Joe had a small farm in
the Ellsworth neighborhood which enabled him to eke out a living for his
family. Joe had seven children; Verona, Roy, Bert, Harold (died in infancy and
buried in the Cuzco Cemetery.) Lawton, Gerald and Paul.
Elda (Nolan) Beatty died
in 1910 from Typhoid Fever which was the result of drinking from a
contaminated well. Shortly after the death of Elda Joe moved his family to Des
Moines, New Mexico. Right after he got there he took sick and died with
Typhoid Fever.
I am told that Verona
Beatty was a very beautiful woman. Joe Had sent her to Des Moines when she was
about sixteen years old because she had Tuberculosis and it was thought the
climate out there would be better for her. Why he picked that particular place
I don’t know. Neither do I know who she lived with out there.
After Joe died Paul Beatty
told me that the kids lived in a shack by the railroad tracks and he said it
was a wonder they survived. To get coal for their heating stove he said Bert
would go into the railroad yards and find a coal car that was about to be
moved, then he would climb up into the car and as it went past their shack he
would throw off all the coal he could and the other kids would gather it up
and take it home. Bert would then jump off the train and walk back home. They
had no water supply and it had to be carried from a neighbor about a mile
away. Lawton said it was his job to carry the water in a wheelbarrow.
Verona tried to hold the
family together but it finally became too much for her. She sent word back
home and one of the Nolan’s came out and brought the youngest children back to
Ellsworth. Lawton remained bitter about that arrangement for the rest of his
life.
The Dubois Displaced
Residents
As I sit in a modern home
on an 80 acre farm with all the conveniences this modern age affords I feel
that I can do nothing better than write the story of the farms and people that
are being displaced in Dubois County by the Patoka Reservoir. Although it is
snowing on this cold January day in 1971 Floridian conditions exist. An
automatic furnace provides uniform heat night and day, electric lights make it
as bright as a sunshiny day, a telephone is by my side that puts me in almost
immediate touch with many far away places. Radio and television are at hand,
newspapers, magazines and books are plentiful and prepared foods are near. An
automobile and good roads make it possible to travel wherever I wish.
Automatic feeders take care of the livestock.
But it was not always that way here on “Painter Place” and on the farms about
which I am writing. Here I was married to my beloved wife for almost fifty
years before her passing and rearing six children. A wood stove furnished the
heat and had to be tended constantly. Large quantities of fuel had to be
hauled and cut. There was no lighting during the day and only kerosene lamps
and lanterns at night, a telephone, not too dependable, was on the wall; radio
and television were unknown, a newspaper the Toledo Blade, came once a week!
Food had to be prepared from scratch.
No automobile was used before 11914 and then only the model T. The roads
created clouds of dust in the summer and almost bottomless mud during the
winter.
So about people like these and myself I shall try to present only a bare
outline of these people and the farms displaced.
As I write of these persons as in all my writings incidents and recollections
come to mind that may pertain to myself and others that may tell of my
shortcomings and those of others. I love people and especially these dear
people with whom I grew up and suffered their sorrows and joys along with my
own. I would not impair the image of anyone. Much of my information comes from
others and of course is fragmentary and in some cases may be incomplete and
maybe incorrect. I’m sure all of these writings can be expanded in many
interesting ways.
The first farm located at the site of the Ellsworth (Kesterson) dam is the one
now owned by Fred Kalb. (was once the Walker farm also Jim Beatty) My first
recollection was that of a very prosperous farmer by the name of Joe Eicher.
His wife was Ida Ellis, the daughter of James Ellis of Ellsworth. I remember
the beautiful draft horses and livestock produced upon this farm. There was a
family of children and when the farm was sold to Frank Thompson the Eicher
family moved to the vicinity of Orleans. Then Frank Thompson and his wife, the
former Lottie Cox carried on the traditions of this fine farm and reared their
family. They sold it to the present owners Mr. Fred Kalb and family that have
developed it into a modern farming operation.
The next adjoining farm that will be taken for the dam is one known as the
Jesse Clements farm. This man was a cousin to my wife, his mother being her
aunt, ? Carroll and married to James Clements. Here Jesse and his wife ?
Kellams, reared their family, some of whom still live in the Cuzco community.
The Carroll families I shall discuss more fully when I write of the displaced
families of Orange County. Later George Thompson, a friend of mine and his
wife, the former Lilly Nolan, lived on this farm. Another farm that will be
taken by the dam is that of ? Pieper. I am told it was once owned by Phil
Sutton. My first recollection is that a man by the name of Elwood Bridgewater
was the owner. My name is Elwood and I was told that somehow it was for this
man. Later John Hasenour, a very prosperous farmer and machine operator,
possessed it. Mr. ? Pieper has made modern farm out of it.
----to be continued in the next issue.