Juanita Wright quilts

Harold and Juanita Wright wedding announcement

Harold Wright was  the fifth generation to live at the McCreary Homestead.  He is the son of Ruth McCreary Wright.

Memories of the Wright's by Dorothy and Margie

                  Some Memories and Changes When we Were Younger

Our mother Ruth McCreary grew up almost as an only child. Uncle Edgar arrived when she was thirteen years old. She grew up on the farm where Harold and his family lived.  Her great grandfather, William McCreary, was born in S. Carolina in l775. His wife, Mary Douglas was born in 1777 and died in 1845. In the spring of 1806 they emigrated to Ohio and entered land where Harold and his family grew up. It was at the house of William McCreary that the first meeting to consider the organization of Hopewell church was held. He was one of the earliest township officers. In 1822, while returning from Cincinnati with his son James, he was taken very sick and died on the way home.

Our dad Harry was born nearby which is now part of the Houston Woods Park. There were nine kids in his family. There was a lot of fun and noise in that household.. He was the oldest of the nine. Much was expected of him in work and leadership of the younger siblings

Harry and Ruth married in January 1917 and had nine children. Betty was the first and 16 years later Helen arrived.  That is a short period of time but you can see many changes in that time. Following are a few stories that are remembered in that time.

Betty was the first grandchild for both grandparents. They all felt she was “precious” so she had many fun happenings with all the extra attention. Mom had time to sew and made green, yellow and red gingham dresses for school– in winter they changed to wool.

One Christmas the family was going to Camden for a gift exchange with Uncle John and Aunt Martha.  They were in two cars. Betty’s car had a flat tire so had to stop. An owl sang lullabies as they waited for help. Betty was petrified. Since then Betty has been afraid of owls.

She had some asthma so did not have to do farm work. Betty walked to school alone in Morning Sun. One day someone who lived on the Wyatt Pike (the adjoining road) offered to give her a lift and she said “no” as she was not to ride with anyone she did not know their name.

 One time winter Betty’s feet got so cold  the superintendent got ice in a pan to put her feet in so they would thaw out faster.

 Betty loved the red panel glass at the front door in the house she lived in as a youngster. She felt the glass would have been valuable so one day she, Ned and Aunt Elvira walked down to check it out and it was gone.

Grandpa and Grandma Wright lived on the way to College Corner on a large hill. When they left their house and got on the main road, they had to go uphill. If the gas tank was not close to full, the car would stop running as it wasn’t getting enough gasoline. Dad figured that by backing up the hill and then turning around frontward when they got to the top, the car would keep running. It worked.

Dorothy retired in 1995 from working outside the home and jotted some of her childhood stories.  Her daughter, Susan Baker, found and saved several of them. They are included as I got them. Mary Louise was mentioned and included in many of them.

 

• Mary Louise and I considered ourselves "Dairy Maids". We had the job of feeding the cows and then sitting down and milking them every evening. There were always a lot of flies on their backs . We learned quickly to avoid the swishing tails. Sometimes they would go to the bathroom while we were milking. That was no fun. This was before Dad bought "milking machines" which must have been a great improvement! We then took the milk to the house and my mother would pour it into a big crock to use on our oatmeal the next morning. Mary and I would always be in a snit when Ralph acted like our "supervisor".

 

• Living on a farm in the depression was hard work. Dad was a farmer. But he had a bunch of kids so he didn't have to hire out help. One of our jobs was to hoe the corn. First Dad would sharpen the hoe. But there weren't enough hoes to go around so some of us, usually Mary Louise and I, had to use our toes or bend down. We had to hoe those weeds out the corn by hand. It was a big, hot job for a bunch of kids of all ages.

 

• Winter on the farm at Morning Sun was cold. We heated the farmhouse with a fireplace. It was Mary Louise and my jobs to supply heat for the house to keep it warm for the smaller children. I suppose Ralph was out taking care of the animals. Well, even when it was icy, we would have to bundle up and chip away at the coal pile to fill our buckets with coal to heat the house.

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• Mary Louise and I went to our McCreary grandparents every summer for a week. It was like a vacation to get away from the chores except there we had to iron, iron, iron.

