Pop's Model T

It was 1925 when Pop rode the train to St. Louis. A ticket was only three or four dollars but he may have gone as a hobo. He knew how. That's how he came from Idaho in 1917.

He brought back one of the first trucks. It was a Model T Ford -- or at least the motor, chassis and wheels of one.

With scraps of tin and boards he made a cab and truck bed. It was funny looking, actually it was awful looking. He took it all apart to clean and oil it every Sunday.

Cars were not the standard mode of transportation in those days. Mr. Tipton rode a horse past our house three times a week. It was four or five miles to Grandin. Sometimes he brought us a letter with a two cent stamp on it. A post card cost a penny.

It took nearly two days and a night for Mom, baby Ruth and me to ride the train to St. Louis two years later (1927). It was the first time we had seen black people as well as indoor bathrooms. We had to spend one night in Williamsville (located just in the next county).

The last automobile Pop owned was a 1936 Chevy Coupe. He drove that little black car to the post office, the grocery store and to visit his grown children living in Grandin.

Still an ingenius innovator, he converted that car into a truck as well. By removing the trunk lid, he built an extended floor with side rails.

This illustration is to give you an idea of what his customization looked like

Pop never stopped learning. When my son-in-law visited in 1975 driving a Mazda with a "Rotary" engine, Pop was very interested in learning more. "I've been hearing about a new kind of engine, but didn't think I would ever get to see one."

Pop inspects the new rotary engine

My kitchen, my way

The first years of marriage are always a big adjustment. Some of my memories about those early years aren’t so pleasant. When I married and went to Kentucky in 1937 we lived with my husband’s folks nearly two years.

Water had to be carried from the well behind the house down by the barn. Dishwater was scarce and it was considered wasteful to empty it before it was thick with grease and homemade soap from usage. My mother-in-law said drying the dishes with a well-used dishrag served the same purpose as rinsing. Without window and door screens, flies were everywhere. The soapy water was good for the hogs and had to be carried even further.

I was used to washing dishes and canning jars so they would be CLEAN as Mom has taught me – lots of hot, clean water.

I was so thankful to finally have my own home on the mountaintop! After my mother-in-law was gone, I gave everything in the kitchen a real scalding. We had CLEAN dishes there!

After our move up the mountain, my husband fussed about the small amount of food on the table. With only the two of us and one baby, he grumbled that he didn’t like “such batching.” If he could, he would have stayed under his mother’s roof as long as he lived.

He really fussed about the first bucket of my discarded dishwater. He said I couldn’t even make dishwater fit for the hogs. (However, he was teaching the baby to call me Mammy like he called his mother until I taught the baby to call me Mom.)

Ask Grandma Polly

Polly's eight year old granddaughter had lots of questions. Below are just a few of them.

Did you ever run away or hide?

Yes. One time I ran away and hid in the woods for four days with my aunt who was the same age as me. All our folks were so worried. We got so hungry and dirty and had insect bites all over us.

Did you have ice cream?

We made ice cream in the summer. A man cut ice blocks at Tolliver Hole in the winter and kept them buried in sawdust until summer.

Did you have your own bedroom?

No, I never did. It was pleasant beyond words to sleep with two or three little brothers and sisters. Once when I was about two years old and yet sleeping with my mom and dad, I remember a rat bit me on the knee!

How did you keep your soda cold?

We didn’t have sodas. We hung the milk down in the well in a jar in the well bucket. We got out first refrigerator in 1953.

Did you have chores you had to do?

I took care of little sisters and brothers, sewed their clothes, carried water, washed on a rub-board, but mostly I helped at the sawmill. I helped grind corn and wheat at our grist-mill and even made railroad ties with a broad axe.

Did you go to the fair?

The Fourth of July picnic at Grandin was like a carnival. The merry-go-round was owned by the Tolliver family. There was square dancing. If I stopped dancing, my boyfriend Clarence Willhite would quit playing the violin so everyone had to stop dancing!

Who was your favorite boyfriend?

Outside of the two I married it is yet a BIG SECRET.