Grandma Charles

Today I asked Jean some questions about his other grandmother, Amelia Ann Flinn Charles.

"In later years, Grandma and Grandpa Charles lived on a farm in Malta, in southern Idaho. Their cash crop was clover, and especially clover seed. That was their source of income, besides milk and butter from their two cows."

"I spent my summers up there with my grandparents in Idaho when I was in high school. Four summers. That was a wonderful time, out in the country, away from the big city. It was the best thing for me, a good experience.  I helped them with the haying and other chores."

"They lived in a one-room house with no electricity or running water. The one room was for cooking, eating, sleeping, working - everything. I slept in the corn crib which was a separate building about 50 feet from the house, next to the hen yard."

"Grandma Charles made wonderful meals on the wood stove. She even baked cakes in that stove, with sage brush as the fuel. It's hard to believe how she did everything. She took things as they came."

"As a girl, she lived in a mansion. It belonged to her uncle, who raised her. He was wealthy. She had a dowry of $30,000  when she married Grandpa. That was a fortune in those days. Grandpa went through the money."

"The Flinn mansion where Grandma lived as a girl is still there, on the outskirts of Debuque, Iowa. It is remarkable. I went there a few years ago and saw it.  How I found it?  There was a newspaper clipping."

They're back

Jean and John returned home safely this evening. They had a good trip. Jean enjoyed himself and was very appreciative.  He set the pace and the agenda. John was there to make it possible. Most days, Jean would sleep till about noon, and they would go out in the afternoon. A couple of days, he was too tired to go out, and stayed in the whole day. On those days, John brought food in for him.

They went to 'Little Switzerland' and then to Frank L Wright's 'Taliesin' close by, which Jean has interest in. There was a lot to see in the visitors' center, and Jean bought a book to take home.
Then they spent a couple of days in Galena, Ill.  Lots of history and charm there. They ate at 'Fritz and Frites' - yes you guessed it, German and French food.

Then on to Nauvoo, where they spent the last couple of days.  Jean was especially interested in the Browning house, with all the historical displays about guns. The photos below are from Nauvoo and Carthage.

Now we are happy they made it back safely, and it went well.

On The Road Again

Jean has been anxious to go away, to travel somewhere.
As we know, driving and traveling is his very favorite activity.

So John and Jean are taking a trip. To Wisconsin, a state that John learned to appreciate on bicycle tours this summer.  It is known as The Dairy State, and also there is a lot of German and Swiss heritage through immigrants from past and current generations.

John and Jean are driving to New Glarus, Wisconsin, today.
New Glarus is nicknamed Little Switzerland, and is actually an authentically Swiss / American town!


Jean loves cheese, and all things Swiss, so this will be great.

"Grandma"

Jean talked about his maternal grandmother today (Nancy Matilda Hoenshell, always called Tillie,)

"Grandma raised me. I couldn't talk with Mom, but I could talk with her."

"She was born in 1861, the year the civil war began, and she was four when it ended. Her older brother fought in the war and was wounded, but lived. She grew up on a farm in Indiana.  She was a tomboy.  She was able to harness a team of four horses and  wagon.  Her father said she was 'the best hired hand he ever had'."

His grandmother lived with them in southern California when he was growing up.

"It was amazing what she would do with a chicken. She would go out into the yard, pick the chicken up by its two legs, lay it on a stump of wood, and off came its head.  Then she went into the house, came out with a pot of hot water, dunked the chicken in briefly, and plucked it.
Ten minutes later, the cleaned chicken would by lying on the kitchen sink, all neatly separated and in pieces.
Another ten minutes later, hot dumplings would come off the stove.

"I loved watching her work in the kitchen.  We sure ate good."

"She also made pies, and baked bread.  It was salt-rising bread. It was firm-textured, and sure good."

  "Grandma (Tillie) was a very capable person. She was a midwife, and delivered me and June at her home in Holton, Kansas.  Mom traveled there for the births. She also knew how to sew, and she made my first suit for me, when I was about seven or eight. She sewed it by hand."