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Chapter Ten - Dad's Remembrance
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"Dad" is James Joseph O'Keane (R.I.P.), born in 1895, the son of James O'Keane and Anna (Kiley) O'Keane and the grandson of Mathew O'Keane and Catherine (Prendergast) O'Keane. His remembrance looks at life in the early 1900's. The area discussed is the same southeast corner of Wisconsin where James continued---along with other occupations---to work those two farms that were purchased previously by his father, James, and his uncle, Richard.
James was one of seven children---the fifth oldest, born after his four sisters, Kathryn "Katie," Viola, Ellen "Nellie," Florence and before his two brothers, Francis and John "Jack."
The structure of the story may sound like "stream of consciousness writing," but it was actually a response to a long list of questions that his daughter, Kathleen "Kathy" (O'Keane) Zechmeister (R.I.P.), had sent so that he could start writing about "the good old days," especially regarding his older sisters.
"Dad," James Joseph O'Keane in the 1960's
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Dad's Remembrance
by
James J. O'Keane
The families in the area were all in it together and would help each other whenever help was needed. It was mostly Irish and Germans who immigrated to this area. Each built in their own circle of friends. Of course, they didn't understand each other's language or way of life, at first.
The story of their trip to America was told often, of the frail sailing vessel, no sanitation, little food, much sickness and many deaths---Papa's young sister buried at sea. Mama's folks, the Kiley's, married when they met in Hamilton, Canada, around 1842.
The "potato famine" forced most of the Irish to immigrate to America. The English cruelty to the Irish people was also another factor for leaving their homeland. These were "the boat people" of the nineteenth century, but, unlike modern immigrants, they were welcome to come and fill the open spaces in what was then the western United States. Many stories were told about the new settlers which you have heard and read about. It took about the second and third generation---my lifetime---to become "Americanized."
The trains in the 1800's...the telephone about 1905...automobiles about 1915...the radio about 1925...television about 1940.
The Kiley's, Mama's folks, lived at the west end of the "Hog's Back," southeast of Plat. The remains of the old log cabin and log barn are still there.
Papa's father, Mathew, was a teacher---"Readin', Writin' and 'Rithmetic." They moved to different areas---Monches, Mountin School, on Highway 83; then, when he taught at St. Augustine School, he bought "The Six Acres" north of Plat.
They lived there the time of "The Indian Scare" when all the people were alerted that the Indians were "on the warpath." Most everyone in the area hurried towards Milwaukee. When they were about five miles from the city they were told it was a hoax---someone had bet he could wake up the country people, and he sure did. Uncle Richard, Papa's older brother, stayed home with a musket, to protect their place.
Our family was a product of the time of wood-burning fireplaces, then wood-burning stoves for cooking and heating; outdoor plumbing; woolen, handmade clothing; horses, wagons, later buggies.
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Food was raised on the farm: salt pork, potatoes, turnips, rutabagas, field corn, corn beef, chickens, eggs and, on special occasions, turkey.
Church on Sunday, at Lake Five, St. Columba, in a buggy or sleigh; one to stay home to wash breakfast dishes and get the noon meal. We had an organ at the church with "foot power"---pedals to pump the bellows. Mayme McCartan, Uncle Ed's sister, the church organist, taught the girls---Katie, Viola, Florence and Nellie---to play.
About 1904 we got the piano. A salesman from Milwaukee, Walter Gauke, sold a lot of pianos in this area. Then the girls began to practice in earnest. They took lessons from Lena Calfmeyer and then Cora Schneider, both from Merton. The friends they had were mostly people who liked music, and the entertainment was standing at the piano to sing and listen.
Viola took violin lessons from Mr. Carpenter at Hartland at first, then from the Wisconsin Conservatory at Milwaukee and became an expert, both classical and popular music. Katie, Viola and Florence were the "finished" musicians. Nellie could play piano too, but she was more interested in sewing and helping Mama. Mama had many seamstress customers, mostly in the neighborhood, for weddings, funerals and any "social occasions."
Nellie took a course in seam-stressing in Milwaukee with Agnes Flynn and stayed at her home. The Flynn's liked her very much when she was there. She was so full of life. By nature, she was so concerned about evereyone's welfare and appreciated any favor she received.
Viola took a course at the Wauwatosa School of Home Economists and stayed at Mathew O'Keane's, Uncle Richard's son's, family home when he worked for the Milwaukee County Farm. They had a farm for cattle then and he was their herdsman.
