Beacon Apr 2024

Page 14A THE BEACON April 2024
THE STORY OF MY LIFE
Life on the Farm
The following excerpt is
from a book written in 1930
by a lifetime resident of Ripley
County, Yorkville, and Manchester.
The BEACON is honored
to share another chapter
of the book each month thanks
to Mary Randell’s descendants.
Previous chapters are
available online starting with
the August 2022 print edition
at goBEACONnews.com/
print_edition.
By Mary M. Greiner Randell
Chapter XIV (cont.)
We didn’t get to Louisville
until evening. Then we got
a berth, while some stayed
in the waiting room. But the
mosquitoes were so bad they
could get no rest sitting up
on chairs or lying down on
couches. The next morning
we went to get something
to eat and then went back to
the boat. While we had been
gone, some men had rolled on
some tobacco hogsheads. You
know they are very heavy.
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When the captain came they
had to roll them off again,
there was too much load
already. In about an hour we
started back and we had more
trouble going back than we
had had on the way down. We
were to land at Lawrence-burg
at six o’clock in the evening,
but we got there at twelve
o’clock that night. Some
people got very hungry. It was
said there wasn’t a slice of
bread left in the dining room
even for the well-to-do people
with their diamonds. They
had to go thirty-three miles
more to Cincinnati, to where
the boat had started from. Just
before we got off, one of the
passengers asked us if I could
pray. I said I could and they
asked me to pray for them,
they were so hungry. But I
think the crew of the boat had
something to eat. I didn’t hear
them say they were hungry.
One time Pa and I went to a
national prohibition convention
in Indianapolis. I had
fixed up a big lunch for the
occasion. We went to Lawrenceburg
to get on the train.
They had promised Pa, that
if he would go as a delegate,
they would pay his way. When
we got to the depot there were
no arrangements to that effect.
Pa wanted to go back home,
but I told him I wasn’t going
without him. I said that maybe
this would be the last time we
would make a trip together,
so he had better go. It was the
last time.
When we got on the train Pa
saw a man he had been
reading about in his prohibition
paper and he was glad he
had not gone back home. And
I saw Brother Brown that
married Myrtle, a lady that
had preached in Lawrenceburg
at the time I was staying
with Jennie. She preached
holiness and married a
holiness preacher. I had some
very good talks with them. He
said, “Just because you have
salvation, you don’t have to
let people run over you. You
Author
Mary Randell
should have
that sweet
peace in
your soul so
that you can
talk to such
ones without
getting mad
at them.” I
have that
sweet peace
in my soul.
The front yard where we
lived had some beautiful
flowers; the house stood on
a kind of hill and the front
yard sloped enough so it
never stayed wet. There were
130 acres in the farm. The
children could go out to play
a little while after a rain.
There were three shrubs, one
was a snowball, one a rose of
Sharon, and the other a lilac.
There were two peony bushes
and a clump of water lilies
with a deep center, and those
tall white lilies that the florists
sell in the cities. There
were two big cedar trees and
one smaller one. One day,
when Louis was a small boy,
he brought home a cedar tree
from the woods and planted
it between the house and the
garden to keep the hot sun
away from the door in the
afternoon- the little tree was
only half an arm high. There
was a big orchard and cider
mill run by horsepower. We
made lots of cider and sold it
for vinegar. We cooked lots
of apple butter and sold it
too, and made plenty for our
own use. There was a cane
mill and we made our own
sorghum molasses. Then we
had a large grainary and mill
upstairs to grind feed corn,
rye, and oats. This mill was
run by horsepower. Then
we had a feed box that we
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turned by hand. We left all
these things there when we
sold the farm and moved to
a little town, called Wright’s
Corner.
All seven of my children
were born on the farm. Some
of the dates of the births and
marriages of my children
slipped my mind and so that is
why I wrote to each of you. Of
course we have your records
in the family album which
is at Gertie’s place. Some of
the children made comments
when they replied giving me
this information. I will try to
tell you some of these.
Malena said it’s no wonder
you forgot the dates, you had
so many to remember. Gertie
was born July 12, 1875. She
was married to Frank Mendel
in Cincinnati, Ohio, in March
1896.
Louis was born January
31, 1878. He was married to
Fanny Johnson at Dillsboro,
November 2, 1902.
Jennie was born May 11,
1882. She was married to
Frank Haas at home on November
7, 1901. June 1, 1914,
she was married to Beaufort
Terrill. She left the date blank
for her third marriage, Ha,
Ha!
Benny was born September
15, 1885. Ben said he was
born at one o’clock in the
morning in a hay mow, but he
was talking through his hat.
He was born in the old brick
house. I was there the same as
he was and I know. Ben said
the second greatest event that
happened in his life was the
day that Zella Snyder took him
in out of the cold and married
him. It was July 18, 1909.
Malena was born September
17, 1888. She was married
June 10, 1920, to Harry
Haverland at our home at
Wright’s Corner.
Wesley was born March
21, 1891. He married Bernice
Grasser June 9, 1916, in Louisville,
Kentucky. Doc in writing
spoke on being married on
the above-mentioned date and
said that he has been pretty
much married ever since.
Gilbert was born September
23, 1896. He was married to
Carolina Schmidt at Sunset
Heights, Lenexa, Kansas, on
December 23, 1926. 38
The Beacon thanks the descendants
of the Randell family
for sharing Mrs. Randell’s
story. Upcoming chapters will
be featured in future editions
of the Beacon.
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As our next Republican State Representative,
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