 

• I was walking to the schoolhouse in Morning Sun one frosty morning when I saw frost on the bridge. I said it looked good. Ralph and Betty dared me to sample it. Well, there I was stuck to the bridge and when it was all over I had left some of my tongue on that bridge. Telling this story was one of Ralph's favorites.

 

• Aunt Rellen was a flamboyant young redhead who would visit us. As young kids we loved when she came and sat down at our piano to play "Shanty Town".

 

• At one time I knew who sat in every seat in the church at Morning Sun. My McCreary grandparents sat nearer the front than we did. Aunt Ina and Aunt Lois sat in front of them with Uncle Clate.

 

• There was not much present giving at Christmas. One year my Aunt Dorothy (whom my mom didn't like but I assume I was named for) gave me a doll as a present. It was the only doll I ever had. Usually we got an orange in our stocking which we all enjoyed.

 

• There are characters in all families. The Harry Wright Family had Uncle Clate. He lived on the other side of Morning Sun and was the Brown brother of Aunt Ina and Aunt Lois. He was a farmer but lost his farm by mismanagement. He was always looking over his glasses, especially when he thought you did something wrong. He had a green car and Mary Louise and I used to hide in the back of it so no one would see us having to ride with him. One Sunday somebody stole it right out of the church yard. Glad Mary and I weren't in it that day!

 

• We lived on a 160 acre farm during the Depression and had little but each other. We raised tomatoes to sell to the Ketchup factory. Mary Louise and I would spend much of our summer days from sunup to sunset weeding the tomatoes, carrying water to the plants if it was a dry season or later picking a peck of tomatoes. We knew we should not complain as it was our family's livelihood.

 

• My dad was the first to buy new equipment. He could fix anything with baling wire. We were about the first to get a car. There was a little seat which unfolded and that was always my favorite place to sit. Mom and Dad would pile all 9 of us kids in it and away we would go!

 

• My Dad, Bob added that Margie was the Maid of Honor at their wedding and he had never seen flowers shake as fast as those she was holding.

 

Some neighbor boys did not thnk they had seen anyone run faster than 4 year old Dorothy when she thought the bull was going to get her.

You had to be sick to go to the doctor. None of the nine kids had a broken bone while living at home. The First Aid Kit consisted of Vicks for colds and sore throats and salve bought from the Watkins man for cuts. Mom had a medical book that she learned many of her doctoring skills.

Dinner (lunch) was served at 12:00.

“The Hunter” was a school janitor that lived in Hamilton and would come at the beginning of hunting season. He always brought candy and oranges so we got to expect them. One year he did not bring anything and we were very disappointed. He could see our look and never forget them again.

 

The Preble County Fair in Eaton was a big August  affair. Your 4H displays were welcome, rides and eats were plentiful and eats.  Meeting friends was special.

4H is a club for kids to learn to do things. During the summer there was a special day that was grand as you could to on a field trip. The older ones in the family got to go on these. One trip was to catch a train in Camden and go to Cincinnati, tour the city by bus, get to the Ohio River and board the Island Queen cruise boat and go to Coney Island where everyone could ride several rides before it was time to go home. What a wonderful day! For another trip the group met in Camden and went by bus to Dayton. Mary and Betty got to see how a department store worked. They saw furs and furs (no samples to take home). When they got home, Mary did not feel too good. By the next day, Mom called the doctor and from what she told him, the doctor suspected scarlet fever. The doctor came to the house to give shots. For 8 weeks the house was quarantined. Wasn’t’ much company coming and going during that time. Mary had the fever first and then shared it with Betty.

The  Wright Reunion was another get-together in the summer at Fort Saint Clair in Eaton. This was a time to visit with relatives that you did not see all the time. This reunion ended when many of the older ones passed away.

Dad bought a Billy goat and cart for Ralph. A black boy, Floyd Jefferson, from Morning Sun was his buddy and they had so much fun riding it. The Poston boys were also good friends and were black. The black families were a part of the church and school. There were usually two or three families who lived in the neighborhood.

Ralph loved to keep the ball scores. If he was out working, a sister would have the job of keeping the score correctly. Ralph played ball and was a good fast pitcher. One time Tom Butler called from Chicago to see if Ralph heard that the Cubs had just beat his Reds in a no hitter. He had. Both Ralph and Tom were loyal to their ball teams.

Ralph liked his car clean when he went out on Saturday night. He would give a piece of dentyne gum to the sister who cleaned it.

