The Ed Moore FamilyEdwin (Ed.) Moore came west in 1898 returning again in the spring of 1899 and took up homestead on S.W. 1/4 14-4-32 W1. In August that same year, in the fall his family came out - his wife - three daughters - Mary, Ellen, Minnie who later became our Mother - two sons, George and Alfred. Along with them came two other families, the Puffers and the Ruggles. Grandpa had built a one room shack on his land and the whole party - 17 in all - lived in his shack till their homes were built. The first winter on the homestead Grandpa had 1 cow - 2 horses - 14 hens which he kept in a sod barn. The horses were broncos and cost $105.00 each. Well broke horses cost about $300.00. Mother was 13 when she came west. One day a young man came walking past Moore's place. He stopped at the door and asked for a drink of water. Mother told me although she was still a girl this man so appealed to her that she told her sisters that was the man she was going to marry. Seven years later she married him. That man was Dad. At that time he was on his own homestead 5 1/2 miles straight north on the opposite side of the road. The Moore's stayed on the homestead long enough to prove it up and get title which would be three years. By this time Mary was married and Grandpa sold the homestead to Puffers and with the rest of the family moved to Crosby, North Dakota U.S.A. where they again took up homesteads. They stayed there just long enough to prove up again, sold their homesteads and came back to Thunder Creek to live on Sec. N.E. 1/4 2-4 W1. I say sold their homesteads because by that time Aunt Ellen was old enough to make a homestead claim too. With money she got from her quarter she struck out on her own and went to the Gold Rush in the Yukon and was home very little after that. At the time of World War I, Aunt Ellen was engaged to be married to Harold Blakely. He was killed overseas and Aunt Ellen never married. When Moore's came back from the States, Grandpa being a carpenter by trade built a big new house - 3 big rooms down stairs and 3 upstairs. Although badly wrecked it still stands. It is known to us as the Harold Welchman or Hintz house. It was while they were still living here that Mother and Dad were married. Before being married Mother worked out as a hired girl. It seemed this wedding was the social event of the decade as many talked about it years later. Just this year Jim Young mentioned he remembers being set up on a chair and told to stay there while his Mother was dancing. There were over 100 at the afternoon wedding. Supper was served to everyone. There was a dance that night with lunch served at midnight. The wedding was March 20th, 1907. Mother told me often that the winter had been terrible - blowing and snowing every day. Wedding day was beautiful, calm and sunny. Next day was a blizzard. An incident that happened at the wedding. Link Waffle was sweet on Mother and apparently was real cross when she would not marry him and chose Dad instead. Waffle made his blows around the district that he was going to make a big fuss at the wedding when the Minister asked if any one knew of any reason why the couple should not get married. He was going to stand up and say a few things. Grandma Moore had been doing his shirt washing. The week before he sent a white shirt with special orders to do an extra good job as he wanted to wear it to the wedding. They washed, starched and ironed it. Then Mother took the sewing machine and sewed across the ends of the sleeves and across the bottom of the shirt so he could not get into it. It worked. The wedding was over by the time he got there. He was too late to make his fuss. George married Viola Hoyle, daughter of Joe and Net Hoyle. Net was a sister of Dad. Uncle George was no doubt us kids favorite Uncle. He was better at doing for others than for himself. He proved this in 1918 when Flu struck the district. He did not take the Flu and was a Good Samaritan to the whole area. Many a time he drove the Doctor with team and cutter so the Dr. could rest between calls. Lots of times he went without sleep for days. He called on all the sick to see what he could do to help. One of his good deeds that is often talked about was the day he called on Dave Days to find Dave and his hired couple Mr. and Mrs. Daggat all either dead or at death's door. He took the baby out of the crib, rolled it in a blanket and took it to his home on horseback. The baby was luck because at that time Aunt Viola was breast feeding baby Joe. So Mother's milk was shared by both babies. After the Flu the baby's Aunt and Uncle - Mr. & Mrs. Raeburn claimed the baby. They would have nothing to do with the baby before because they were afraid they would get the Flu. Uncle Alfred was a much different man and was a great hunter. Mother said his urge to hunt wolves started when he was a lad. On his way home from school he ran down and caught a young wolf and took it home on horseback. As years went by he had a pack of hounds. He made a lot of his living hunting wolves in winter. There were few days when he was not hunting, often riding as much as 40 miles or more. Then $5 per coyote hide was a real lift financially. Today coyotes hides sell for about $150.00. I must not forget Grandma Moore. She was just one of those ladies, admired and liked by all. If any jokes or pranks were being played she was always in the thick of it all. She once made a dummy lady and put it in the hired man's bed when he would be coming home late. The man was Fred Lane. He was a modest old bachelor. When he saw the lady in his bed he went downstairs and slept in the big chair. He was ready to quit his job and next morning Uncle Alfred had quite a time convincing him it was only a joke. Grandpa Moore passed away in 1915. The last years of his life we was working on a project that had he lived to complete it would no doubt have made the Moore family famous. He was building a stooker for stooking grain. He had it finished and it had been proven to work but papers for the patent had not been returned for his signature and this patent never went through. It always seemed a shame his own sons or some interested person didn't follow through and have the stooker patented. Grandpa had already sold [his] share in the stooker. The steam threshing machine engine and separator was one thing he had acquired and also a house in Carnduff. This same house is still standing today and is known as the old Rabeau house. After Grandpa died Grandma still rented the house to Rabeaus. When Grandma passed away the house was willed to Mother and Aunt Ellen. They sold the house to Rabeau for $1000.00. Each got $500.00 from sale of the house. Uncle Alfred used the threshing outfit for years to do his own threshing and also a lot of custom threshing. |
|
