. Morrow said “Minnie, if you take Ruth on the train you had better put an Asafoetida bag around her neck”.  It looked like a piece of a plug of tobacco and smelled like rotten eggs.  It was to keep germs away and everything else.  Well mama made it and I wore it.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asafoetida

Courtesy of Google Images

I remember that summer papa hauled hay from the Balyeat meadow in to Blue Mound and stored it in Mr. Balyeats large hay barn there.  He would start early and get his load as early as he could before the other haulers arrived.  A little before noon Mamma would hitch a horse to the buggy and we would take lunch and eat with Papa.  One day I remember the lady who lived across from the hay field brought us some big red tomatoes to eat with our lunch.  

This lady covered a lot of ground over the 100 years that followed this picture. My intentions are to cover the thoughts she jotted down in random order into about four categories. Although some of those categories may not be of interest of anyone outside the family, some of them will. 

I have no intention of making long tedious articles so this is about the length they will probably become. Two or three of them will be about life in the early 20th century and they should appeal to anyone with a curiosity. I am interested is seeing how it all turns out and you all are welcome to come along.