Ralph made hot chocolate and cheese dream sandwiches (grill cheese) on Sunday evenings! He never burned  them. They were so good. Dorothy on the other hand was not as quick with her cooking. Even when she got married, she felt the only stove burner’s were High and Off. One time she did not burn them and they were just right. One of her daughters said “Oh, this is what they are to taste like!”

The Wright kids walked down to Williams’ Store in Morning Sun daily with a little basket of eggs when they were five or six and came home with bread or crackers. If there was a penny change, they could get licorice candy babies.

At Christmas we cut a cedar tree on the farm. We strung popcorn chains and put them on the tree. It was good when the big sisters were working in Dayton or nearby as they got all of us some little inexpensive present but we were thrilled receiving it. Mom usually got us one thing – a hat, gloves, or socks. On Christmas Eve, we always went to church and got an orange and a little bag of hard candy with a chocolate drop in it. That was worth waiting a whole year to get that treat.

No indoor bathroom for years. We had an outhouse. A Sears catalogue was our toilet paper part of the time. Sometimes we did have toilet paper.

We had a party line for the telephone. It was on the wall. You heard the ring. When possible, Mom would stuff a towel in the mouthpiece and listen to the neighbors news. We were to keep quiet. Others on the party line would do the same when they heard our ring – long ,short, long. Grandma Wright called most mornings to tell or hear any news from us. Edith loved to answer the phone so she kept up on what was going on. There was a phone operator in Morning Sun. You dialed operator and  gave her the number you wanted and she called it.

We had one chicken for Sunday dinner. Mom would fix it before going to church and it would be ready to eat when we got home.

Many Saturday nights we would churn ice cream in a small freezer. That was yummy. Another treat in summer was to go to the 4^th of July fireworks at Richmond in Glen Miller Park. There was a parade with candy being thrown. Stanley wanted a piece so badly but could never beat the big boys to get that one piece of candy.

Uncle Clate, Aunt Ina, and Aunt Lois liked to visit on Saturday afternoon. The “big girls” would be home from Dayton. They were not very exciting company. Dorothy would scoot when she saw who was there. Betty was always ironing, mending or doing some chore. Aunt Lois always disapproved of whatever she was doing. Uncle Clate called Betty “Lizzie” and Margaret “Maggie” which neither one cared for those names as he would always laugh at them. Uncle Clate offered to drive some to Morning Sun to the store. Edith figured out a way to press down on the accelerator so they would go faster. Uncle Clate did not know what caused the burst in speed. Ha! Ha!

Margaret visited Aunt Ina and Lois when she was pregnant with Bill. The Browns’ had many rocking chairs and told they wanted each of the six Wright girls to have one. They suggested Margaret take hers that day since it looked as if she could use it soon. She didn’t think she should go first but they insisted. Luckily she did as they had a fire and the rest burned. She was the only one of the girls that got a chair from them. So be careful when someone offers you something and you say “later”.

 

We had pets- mainly dogs and cats. They had to stay outside. Buster was a favorite name. We even had a 3 legged dog and he could run as fast as any four legged dog. Dad bought a ferret one time when we had too many rats.

A Presbyterian church was and still is in Morning Sun. The family attended there while they lived in the area. At one time as we were growning up, it had a large attendance. Grandma (Clara) Wright would walk from her Sunday School class to her pew greeting those sitting in their pews. That covered a good part of the church. At ours, she would stop for a few words and give a piece of candy or cloves to the grandkids. We looked forward to that. People have moved or changed churches and now the attendance is quite small.

Baling hay started for “the three little girls” at the farm when the hired hand did not show. The 3 had begged Dad to let them poke or tie wires but he kept saying they were too little but the day the hired hand did not come, age was not a factor. For the next seven or so summers the girls drove a tractor and helped on the baler. The girls started praying for rain to get a day off. Dad prayed for the sunshine so they could finish the baling job.

Whatever girl did not go baling got to start milking 7-12 cows. Many evenings you were almost finished milking when the balers came home to finish milking.

One baling job finished and the tractor and baler were leaving the field. We could ride on the baler as there was a board where you could put your feet or stand. There was a ravine and as it went down Edith’s foot and ankle were caught between the ground and the board. Edith did get some sympathy from that. But she did not miss many days of baling.

