Making Maple Syrup

As we were growing up on the farm and February was coming to a close our minds went to an exciting time of the year.  The trees were changing the color from the stark black to a more gray color and there were subtle signs of spring approaching.  Daddy and Grandpa Gerow knew it was time to grab the bit and brace, the spiels, hooks and sap buckets and go the sugar bush.  It was time to tap the trees!  Daddy usually used the horses for this project as there would still be snow on the ground.  Grandpa had a nice little sugar bush (a group of sugar maple trees) on his property that we always tapped and we gathered that sap, put it in milk cans, and brought it to our house to be boiled with our sap.

Our sugar bush was on the Muck Road on land that Daddy owned there and also on the Rice Place that Daddy owned as well, but that was a little harder to get to.  Our sugar shanty was what we called the old cellar next to where I now live.  It was a neat little place and there was the neatest old velvet settee in there that Jerry and I used to take a nap on while we would sit with Daddy while the sap would boil.

Daddy would harness the team and use the stone bolt to carry all of his supplies and head out to the sugar bush.  He would use the bit and brace to drill to drill a hole in the tree, then drive the spile into the tree and hang the hook over the spile and hang the bucket on the hook.  The sap would drip from the spile into the bucket.  The temperature would have to get above freezing during the day for the sap to run and if the wind was out of the south the sap wouldn't run.  Once the trees were all tapped the real work began.  All of the sap had to be gathered and taken to the sugar shanty where it had to be boiled down to maple syrup.  It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.  We used milk cans to haul the sap from the sugar bush to the sugar shanty. It was hard work to lift all of those buckets off the trees, empty them into another bucket, then carry it to the wagon, and dump it into the milk cans.  Once back to the sugar shanty the big heavy milk cans had to be carried down the stairs and dumped into the boiling pan.  Many nights, Mother would stay with the fire while Daddy did the milking, then we would all stay for the evening, until the syrup was ready.  We would fill containers with the syrup and let the fire go out.  Mother would bake fresh biscuits and we enjoyed them with butter and fresh hot maple syrup.  Yummy!

Daddy and Al

After Al and I moved back to Pennsylvania in 1981 my brother and Dad wanted to build a new sugar shanty, so a plan was devised to purchase an old barn from William and Stella Irwin in Catlin Hollow,  They lived beside of the Catlin Hollow Cemetery.  We all worked at tearing the old barn down and hauling it down to Jerry's house on hay wagons.  Once it was all hauled and sorted the building was started.  A very fine sugar shanty was built at Jerry's house, once completed, it was painted barn red to match the rest of Jerry's out buildings.  Then the guys had to cut fire wood to keep the fire going to make the syrup.  A lot of the scrap lumber was also burned up at the same time.  Tim McConnell made a new sap pan and we purchased a hygrometer to make sure we were boiling our sap the correct length of time.  We also purchased specialized containers for our product.  We were ready for February to arrive.

Francis Spencer, Al, and Daddy

When it came time for us to accomplish the task that we had done as kids, it was sure good to have Daddy there to guide us along.  Jerry was still employed, so Daddy helped to get us started.  Jerry had a pair of Belgium work horses that he dearly loved to work with, so sap was hauled with horse and wagon just as it was when we were kids.

As a side note, Jerry and Al had worked to get the barn ready before Jerry got his work horses.  Once the stalls were all ready for the big horses, Jerry brought them in to the stalls with the new cement floors, but the horses ears rubbed the ceiling!  Oh, how we laughed!  I, being a smart aleck, made Jerry a "ear lowering kit" which I think contained some large rubber bands for the ears! My brother got that "funny" look on his face, you know the one that says, “Yea, you got me!”

Francis Spencer, Al, and Daddy

The horses pulled the wagon which had a holding tank in it to carry the sap gathered from the trees back to the sugar shanty.  Joanne and I helped the guys gather sap each morning and enjoyed doing it.  Francis Spencer got into the act also.  He was always eager to help out when there was a project going on, especially if it had to do with horses.

One afternoon, when the sap was really running, Daddy thought he and Al should take the tractor and a barrel and go up on the hill to gather some sap.  As Al told the story, they were going up the hill on the Ford tractor with a barrel full of sap. The tractor was off balance from the extra weight and nearly rolled over.  Al jumped off in one direction and the barrel of sap went in the other direction. It scared the heck out of both, Al and Daddy.  The barrel went all the way down the hill, almost to the creek before it stopped.  I am not sure if they ever told Jerry.

Al, Francis Spencer, and Daddy

Daddy would always want Al to take some of our eggs to the sugar shanty, so they could cook them in the sap as it boiled.  Eggs hard boiled in sap are a tasty treat!

