Women of the Farm – Great Grandmother Hannah

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With much gratitude to those that came before us, we move to the second generation of our family to live on our farm, as we continue our series for Women’s History Month – honoring the women who helped to build this farm that we love so well.  Let us introduce Great Grandmother…

Hannah Huston, the youngest of seven children, was born November 27, 1863 to Amanda Hartley Huston and Thomas Huston, near Carmichaels, Pennsylvania in a beautiful old stone house.  Thomas was the son of an Irish immigrant and a riverboat captain on the Monongahela River.  She married David Ambrose Dixon on September 14, 1889.  The following year, Hannah, David and David’s parents, Amy and Andrew, moved from Pennsylvania to our farm in West Virginia.   They moved into the large, three-floor weather board house.  Amy and Andrew’s kitchen was on the first level along with a large cellar.  Hannah’s kitchen, dining room, a parlor and two bedrooms were on the next level, and upstairs there were four more bedrooms.  The parlor had a huge fireplace that was large enough for a five foot log.  It would take Hannah three days travel, in her buggy, to visit her family back in Pennsylvania. 

She was such a cheerful and gay person, that everyone was happy just to be with her.  She loved to tease, play jokes and pretend to be Mrs. Claus, putting on a Santa face, a long black coat and boots.  She loved to read aloud to the family in the evenings.  They would gather around her to listen to the serialized story in the weekly farm magazine.

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Hannah and David would have six children; five daughters and one son.  The youngest daughter was born in 1910 when Hannah was 47 years old.  They raised their own wheat and took it to the flour mill at Amboy where it was ground into enough flour to last for a year.  The family raised just about everything they needed except for sugar, salt and rice.  They milked ‘a good many’ cows, and Hannah made butter to sell in the little town of Rowlesburg.  Her butter was exceptionally good, so she never lacked for regular customers.  She would travel down the mountain in her buggy and had to cross a long overhead railroad bridge.  If a train came along when they were crossing, it scared the horse badly.  The family always heaved a sigh of relief when they got safely across.

Hannah had the first sewing machine in the community.  She hemmed sheets and pillow slips for her friends.  She was a beautiful seamstress and made lovely dresses for her daughters, with tucks, pleats and frills.  In later years she turned her skill to making quilts.  She would sit for hours happily cutting and sewing little pieces together.  She hated to stop, even to eat, when she had a quilt in the quilting frame.  She was a fast and expert quilter.  Each of her daughters had at least a dozen quilts when she got married.

“Golden Wedding Observed By Mr. And Mrs. David Dixon of W. Va.”

A former Greene County couple, Mr. And Mrs. David A. Dixon, now residing at Rowlesburg, Preston County, W. Va., celebrated their golden wedding anniversary Sunday, September 17, in their home…  Open house was held in the Dixon home during the day and evening and at noon the guests, were invited to a sumptuous picnic dinner served in a shady grove near the home of the honored couple. Following the dinner the group returned to the home, where gifts were presented to the celebrants, and a huge four tiered handsomely decorated wedding cake was cut and served to the guests…” (newspaper clipping)
Great Grandmother Hannah passed away at 91 years of age on September 27, 1954, just 13 days following her 65th wedding anniversary.  She left behind a  loving family and a legacy of hard work and resiliance; all the while never failing to make those around her smile. 

Once again, we are joining in the fun at Verde Farm for Farm Friend Friday #7.  Please join the party by visiting the other participants – here.

Pondering the Who

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The yearling ewes, as if to make up for being such troublemakers all winter, have now decided that they like nothing better than to have their heads scratched.  They especially love to be scratched behind the ears and will nudge you quite forcefully if you stop before they think you should.  And, honestly, who can resist a face like that?
In other news, it seems likely that the young Maebh (yearling ewe 1002) is in a family way.  Despite having grown up on the farm, and our prior shepherdess experience, our first reaction was “How did that happen?”  Well, having given it a second thought, we obviously know the how, the puzzle is the when.  We do not intentionally breed our ewes until they are two.  So either we did not get the ram lambs separated in time or we have another Houdini on our hands.  Hmmm, something to ponder as we go about the daily chores… the when… and then… the who.

