Many years ago, Fulton County, Ohio was a newly settled region, known as the Oak Openings and consisting of scrub oak timber on seemingly worthless sandy soil, interspersed with swamps. Wild life was abundant, bears, deer, wild cats and the smaller animal life roamed unmolested. The wintergreen, and hazelnut flourished. The patches of blueberries were plentiful?wild flowers, the cowslip, the violet, fringed gentian, the lady slipper, the sweet william, dogwood, the goldenrod, and many others bordered the crooked Indian trails.

The early settlers saw with regret, the moving of the Indians with whom they had lived and associated with, and some had intermarried, moved by the government to their new homes in Oklahoma. This paved the way for more settlers and the cheap land was a lure. Courageous hearts seeking adventure and fortune came. Youthful marriages were common and there young couples, with the courage of youth, built crude shacks which they called homes, raised oxen teams, built churches and schools, cleared and drained the land, and most of them had large families.

I was born in one of these primitive homes, September 28, 1887,  a wee might of a child, not premature, but weighing only 4 -1/2lbs. Third in a family of six living children, not counting the stillborn and aborted, which in those days was not an uncommon happening. My Father had 40 acres of poor land, a crude house with clapboard siding and a mortgage, though land could be bought for $15.00 an acre at that time. There was a cow to furnish milk, a few hens for eggs. These were sheltered in a rude hut, but roosted mostly in trees, for poultry raising then, had not reached its present scientific level.

The animals were sheltered in a crude barn, which matched the house in appearance. The land furnished food and vegetables for the family and food for the stock, though often I remember, there was a great shortage of grain.

I recall my Father telling how white bread was unknown in his childhood, and cake was a treat reserved for special occasions. Usually in a tight little pen, one or two pigs were confined for winter meat and I can still hear the re-echoing of their squeals of hunger. One of my most dreaded and hated chores was pulling pigweeds and purslaine from the potato patch and feeding them. And one of my greatest delights was following our hen turkeys, keeping closely hidden back of trees and finally discovering their nests, usually in a brush pile in the woods.

The chances in this life seemingly always carry a sting. It was the snakes! Big blue racers, short chubby spotted adders, and even the feared rattler abounded. So that on these excursions, a sharp hoe was usually carried, but coming suddenly upon one, I would forget to use the hoe, and make a mad dash for the house, screaming and my heart pounding, as legs flew faster and faster. The search for the turkey nests forgotten. The handful of wild flowers scattered among the brush as I ran.

For cash money my Father worked among the more well-to-do farmers receiving 50 cents, 75 cents, and in more prosperous times $1.00 a day. And my wardrobe, how well I recall it. One red and one blue calico dress for everyday wear and a pink one for Sunday and special occasions, and shoes made of cowhide, seldom more than one pair. In winter, a heavy wool dress was usually worn underneath long sleeved tight fitting sack aprons. In summer there was the proverbial pink or blue sunbonnet stiffly starched and bare feet in which sandburs were often deeply imbedded. 

This was my childhood background. We attended the one room rural school with it?s readin and writin and hickory stick. I loved school and was of a very studious nature, so became a so-called teachers pet. I gloried in the introduction of new subjects to the curriculum such as history, english, physiology, and geography, and while my older sisters left school saying they hated it and would not study history and physiology, I gloried in them and felt a superiority over them because of this acquired knowledge.  The few books I owned or could borrow were read and re-read and when an occasional teacher introduced us to the five and ten cent supplementary classics, I felt that heaven had descended to my door. I loved poetry and spent hours composing rhymes which greatly amused my friends as I wrote about them and interesting events in their lives.

My childhood, though lived in a primitive manner, was 
not unhappy, and I grew to womanhood acquainted with companionship with nature, the bees, the birds, the flowers, but shy and silent when among strangers. When I was about sixteen a new church was built near us and I became a regular member and later for many years a teacher in various classes. My close application to books and my love of study made it easy for me to pass, first the Boxell Exam, and then later the Teachers Exam.

I remember the coming of free delivery and the walking 
of 1-1/2 miles to reach the mail box in which mail  was deposited daily. This gave us access to a daily paper. 
Before that, we had only a paper called the Weekly Toledo Blade. So gradually, changes were made, land cleared, swamps drained and the country became more prosperous with better homes, better schools, and a greater wealth among its citizens.

My parents moved on to more prosperous land and I became The teacher of our local school, receiving at first the princely sum of $20 a month. After teaching several years, advancing to $45 a month with extra payment for janitorial fees and attendance at our weekly summer institute. 

This was my earlier life. Later came marriage and the start of my own new wonderful family.