At the end of the season, Joanne would always take the last of the syrup to the house and finish cooking it down there.  She would often make maple cream and maple candy.  We all used maple syrup to cook with throughout the year and had some to sell.  Once the trees began to bud the sap would be too dark and that would be the end of making syrup.  The taps had to be pulled and all of the equipment cleaned and put away for the next year.  By then we had probably seen a robin, or a flock of wild geese, and lots of what I hated the most, mud.  Spring was definitely in the air!  

Christmas - The Early Years

The first Christmas I can remember is one when I was very small.  The reason that I remember it so well is because I have scars on my left hand to remind me of it.  Mother told me that I reached for a bulb and it broke in my hand and cut my third finger deeply and burned it as well.  She kept my hand bandaged until it healed, but it still left a scar.

Daddy would always cut our Christmas tree on our farm.  Often he would find the perfect tree while he was out hunting and remember where it was.  Mother always liked to have ground pine to decorate with and Daddy would bring that home in his hunting jacket to her to use.  He would also bring home mountain laurel, pine boughs, hemlock boughs, and red berries to fill the plant boxes.  We always tried to do the plant boxes before they froze, that way the greens would stay nice all winter long.  We would hang an assortment of evergreen boughs on the doors tied with a red ribbon.  In the kitchen there was a special wreath that was placed at the kitchen window.  It had an electric candle in it, I always thought it was really special, as the wreath was a red velvet material, of course over the years it faded, but it was still a favorite of mine.  Perhaps that is where I got my love of candles in the windows.

In the living room, on the piano, sat a plastic "Frosty the Snowman" with a bubble light in his hand. Mother bought it the year that I started school in 1948. It was another favorite of mine.  I still have it and it is the first decoration that I put out every year.
 

Our Christmas tree was usually placed in the little living room in the early years, as that is where we spent our time.  We didn't go into the big living room until after we got television.  Our little living room was a cozy room, off of the kitchen with a day bed up against one wall, the console radio, Daddy's gray leather chair, a green upholstered chair with wooden arms (that I now have), a rocking chair, and smoking stand.  The room was carpeted with a deep red flowered carpet.  We later got a piano and it was placed in this room.  Jerry and I used the piano bench to play our board games on. The room was well lit with an overhead light and the end tables had lamps as well.  I also remember a light on the wall.  This room had a huge walk in closet and we kept our games, card table and chairs in it.  This was the only closet there was in the house, so Mother and Daddy kept their good clothes in there also.

Our Christmas tree was usually long needled eastern pine decorated with colored electric light bulbs and glass ornaments that were made by Corning Glass Company in Wellsboro, PA.  I still have several of them.  Krista has several that her Grandpa Bryant gave to her that were made at the Wellsboro Plant, a treasure!  We used icicles to complete the decorations.  It was a sight to behold that first night to come into the living room after supper and sit there and look at that beautiful tree with all of the lights turned off.  Sometimes Jerry and I would make snowflakes to put on the tree or to make red and green paper garland to add to the tree too.

We were allowed to open one package on Christmas Eve which was always handmade flannel pajamas.  We would go take a bath, put on our new pajamas, go to bed and wait for Santa.  We could never go into see what Santa had brought until Daddy came back from taking the milk to the milk plant and had his breakfast. Jerry and I thought he ate the biggest breakfast of his life on Christmas!!

Kathy and Connie Hazelton

After all the packages were opened, it was soon time to go to Grandpa and Grandma Gerow's house.  All of the Gerow family would meet there for Christmas dinner and to exchange presents.  This was one of the very few times that we were allowed to go into the Parlor.  They would have a tree decorated very similar to our tree.  Grandpa would cut his tree in his woods.  The picture that I have included is one that shows Connie Hazelton and me in front of the tree. I think it was taken in 1950.  The adults would exchange names; however, they would buy for all of the kids.  Aunt Eloise was a school teacher and she would often times buy me a book and that always delighted me, as I loved to read as a very young age.  Mother often read to Jerry and me.

It's terrible, but I don't remember any really great Christmas, I usually got a doll, which is what I always wanted, and later a typewriter. More than anything I remember all of the preparation to get ready for the holiday and all of the fun things we did.  Mother always made sea foam candy, fudge, and cookies of all kinds.

  We went Christmas caroling, had parties, but the best was the Sunday school program.  We practiced for the whole month of December and I loved it.  Fred Smith was my Sunday school teacher and he was in charge of the program.  We did plays, learned poems and acted out the Nativity. Everyone in the neighborhood was involved in our church and what a wonderful time it was.  My Mother played the piano accompaniment for all of the songs that were sung, so she was busy learning her part too, but she loved it as much as we did.

