Part 7 - Outlines and Notes
Life in a Doctor's Home
From 1882 - 1892
This was the day of no phones, income taxes, wars, planes, autos, good roads, submarines, etc. My first introduction to death - Little boy lying in living room as if asleep. I go to home and ask if I can see little boy - His mother takes me into the room and rolls up a curtain and says not a word but lets me see the little boy "Asleep?" very quiet in room.
Baby died of croup. Fishbone in throat. Fingers cut with butcher knife, Ella the Swede, big hat, big woman; Doctor's waiting room in our house - women hold me on lap! An old Gramp & Grandma with bag of doughnuts come to wait for Dr. Give us dough and stand in middle of floor and watch us eat. & So smiling! Never came back, never saw before or after. Middle aged, poorly dressed pair - but So congenial - Wrap babies for long trips. Eva Martin allus playing sick. Tommy Toole drowned.
School - F. O. Lowden Prin. sisters Nellie & Bell about my age, father of Lowden's a lawyer. Collected Phil's money from bank many yrs. later & kept it all for self till my pa went after him & he gave $25 back.
Friedal Boedke boy blind felt way down St. till came to our picket fence Playmates - Bird chillson I saved at R R station - Jessie Swen a banker's daughter & Eva M. a druggist daughter & Nellie Lowden felt Above my sister Annie & Lillie Hoover & the Clancy girls - Clancy blacksmith.
Teacher made us March March March got rid of her - Poor teacher Shut Annie in closet & forgot her till jammed another girl in. Interim of one yr. after I came from farm had to wait 1 yr. That did no good becuz I was promoted to 2nd grade in two wks time - Spent the interim yr. entertain people iin living room waiting for Dr. Our photograph album & my Grandma with 2 thumbs on one hand, made conversation pieces. Uncle Jas visited us never talked but yes! no! Had hard coal burner & coal hod & frost on windows � in thick blizzards & snow stairs on side walk. Pa discovered a smart farm boy Allan Bradfield & bro't him to live with us & go to school. People still travel in covered wagons going to Kansas - Ma entertained 2 little boys before they left in cov wagon - they said pa goin take shootin irons. A tubercular patient spent so much time in our "waiting room" gave us candy out of his coat pocket, - mother browned coffee in oven - bo't it green - We had brown sugar only. Neighbors fraid of us acct. of Scarlet Fever (our father doctored) Neighbors the Johnson Bros. & Sister Mary. Rufus Johnson make me sing & carry air so he could sing tenor or bass. Thos. Cloud a neighbor took me on his lap & taught me to tell time. We had horses & barn & granary;
Annie & I must Sing for everybody. I had to carry air so she sing alto. Jenny Trout asked us to sing & so we stood in front of her & sang & I imagined she was old Indian woman & we captives singing for her.
One time Annie & I got lost in Hubbard & a lovely lady gave us lunch. So good.
Pat Elwood got into jail. So Annie & I went & spent all one Sun. P.M. with Anna his lovely sister. We played all P.M. with lovely stranger girl named Louise. She operated on next day for tumor & died. - Tommy Toole, drowned - little orphan boy being taken to relatives played all P.M. with us. He promised to come back.
Hubbard - Life in Dr. House
Songs at school - Civil War Songs Marching Thro. Geo. & Tenting Tonight motion songs about Moon & Sun - Good Morn. Merry Sunshine & Oh Mother how Pretty the moon looks tonite -
I want Music lessons - All girls getting music lessons & organs!! Mother said - "Play imagination" - she so good at it. Quaker Mtg. with Hoovers.
Papa allus hunting up lost relatives! Ma mad at him for it. Found a pirate Sea Capt. under Sir Francis Dr. etc. find more in Genealogy. Folks getting worldly - Pa got a plug hat. Ma got a lovely green dress made in Eldora by dress maker. We saw First of Ringlings circus - Small cross country with 3 elephants & broke all bridges - No wars - no income tax - no atom bombs
Then suddenly New life in Wis.
Idaho - Hubbard - hard coal burner - coal hod - frost on windows - chicken pox - whooping cough, browned coffee - 1st white sugar - woman afraid of us - scarlet fever - Phil, Annie, Me, Mary E. - Fred with red hair - Youth's Companion, Satin - wood box - cold catching - Robinson Crusoe & Little Women - Imaginary trips through Europe - dreams Dreams - Religion - New Prov. - Hubbard - School F. Lowden Annie's stories about Tracy - Hoovers - Introduced to death - little boy - Betsyy Fisher's pins in throat - laughing gas - Ella - mother's talent - baby died of croup - People came to waiting room - want to hold me on laps - grandma & grandpa with doughnuts - Aunt Lovina, Little pitchers have big ears - Mrs. Waterman, Bailey had been sowing wild oats, Thread needles for Grandma Griffith Phil & Annie crawl thro' fence & steal ripe currants - Phil turn wringer for Hattie C. Little Tommy Toole - Republican!
