A Family History of Chandler Sanborn Heath 

Biographical Documents

MOM’S MEMOIRS
(Autobiography of Mae Dana Holmes)

I was born Mae Dana Heath on a farm five miles from Round Lake, Minnesota, on December 6, 1894. My parents were Robert and Amanda Heath. My brother, Harry, was three years old when I was born. I remember things that happened when I was three. We lived in a house that had two bedrooms and one large room which was used as a kitchen, dining room and living room, and two rooms upstairs. When I was growing up, I slept with my Grandma Heath who lived with us. I remember she smoked a clay pipe. She would give me a black cough drop which I thought was great, as we didn’t get much candy. She passed away when I was twelve years old.

My brother, Ernest, was born when I was three years old; brother Glen was born three years after Ernest; brother Earl three years after Glen; and sister Pearl was born two years later; then came brother Leslie; two years later came Melvin; and Bob was born seven years after Melvin.

We were a big family, but we had lots of fun having neighbor kids come over to play. When I was three, my Dad got Small Pox and had to be put in a camp southwest of Round Lake on the prairie. We couldn’t go to see him, but could drive and stay two or three blocks away. When he got better he would come out of the tent and wave at us. When he did get to come home, we hardly knew him as his face was all full of pox holes. We had to fumigate the house, and we slept in the barn on the hay. That was a lot of fun.

I was twelve years old when Pearl was born. I really had a work-out with her as she was such a bawl-baby.

I remember when Doctor came out to vaccinate us. I hid behind the pantry door as I was scared. He coaxed me to come out. He showed me a little tin box he would give me if I would let him vaccinate me; so L came out. The vaccination really worked, and we all had sore arms for quite a while.

On our farm, we had a big apple orchard, plum trees, cherries, currants, gooseberries, June berries, rhubarb, and strawberries. Mother did a lot of canning. She made gallons of apple and plum butter, jelly from currants, sauce out of gooseberries. She also dried apples. I would have to help peel them and string them on a string, and she would hang them on the clothes line with mosquito netting over them to keep the flies off, and we had plenty of them. Dad made apple cider. I helped turn the wheel on it, so we had lots of cider. Mother made cider vinegar, too. In the fall, I would help Dad wrap newspapers around the apples and put them in a barrel, store it in the cellar for winter, so we had apples all winter.

Dad butchered three pigs and a whole beef each fall of the year. Mother canned the beef in two-quart jars. She served It with noodles sometimes. She canned chickens, too, so we had chicken and noodles all winter. Pork was salted in brine. I helped pick currants and gooseberries, husk corn, shock barley, and dig potatoes, milk cows and slop the pigs. We fed the pigs corn, so we’d have to get in the pig pen to pick up the corn cobs, and that’s what Mother used to burn in the cook stove all summer.

One day when Ernest and I were husking corn, the team ran away. One of the horses got cut by barbed wire fence. We had to have the Vet come out and sew her breast up. Her name was Pet. Harry had a little Indian pony. I used to like to drive to town with him. He sure could go, but one day coming home a bicycle passed us and scared him, and I couldn’t drive him after that. I was lucky I got home with him. Ernest called him Balls.

When Dad and boys made hay, my job was to keep cool drinks out to them. Mother put a little ginger and vinegar in water to quench their thirst. I liked it, too.

We had close neighbors, and our school was some over a mile away. Our schoolhouse was small, just a little larger than our garage here in Bisbee. It had forty kids coming to school. There were Meyer’s, Ewer’s, Toad’s, Golenhorse’s, Crossier’s, Jenkins’, two sets of Heath’s, Schuman’s, Dodge’s, Witt’s, Holmes’ and Walker’s. Some of them were great big kids like Leon Ewers, Fred Meyer and my cousin, Arthur. I don’t think they learned much. Harry and I went thru the 8th grade. I guess Ernest did too. We used to have fun at school--couldn’t wait until noon so we could get out and play ball and lots of other games, too.

I’ll have to tell you how Mother and Dad met each other. The farms weren’t very far apart and Dad was out hoeing corn one day, and Mother was on her way to Aunt Lizzie’s; so they stopped and talked a while--That’s all that was needed. I don’t know the year they were married. About 1887 I guess.

I remember one night I was going to stay with a neighbor girl, but when it started to get dark, I grabbed my nightie and ran home. It wasn’t very far away.