Daddy played Santa one year.  Jerry and I didn't even know it!  Every parent brought a present for their own children which Santa passed out along with a box of hard candy with a chocolate drop in the top for everyone.  That was a real treat!  That box of candy served as cough drops for the whole winter, Mother always put her box away as she knew someone would need it later and she would be right.

Huts

Kathy, Jerry, Rodney, and Jim Hill

When we got old enough to venture  to the creek out behind the barn, life took on a whole new meaning, there was water, fish, tadpoles, frogs, fossils, stones to throw.  I remember when my cousin (Rodney Smith) who lived next door and was the same age as me, came down and we started a forget-me-not factory.  We pulled up the flowers and we all sat in different places in the creek and sent the flowers down the creek, we would spend a lot of time doing that keeping cool and having fun.

Some time later we decided to build huts over in the woods, actually it was Uncle Clyde's and Aunt Charlotte's woods who was Rodney's father.  We gathered lumber from anyplace that we could find it along with nails, rusty and crooked ones, Jerry and I learned to straighten them.  I can remember during the  construction period Daddy would look for something and not be able to find it and it would usually be over across the creek in the hut.  Jerry or I would have to scamper over and bring it back.  Daddy would always say, " I don't mind you using it, just remember to bring it back when you come back".  We used our little "Red Ryder wagon" to transport supplies from the house to our hut.  It is a good thing the creek wasn't high, because we had to ford the creek each time we went.

Once we got the huts built; yes we built two, one for Jerry and me and one a little further into the woods for Rodney, we had to furnish them.  Everything that we used in our playhouses had to be moved to our huts.  We were a little older, so maybe we should have a cook stove. Sure!  We would use a cast iron brooder stoves that Daddy once used the chicken houses, before we had gas brooder stoves.  Perfect!  Darn, they were heavy!  No problem with our wagons, one to pull, one to push.  It was rough going through the creek, but we made it.  It took us the majority of the day to haul two of those heavy dudes to both of our huts. Hey!  We have to cut a hole through our new roofs.  We didn't think of that during construction.  We needed stove pipe too, so another trip back to the house to hunt for stove pipe.  We found enough for both huts and by then it was almost supper time.  We did have lots of kindling in all of those pine trees; it certainly smelled good burning.  It was a success, we were happy kids!

We kept making improvements to our huts all summer long and they were looking better each and every day.  One afternoon we were climbing trees and I was pretending to be a squirrel.  I went out on a limb that was dead and down it came with me on it.  I hit the barbed wire fence!  Of course, back then girls didn't wear pants.  I was wearing a dress and nothing to protect my legs, so a barb took a hunk out of my leg and scratched down the side of my left leg.  It bled like crazy and it scared all of us. We ran back home quickly for help.  Mother cleaned it up and put on some of Grandpa Gerow's Black Liniment and a bandage.  To this day, I still have a horrible scar. I am pretty choice on what trees I climb now!

We had a lot of fun in our huts and decided to stay overnight one warm summer night.  We got everything ready, but by the time it got dark, we chickened out and ran back to the house to sleep on the front porch!  There were lots of strange sounds after dark!

Jerry, Kathy, Rodney

One year Rodney and I put up a Christmas tree in our huts and decorated them.  They were so pretty! We had a very mild winter and enjoyed being over there during our vacation.  After Christmas we were both in our huts playing.  I looked towards Rodney's hut and could see smoke, so I quickly ran over to his to see what was wrong.  When I got there, he was outside and he told me that he thought he would burn up his tree in his stove.  It was a bit much for his stove and he about burned down his hut!

Rodney and I were great friends and did many things together all of our lives.  We built a radio station together and did little broadcasts and played music together.  Aunt Charlotte was always encouraging us to play together because he was an only child.  We had fun together and spend a lot of time going back and forth between our houses.

Uncle Clyde, Aunt Charlotte, and Rodney 1960

Once we got to high school, he got me in trouble with different boyfriends.  Rodney was still my best friend and boyfriends didn't understand that.  We went to movies together, called each other, rode the bus together and sat together, danced together, walked in the halls together, went to graduation together and parties together, rode to work together.  We were friends after we were both married, I helped he and his wife after their babies were born.  I miss him so much now that he is gone.  Truly a best friend from the time we were old enough to be friends.

Butchering

This is a  picture of the first butchering at the farm in Catlin Hollow

Daddy always planned on butchering around Thanksgiving, as by then the temperatures were staying below freezing and the meat wouldn't spoil before it could be taken care of.  This year they only butchered one pig which was unusual, but being the first year to live on the farm was  probably the reason.

