Boyhood Days of William Holmquist

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1887 and Following

By William Holmquist

William (Wilhelm) son of Johannes & Johanna

When I was 9 years old [around the year 1896] Dad [Johannes Holmquist] had bought a farm at Grovertown, Indiana. We spent eight summers on the farm, and had many good time with Ed and Val and John. Later John was working and Dad, too in Chicago, but Mother was with us. There were rough times too. We had to be in the fields all day, picking potatoes and pickles and have a garden. We all worked like beavers.

Blueberry picking during blueberry picking time we were very busy. We would be picking berries on one side of the bush and did not know anyone was on the other side -- the bushes were so large. There were short bushes that grew in the shade and had a lot of berries on them. Our dog Tallow was always with us when we picked berries and vegetables. If it were not for him keeping the snakes away we would have been bitten, as we were barefoot. Talking about snakes, we had one coiled in Mother's hat in the summer kitchen -- a rattlesnake -- and we killed him. We loved our dog, but finally he was bitten by a snake and had to be shot. He was give a burial and funeral.

The animals

We had a Jersey cow we named "Star" ("stjarna"). Also, we had a horse called "Dolly"; we loved all our animals. Coming home at night we came by way of August Holmquist's on the next farm to ours. This meant we had to go through the woods to get home. The roads were lined with trees. To keep from bumping into the trees we dropped the reigns and let the horse take us and we never ran into a tree. He did a good job and would be given a bag of oats. On horseback the horse would brush against the trees and try to knock us off, but we enjoyed it.

The farm

Dad had bought the farm while we were young from Andrew Uncopher [A. J. Uncapher], a grocery man in Grovertown. Part of the farm was under two feet of water, so tile was laid. The soil was very rich. Dad bought 40 acres and August Holmquist had 40 acres next to ours, and John Carlson had 40 acres next to August. William Newberg bought the other 40 acres. The land was called "Greenland".

We were four normal boys and had plenty of space to run around. It wasn't all work, although we had plenty of that. We had our cousins to visit and had good time with them. When we could, we went fishing and swimming.

We went to nearby towns in horse and buggy and to church and Sunday school at the Mission Church in Donaldson.

Andrew Nelson our uncle, bought 40 acres a mile from us. He raised pigs and we thought it was fun to throw snakes for the pigs to eat. He became a Dowieite and moved to Zion, Illinois.

We walked a mile and a half to go fishing and swimming. These are years never to be forgotten. Often we had company and were well fed because Mother was a good cook. The farm was known for all the blueberries that were there.

The buggy we had was a Singer Sewing Machine buggy which Dad bought to be used going to town with pickles -- about six sacks of pickles at a time.

Dad put a pump in. He had pipes dug down 12 feet so we were able to get cold, fresh water. The pump was installed next to a "Lavsol" (summer house). It was a framework of 2x4's by 8' high. We had a table there where we ate. The whole structure was covered by a grape vine which gave a lot of shade and made it a cool place to eat. Dad planted trees on both side of the road from the house to the main road. They are large trees today.

Often we went to Aunt Hannah's and Uncle August's . They had company often. One girl we met there, Alice Lind, was a very pretty girl. She often would sing a song to us. We boys had a good time over there with our cousins, although Ed and I were always rivals.

My father's cousin, Joseph Holmquist, worked for August Holmquist, as well as a hired man, Ed Nelson. One day when Aunt Hannah was not at home, Joseph did the cooking. Ed ordered fried pork and eggs. They he went out the door and down the road and came back in two days. Don't know where he went, but when he returned the first thing he asked Joseph was if the fried pork and eggs were done yet.

In the evening we often went to Adolph Holm's farm where they had several cream separators and we had all the milk we could drink. "Stina" Holms made butter but never had it on her table. Sometimes we would stop at Johnny Holms at night and play on the four corners where he lived with Annie Bestrom and her sisters.

One time my mother went to visit a neighbor, and we were left alone. We found an egg basket under the bed, and decided to have an egg fight. We threw the eggs around the room at each other. We made such a mess and my mother scolded us plenty, but I don't remember if we were punished.

Ringing rabbits' necks

Dave Swanson had a farm a little farm below us and raised chickens. I remember standing in the road in front of his place with a revolver in my hand shooting a rabbit. I emptied the revolver and the rabbit was still there. We went out with Enoch, my cousin, to hunt rabbits, using a ferret. We let the ferret into the rabbit hole and chased the rabbit out and at the other end of the hole we grabbed them and wrung their necks.

One day I was walking down the road when it was raining and lightening. Amanda Carlson Charn saw the lightning strike a tree near me and thought I was a gonner. The lightening split the tree.

Visiting friends

The summers were long and hot. We often rested a couple hours in the afternoon. In the evening we would go visiting Aunt Hannah or Nelsons or Carlsons. Then Uncle August was home he would take us out for a ride in the surrey, down the country road. It was fun to have two fast trotting horses, like rich people. It didn't take much to satisfy us little kids. We sometimes went to Andrew Nelson's and stayed overnight and worked for him. His beard would be full of bees when he took home a swarm of bees. He was immune to bee stings.

We like to go to the Lutheran church picnic on the 4th of July.

One time we were out with horse and buggy, but we lost the horse's collar. We had a big bull rope in place of a collar to pull the buggy. When we came home the horse was full of sores on his breast. I guess we bought a new collar.

I can remember mother often sending me to Carlson's. It was a lovely walk with the birds chirping and doves and hoot owls could be heard, and I don't mind telling you that it was scary being all alone on the road. I whistled as I went.

In the years we were in Grovertown we often had people stay with us. Nate Felt, president and owner of the Pontiac Press was one. We served ham one day and Jews were not supposed to eat ham. He liked it so much he asked us what it was. He said, "You can serve this every day, I like it."

Charlie Larson was out to visit us. I don't remember the date, but I remember so vividly the fun we had in the hay loft, sliding down the hay chute to the bin where we fed the horse. We had a good time always.

Selling produce

We raised sugar-cane and were glad when we could go to the Tiner molasses press. We went to the pickle factory in Grovertown every day when it was pickle season.

When we would leave for Chicago we had eight sacks of potatoes and a whole pig that was pickled down. We also would have about 75 quarts of blueberries and canned tomatoes and other things we had for the winter. All this was sent by freight to Chicago.

When we came home to Chicago we went back to school, but that was in November. We left Chicago for the farm in April, missing all exams and this put us behind in school.

One time Dad rode his bike to Grovertown, 80 miles. We all learned to ride bikes.

Visiting Charlie Larson

When we could we would visit Charlie Larson in Brighton Park and when they moved to Stirling, Illinois we visited as often as possible. I remember Charlie had a push mobile, a box on wheels.

One time in Clinton, Iowa I swam the Mississippi River. The current was so strong we had to get out before we drifted down the river. These are a few experiences that made our boyhood days happy ones.

In later years we got together with Ellen and friends at picnics in Sinissippi Heights. We can never forget the good times we had. Ellen worked in a dry goods store in Sterling and was always faithful at the Methodist Church.

We enjoyed going through Charlie's hardware factory in Sterling; he had worked in a hardware factory so knew the business well. It has been a successful business.

We had many good times while visiting in my uncle and aunt's home. Uncle John had a nice garden and rhubarb is still growing from the plants he had in Sterling. We enjoyed the rock formation at Sinissippi Heights and enjoyed seeing the trains go by on the other side of the bayou. We were happy to be taken to see where Uncle John worked at Keystone.