TO MY CHILDEEN by Helen Margaret Gibson Branson

Introduction: This is a transcribed hand-written photocopied manuscript. Some words and sections are missing.

TO MY CHILDEEN

By Helen Margaret Gibson Branson

The first time I remember seeing your Dad was at a Rodeo North of Syracuse. He won the bronc riding (the guy I was rooting for came in a poor second). He walked off the field just as if this was an everyday chore, responding to the cheers with a modest grin and I thought, “What conceit – someone will show him up one of these days.”

I was introduced to him later in the day and something ‘clicked’ but neither of us knew what it was. We had both lived in Hamilton County not more than 20 miles apart for 11 years and actually neither of us knew the other existed – or if we did know it wasn’t important. This was not surprising for he was 6 years older than I and we did not attend the same schools. I knew his sisters, Fern and Opal, and his brother Darrel casually but while I was growing up he was away from home working on various ranches and following rodeos in the summer time.

About 2 weeks later we were both at another public gathering and he actually sought me out and asked me if I would like to go to town for a drink. We had an ice cream soda at the local drug store where the whole community gathered. It was a public announcement that he was interested in me!

At that time he was working on the Tate Ranch 6 miles up the river. His mother was living with him. The road to town was along the river which meandered thru the Cottonwoods but there was a ‘short cut’ thru our place right past the front door. You had to open and close 2 gates but he suddenly began to use the short cut. He would wave when we went by but never stopped. I always managed to be in sight, but this was as far as it went. When winter came he became very busy at the ranch and I sorta forgot him.

That winter my folks talked me into going back to school to get my teaching Certificate. At that time it only took two years and I had one semester at Kansas State Teachers College. I had taught the first year out of High School on a temporary certificate and knew I wanted to be a teacher so I planned to work thru the summer and enter college in the fall and then -----

The Ford started coming by the house again and one day it stopped. I was hanging out clothes and he walked up one line with me and down the other and then he told me there was going to be a dance up north of Syracuse and would I like to go with him? – and not to seem too eager I said I guessed I would but I would see what Mama thought about it. He told me we would double date. Virgil Hubbard had a date with Martha Benedict and would go with us. They would have to do chores and they would pick me up around 8:00 PM & pick up Martha in town.

The Model T had side curtains but it was lots of work to put them on so we went in an open car but they had lots of blankets so we kept warm. The dance was 10 miles North of Syracuse and we danced all night. I slept most of the way home with my head on his shoulder while he drove. When we got home we left Virgil alone in the car while he walked me up to the house, and then out there in the cold he put his arms around me and kissed me and I thought I was going to faint. But then he kissed me again and it was all right.

That was the beginning. We had a date nearly every Saturday night – the only time he was free. Sometimes he had to work on Sunday but I could always sleep as long as I liked. Virgil and Martha’s romance cooled so we were alone more often but that was nice because we could talk and really get to know each other.

I began to be known as ‘Chiff’s girl’ but there was no mention of marriage (or of intimacy without marriage). We were both satisfied with things as they were.

My friends started warning me that Chiff was not the ‘marrying kind’ but it did not matter to me. Just to look at him made me happy. When he would put his two big hands on my cheeks and kiss me gently on the lips such a surge of love and strength would pass through me that I could have walked thru Hell for him.

And then one night it happened! We were setting out in the car ‘smooching’ and suddenly he sat up straight and with both hands on the steering wheel he said – “Honey I’ll tell you what let’s do – let’s get married – some time – right away – Fuck!!” and I was so surprised I just sat there looking at him. After what seemed like an hour his eyes got a stricken look. And he said we-ll-? And I said, “Do you really love me that much” and he said “Oh Yes!!” and I was in his arms again. We did not return to earth until we heard, “Helen are you out there.”

School was forgotten and I started filling a ‘Hope Chest’. I had been working at the ‘Harvest House’ in Syracuse and the money I had been saving for school came in handy. Mama and Papa were very pleased and my brothers and sisters welcomed him as a big brother. I was working five days a week, but on my days off I spent the time getting my things in order and sewing. We did not set a wedding date or really make any plans. We just spent as much time together as we could. I would ride horseback up to the ranch and visit with his mother sometimes which I enjoyed.

