I come from farm people. As a genealogist, this is not the most exciting fact. When you seek out federal census records and eagerly scroll to the field of occupation to see how your ancestors made a living, let me tell you, it’s a total let down the moment you see “farmer” in that box. Does it mean you’ve reached a dead end in terms of records? No, not necessarily. There are agriculture schedules, local mercantile store ledgers, deeds, and plenty of other options of records you can explore to learn more about your farming family. But is it as exciting in comparison to when you find your doctor, local sheriff, or lawyer ancestor? Definitely not.
Dixon family on wagon, 1904, West Virginia, (left to right) Nathan Dixon, Walter Stalnaker, Mary Dixon, Elizabeth Rockwell, Emma Dixon, Beatrice Bethel Dixon, Elizabeth V. Dixon.
Week 37: On the Farm
That said, running a farm is an entirely respectable career, and all of my farming ancestors get mad props from me, because I know I could never match their level of tenacity. Plus, the physical toll that all of that manual labor would take on my body is something I just can’t imagine, having mostly worked behind a desk since graduation.
Beatrice (Dixon) Dean, Chester Joseph Dean, Thelma Riggs, and child Edna Arlene Dean.
Beatrice (Dixon) Dean, Chester Joseph Dean, and possibly Thelma Riggs.
Over Labor Day weekend in 2009, I traveled with my parents to the home of my great aunt Frances in Tulsa, Oklahoma to celebrate her 90th birthday, as well as her sister Thelma’s 81st birthday. The sisters indulged me as I interrogated them with questions about their childhood while filming the conversation on my digital home video camera (excuse the shaky footage). Thelma recalled what life was like back on the farm, remembering a special tidbit about their late sister, Mary Ruth.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Thelma: Mary Ruth was kind of dark-skinned. And she never wanted to get a sun tan. And she’d cover her arms with stockings and wear a big straw hat when we went outside.
Frances: I did, too!
Thelma: Did ya?
Frances: Yeah!
Thelma: I never did that.
Frances: I wanted to look like the city people.
Gary (off camera): (laughing)
Mary Liz (off camera): Yeah, the sun tan look wasn’t in back then.
Gary (off camera): That’s right, that’s right. Just the opposite, huh? The workers had the tans. The ladies were protected from the sun, huh?
Frances: ‘Cuz we had to work out in the field.
Beann (off camera): No SPF 50.
Sheila: Uh-uh. No.
Thelma: We always had lots of food to eat. Good food.
Sheila (off camera): And good food. Always.
Thelma: ‘Cuz what you eat when you’re young is what you become when you’re old.
They also illustrated which of their parents wore the pants in the family! And Frances shared a terrific story about a ranch-hand their father hired as a day laborer.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Thelma: Our dad was a very mild, gentle man, and our mother did the disciplining.
Frances (off camera): What?
Thelma: Our mother did the disciplining.
Frances: Oh yes.
Thelma (muffled): Dad couldn’t raise his voice.
Frances: There was one g--. There was one guy that, uh, that dad picked up and brought out to work on the farm. And so on, uh, Friday, or I don’t know if it was Friday or Saturday, my dad always went to town and he peddled, peddled uh, around, ya know, where he sold stuff to customers, like we had [inaudible] chickens and different things like that – butter.
Unknown (off camera): …eggs.
Frances: And he thought, and he thought when dad was gone that he didn’t, that he didn’t need to work, and he was sitting under the apple tree. And mother went up the – to tell him to do something, and he politely told my mother that he didn’t have to do anything when, when Mr. Dean was gone. And so, she said, “Well, you’re fired.” So, he sat there until, uh, my dad came home. So, he proceeds to tell, uh, tell him the stuff Mrs. Dean said. And he said that, “Those are her words!” So, he had to leave! (laughs)
So the next time you see that “farmer” is listed as your ancestor’s occupation on a census, remember, there are still plenty of stories to tell about their time around the house and with their family! Don’t squander the opportunity to dig further for details on their daily lives. Both of these wonderful women are now gone, but I’m so thankful to have received these interesting first-hand accounts about my great grandparents from them when I could.
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