The men in the picture from the left are Burt Goodwin,my dad Gale Gerow, my grandpa and Fred Erway, my uncle. This picture would have been taken in the late 30's or early 40's.  An enlargement of this picture always hung in my parents bedroom, and when you think of it, that is a strange place for a picture of this type to hang isn't it?  I guess I shouldn't say anything about that, as I have a pair of hog scrapers in my living room.

Butchering day began as soon as chores were completed in the morning.  A fire was started and water was placed in cast iron kettles to boil to scald the pigs in and later barrels were used, then the pigs were scraped with the scrapers to get the hair off, before they were cleaned out, that way no hair was gotten on the meat.  The meat was cut up into quarters, of course, the hams were the important part to me, but the side pork was a favorite to the family.  There was not a portion of the pig that went to waste.  Do you know the tail was even saved and my dad used the end of that to grease the pancake griddle.  I always thought that was a little gross, but that is what was done and I ate the pancakes and called them good.

We had a smoke house and smoked the hams using hickory bark to keep a low fire going to get a nice smoke.  Daddy also smoked the bacon.  We had huge crocks that Daddy fixed a brine and some side pork was put into that and we kept that in the cellar and used that during the winter.  That was wonderful fried and cooked with beans.  The fat was rendered down for lard and Mother used that to make home made doughnuts; however, Daddy called them friedcakes.  That was something they did together, she would cut them out and Daddy fried them, and dusted them with sugar.  Daddy was a "dunker" and he taught me to do it also and to this day, I dunk everything sweet in my coffee.  He would say to me in the morning as I was getting ready for school, "Kathy, better have a cookie and dunk it in my coffee before you get on the bus" and I usually did.  Another of those great memories.

Daddy and Mother ground up pork and made their own sausage with fresh herbs and it was delicious, they also had a sausage stuffer, but I don't remember them  using it. Pork was also ground up and was used to make homemade mince meat and that was saved for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

1948

This is a picture later on when we butchered.  I remember Mother taking this picture, as she kidded me about what we had on, she said that we looked like "rag-a-muffins" and the ragman would come along and take us and she would never see us again.  She would take our pictures and then we had to put on better clothes.  I am holding a yellow cat.  I would always grab a cat outside, as we were not allowed to have animals inside, but we sure could have them outside.  Daddy always had lots of cats and would always tell us if a mommy cat had new kittens and Jerry and I would hunt for the babies.  Daddy would hold the cats while he was waiting for the milkers to finish.  He would often have a kitten on his shoulder!!

It would take the majority of the day to butcher and cut up the pigs, and we could plan on having liver and onions with mashed potatoes for dinner.  Daddy would clean the liver and pack it in snow and take it to Mother and we would all look forward to dinner.

Looks like a happy group

This picture is taken in from of the building that Daddy used for a garage which was at one time the old McInroy School. I do not know for sure who the other man is with my dad and Uncle Fred.  I have 1948 written on the back of the photo but wasn't sure of the man with the pipe in his mouth.

This is one very big pig

This picture is taken inside the door of the garage.  I would think where they could hang the pig from the main beam.

Our Thanksgiving dinners were often spareribs and dressing which were very special to us, as we only had that in the fall.  Daddy would always have a huge Hubbard squash.  He would sharpen his ax to split the squash and then he would sit and peel that whole huge squash cut it into cubes ready to cook and mash for dinner.  Our traditional dinner would include the spareribs and stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, creamed onions, squash, homemade cranberry/orange relish, cabbage salad w/ pineapple, home made cloverleaf rolls, brown bread, apple pie, pumpkin pie, mincemeat pie with brandy sauce and coconut cream pie.

Grandpa and Grandma always came to our house for Thanksgiving and that always made it special.  Grandpa was usually at our house when we butchered and anytime they were at our home, it was a special time of stories and fellowship.  Grandma always had nicknames for both of us kids, she called Jerry "Jericho"and she called me "Katrink"and that is what my dad always called me when I was little, guess it stayed.  Daddy called Jerry; Joey and my kids still call Jerry; Uncle Joey.

Gerow Siblings and Parents 1951

Gerow Siblings and Parents

I believe this picture was taken when Aunt Lucille and Uncle Earl were home from Florida and it was decided that we needed to have a family picture taken.  This is taken in the lower yard on the farm on Bryant Road in Charleston Township.

Left to Right in the back:  Ardys Gerow Hazelton, Norma Gerow Plumley, Lucille Gerow Beeman, Eloise Gerow Drew, and Ethlyn Bush Gerow Goodwin and in the front, Gale C. Gerow and Marietta Clark Gerow.

Aunt Ardys married Harry Hazelton and they had three children, Robert, Connie and John

Aunt Norma married Ward Plumley and they had one son, Dale Alan

Aunt Lucille married Earl Beeman and they had five children, Patricia, Earl Ray, Janet, Roger and Pam.