On my birthday he picked me up in town and I went home with him to do his chores and then we were going out to celebrate. He had bought himself a new suit and he gave me a box of candy. When we got to his place he dressed up in his new suit just to show his mother & me how grand he looked and then he took it off – did his chores and we headed for town. About halfway between his place and ours we stopped in Lovers Lane and after a few kisses he said he had something for me and handed me a small package. When I opened it there were two rings. He told me I could have one of them but that he was going to keep the other until I was Mrs. Branson. We skipped the dance. Instead we called on some friends to show them my ring. The next day I started making my wedding dress.

Neither of us wanted a ‘wedding’. We just wanted to get married. I quit my job to get ready and we set the day for September 7 and started to count the days. Each one seemed longer than the one before but finally it came. On the morning of September 7 Chiff went to town to get the license. He stopped and showed it to me and then went back to work. He came back in the evening – and He, dressed as a bridegroom and I, in my frothy Flopper dress – went in to the Methodist Parsonage and were made Man & Wife. On our way home we stopped in Lovers Lane to ‘Seal it with a Kiss’ and to meditate on the wonder of it all. I think we were afraid, a little, to go home but when we got there I found ‘a little nest’ that he had prepared for me and that night was all we had dreamed it would be.

Next morning it was work as usual for Chiff and I started learning what it was, to be a housewife. First I took inventory – his mother had moved her things out and there was not much left. In the kitchen there was a wood-burning 4 hole Topsy stove with an oven built in the stove pipe. In the corner was a work table with some shelves built in over it to hold dishes and cooking supplies. There was a table with some odds & ends of chairs and stools to sit on. Some boxes were arranged along one wall to hold a water pail with a dipper in it and a wash basin. There was a mirror over the basin and on one side was a nail with a towel on it. The bare windows were clean.

The living room was bare except for 2 arm chairs, a sanitary cat, and an old sewing machine. There was a good linoleum on the floor.

In the bedroom we had a good bed and a shelf along one wall with a curtain around, it served as a clothes closet. Later Mama gave us a chest of drawers and we built some shelves under the curtain.

This was Thursday and we had the rest of the week to ourselves. Chiff had to ride each morning and I rode with him and then we would spend the rest of the day setting up housekeeping. We bought yards of material to make slip covers for the living room furniture and curtains for the whole house (the latter we considered to be a non-necessity). We also bought 4 dining room chairs – I still have 2 of them.

On Saturday night our friends had planned to ‘Chavare’ – we had been expecting them and Chiff rode to town to get Candy and Cigars for treats. When nobody came by 9:00 o’clock we went to bed. An hour or so later a few of them showed up to report that the sheriff had been killed. He had stopped a car that had been stolen and was shot to death. He left a wife and 3 children and that was all we could think of.

Next week ‘Haying’ began. Normally Chiff would have cooked for the crew but Mr. Tate agreed to pay us $1.00 a day for each man we fed and put Chiff in charge of the crew. He could come to the house in time to help put the food on the table and I did the rest. It took half the money I made to pay for groceries but with my profit I bought a nice dresser.

After the rush was over I made the curtains and slip covers and shelves for my books I brought from home and with my’ hope chest’ linens and silverware and dishes and my shower gifts from the Harvey House Gang I was proud of my little home.

The first crisis came when I bought a sewing machine. The old one Grandma Branson left there was very temperamental and the singer salesman showed up when it was acting up one day. It didn’t take him long to talk me into buying one at $5.00 a month for a year and I signed a contract!! He was not out of sight before I regretted it. I was worried sick thinking about what Chiff would say. He was surprised to say the least, but all he said was, “I guess we can manage it.”

Chiff was paid $80.00 a month. We had wood to burn, a cow to milk, and a small garden and mama gave us some hens to provide eggs – so it did not cost us much to live. Chiff was still following rodeos that were close. Garden City and Scott City Kansas were about as far as we went. It was not only recreation that we loved but we could always plan on Chiff winning one or two events & the money helped out.