Ja's Abram Garfield - 1880 elected - Warren G. Harding - died in office Kennedy (3) - Wm. McKinley (2) - Girl with cut fingers - fishbone in throat - ma sent chicken to school - we lifted girl - Eva Martin always sick,, teacher made us march, march, march - Two camps - Hoover, Swen - Want shetland pony - dreaam it ma said - God's Big Book - Not going to live allus - Uncle Jesse. Uncle Jas. never talked - yes, no - Ancestors - Polly Arnold - ma's Grandmother - Slacks - 3 bros. from Eng.
Canada General at Pea Ridge
East Judge - negro servants
South daughter named Kitty
2 thumbs on one hand - Phil allus play store. Sing hymns & learn bible. Annie & I sing - alto & soprano. test ma's fruit in garden muddy up Jno Getty's house - steal hay, threw mud & hit boy in mouth 2 women kept dishes in barrel - sun. scab?
Genealogy Notes
Benage Slack born 1695 - Sea Capt. under Sir Francis Drake -
married a French woman about 1720.
Benage had 3 sons who emigrated from England about 1770. They worked as carpenters in the Philadelphia ship yards. One went to Canada eventually, one stayed in the East and one went south. One of the sons was a Tory and during the Revolution painted his chimneys red so that the British would not burn down his house. Apparently one of the sons fought under Gen. Geo. Washington and was wounded at the battle of Brandywine. The one who went south (Philip) is our ancestor. His son, X. Y. Slack became a Capt. or General in the Civil War. His record can still be found in histories of the Civil War in public libraries. He was noted for the affection his men had for him. He and his men reached Mo. where he was wounded and then he was killed at Pea Ridge Arkansas where a monument for him and 2 other Generals still remains.
Benage's son who went South became the father of Philip Slack:
My grandfather, Daniel Slack, married Rebecca Benedict whose grandfather was Gersham Wing on her mother's side.
This is the family of Daniel and Rebecca (my father's parents):
All these children had small pox when young. My father's face was badly "pocked."
Philip Slack, my father, was born in Henry County, Ia. and also his brother Harvey. The two older children Madison & Lucy were born in Canada. My grandfather Daniel Slack travelled in a covered wagon first from Canada to Henry Co. Iowa, then to New Providence, Iowa where he took up land & lived on his farm till his death. He died of pneumonia (my father was his doctor). On this farm, Lydia, Jesse, Anna, & Lovina were born.
Benage's descendant, Philip, married a girl named Derbershire and became the father of 6 children, 3 boys & 3 girls. One of the sons was Daniel Slack, my grandfather. The mother & all the children except Daniel and Lovina died of T.B. Philip married again and had twin boys Wm. & Arthur. Wm. was killed in the Civil War at Shiloh Pittsburg Landing. He was from Minn. (Date Apr. 6-7 battle figures are blurred - 1864?)
Philip died and the two children who escaped T.B. Daniel Slack my grandfather and Lovina were left to shift for themselves. Lovina's Uncle & Aunt Harvey & Susannah Derbershire took her to live with them. Daniel at about age 10 was left to shift for himself the best way he could. He managed someway & at his death left a large valuable farm at New Providence Iowa worth many thousands of dollars but sold cheap at his death to a lawyer J. H. Bales of Eldora, Ia. Daniel & Rebecca Slack, my father's parents, are buried either at Hubbard, Ia. or the Highland Cemetery near New Providence Ia.
(Note written on side: My mother's mother had 2 thumbs on 1 hand).
Monument to Gen. Slack in Texas. One Slack Bro. still had descendants in Quebec (South of Quebec). Daniel Slack had relatives in the Red Rebellion & was surrounded in a Tower & stabbed in side by an Indian. In 1862 two half bros. joined a Minn. Regiment. That was Daniel's 2 half bros. Battle of Shiloh under Gen. Grant. There is a Gen. Slack buried in Indiana. Slacks came in 1774 or 1775.
Pirate - Benage Slack in 15th Century
Wm. Slack
Philip Slack
Daniel Slack
Philip Slack - My father
Bill Price
First Philip Slack settled in Canada, Wife was named Derbershire, 5 children. Oldest boy, College Grad. died of T.B. Entire family died of T.B. except Daniel Slack & sister Lovina. Daniel was my grandfather.
My Great Grandfather on my Grandma Slack's side took his family up St Lawrence river to Lake Ontario, to Welland Canal, thro' Locks to Lake Eerie, to Detroit Mich., took R.R. to Chicago, down Ill. River to St Louis, took boat up Miss. River to Keokuk, Ia. Settled on farm 25 mi N. of Keokuk and lived there till died. Their daughter Rebecca Benedict married Daniel Slack. Their kids - Madison, Harvey, Philip, Jesse, Lucy, Lydia, Lovina. One death of T.B. One girl died small pox.
3 brothers came from England - Descendants of Benage Slack. One went to Canada, one stayed in East and one went South. The Southern Slack became a General in the Rebel Army and was noted for his ability to handle men - according to history books. There is a monument erected to the memory of 3 Rebel Generals at Pea Ridge Ark. One of the 3 Generals was X. Y. Slack.
Introduction | Personal Memories | Quotes and Notes | Letters | Newspaper Articles | Unfinished Stories
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| Gleanings of a Lifetime, by Alice Krumm (1879-1987) |
| Copyright � 1998 by Bill Price |
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