Whenever I try to think of some interesting living situations in the family tree, my mind always jumps to this photo of my great grandaunt, Grace Helen (Hinman) Boodleman.
She moved in with Charles Boodleman on his homestead in Faith, South Dakota. This is them in front of their sod house with their two dogs in 1910. It truly looks as if the house was constructed to utilize as much of the shape of the land as possible, expending as little energy as needed to support the structure over their head.
The patent was awarded to Charles in 1912, meaning he made all necessary improvements on the land to satisfy the Homestead Act requirements.
It's as if they were living in their only little cave of sorts, and I love the plank walkway that curves and winds its way up to, what I imagine, was their front door. They also all look like they're enjoying their time lounging out front and posing for the photo -- even the pups!
Grace (as well as her sister Fanny!) also obtained her very own homestead in South Dakota, too -- a small 10x12 house made of lumber, allegedly. I don't have a separate photo of that one. But by the look of the patent, it would seem the Hinman sisters were in the same general area as the Boodlemans. Perhaps that's how Grace met her love match, Charles, in the first place.
I'll have to have all of the full homestead application files pulled from the National Archives to get a better picture of their accommodations. It's not every day you learn of female ancestors purchasing and improving their own plots of land!
On 23 May 1917, Fanny received this postcard from her sister Grace in SD congratulating her on her first-born son. She refers to the homestead as "the ranch" and notes their family is very busy.
Perhaps this is why my grandmother Alta joked that aunt Grace was "getting too modern" in a letter to her mother (Grace's sister Ethel) in 1938. She urged her mom to come and take care of her. Maybe Alta just figured Grace had too much time on her hands when she wasn't "on the ranch."
The Boodlemans had moved off the farm and over to Santa Rosa, California. Oddly, the 1940 census shows that Charles and one of his daughters were residing a few blocks away from Grace and another daughter of theirs. The strange living arrangement in the city may have been just one of the reasons my grandmother found her aunt to be ahead of the times.
It would be interesting to know which of Grace's abodes she'd refer to as "home sweet home" -- the busy homestead in South Dakota, or urban life north of San Francisco?
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