In December we had been married 3 months so we decided it was time to have a baby. All of our friends had one or were expecting one so we started planning. We fully expected to have one to share the next Christmas with us but it was nearly a year before I became pregnant. The waiting time was uneventful and after my ‘Morning Sickness’ subsided I felt great. I made enough clothes for 3 babies always with a touch of blue because of course we were going to have a son. Chiff strutted and told everyone he knew even before they could tell by looking at me. I had planned to go home to have the baby and Mama would take care of us. I planned to wait until the last day and then go down where everything was ready and they could call the doctor, but before the time came Mr. Tate bought some more land and moved us up to the Ritchie Place, 5 miles south of Coolidge. It was too far for me to drive at the last minute so I went home the first day of July and Chiff came every evening. The night of July 3 I felt fine and he and Tommy Overton planned to go to Scott City on the Fourth. When they got there I was in the middle of my labor so Tommy went on to the rodeo and Chiff stayed with me. Billy was born at 11:30 AM. I stayed there 10 days and Chiff spent lots of time there. He was jubilant and everyone who came on the place was invited in to see his son. The poor little thing had colic and his Daddy spent endless hours walking the floor with him day and night. This lasted for 6 weeks but after he became adjusted to life we started taking him everywhere in his basket and he learned about rodeos early in life.

We liked it at the Ritchie Place. We had neighbors with common interests and felt that we were part of a community. We were part of a group who met once a month to play cards. The children were piled on a bed together and slept (no babysitters). The hostess served dessert, usually angel food cake and whipped cream because everyone had cream and eggs; we learned all sorts of variations.

The Great Depression was just beginning but we did not realize it and looked forward to the future with hope and confidence. Chiff was working long hours and I was cooking for cowboys who dropped at noon. The house was in fair shape. We had 2 rooms and a ‘lean to’ and we put in a lot of hours making it livable. We expected to stay there a long time. We had to carry water 100 yards and with a baby’s laundry we used a lot (no pampers) so Chiff piped it to the house, put in a sink and pitcher pump to bring it in and dug a cesspool. This was good because I was pregnant again. Again I had morning sickness but it soon passed and we started planning for a girl baby.

About this time my folks sold their ranch and spent several months on the road looking for a place in Colorado. They enjoyed the summer of travel and periodically made it back to our place for a while. This pregnancy was not as carefree as the first had been and we were glad to have them to help care for Billy especially when Chiff was gone. On the Fourth of July Chiff went to the annual rodeo at Scott City. He got home about midnight happy because he had won the saddle bronc riding and the bulldogging. Each paid $25.00. after about 5 hours sleep he was up working again. That night he was exhausted and Papa had a hard time wakening him to go to Coolidge to call the doctor who drove 25 miles to deliver our baby. Stanley was born at 1:30 AM – a tiny black haired black eyed boy and we forgot about the girl that we had been expecting. When the doctor got ready to go home Chiff handed him $25.00 in cash. I dare say this was the first and last time he was paid in cash on the spot for a delivery.

After a few days we realized there was something wrong. The baby could not keep his food down and he failed to gain weight. The doctor told us that he was born with an ulcer which in an adult would be treated with a milk diet or surgery. Obviously he was too frail to survive surgery and he was already on a milk diet – all we could do was wait and pray. We fed him every 2 hours. The milk would stay down for sometimes half an hour and up it would come. He got enough nourishment to keep him alive but he did not gain much weight. Taking care of him was a 24 hour job. We tried not to neglect Billy but it was hard on him. He could not understand why this intruder took all our time. Friends and family helped as much as they could and everyone had suggestions about what to do. Someone suggested that goats milk was easier to digest so we decided to try it. He was 8 months old and weighed 12 lbs. Chiff went to a sale and bought a mother goat that was ready to freshen and the day before she delivered 3 kids Stanley vomited for the last time. We often laughed about it later. If we had put him on goats milk the day Chiff brought her home we would have sworn to its miraculous power – as it was we considered it a miracle.

By summer he was round and plump and normal and a natural born clown. He and Billy became good friends and enjoyed each other. They kept me busy I was always afraid they would wander off over the prairie. They were always making discoveries and finding treasures. One day they got my little jewelry box on my dresser and carried it ouside to their sand pile. Among the things we never found was my engagement ring. The stone had come out and I was waiting until I got enough money to take it to town & have it fixed. We never did find it or the stone altho for years anyone in the family who came near the area searched for it.

( … )

trying to figure out a way to do it. Bobby was born March 3, 1933. Jackie came down from Denver with her two boys to stay with Chiff while I was in the hospital in Syracuse.

FDR was inaugurated March 4 and the first thing he did was close the banks and panic was everywhere.

Shortly after we returned home Mr. Tate came out to tell Chiff about some old cows he had bought cheaply and gave him some lengthy instructions about how to care for them – and while he was about it he announced that he was cutting everyone’s wages $10.00 a month. Chiff hit the ceiling and told him he would not take it. Tate said he could get all kinds of men for less and Chiff told him he had better hire about 5 of them for he was not going to take it. We had less than a month to find a place to live.