Aunt Eloise married Raymond Drew and they had two sons, Eugene and Daniel.

Mother Ethlyn married Burt Goodwin and they had two children, Kathy Elaine and Gerald Burt.

Grandma Gerow was a very kind and caring person, who had a love for people and animals.  She always had a pet cat, usually by the name of either Snooky or Pepper.  She loved to play with the kids and could entertain us in many different ways.  She loved a clean and neat house.  She was hard of hearing and depended on her hearing aid.  She and I would sit together in a large wooded rocking chair and rock and talk and she would quote poems to me.  She always chewed "teaberry"gum and took it out just before going to sleep and laid it on a dish beside her bed.  She would brush her hair each night and clean her brush and roll the hair and deposit the hair into a special dish on her dresser and that hair would be used in her needlework.  It was beautiful when finished.

One of the poems that she would say to me that I remember to this day is as follows:

Words

"Keep a watch on your words, my darling: 

for words are wonderful things.

They are sweet like the bees' fresh honey;

Like bees, they have terrible stings.

They can bless like the warm, glad sunshine

and brighten a lonely life.

They can cut in the strife of anger; 

like an open two-edged knife."

This little poem is still very appropriate today, rather they are typed on the internet or said in person, they still can hurt.

Grandpa Gerow was also a very kind person and had a love for animals and had to have his chickens and milk cows and piggies.  In the years that I remember him, he milked his cows by hand and he had a creamer that he separated the cream from the milk and sold the cream and kept the milk.  He had Jersey cows.  Grandma made home-made butter and always had buttermilk and home-made dutch cheese. Grandpa also raised big white rabbits that he sold for meat and I tried not to get attached to the rabbits, as I knew where they were going.

Grandpa had a round chicken house and I thought that was really neat, but that way, the baby chickens did "pile up" in a corner and suffocate as they often did in a square house.  The house was painted red and looked really sharp.  I was sad to see the new owners tear it down.  It would have made a super "play house"!!

We will talk about butchering time a little later on, as that was a favorite time in the farming year and Grandpa was always present at that event. Grandpa was known throughout Charleston Township for his Black Linamint.   He would cook it outside in a cast iron kettle over an open fire.  It was used for healing for humans and animals.  When I worked for a local pharmacy one summer, the pharmacist at Kentch's Pharmacy showed me the recipe they had on file for this in Grandpa's hand writing and they made me a copy and I still have that copy with his signature.  One of my prize possessions.  Other folks have tried to make it since his death, but it has not been the same.

Eloise and Lucille on Lady

Houses 

This picture is taken in 1923 at the house where Grandpa and Grandma Gerow lived in Catlin Hollow.  The house is no longer there.  It burned when I was in second grade 1949 I think.  Leonard and Ruth Reese lived there at the time.  When Grandpa and Grandma moved from Knoxville in 1919, this is where they moved to.  The barn was across the road from the house and it was a rather lovely and large farm.  Grandpa build a large corn crib that was in my life time inhabited by a gentleman as his home.  Eloise was born in Knoxville; however. Lucille, Norma and Ardys were all born in this house.

The pony's name in the picture is Lady and the dog is Jack, it is my mother is the side holding her doll, this doll was later refurbished and given to my daughter Krista.  She had a porcelain head, feet and hands and leather body and legs and arms. She also had real hair, a lovely doll for the early 1900's.

Grandpa and Grandma's House in the 1950's 

I do not know when Grandpa and Grandma moved from Catlin Hollow to the Bryant Road.  That was not the name of the road at that time.  We called it Grandpa's road.  There were only two houses on the road.  Glenn and Mary Peer and Grandma and Grandpa.  I have reason to think it was right after World War II started.  I base that on a story that I was told, but I choose not to write it, as some might find it in poor taste.  

This is the only place I remember them living and I loved this setting.  There was a working wind mill up beside of the barn and how I loved to hear the swish - swish sound that it would make.  Jerry and I would often walk up to the windmill and just watch it go round and round.  We were both fascinated by it.

The house was huge and I often dream of being inside and I can see it so clearly, it was an enchanting home to me.  They had a huge enclosed back porch with lots of rocking chairs.  That is where the cream separator was kept.  Boots were taken off here along with our heavy coats and hung on special hooks.  We walked into the kitchen and you know what was there?  Grandma's beautifully polished wood fired cookstove with a warming oven, hot water holder the works, it was beautiful, beside of it was Grandpa's rocking chair and behind that was the entrance to the summer bedroom.  That was a beautiful room.  White ruffled curtains to all of the windows.  Roses on the wallpaper, white painted woodwork, high poster bed just inviting you to come lay down and read a book and open the windows.  Behind this room was the wood shed a huge winter storage vegetable room.

