A bit of family history

My wife, Garnet, and I just returned from the annual family reunion at Rainier, Ore. The family names involved included Thomas/Thompson/Swatman/Grimshaw and many more.

My Grandmother was Golda Thomas Grimshaw. She married Ray Grimshaw in 1916 when they were in Montana. A few years ago I called the Yellowstone County courthouse and asked for a copy of the marriage certificate.

The lady said she could send me the original. The courthouse kept the originals, as they had no way to copy them. When technology allowed for copying and placing documents on film, the courthouse would send the original document to the first family member who requested a copy.

Apparently Grandma, Golda, and her groom, Ray, along with Ray's brother, Jesse, and his bride to be, Golda's sister, Ivanilla, applied for a marriage license at the same time. Yes, brothers married sisters, with the oldest brother marrying the youngest sister.

Grandma and Grandpa were married with Jesse and Ivanilla as witnesses. The witnesses were married within 10 days in a different part of Montana.

In June of 1916, Grandma was 15 years old, but on the marriage certificate, she lists her age as 17. I called the county where Jesse and Ivanilla were married and asked what age was listed for this bride. The clerk said 16.

My best guess is a female needed to be 16 to get married. When standing in front of the clerk to buy the license, neither girl was 16 and Golda was the oldest. She needed to put 17, so her sister could enter 16.

Ivanilla's age when married? She was only 13 years old. Jesse was 22 and Ray was 20. Both of these marriages lasted until death they did part, over half a century later.

A well known family fact is Grandpa didn't like to see blood or to kill animals. When the various family and friends would gather to butcher hogs, Grandpa would leave until the killing was finished, then he would help with the rest of the work.

However, Grandma was a good shot with rifle, pistol and shotgun, as was her mother, Minnie Jane Johnson Thomas.

"When we would hunt pheasants, I would do the shooting and Ray would carry the birds," Grandma told me.

The Great Depression

Silas Hugh Thomas, Grandma's father, and his brother, John Wilson Thomas, ended up in Goble to log and build log houses. We have photos of them with huge logs and the loggers wearing ties.

Life in the backwoods was difficult. None of the families had much money, but they seemed to get along just fine with a few deer for meat and a few vegetables they were able to grow. Blackberry season provided a bounty of fruit to can and make into jelly and jam.

I once asked one of Mom's cousins what food was involved in a typical supper.

"Venison and beans," she replied.

"OK," I said. "What about the next night?"

"Venison and beans," she said.

"Yes, but what about the third night?" I asked.

"Dennis, you don't understand," she said. "All we had to eat was venison and beans."

Poaching deer

An old family story had the sheriff stopping by Grandma's brother's house one afternoon.

"Vertis, I have word you and the boys have been poaching deer."

"Well, I just butchered a beer," Vertis told the sheriff.

The sheriff asked if he could look in the wood shed and Vertis said to go ahead.

The sheriff opened the doors where three fresh deer carcasses were hanging, looked inside and shut the doors.

"Looks like beef to me," the sheriff said and left.

You see, this was during the Great Depression and Vertis and the boys were hunting for the extended family not just their own, such as grandma, grandpa and their nine kids, plus Vertis' other sisters and their families.

If Vertis and the boys didn't hunt deer, those families would not have food. Today poaching is not necessary, as we have food banks and commodities programs with a healthy supply of food.

The Beaver Homes Grange

During the reunion we stay at the Rainier Budget Inn, which is the closest lodging. The reunion is actually held at the Beaver Homes Grange. The grange organization was vibrant and growing 100 years ago when my grandparents and great grandparents belonged. At the time grange activities were the main social events, along with church, for the rural farmers and loggers.

This grange continues to be active, providing social activities for members and friends of all ages.

Hillbillies

My mother and her eight siblings were born at the homestead in the community of Beaver Homes, but near the town of Goble, which is near Rainier. These people lived in the hills near the Columbia River and have been self-described as hillbillies, which I consider to be a romantic term.

Actually four to five generations back Pleasant Bledsoe and his wife, Elizabeth Craig Bledsoe lived in the Appalachian Mountains of east Tennessee and I'm sure they were hillbilly in nature. The term hillbilly is often used in a derogatory manner, to mean a poor and ignorant family with a large brood of children, running a moonshine still and, otherwise, as free as a bird.

Yes, this may be my family in Tennessee, but I also think of those family members being able to hunt and fish as they please or as needed to live, just as Vertis and the boys did during the Great depression.

So as I sit at the Beaver Homes Grange, watching the generations of hillbilly bloodline look over old photos and tell stories of the past, my feelings are positive and thankful. We are a family of helpers and providers and will continue to help and provide for family and friends well into the future.

Now where is the family moonshine still?