Mr. Bennett had just bought the Craven place and wanted someone to move into the house and look after it so we moved in. As soon as we were settled we made application for assistance. We were approved and Chiff went to work for WPA. It hurt his pride but most of our friends were in the same boat. The drought was getting worse. The wind blew constantly and dust was everywhere. We had a storm cellar (…)water, and many times when I was alone with the boys we took refuge there.

Chiff worked on WPA for 2 months and then one of his friends who had a sheep shearing outfit asked him to join his crew. He became proficient and could shear 100 head a day. He was soon making more money than he ever had at 8c a head. They were working in Central Kansas & Oklahoma and were busy all the time. We were able to pay some debts and buy anything we needed – but I would never want to live thru that spring again. The boys cried for their Daddy and were sick all the time and I missed him so much I ached all over. It didn’t help any to know that he felt the same way – and I did have the boys – He had no one – but we made it.

When the season was over we went back on WPA and we had food and kept warm. The wind continued to blow and there was still no rain. Sometimes a big cloud that looked like rain came up and it would blow over leaving some tiny mud balls but we still hoped. We were close enough to Coolidge that we could take the boys to Sunday School. I taught class of Junior boys and for the first time in our married life we attended Church regularly and we made a … friends.

When spring came Chiff ‘hit the road’ with the sheep shearers. It was not as bad as the first year. The boys were older and by this time we real…was a ‘fact of life’ and it would…boys were good little workers…very responsible for Bobby. …Mama & Papa took Frieda to a … who they thought could cure her …and Nadine came to stay with … she was a big help – she brought … a big black ‘Mutt called Pudge … she ultimately gave to the boys. … real companion to them and … with them. When they would … could spot him before I could … all loved him. For Easter Chiff sent … a box of candy eggs & bunnies … collar & chain for Pudge. They … it didn’t make him very happy. … money – I tried to raise chickens and turkeys but without much luck. Coyotes took their toll and we couldn’t sell those who did live. Nobody had any money. The great depression was being felt everywhere. Chiff’s days were getting longer & harder as the ranch expanded. Tates bought more and more land as the prices dropped – and could get inexperienced men to work for little more than their board and I always had 2 or 3 extras at noon & sometimes at night although they did not live there. Chiff was covering so much territory that they finally bought him a pickup to haul cake, which made it a little easier and he could take the boys with him sometimes so I could get some work done. The boys loved it and had lots of exciting things to tell me when they got home.

Times were getting harder everywhere. Unemployment was rampant. Chiff worked long hours with less help and it was taking its toll both physically & emotionally. No man should be expected to put up with the things he did but he could not quit because of his responsibility to his family. We longed to get our own place and were constantly …

(…)

Everyone was glad to see us. We just couldn’t believe that we were all together at last the boys has so many things to tell their Dad I just stayed in the background and relaxed for the first time in months. Finally the boys played out – Mama put them to bed and the evening belonged to us. I dressed up and we had a date. We went to a movie – I never did know what it was about – and then we just drove around and talked – and made plans to never be separated again - .

The next day Chiff had to go back to work. Shearing season was almost over – they were working out on Rule Creek and Chiff had been looking around – for a permanent job so we could stay here. We liked Colorado. Shortly after shearing was over – he went to work for the Santa Fe Railroad on the ‘Extra Gang’. They were laying tracks on the road to Amarillo. It was hard work & long hours – but it was steady with a regular pay check. He carried a lunch pail – and he made friends with many of the men on the gang who were local people – as soon as he got a paycheck we rented an apartment in a house at 7^th & Locust. It wasn’t much of a house only three rooms – but it was ours. We were alone at last as a family. The house has been remodeled and updated since that time but I often drive past and remember how happy we were there. We were looking for a place in the country. Before school started we moved to the H. Hill Farm NW of Melonfield School. There were only 40 acres – half of it was swampy pasture land but we were able to go back to Kansas and get all of our belongings – our furniture, farm machinery, cows and horses. I was back taking care of chickens and turkeys (I bought 50 red turkeys, they sent 51 – one died but I had 50 to sell)

Chiff had to continue shearing sheep but only small flocks and he did not go far or stay so long. Billy and Stanley started to Melonfield School. They walked about 1 ½ miles across the fields and children from several other families joined them. They had missed so much school the previous year – the teacher thought Billy was not prepared …

…

That’s all I have.