In the winter time Dad would come and get us at school in a sleigh. Every Sunday in the summer we would have a yard full of people. Fred was included too. Our lake was a mile and a half from home. All the young people used to gather there, too, as it was a resort. The ball team played there, and there was a bowling alley, too. We’d all get together and play drop the handkerchief. One night four of us couples rowed across the lake. One night, coming from school, Eddie Schuman threw a hard chunk of ice and snow and hit me on the leg. Fred really walloped him one; then he came over and put his arm around me. I didn’t know what to think. Guess I was about 14 or 15 years then. I guess I was Fred’s girl after that, but was 17 or older when we started going together. When I was 17 had an attack of appendicitis, had to go to Lakefield to hospital. He couldn’t operate right away as I had my sick time, so Dad left me there; I’ve never been so homesick in my life. I couldn’t eat or sleep. I got a letter from Fred while I was there. I didn’t want my Dad to see it, so I tore it up and hid it under the mattress. While Dad was there, nurse was making my bed and all these papers fell on the floor. I think Dad knew what it
was and told the nurse, and she had a good laugh.

Fred only lived one and one-half miles from our home. When we were going together we had lots of buggy rides. We went to the Presbyterian Church Sunday evenings in Round Lake. Fred played ball so that was excitement too. We had lots of fun at these games and Round Lake usually won. Fred was the pitcher and a good one. Pearl didn’t like him. She said, “What’s that old fool coming over here for?” He was a perfect gentleman all through our courtship. No wonder I thought a lot of him. They used to have barn dances at the neighbors. There wasn’t any beer or liquor there. One time when I was younger, Harry asked Mother if I could go with him, and Mother said I was too young. Harry said he wouldn’t go if I couldn’t and she finally gave in. Sometimes there would be dances in town, and my Dad would take all of us in the sled or wagon, and he would wait for us, too. He put straw in the bottom of the sled, and we had blankets to cover our heads (in winter time). We had a good time giggling all the way home.
 
I sure had a good Dad. He never laid a hand on me, but Ma did. I was his girl; always called me Mayme. He didn’t have a chance to get much schooling, so I used to do his writing for him.

I told you about our old house. Now I’ll tell you about our new house that was built. It had two bedrooms downstairs, living room, big kitchen and pantry, and three bedrooms upstairs. My Uncle Herman from Worthington built it. His daughter Elsie used to come and stay for days. We’d eat crackers in bed. Mother always bought crackers in large wooden boxes and stored them in an extra room upstairs. Our bed would be full of cracker crumbs so we could hardly sleep. One time she stayed with me, our heads got to itching. We told Mother and she looked and we had lice. Elsie slept with someone else the night before, and that’s where she got them. Mother washed our heads in kerosene and water--that fixed them!

Not very often but sometimes I would go and stay with Elsie in Worthington. I was a home girl. One winter I worked for a doctor in town. Fred was going to business college then. Otherwise I was home until I was married. There was always plenty of work with our big family. I baked bread when I was twelve.
 
One Sunday Fred came home from working in lumber yard at Brewster, Minnesota. He rode home on his bicycle and it broke down. He came to see me Saturday night. When he got ready to go back to Brewster on Sunday, he helped me harness Nellie and Charlie to the surrey and I took him half way. It was fifteen miles. Of course Pearl, the little stinker, had to go along, and when we were driving along, she had to go to the toilet, so. I stopped and she went in the ditch. Fred teased me many times about that.

I used to help Mother churn butter. She used to put it up in one-pound loaves and sell it that way. Wish I had some of it now. There was a big fat guy with a Watkins wagon came, and he always made it to our place around supper time. He was so crazy for buttermilk. He drank so much one night that he got sick in the night; we thought he was going to die. We used to have peddlers come around selling pins, buttons etc. Mother would give him a loaf of bread for what she needed. Gypsies used to come around, too, and 1 was scared to death of them. They would steal anything they could get their hands on, and sometimes children.

