We touch the past...

And then it happened... on the last trip over to lock up the house till it is torn down, a crumpled envelope stuffed behind one of the chimneys in the attic caught Carson's eye.  It was a letter to Uncle Garth from 1937- something we could actually touch had been sitting in the old brick house for 75 years which connected us to our Kennington past! 

That was all it took.  We rounded up flashlights and headed back just before twlight with any able bodied man we could find. 

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Papers and letters had fallen or were stuffed by kids between the floorboards in the attic and in that upper attic above the two small south rooms. 

What a treat!  I’ve been dusting the papers clean and putting them in plastic sleeves this week.  The papers are so fun because they really show a slice of life – things usually considered boring and easily discarded in the moment,  but which seem vivid from a historical perspective -  One hundred plus years now.

The material fits into 3 groups:

1.  The Low material includes  several scraps of letters from  high school buddies and cousins, crumpled pages from newspapers, magazines, etc.   The Earliest material dates from 1908 when Jen was about 12.  For some reason the letters are only to Jen.  Maybe she used the upstairs as a hideaway ....  There are questions about the babies - a direct reference to when Molly and Osborn Low opened their home to care for Cliss and Berniece before George married Martha. 

2. The Kennington material ranges from about 1928 - 1941.  They must have carried some stuff over with them when they moved.  It includes scraps of newspapers, there was a 1933 hunting license for Uncle Garth, a class schedule and a chemistry test for Forrest,  lots of church material, some school material, a couple of cancelled checks, etc.   

 Craig  filled us in a little on how the house and attic were used: "

--> The kitchen and front room were in the center of the house, with the kitchen to the back; parents' bedroom was on one side, the parlor at the front, and then the girls' bedroom on the other side.  The upstairs was all one big unfinished room with four alcoves with a bed in each alcove. It was also kind of a storage area.  The big porch or varanda went along the front of the house.  The kitchen, at the back, was over the root cellar, and had a back porch.  The cast iron cooking stove was against the kitchen wall.  There was no indoor plumbing and they brought water in from the hydrant outside.
 Craig said he remembers he and your dad [Forrest] playing ball upstairs one day, and when they came downstairs there was ceiling plaster all over the kitchen table.  Their Mother was not happy!"  (Craig & Helen Via email 2012) So there we have evidence that the attic was a boy's domain.

3.  The last group of material is from the Shorter family who lived there from about 1943 to 1980's.  There are magazines, an old income tax form, a bank book belonging to a sheep herder from Rock Springs, etc. Mrs Shorter kept the main floor of the house very nice.  Even now the carpets are nice and things were not roughed up.

Back in the attic we also found an awl, a child's shoe, and a doll shoe.  There was also a  fancy glass decanter or vase with the neck snapped off under the floorboards too.  I bet some little person had a guilty conscience…  But which family ?

Child's shoe and doll shoe found in attic

Page 1 of Matthews letter.  Transcript below.

Page 2 Matthews letter

Page 3 of Matthews letter - mentions Grandparents and "Uncle George"

Page 4 of Matthews letter.

 Transcript of Matthews letter ( sorry it won't tab to the right):
 -->Liberty Idaho
Nov 11, ‘13

Miss Jennie Low,

Dear Cousin Jen,- I was certainly glad to receive your letter the other day and also glad you have forgiven me for failing to answer your last letter.  I have no excuse to offer and I fear none would be …to be excuseable and would only make things …se so … the past be as it is and in the future will try and do better.

..ay this find you well, happy and in extra good temper else fear my efforts to interest you with this bunch of nonsence will be …and I will have to go fishing for an answer to th…

first I want to say that it is raining and for bear now don’t know what rain is  I will just say it is “Wet stuff from above” that makes mud in this country and I suppose snow in yours.  Ha Ha  I have been to Fielding and learned several deffinitions like the above.   So …have.. I learned to walk up our walk with out rolling all over the side hill Ha Ha

We are having some sporty times out here now dances in the Fielding Academy are much better that they were when you was here and the Olsen Hall is filled to over flow.  The new dance hall will soon… and Grandma and Grandpa say I would like to see them.  We got a letter from Grandmother she said Uncle Geo. had gone to get married  Who is he froze onto this time.  I hope his girls are well.  Tell Esther I am going to write to her in a day or two.  I am plowing every day have got about 60 acres plowed for Oats next spring.

Well Jen, I am wondering what it was I have told you not much I suppose and believe me I can’t think of much it is as scares as hin teeth or flea hair.

Well I am going to have a hair cut and shave Friday and the “Wet stuff” is still coming so good night.  Answer soon.  What is Bill, Bertha and all the rest doing?

 [in margin above]  (It is Snowing for a change)

Now after getting all these notions out of my system I am prepared for a good night’s rest.
Love to All from
A.H. Matthews

Page 1 Missionary letter from Osborne Low Jr to Jennie

Page 2, Missionary letter

Garth's hunting license

Cancelled Check

Update: Sept. 8, 2012.  Gene told us his parents stored their cancelled checks upstairs on the north side of the attic.  The younger kids would pretend the checks were real money.  So that's how some found their way into the floor boards.  KKH

Page 1 Ballantyne to Garth

Page 2  Ballantyne to Garth

Page 3  Ballantyne to Garth

Envelope Ballantyne to Garth

Above is the letter Carson found behind the attic chimney which prompted a closer look and opened the possibilities of forgotten papers in the house.

 Uncle Garth was on a survey crew with a Jenkins boy in the summer of 1937.  He told me they would work long hours and camp out where ever the work ended.  One night they pulled along the creek bottoms between Cokeville and Kemmerer and threw out their sleeping gear without making a fire because they were so tired.  Sometime during the night they were jolted awake by the scream of a train whistle.  All they could see was the bright headlight of the engine coming straight for them.  They didn't know if they were camping on the track nor which way to roll.  They froze in terror and the train roared past. But there was no more sleep that night.  In daylight  they could see they were right along the track but not far enough to recognize it.

Reciept for pants and a shirt at a mens' store.  Perhaps school clothes for Forrest who would be about 16?  His signature is faint just below the word Tax.  He left to work in Evanston about this time.

An infamous milk check which was so low as the years wore on.  Not enough to support the family.

   -->Notes from Garth:  "The next year the Depression hit full force.  Milk Checks which came every 2 weeks went from the neighborhood of $60 - $80  down to $12 to $14 and on down to $5….  The family was hit hard…"

 

Possible rough draft for a talk in Martha's hand.

A short poem - author unknown - in Martha's hand.

Update on the above verse - it's part of a nursery rhyme.  Here's the whole thing:

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Five Little Chickens

Said the first little chicken,
With a queer little squirm,
"I wish I could find
A fat little worm."

Said the second little chicken,
With an odd little shrug,
"I wish I could find
A fat little bug."

Said the third little chicken,
With a sharp little squeal,
"I wish I could find
Some nice yellow meal."

Said the fourth little chicken,
With a sigh of grief,
"I wish I could find
A little green leaf."

Said the fifth little chicken,
With a faint little moan,
"I wish I could find
A wee gravel stone."

"Now see here," said the mother,
From the green garden patch,
"If you want any breakfast,
Just come here and SCRATCH!"