The Story of a Family
1907 – 1910
by Helen Erwin Campbell
In 1907 Theodore Roosevelt was President, Oklahoma became the 46th state, Mother’s Day was established, the Boy Scout movement began, the first daily comic strip Mr. Mutt – later to be called Mutt and Jeff – was started, fancy plaid dress goods could be purchased for 10 cents a yard and gingham for 6½ cents. Also, that year Hazel Hayworth and Odes Erwin were married on February 10. She was just past eighteen, and he was not quite nineteen.
The old adage about the attraction of opposites was certainly true when our Dad, Odes, courted and won our Mom Hazel. They grew up in the farm community of Longton, Kansas. Odes was talkative and outgoing, needed to be around people, and was quick to judge and criticize. Hazel was quiet, passive and unassuming, showing aggression only when she was really pushed. They were both hard-working. They’d been born into a time and place where hard work was necessary for survival, and they were survivors.
Living in the same small community, and on adjoining farms, Mom and Dad grew up knowing each other. Mom, I think, must have been very flattered and happy when the tall, good-looking neighbor boy showed an interest in her. She was quite small; their wedding picture shows the top of her head coming only to his chin.
Grandad Erwin had given Dad a buggy and a small white horse, and he did a lot of his courting in that buggy. The little horse was quiet and reliable, so it was not unusual for Dad – after he took Mom home – for him to tie the reins to the front of the buggy. He would catch up on much-needed sleep while his horse would head for home on its own.
This worked quite well until one morning when Dad woke, stiff and uncomfortable, to find himself still in the buggy. The birds were starting their morning concert, the sky in the east was beginning to lighten, and his horse was tied to a fence post along the country road, still a couple of miles from home. Dad tried to sneak in, but his brothers caught him and demanded an explanation as to why he was late for morning chores. The story, as Mom told it to us, was that no one ever owned up to the prank, and Dad took a lot of ribbing, both from his brothers and his friends.
According to the February 15, 1907, issue of the LONGTON GLEANER, Mom and Dad were married Sunday, February 10, at the home of Uncle Tom and Aunt Ellen Stilwell, Mom’s foster parents. The paper noted that our father was “…one of Longton Township’s most industrious young farmers.”
For the first year of their married life Dad farmed on a rented place a mile and a half from Oak Valley; Oak Valley being seven or eight miles from Longton. He also supplemented his farm income by working for the local railroad delivering freight with a dray (forerunner of UPS perhaps?).
It was there also – on December 7, 1907 – that their first child, Goldie Mae, was born. Mom, up to that time, had given almost all her time to making her young husband feel important and loved, but the new baby was definite competition for her attention.
When Goldie was a few months old, Dad started a pattern that was to last most of his life. He moved. He took his wife and child back to Grandma and Grandpa Erwin’s farm about a mile out of Longton. We don’t know why they left the Oak Valley farm; perhaps it was drought, poor crops or low prices. We do know that our Dad seemed to believe the grass was always greener down the road or over the next hill. And, until he reached middle-age he was never satisfied to stay in one place more than a year or two.
It was 1908. William H. Taft was elected President, General Motors Corporation was formed, fountain pens became popular, Wilbur Wright flew 30 miles in 40 minutes, and Henry Ford began making Model T cars. That same year a Swifts ham cost 20 cents a pound, a five-pound package of oats could be purchased for 30 cents, a gold crown at the dentist’s office was $5.00, and – a real bargain – a six-pack of 5-cent cigars was 25 cents.
During most of 1908, Dad and his brother Dale worked at a refinery. They had one horse between them for transportation to and from work. One would ride him to work, and the other would ride him home. That arrangement lasted a few months until Dad and Mom moved to a little house close to the refinery.
This was a move we are sure our mother approved. She got away from her mother-in-law’s domination and quick temper. Mom later recalled “the little house in the timber,” and that often when Dad was on the night shift, she would take Goldie and walk to the refinery to be with him.
But Dad was always looking for “greener pastures.” So, after having accumulated some of the bare necessities – which included a team of horses and a covered wagon – he left the refinery job. They loaded the wagon and drove to Fargo, Oklahoma. They lived for a time with Grandpa Hayworth, and it is believed that Dad worked in the oil fields.
In 1909 William H. Taft became our twenty-seventh President, the population of the United States reached 1,700,000, explorer Robert E. Peary reached the North Pole, an English aviator completed the first 100-mile flight, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad offered a round-trip fare from Kansas City to Los Angeles for $60.00, six cans of Libby’s evaporated milk for $0.55, and Mom and Dad almost lost their firs-born child.
It was only a short time prior to her second birthday when Goldie became ill. She was hot and feverish, developed a cough, and demanded all of her mother’s attention. Despite all that Mom could do, her condition worsened, and Dad went for the doctor. He diagnosed pneumonia. Dad was twenty-one, Mom not quite twenty, they were expecting a second child in a couple of months, and they were fearful of losing their first-born.
Even before this our father had probably shown his volatile side to his young wife, but the temper that he had inherited from his mother erupted under the stress of seeing his daughter in danger. Mom told my sister Mary many years later that Dad had blamed her for Goldie’s illness, and at one point exploded with “If she dies, I’ll kill you.”
Dad sent for his father, and Grandpa came on the train from Longton. Two neighbor ladies and Grandpa sat with the young parents as they waited through the night, doing what they could, and hoping for the best. They fearfully watched her difficult breathing, while praying for a miracle. During the night Goldie’s breathing gradually became less stressed and almost normal. When she awoke the next morning from a long sleep, she said she was hungry. She was weak, but gradually regained her strength, but she had to learn to walk all over again.
In 1910 the United States Congress passed the Mann Act, China abolished slavery, Halley’s comet was sighted, Mark Twain died, Barney Oldfield drove a Benz car at 133 m.p.h. at Daytona Beach, Vic tor Herbert’ s operetta Naughty Marietta opened in New York, and a second daughter was born to Odes and Hazel on January 16.
They named the baby Flossie Minnie – Minnie after Grandma Erwin. She was a healthy infant, and by that time Goldie had recovered from her ordeal.
Mom later recalled a heart-stopping incident that occurred when Flossie was a few months old. She had put the baby down for a nap on the double bed and was working in the kitchen. She heard a noise and went to the bedroom door. There Goldie stood with the infant in her arms. She had pulled Flossie to the edge of the bed by tugging on her sister’s dress and had picked her up. Mom, talking softly to Goldie, walked slowly over to take the baby from her, scarcely breathing until she had Flossie safe in her own arms. Goldie was just two and a half then.
One of Dad’s favorite pastimes when he was growing up was attending the local dances. He loved to dance. After they were married and after the babies started coming, they still attended dances. Mom went, she later said, primarily because Dad wanted to go. Babysitters were not often used; the babies just went along. Dad probably did a lot more dancing and socializing than Mom did. She would have had two little ones who didn’t sleep all the time and could well have been tired and fussy. Dad would not have helped look after them, that being “woman’s work.”
Bud remembers one story that Dad told on himself. This apparently occurred after Dad had moved his family back up near Longton. It seems that he and Mom were at a local dance with toddler Goldie and infant Flossie. His father, having seen Dad’s horse and buggy tied up outside, came inside and said: “You take that woman and those two babies and you get home!” Dad gathered up his small family and did as his father commanded.