Florence, with Lucy O'Keane, Martha Fleming, Katherine Claffey, Jennie Kiley and Katherine Flynn, all went to Whitewater Teacher's College, currently the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, directly from eighth grade. They all became "country school teachers."
We still have the letters her sisters, brothers and Mama and Papa wrote to Florence when she was at school and away from home for the first time. By the tone of the letters, you could tell she was very lonesome and would like to quit. When her two years were up, she taught in many different schools---South Lake Five, Monches, Beaver Dam, Cedar Lake, Wauwatosa and, finally, Ludington School in Milwaukee. Florence continued her education at Milwaukee Normal, currently the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, to become a kindergarten teacher and graduated in 1927.
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Florence did not give up her interest in becoming a finished piano player. So, she took lessons at the Wisconsin Conservatory and she took some ragtime lessons too when that was popular, also organ lessons. Katie gave piano lessons to quite a few young neighbors before her marriage to John Sheehan in 1909. John was very good to her and she was very happy. The first thing he got for her was a "Poole" piano. Viola gave piano and violin lessons to a lot of young people in the area at the rate of fifty cents an hour.
Of course, before the boys---Francis, Jack and I---were old enough to help with the farm work, the girls and Mama helped with all the work, like shocking grain, pitching bundles of grain, piling and loading hay, helping in the barn, tending the cattle, milking.
We had a lot of relatives in the area to exchange visits. The girls would invite some of their schoolmates to visit too. The Loew girls---Katie, Jessie, May and Louise---were about the same age and were great friends.
The girls were always conscious of their appearances and tried to keep up with the latest styles. Florence and Nellie hated their red hair. I guess it stood out so noticeably in a crowd. They did wear "sun bonnets" in the summer sun. They were very careful to keep from getting freckles which was a mark of a "country girl." I remember their many petticoats, full-pleated skirts, corsets, bustles and the "ratted" hair-do to give the look of a big stack of hair to go with the big-rimmed hats that they wore.
The girls were very close to Mama and to each other and would share all their experiences---good and bad. Papa was always an uninterested listener. Mama was always busy with the baking, sewing and anything that she was able to do. She was always awake when we came home from a date or dance. I know she worried an awful lot.
The dances at the time were few and far between. They were called "Balls"---"New Year's Eve Ball," "The Easter Ball," "The Fourth of July Ball" and "The Harvest Ball." There was dancing, a big home-style supper at twelve midnight and then more dancing 'til almost daylight. The girls loved to dance. I remember them saying, "The guy wasn't much on looks, but gosh he sure could dance."
"The Farmers' Picnic" was another big event. A barbecue, an afternoon ball game, greased pig chase, three-legged race, foot races for different age groups, beer stand, soda or lemonade. "Home Talent Plays" were also given. They were usually coached by the school teacher and included older, local people. "The Basket Social" was also held, selling fancy wrapped picnic baskets that were put up for auction for twenty-five cents to five dollars. The highest bidder was usually "a fellow with a steady" who didn't dare fail in the test to show he wasn't a cheapskate.
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The older folks had their card parties. The neighbors would get together to play "Cinch" or "Euchre" and serve a luncheon afterwards. I can remember the kerosene lamps scattered around, and the house usually filled with pipe smoke.
Travel was by buggy or wagon---Menomonee Falls, ten miles, two hours away. Chicago was via train, and, if you were lucky, one trip in a lifetime. We had cousins living in Chicago, the Kiley's and Cosgrove's. Katie and Viola made a week-long visit to "the big city" during the Chicago Exposition and loved to talk about "a dream come true."
Before the auto became the main means of transportation, "the country store" was the shopping place. There was a store almost every five miles or so. Much of the business was done by means of the barter system. A farmer could trade eggs, potatoes, milk or garden produce for the purchase. The real ambitious merchant would trade for most anything: eggs, chickens, hickory nuts, wild grapes, grain, hay clover seed or animal furs. Most grocers had a wagon or truck to pick up their wares in Milwaukee and would take a lot of the farmers' produce with them to sell in town.
This was all before packaging and cellophane. The food was displayed in open boxes or hung from a string over the counter. The stores usually had varied, non-perishable goods, but included cheese, salt pork and bananas in the original bunch. Peanuts, sugar, salt and many other foods were in large, wooden barrels. There were also a few rolls of dry goods, caps, overshoes, thread, straw hats and anything merchants were asked to stock.