Back  to the kitchen was a large kitchen table with a oil cloth table cloth, pitcher pump, huge sink and then the pantry, with a huge window facing the west with lacy curtains.  All of Grandma's cupboards had etched glass and the shelved were lined with pretty shelf  paper with lace edging.  She had her ice box in this huge pantry.  She did all of her baking in here, it was a lovely room and smelled of fresh herbs and apples.  In the kitchen was a back stair case that led to the attic and Jerry and I would love to go up there, what a treasure chest that was.  This attic even had windows and it was warm, as it was over the cookstove!

As you leave the pantry and start to the living room to the left is a door that will go down cellar to the coal stove and the canned goods and to the right is a love seat, where the toys are stored, not just toys, but anything that she thought us kids would enjoy.  Catalogs, books, etc.

Next into the Dining room/Living room w/ huge bay windows.  This housed a huge dining room table, chairs and  buffet, two rocking chairs, sofa, desk and chair, two comfortable chairs, radio and later a television.  Off to the left their bedroom. On further an open staircase to the upstairs.  On to the parlor, with a piano, all the girls played the piano, large sofa, end tables with beautiful blue glass tops.  Wall paper was a velvet brocade in gold.  Several overstuffed chairs and rocking chairs and straight chairs.  I am fortunate enough to have several of those chairs.

The upstairs has five rooms and a full bathroom.  There is a half bath downstairs also.  How that lady kept all of that clean and found time for her garden and still read, I don't know, but she did and she loved to read.  Maybe that is where I found my love for books.  They also loved to travel,  Grandpa had a Kaiser car and they made the trip to Florida every winter to visit Aunt Lucille and Uncle Earl. Remarkable folks.

Ida Laura Gerow

My mother on the left and Ida Laura

Two years after Grandpa and Grandma and agreed to keep my mother little Ida Laura came into their lives.  Can you imagine their happiness to have their own baby daughter.  She was born April 14, 1914.  She was named after her two grandmothers.  At the time my grandparents were living in Troups Creek near Knoxville, PA.

The  story I was told, by my grandmother-the two little girls were playing in the orchard in August and ate some green apples and Ida became ill; she died twenty hours after becoming ill.  She was two years, three months and twenty days of age at the time of her death. 

Her little body was laid to rest in the Riverside Cemetery in Knoxville, PA.

My Great-Grandparents (Gerow Side)

 great-grandparent Gerow

I have decided to go back another generation, as  perhaps someone would like to share this information in the years to come, as I have pictures and interesting stories that Aunt  Eloise shared with me before she died.

Dewitt Clinton Gerow was born in Seneca County, NY on August 2, 1848.  He was a blacksmith with his father until he enlisted in the army at the age of 16.  He was in Company G, 50th N.Y. Engineers, Army of the Potomac. (Civil War) until June 13, 1865.   He was underage; therefore, he served as a stretcher bearer and drummer boy.  Most of the rest of his life he lived in Charleston Township, PA.  He was a blacksmith like his father and had a shop in Whitneyville, PA, he also spent time in farming.  He married Laura Emma West on January 1, 1870, daughter of William and Caroline Johnson West.  They had 10 children.  Edna died at an early age. Winogene Peake, Lovell, - Ethel Hinckely, Leon, Ada Neal, Carrie Bartlett, Gale, Floyd, Minor and Erma Erway.

Laura was a country "one room" school teacher.  She was born August 13, 1850.  She died in Charleston Township and is buried in Dartt Settlement Cemetery.  Her date of death is June 4, 1932.

Dewitt date of death is May 24, 1928 and he is also buried in Dartt Settlement.

Great Grandfather Clark

This gentleman is my great grand-father Clark.  He would have been my grandmother Gerow's father.

 Cecil A. Clark was born on the Clark Homestead on February 13, 1864 and grew up there.  He attended Osceola High School.  In 1894 he moved to Brookfield Township and then to Westfield Township.  He raised potatoes and bought and sold livestock.  On December 21, 1885 he married Ida Grist of Athens, PA.  They had a son Chester, who died at an early age.  The other children were Earl, Marietta Clark Gerow, Ivan, Manning, Lena Gerow Peer.  He was a Mason and an IOOF member.  He died in 1945.  He is buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Knoxville, PA

Great-Grandmother Clark

Ida I. Grist Clark was born on the Grist homestead in Mehoopany, PA on April 7, 1864, the youngest child of ten to Chester and Amanda Bowman Grist.  Ida's oldest brother, Clayton was killed soon after her birth in the Civil War at the Battle of the  Wilderness in Farmville,Virginia on May 5, 1864.  Her father, Chester, at one time ran a mail route from Mehoopany, PA to Woodhull, NY and eventually the family moved to Woodhull.