I had several guys that wanted to go with me—-Fred’s cousin Art Christian, Chas. Johnson, Harry Trede, Oscar Hanson, and Fay Dodge——but I had for no one but Fred. The day we got married (October 12, 1915) was a beautiful day. My dad took us to Jackson to get married, but couldn’t find a minister, so had to drive to Lakefield, Minnesota and found a minister. He was a German. Mother cried and Grandma Holmes was there and she cried, too. I thought, why are they crying? We didn’t have money for a honeymoon, so came back home. We could have gotten married in Round Lake, but we knew all the young folks would all know, but it didn’t make any difference--they were all outside hollering and yelling we want the bride. We were out on the front porch, but had the door hooked. They left and then some more came and they had shotguns up against the house and what a noise. Mother served lunch to some of them, but not the town bunch. I suppose they were looking for money, but we had none to give. That summer I made four pieced quilts and Mother helped me tie them. I got a chance to raise the chickens and I got the money for those when I sold them. We came to North Dakota when the folks came. I hated to leave the old home, we had lots of good memories were left behind.

I never rode horseback but once. I was to go to the pasture and get the cattle. The old horse had a back like a knife, she was so poor. Boy, the next day I was so stiff I could hardly walk. Funny, with all the horses we had, none of my brothers rode horses.

One day when the folks were going to R. Lake, I was to look after the smaller kids. All of a sudden I missed Earl. Finally found him out behind the corn crib, sicker than a dog. He’d gotten a hold of one of Dad’s cigars. He didn’t try that again.

It seems just like yesterday that when we had a rain shower, we kids would get out and get in every puddle there was. We had many bad storms in Minnesota and a good many times we all went down in the cellar. The sky would get so black all over it would look like it was night and it was the middle of the day.

Well, I guess I’ll leave Minnesota and get on with North Dakota, but before we left, Dad had an auction sale. He loaded a car with some furniture and horses and a couple cows. Fred and Ernest and two other guys came with the car and the rest of us by train. We landed in Kenmare,N.D. and was there snow. Not a tree and to come from a pretty country to this desolate place. It was two or three days later that the car load of stuff came-Fred was sick with the flu and he really was sick. We went up to Ole Holmes’ place (Fred’s brother) and stayed until the car came. We nearly froze to death that winter. We arrived about Thanksgiving time. We stayed with the folks until February when Fred got a job in lumber yard. We lived in two different houses while in Lansford. One was a big old thing-very little furniture to put in it, but we got along. Eggs were 12c a dozen then and we ate a lot of them.

Before Fred got this job, he had a temporary one in Denbeigh, N.D. I got so lonesome so I hopped the train to Granville, from there hired a team from livery stable, it cost me $2.00. Fred was sure surprised, but pleased to see me as everyone there were strangers. We got a room at the hotel. I worked washing dishes and making beds for board and room. There were lots of young people there. When we got acquainted, we had lots of fun. One night we slept on the river bank.

Next we went to Souris, N.D. I don’t remember too much about that place. He worked in lumber yard in Lansford. I was pregnant with Blanche then and Mother was with Bob. I remember climbing snowbanks to go to the farm from town, Mother and I both big as barrels. We got a call from Newburg, so moved there. We had lots of friends there, too. Blanche was born there on April 2, 1917. Bob was born January 22, 1917. We stayed in Newburg until Blanche was three years old, then moved to Ojibwa, Wisconsin. We were there one winter but there wasn’t anything to do to make a living, so we went back to Lansford. Fred and Glen hunted skunks. He caught lots of them, also threshing. I cooked on cook car. Grandma Holmes was with me once. She peeled vegetables, washed dishes, etc. We had to get up early as our bed was a bed spring with a thick quilt for a mattress, which we stood up by the wall and let it down at night, and of course, the threshers were in early for breakfast. After this, Fred and I went back to Minnesota where he dug ditches and I cooked in a little shack they had and we also stayed with Celia and Adolph for a while Fred worked with Adolph digging wells. He also trapped on Plum slough and we were at Osmunds then.
 
I’m coming back now before I was married. The ladies in town gave me a shower, and did I get lots of things. Wish I could see some of these old friends. Well! After we left Minnesota, we got a lumber yard job at Granville. Blanche had just started school when we left there in March and went to Leeds. (lumber yard--St. Anthony) We lived there for twenty years. Maynard was born in Granville April 1, 1922. We went to Leeds in 1924. Donna was born in Leeds April 24, 1927. We left Leeds in June, 1943. It was raining to beat the band-- we were heading for Portland, Oregon, and ran into snow storm at Minot, so went to Lansford and stayed overnight. Had to wait in Minot for the snow plow to go through and there were trucks and cars stuck in snow banks all the way to Williston, then it was O.K. While we lived in Leeds, we lived in four different houses. The fourth one we bought and lived in it until we sold it for $3,000 to go west. While we lived in Leeds, my Dad passed away--July 12, 1934--and Grandma Holmes the fall of 1935. We made lots of friends in Leeds. Went to Congregational Church. I was Ladies Aid president for 12 years. Taught Sunday school and did lots of other things for the church. These were hard time. Our minister was an older man named Rev. Dr. Ashley. He never got what was coming to him. Then we had Jim Lancaster and Carl Bormuth, younger ministers and very good for the young people. We had ice—cream socials and bake sales to raise money for church. We had a Bean supper in the fall of the year also.
 