About 1905, Mike Kiley took the agency for the "gas lamp"---a propane tank upstairs with a small pipe to a parlor lamp and one to a kitchen lamp. It was the most popular light, after the kerosene lamps and before the electric lamp. Then in 1920 the electric line was built in this area. Charles Pfister, the millionaire of Pfister and Vogel Tannery, had a cottage at Lake Five and got the Electric Company to build the line.
Brother Jack was working at Pfister's estate and when Mama became ill, Pfister sent two large fans and a couple quarts of brandy for her. That summer was about the hottest summer and driest I can ever recall. The grain dried up to chaff and we only had four small loads of hay. We poured water over the small shade tree outside Mama's window and drew the cooler air into her room. She lived only about two weeks after cancer was diagnosed. Dr. Donnelly of Monches called in a specialist from Milwaukee. Mama was 62 years old. That was July 21, 1921. We sure missed her.
Mama was the one we most depended on to make all the important decisions. It was the first death in our family and did change us all quite a bit. Viola was the closest to her. I think that was one reason why Viola didn't care to go away from home very much after that. For quite some time Viola brooded a lot, then turned her attention to Papa who seemed to be getting pretty old and lonesome from then on.
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The following years was not very prosperous---the crops were poor, we had to buy a lot of feed because of the crop failure and Papa bought a monument for Mama's grave, as well as paying the funeral, doctor's and nurse's bills. Papa didn't complain, but I know he was worried. Papa died August 21, 1942, at 87 years.
One of the things of great importance in our lives happened around 1903. Aunt Sadie, Uncle John Kiley's wife, died from cancer. Her baby was born just a few months before her death. Mama and the girls helped Uncle John raise his five girls---Mary, Avita, Mabel, Anna and Agnes---for about five or six years until they could take care of themselves. They all took turns going over in the morning and coming home at night. We were very proud of all of them for making it through a tough time.
In every one lifetime there are events that seem to stay in your memory forever---like our favorite horse, Jessie. She was a big, white horse that lived 25 years with us. She liked to be petted, would show her feelings by bobbing her head up and down when she liked what you were making her do and would shake her head vigorously when she objected. Jessie seemed to know when it was lunch time or quitting time and would lean and look toward the barn until you would agree with her.
One day Pa was coming out of a field that had a hidden ditch at the gate and the front wheels on the wagon dropped into the ditch a little too quickly. Pa was sitting on a wagon seat with springs under it, so he popped up in the air and landed between the horses. He hollered, "Whoa!" and Jessie stopped just in time to save Pa from being run over by the loaded wagon. That horse seemed to know just what to do at just the right time.
Next time I write, I'll tell you about Maywin Hayes swallowing a June bug.
[When questioned, Dad noted that Maywin Hayes was one of the early teachers at Plat State Graded School. She was only a few years older than his four sisters, so "the girls" would often get together and walk on the country roads to talk and socialize. Dad had quite a grin on his face when he told how Maywin tended to talk and talk and talk---but then one summer evening, in mid-sentence, she swallowed a June bug and that finally slowed down the gabbing---for a little while. There was one other time that Maywin Hayes---a very nice person and a great teacher in all regards except Dad's concern over the amount of her talking---was at a loss for words.
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This was one winter when the snow was packed on the roads just right for fast sledding on Claffey's Hill to the east of Plat. During the lunch hour, students would hurry for a quick ride down the roadway on the old sleds with the metal runners. Maywin Hayes was encouraged by her students to come along and take a ride on a sled. Probably wanting to be a good sport and join in with her students' activities, she sat on one of the student's sled and pushed off down the steep hill on the well-packed snow. The snow was perfect and allowed the sled to go wickedly fast through the two turns at the top of the hill and then straight and fast through the bottom half of the hill. Miss Hayes was said to have let out one loud scream at the beginning of her ride. Whether she didn't want to sound like a coward or whether she was in shock, she did not say another word all the while she walked back up the hill and returned to the school for afternoon classes. Dad had the same big smile when he told this story too.]
The James O'Keane and Anna (Kiley) O'Keane
family around the turn of the century (1900)
without the youngest son, John "Jack," who was born in 1901---
a photo shared by the Beach Family
from left: Ellen "Nellie," James ("Papa"). Viola, Florence (seated), Kathryn "Katie," Francis,
Anna ("Mama") and James Joseph, the author of "Dad's Remembrance"
A few years later in the 1900's,
"Mama" (Anna Kiley O'Keane)
with her youngest son, John "Jack"
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