Ida married Cecil A. Clark on December 21, 1885 in Corning, NY.  They had five children and lived most of their lives in Westfield.

On May 20, 1901, Ida died from complications of Typhoid pneumonia at the age of 37, leaving behind five children ages 1 through 14.  She is buried in Riverside Cemetery in Knoxville, PA

I can go back on more generation with an interesting story with a newspaper clipping, although I don't have a picture.

Great-Great Grandfather Eleazer Clark:  He settled on a farm, cleared the land, etc in 1817, built a log house near a river.

He was born in Burrellsville, Rhode Island October 6, 1788. He first came on horse back with $2.50 in his pocket.  After on year with the house built, he went back to Rhode Island and brought his family to Pennsylvania in a wagon.  He brought some seeds and some hens.  After planting some seeds, he noticed one of his hens dug up the seeds and swallowed them.  They were very scarce and couldn't get more so he killed the hen, removed the seeds and planted the pumpkin seeds.
  This text is taken from an old newspaper clipping that my Aunt Eloise saved......

He was the son of Captain Eleazer and Prudence Clark.  His father was was in charge of a company during the Revolution.

Eleazer Clark married Abigail Armstrong and they were parents of four children.

He and Abigail are buried in Quaker Cemetery in Knoxville, PA.
Abigail is the first burial to which there is a published record for the Quaker Cemetery.

Gerow Family

Gale and Marietta Gerow - Taken early 50's  in their living room

This is going to be the beginning of the history of the Gerow Family as I know it.  I am not going to go into the complete detail of it, as I can go back to the 1500's.  I will just say they are of the French and English background.

Grandpa (Gale Clinton Gerow) was born July 19, 1886 in Charleston Township.  His parents were Dewitt and Laura West Gerow.  (Their final resting place is in the Dartt Settlement Cemetery).  As a young man, he lived near Knoxville.  He was a farmer all of his adult life; mostly in Charleston Township.  He was a 50 year member of the Charleston Union  Grange.  He died November 29, 1958.  He is buried in Riverside Cemetery in Knoxville, PA.

He had 10 brothers and sisters.  Winogene married to Fred Lovell, Ethel married to Minor Hinkley, Leon married to Kate Wilson, Ada married to Raymond Neal, Carrie married to Walter Bartlett, Edna that died when she was two years of age, Floyd married to Edna V. Apgar, Minor married to Emma Miller, Erma married to Fred Erway and another brother that died in infacy.

Back Left to Right:  Winnie, Ethel, Ada - Front Left to Right:  Carrie, Erma

Grandma (Marietta E Clark Gerow) was born April 23, 1889 in Deerfield  Township.  Her parents were Cecil A. Clark and Ida Grist of Athens, PA.  She was a farmer's wife and mother.She was second of five children.  Her mother died of pneumonia at an early age.  Grandma graduated from high school which was an accomplishment for a girl in those days.  She was very deaf, but managed with a hear aid later in life.  She died October 30, 1965 at the age of 76.  She is also buried in  Riverside Cemetery in Knoxville, PA.

Grandma had four siblings in her family.  There had been a brother by the name of Chester that had died at an early age. Earl, Ivan, Manning, Lena married to Curtis Peer.  The only one I really remember is Aunt Lena and Uncle Curt, as we visited them very often.  They lived in Corning and Uncle Curt was a glass blower and that always fascinated me  It was of interest that Uncle Earl,Aunt Ora and my grandparents had a double wedding and then celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary together.  They were married on Christmas day in 1907 in Dyke, NY.

Grandpa and Grandma Gerow and Uncle Earl and Aunt Ora Clark

Cast of Characters

I am thinking that perhaps to keep us all on the right page, it will be easier if we know who the people are that I will be talking about so I shall endeavor to identify them to you.

The Bush Family - John and Neva Neal Bush and unidentified girl. 

This is my mother's natural parents - John and Neva Neal Bush -  I believe this picture would have been taken in the early 1900's.  Mrs. Bush died in childbirth in 1912, when my mother was born in December.  Mr. Bush took my mother to Gale and Marietta Gerow and asked them if they would keep her until after the funeral and they agreed to do so.  More on this later.

Gladys Bush Loomis, Dorothy Bush Elliott, Neal Bush, Leslie Bush, Wilma Bush Hawk, and my mother, Ethlyn Neva Bush Gerow Goodwin.  This photo was taken at one of the many Bush/Neal Reunions that we always attended.  I am not sure Aunt Wilma went by Bush growing up, as she was raised by a family in southern PA, but like my mother she was always in contact with her natural brothers and sisters.