Blanche graduated in 1935. She cried when she left the old school. She went to Chicago Hairdressers Academy in Fargo, then got a job at Claire Beauty Shoppe in Devils Lake. That is where she met Pete.
 
Maynard was graduated in 1940. Soon after that he joined the National Guards. He was in Quadacanal for six years. When we went west, Donna would be a senior. She cried when she left her schoolmates. She did well in Vancouver school. She got a good job in Health Department in Portland right out of high school.

Back to Leeds now--we had many good friends like Chas. Torgeson’s. We used to go fishing at Kelarney, Canada, and rent a cabin and fry fish on a wood stove. Did Gertie ever enjoy that. Have many good memories of those days. John Dulmage and Fred went fishing a lot too. The Garsts’ and Jim Hills were great friends, too, and could name many more, too. Blanche and Donna never gave us any trouble to worry about, but Maynard was a little different--a little stubborn, would stay out late.

We were out west close to five years and we came back to North Dakota when the twins were born in 1946. Fred helped Pete build a larger garage and I helped with the twins. We had a small trailer to live in. They added a large room to the house and Fred helped with that. Lots of work with diapers, feeding, bathing, etc. Mother and Annie Ewers and her grandchildren and we went to Minnesota on a trip. We got word there was a job available in lumber yard (Great Plains) in Bisbee. We took it and Company bought a house for us. Had lots of work fixing up that house, living in our trailer while the fixing was done. We finally bought the house for $2,000 from the Company. We lived in Bisbee for over twenty years or better. We sold the trailer to a guy from Rolette, N.D.

Now I’m back to Round Lake, Minnesota. Four couples of us went across the lake in a row boat. If that boat would have tipped, not one of us would have survived unless it would have been Fred. He’s the only one who could swim. I shivered when I thought about it afterwards. Guess we were young and didn’t think of those things. Dad used to take us to the lake to swim or paddle in the water on a hot day.
 
Blanche and Pete were married August 18, 1940. Donna and Bud were married August 8, 1949. While we were parked in trailer at Pete’s, the twins were big enough to come and rap on the door and say “Grandma, can we come in?” and I said, “Of course.” They’d peel off their coats and planned to stay a while. They were never any bother. Joyce had asthma so bad--I felt sorry for the poor little kid. One day had to call the doctor and Blanche wanted me stay with her while doctor gave her a shot. Well I did, and I said never again. She cried and cried. I am so thankful she outgrew it. When I saw that big needle I could have cried too. Since living in Bisbee, Fred and I drove to Vancouver two winters and one winter on the train.
 
After Fred passed away, I took the train that winter and when I got back, put the house up for sale. I sold it to Mike Kliers for $4,000. Had an auction sale and then I moved into Senior housing apartments. Three other ladies in same unit. So this will be my home as long as I’m able to take care of myself. I pray that I can. If I have repeated myself, please forgive me.

Mom and Grandma Holmes

Harry Lucas Heath Born January 14, 1892 – died 1970 – 78 yrs old
Mae Dana Heath Born December 6, 1894 – died 1981 – 88 yrs old
Ernest Irwin Heath Born February 22, 1898 – died 1979 – 81 yrs old
Glen Washington Heath Born February 22, 1901 – died 1956 – 55 yrs old
Earl Raymond Heath Born March 27, 1904 – died 1976 - 72 yrs old
Pearl Minnie Heath Born August 5, 1907 - —
Leslie Robert Heath Born September 7, 1909 – died 1985 –76 yrs old
Melvin Leonard Heath Born November 18, 1911 -
Robert Maynard Born January 22, 1917 – died 1988 – 71 yrs old

 

Notes: 

Autobiography told by Mae Heath Holmes and transcribed by her daughter Blanche Holmes Pederson. 

Items in italics were added by Mae’s sister, Pearl Heath Chambers, who had this copy of the autobiography in her possession and passed it to her nephew, Dennis Heath.

 

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