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Pemiscot Co Missouri |
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In
1872 Dad and Mother moved to Pemiscott County, Missouri, near Needmore Mo., now
called Hayward. Dad had bought 320 acres of rich farmland from his wife's father
and mother, Charles and Electy Fisher, December 8, 1872, as the abstract of
tital shows. Dad cut the trees, hewed the logs, notched and numbered them, then,
as was the custom, Dad had a house raising! All the neighbors, men and wives
came. The men laid the logs for the house and the women cooked. The main dish
was usually chicken and dumplings, cook in a large size kettle, in the backyard.
They would throw several fat hens in the kettle, and when the meat became
tender, they would fill it up with dumplings, then finish the dinner with all
kinds of vegetables from the garden. The house our father built was three
large rooms long. The middle room had two open sides and the stairway went up there. Two long galleries or porches ran the length of the house and a large fireplace was our heat. We had to cross two porches to reach the large kitchen, heated by a large wrought iron range. Dad had bought Mom this wrought iron cookstove in 1888, from an agent that came thru Pemiscott Co. With it came a large white tea kettle, two large iron cooking kettles, and one large bread pan that just fit the large oven. When the family was still all home that pan was filled with biscuits, for breakfast. Attached to the fire box to the left, was a thirty gallon reservoir, made of copper. By the time a meal was cooked the water would boil, giving us plenty of hot water. The problem was keeping it filled - we had no running water in the kitchen, except when we ran to the pump in the yard and pumped it. Above was the warming closets with two doors that dropped to make shelves. One day a girl friend and I were taking pies out of the oven, to put on these shelves, and one dropped in a pan of dishwater, sitting on the stove. We fished it out and dried it . Tramps were numberous in those days - one came and we gave him the pie and he ate it all! Afterwards he said," That was the best pie I ever ett!" The wrought iron wood range was hauled to Crawford Co. Mo., when the family moved in 1893, in a covered wagon and gave good service as long as my parents lived on the farm. There
was no well drilling then. Rock was no problem, and when you wanted water, you
just drove pipes until you reached water. Sometimes it was soft water, but maybe
a few feet away it would be hard water.
A road ran by our house, from Portageville to
Needmore (Hayward). Our house was on one side of the road, and a stream of water
called 'the Bay', was on the other. The water was full of fish and mother would
get a flat boat Dad had made and go across the Bay to her favorite fishing hole.
She would comeback with a dish pan full of fish. Nothing less would serve the
meal, as there were 10 of the family at the table, hired help, and often company
would drop in for dinner. This bay was a great source of pleasure to the kids.
The boys had a swimming hole, and being by the side of the road, they had to
have a cover to duck under, whenever anyone came, as they were
'skinny-dipping!' A
large hickory tree grew on the bank that had the largest, sweetest and thinnest
shelled nuts I ever saw. Under this tree was a large black wash kettle and the
girls did the family wash there with washboard and tub. When we were kids in southeast Missouri, we had a big fireplace. At Christmas each kid would hang a sock on the mantel, to find it filled Christmas morning with new knitted mittens, candy, an orange, and raisins, then bought in dried clusters, presents were usually something we needed. Later years we would leave a shoebox for Santa to fill. I can remember I would supposably go to bed and eavesdrop on Mom filling the boxes. At
Christmas all the family came and things were popping at that time of year. We
had plenty of fresh meat, sausage, backbones, and ribs. We would have plenty of
dried apple and mincemeat pies. The
country wasn't cleaned up then, and there would be slues of water all summer and
the mosquitoes would come by the thousands. We never knew what screens were in
those days. We would have a canopy of mosquitoe netting over the bed, and
in the evening before bedtime, we would light smudge pots of rags to smoke them
out of the house. There
were chills and fevers every fall. I still can taste Grovers Chill Tonic, for
the cure. Later the timber was cleared and big drainage ditches were put thru,
and with the help of spray, the mosquitoe problem wasn't so bad. The
town of Needmore ( Hayward)was very small in those days, no money. The Baptist
built a church and the Methodist wanted to build, but couldn't raise the money.
Dad had a sawmill, he gave the lumber and $400.00, and the members did the work.
The building was erected and served as the first Methodist church in the area.
The first building is long since gone, but they have a nice brick church
now. The
country was flat, but Dad had built his house on a knoll. Some said it was an
Indian burying ground, and the water never came to us, when it flooded, as it
did most every spring It was here along the main road, that during flood season,
Dad and his neighbors brought their cattle, to keep them from standing in the
water. One time high water came up and got in the corn crib, where the family
cat had her little brood. The next morning when Dad awoke, the cat had brought
her kittens and put them in his bed. Dad
gave one corner of his farm, along the main road, for a cemetery and it was
filled to overflowing. It has been neglected, but is still known and called 'The
Rohrer Graveyard'. They wanted to put a new highwaythru there, but met so much
opposition that it was given up. The
cotton gin spoken of in Uncle Mike Fisher's obituary, had a large sprocket wheel
in it. Sometime before Uncle Mike went out of business, he abandoned the gin,
and took the sprocket wheel and broke it in pieces. He placed a piece of it at
the head and foot of his loved ones that were buried at the Rohrer graveyard as
a marker. It was during World War I, that the pieces of iron wheel disappeared,
very likely for scrap. Except for
the three oldest children, Mary, Hettie, And Anna, who were born in Tennessee,
all the Rohrer children were born in Needmore (Hayward), in Pemiscott Co.
Mo. The
eldest child Mary Rohrer was the only one staying in Pemiscott Co. as she
married W.F. Kimes. We
are related to the Kimes, Fisher's, Rone's, Alexander,
Richardson's and Young famlies of Pemiscott County.
William & Velma RohrerPoster #-72-
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