Early Chores, Birth of Winnogene, Close Call

When I became old enough to churn the butter in a barrel-type churn, I did that for my mother in the cellar.  That was also where we turned the ice cream freezer.  Once in a while during the hot summer months, there would be an alert by telephone from one neighbor to another that there was danger of a tornado.  On those occasions we would go down into the cellar until the winds died down.  The cellar had a four-inch tile vent that enabled us to get sufficient air to keep us comfortable while in the cellar.

Kenneth Leroy Scott, circa 1906

When I was old enough to care for them, my father got a pair of rabbits for me and presently I had quite a number of rabbits--until a neighbor's dog got to them.

It was when we lived in this house that my sister Winnogene was born on March 25, 1905.

Kenneth and Winnogene with their parents, Elzumer and Carrie Mae Scott, in 1908

Kenneth and Winnogene

Winnogene Leta Scott, 1905-1918

My bed in those days was a folding bed that could be raised from the front and extend vertical during the daytime to provide more space in our parlor.  The bed had a large mirror in the front when raised and was then a rather attractive piece of furniture.

Winnogene and Kenneth

When we were to go out to my Grandfather Scott's farm--about five miles away--my father would hitch our driving horse to a single-seated buggy with a top and we would all climb in, Winnogene on Mother's lap and I between my parents.  When we made that trip in the winter, we had heavy lap robes and some hot bricks to keep our feet warm.

One day, when we were going out to the farm in the buggy, my father saw a steam threshing machine coming down the road toward us with the smoke and steam puffing out.  We were rather sure that Prince, our horse, would be frightened as most horses were of a threshing machine.  That day we were following rather close behind a wagon load of hay; Father said maybe we could get by the threshing machine that way.  When Prince came abreast of the machine, he reared straight up.  Had it not been for Father's experience in handling horses, we might well have had a bad "runaway" with the buggy being turned over and some or all of us badly hurt--or worse.

Steam-driven threshing machine, Minnesota, 1882 (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia)

In Kenneth's own words: Early years

We are greatly blessed that Kenneth and Mary followed the counsel of Church leaders to write their personal histories. This begins a series of posts about Kenneth's life, written in his own words.
 

On February 2, 1899, I was born in the home of my parents, Elzumer and Carrie Mae Scott in Chicago, Illinois.  My dear mother was attended in this, her first child bearing, by a very nice Irish neighbor lady, an experienced "midwife," who had been closely watching this lovely young lady, who as a young bride, had moved from the rural area of northwestern Missouri to the big city.  When the attending doctor finally arrived, this kindly but outspoken neighbor said, "Everything has been promptly attended to and you might as well go back to where you came from."  Presently my father arrived in response to the call to his office downtown, and was elated to find that his wife and firstborn son were doing well.

There is little record of my first years in Chicago.  I have a much-treasured, enlarged and framed picture of myself riding on a wheelbarrow of grass clippings, being pushed by my father.  

Does anyone have the original of this photo?

We found part of it! Elzumer

It shows the dress style of that period, with my father wearing a stiff white collar and tie, which must have been the way city surburbanites were supposed to dress when doing their yard work.

Kenneth

I also have a picture of my mother and myself, taken in a local park, showing us dressed in the fashion of that early period. 

Does anyone have the original?

When I was about four years old, my parents decided that the big city was not the place where they wanted to spend more of their life.  Perhaps this was influenced somewhat by their sadness in the death of their second child, Raymond, who died on December 23, 1902, from whopping cough at the age of nine months.  He was buried in Chicago, Illinois.

Raymond E. Scott, age 5 months, March 16, 1902

So Father accepted an offer to become cashier of the First National Bank of Ridgeway, Missouri, and we moved to the town about five miles from his birthplace.  Our home there was a rather small house only a few blocks from the main street of that town of less than 1,000 population.  We had a barn where we kept a driving horse and buggy, a cow, and a nearby chicken house where we kept enough hens to supply us with eggs and an occasional chicken dinner.  Near the house was a cellar where we kept the milk, butter, and the garden vegetables during the winter months.