Charles and Stella Spencer Goodwin

This is a  picture of my father's mother and father, I never knew them.  I know the stories Daddy has told me of them, the saddest of them that his father and Daddy's first wife, Feda died within weeks of each other and Daddy felt he didn't know if he could continue on with out them.  He had a little girl and a tiny son, the son Charles was raised by Daddy's mother-in-law, Daisy Ely and his daughter, Daisybelle (Daisy) stayed with Daddy and my dad's mother.

Goodwin Siblings

Left to Right:

Charlotte Goodwin Smith, Faye Goodwin Compton, Lloyd (Jinks)Goodwin), Burt Goodwin (my dad).  Back:  Ted Goodwin and Floyd (Jack) Goodwin

Daisy and Uncle Ted

Burt M. Goodwin (Daisy's and my father)

Feda M. Ely Goodwin (Daisy's Mother)

This picture of Daddy was taken in 1928.  Feda and Daddy were married November 22, 1925.

Gale and Marietta Gerow 1957

This is the only set of grandparents that I remember and remember them I do, I could write a book about these loving people.  Like my one daughter (Susan) tells me, there is nothing like the love from a grandparent and that is so true!!

Grandma told me it was a snowy cold day when Mr. Bush brought the tiny baby to their door and asked them if they would keep her (my mother) until after the funeral.  My grandparents had been married for five years and had not been able to have any children and therefore, they were delighted to have a baby in the house.  The baby girl didn't have a name, so Grandpa started calling her "sweet thing".  I remember sitting in the big wooden rocking chair with Grandma when she told me this story and she snuggled me close to her as she retold the story.  She said when she took that bundle of warm baby from Mr. Bush, the thought went through her mind, how could she ever give it back?

After the funeral Mr. Bush returned and Grandma was heart broken knowing she had to give the baby back, but God had other plans, Mr. Bush asked my grandparents if they would be willing to raise her for their own, and you know the answer to that.  They were delighted to have a daughter of their own.  Grandma was reading a book and the main character in the book was Ethlyn and that is how mother got her first name and her middle name for for her deceased mother, Neva.  Three years later Grandma Gerow delivered her own first child.

Gerow Siblings

Left to Right:

Grandma Gerow, Ethlyn Gerow Goodwin, Eloise Gerow Drew, Lucille Gerow Beeman, Norma Gerow Plumley, and Ardys Gerow Hazelton.  This picture was taken at the last place Grandpa and Grandma Gerow lived on the Bryant Road in Charleston Township in 1948.

Burt and Ethlyn Bush Gerow Goodwin

This is a picture of my parents when they were married in January 1934.  I can't say much about the day, other than I have been told that it was a terrible day weather wise and there were ruts in the roads and it made travel really difficult.  They were married in the parsonage in Whitneyville.

My brother and me.

Now you have the majority of the main character of the stories, so hopefully this will help you as we continue on with the stories to come.  I will add pictures that are pertinent to stories as we go along.

The Beginning

This is the house where it all began for me.

Charleston Township - early 1940

I am a lady that was born on a rural dairy farm in the early 40's in northeastern Pennsylvania to a Christian family.  My parents had a love for the land and the animals that God entrusted to their care.  We were surrounded by many cousins, aunts. uncles and grandparents along with neighbors that took an interest in us and shared the good and the bad times with us.

It is my hopes that with this blog, I can recapture some of those stories that were told at threshing time, ladies aides, church gatherings, grange meetings, milk meetings, family gatherings, holiday meals, and just little snippets of things that are stored in my memory that might be of interest to my grandchildren and great-grandchildren at a later time.

My parents purchased this home in Catlin Hollow in the late 30's and started to work on the farm, clearing the land.   From what I understand, the house didn't have any windows and that was the first task, no inside plumbing. The farm they purchased was originally the McInroy Farm and had not been occupied for many years.  In my research of Catlin Hollow, the McInroy Family was among the first families to settle in Catlin Hollow.  My mother was currently working at Corning Glass and attending college in Mansfield and trying to help my father.  It sounded like a busy household back then.

The barn with the milkhouse to the left.

My parents started farming with a team of horses, and my Grandpa Gerow always said that my mother was really good with a team, as she was the oldest in her family of five girls, so she learned at an early age to work the team.

This is Dutch and Ned the horses and cousin Eugene; they are getting ready to spread manure.

This is a beginning of the story I hope to continue as I find time to post, hopefully it will be of interest to my family members over the years.  I know I have enjoyed my rural upbringing and have wonderful memories of my parents and brother.