Harold stood on top of the new combine, saying, “Look at me,” then fell off. He did not get any broken bones. Another time he and some of the younger one were playing in the hay mow. Harold was in the little red wagon and rolled right off onto the barn floor. He wasn’t hurt

Stanley was curious about a mother hog and new pigs. He had climbed a hay stack to watch them horse around. He tumbled and the hog got him down but Dad was able to rescue him. Boys must learn to stay away from a new a mother hog.

Stanley made a trip out West to Yellowstone Park and other areas with Floyd and Ralph Weber. He thought he was lucky to get back home rather than crashing over a mountain cliff. They were fast drivers on narrow mountain roads and no guard rails at that time.

Going to square dances was popular for Stanley and Harold. Stanley met Helen at the Eaton Elms dance hall. Harold met Juanita at a dance. She noticed him but also saw three girls with him. She was pleased to learn they were his sisters.

Bobby Phillips, a neighbor, and Margaret were on top of the silo acting silly while silage was being put into that silo. Bobby fell from the top (40 or 50 feet) to the ground. Luckily he was not hurt. He later became a star photographer for a TV channel in Dayton

Stanley was surprised when the  Poston boys came up to swim (skinny dip) in the big creek. He ran home fast to tell Mom that they were black all over.

Stanley talked about how good the soup was his Mother made in a large iron kettle on top of the stove. He said it had sausage, potatoes, and milk They also ate pears as there were two huge pear trees in the yard. Today there is still the remains of one of the trees and it has pears even though you can see clear through the trunk. There was one apple tree between them that had apples every other year. We had applesauce and pies that year. The family ate what they had or produced on the farm.

 We could make a rope swing with a tire for pretty good swinging in those big trees.

TV came when we were in high school. Grandpa loved watching wrestling and was invited to watch it at Bill Roberts. He soon got his own set. There was a lot of static for some time. Color blew our minds. Now with remote we still play the game “Who gets to be in charge of the remote tonight?”

Edith was a bouncy child and loved to tell everyone the news. Once we were in Oxford and she had money for an ice cream cone. She paid for the ice cream and ran out of the parlor and the ice cream fell to the ground. A sad little girl. Another time she was carrying a box of extra food from a church supper – didn’t look and ran into Hubert McQuiston’s moving car. She was not hurt but he felt terrible.

Edith was good at hiding gum or money in her bra.

One of Helen’s jobs was she listened to 15 minute radio programs. She had to remember everything that went on to tell the two balers. Two favorite shows were “Just Plain Bill”and “Portia Faces Life”.

Dad planted 5 acres of tomatoes to sell to a tomato factory during “the little girl’s days”. That is a lot of tomatoes. They could be thrown at other pickers. Backs got tired but many hampers of tomatoes were picked. We ate lots of tomato gravy. Mom canned 200 half-gallon jars of tomatoes for many years. Dad always gave credit to the kids who helped and worked so hard to help pay the farm off.

Dad said he seldom went to Hamilton and back without having to change at least one flat tire. The roads were not paved as they are today.

Dad was a hard worker. With a big family he had to find ways to bring in money. The children were included in the work and chores when they were old enough. Picking fruits, vegetables and berries; milking cows, gathering eggs, baling hay and straw. As time went by and Stan and Harold got older and bigger, Dad and Mom were able to travel and got to almost every state in the United States. Dad liked to visit people he knew that had moved especially if it were a new spot for him to see. They both flew several times but liked driving as they could see the scenery of the other areas. With soldiers coming back from WW2 , they needed someone to teach a night ag course so Dad did that for many years in the evening. It really became a social club. He was also on the school board for ages. Dad loved to talk with people and it was not hard for him to meet new folks.

Clothes dryers were unheard of. You hung out wet clothes in winter on a clothesline to dry. Long underwear looked like ghosts when they froze stiff in the very cold weather.

Mom did not have all the modern electric machines for the inside housework that we have today. At that time she kept up with Israel Township standards. She enjoyed getting out with her flowers. She had hayfever and sneezed a lot in August and September. She never had much spending money so was frugal with what she had.

 Dad and Mom were married 54 years before Mom passed away at 80. Dad lived to be 92 years old. I am sure they felt they had a “wonderful life.

Times have changed. Maybe you would like to jot down something that you think might be fun to remember.