Sunshine… Finally

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After a week of continuous wind, rain and snow everyone was enjoying the abundant sunshine of today.

From the expectant mama ewes to Aragorn and Beef, everyone was soaking up the light and warmth.  The yearling ewes nuzzlied my face and neck while I was emptying the snow and ice from their feeders.  It was just a wonderful way to start the morning.

 

Even Spot… the barn cat that on a normal day you can’t get within ten feet of… was looking for attention today, and not once but twice came looking to get scratched behind the ears before retreating into her hay cave.

Women of the Farm – Great, Great Grandmother Amy

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As part of Women’s History Month, we are honoring the women who helped to build this farm that we love so well. With much gratitude to those that came before us, let us begin with the first generation of our family to live on our farm…

Amy Donham was born on October 17, 1830 near Greensboro in Greene County, Pennsylvania.  She was the oldest of eight children born to Rebecca Engle Donham and John Donham.  On December 5, 1855 she married Andrew Kramer Dickson.  They would have seven children, only three of which would reach the age of 20.  In 1890, Amy and Andrew, along with their son, David and his wife, Hannah, packed up and moved to our mountain top farm in West Virginia, on what would later be known as Lantz Ridge.  David drove the wagon and Hannah came in Amy’s buggy with her beautiful buggy horse.  Amy and Andrew traveled on the train to Rowlesburg.  Once they reached that river valley town, they had to travel the narrow, steep, winding road up the mountain to reach their new home.  There they moved into the large white weather-board house near a good spring which, 121 years later, still supplies most of our family’s water.  We have oftened wondered how Amy felt during that first, long, lonely trip up the mountain.  It must have seemed that she and Andrew, then in their sixties, were going into the wilderness.

In 1900, Andrew gave the land for the community’s church to be built, and Amy named it Mt. Olivet, because it reminded her of the Mount of Olives in the bible.

Grandmother Amy was a very lovely woman, and a beautiful seamstress.  When she became so ill that she could no longer sit up to do her handwork, she would have someone tie her back in her little armless rocking chair to help hold her up.

 

“Mrs. Amy Donham Dixon after a lingering illness, departed this life on the 13th of November, at the home of her son David Dixon, aged 75 years and 26 days… Although a stranger among strangers, it was but a short time until she could count her friends and acquaintances many.  Mrs. Dixon was of a kind and amiable disposition, and it was through these noble qualities, that she drew so many to her.  She was a beautiful character.  Now that she is gone she will be sadly missed, not only in the home, but throughout the community, and the church of which she was a member.  She was a Christian woman ripe and polished for the inheritance of the Holy Promise!  The funeral services were conducted by her pastor, Rev. W. H. Berry from Mt. Olivet Lutheran Church in the presence of a large concourse of people, who had gathered to render this their last tribute of love and respect…”
What a testament to one’s life to be remembered so well.

(excerpted from the writings of our Great Aunt Florence and a newspaper clipping of obituary)

Participating in Verde Farm’s blog party Farm Friend Friday #6.  You can visit the party here.

Typical March Weekend

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In typical March fashion, Mother Nature threw a little bit of everything at us over the weekend.

We awoke Saturday morning to a beautiful sunrise, then just as predicted in that old saying – “red in the morning, sailor take warning” – a strong wind picked up and it began to rain.  Luckily it started right as we finished morning chores because it rained, and rained hard, all day and all night.
Those ewes that chose not to seek refuge in the barn, spent the worst of it standing completely still, facing into the storm.  We suppose this prevents the wind from ruffling their wool so that much of the rain just rolls off their lovely, lanolin-saturated locks.
More rain early Sunday morning and we, along with the rest of farm, were feeling pretty soggy.  Just as if on cue, as we finished dressing to go out for chores, the rain suddenly turned to snow.  It was a very wet snow, but it sure made our world a little less grey, a little more cheerful and turned the back pasture into a wintry, snow-globe complete with these fine, good-looking ram figurines.