When the Dobson twins (my grandfather and his brother) homesteaded at Gilbert, Idaho, in 1896, they were members of an extended family, the Dicksons, who also took homesteads. The group included:
M.
L. (Lafe) and Lucy Dickson, parents (80 acres)
Ed
and Ida Jane Dickson Patchen (the eldest daughter)
Ben
Dickson, son
Julian
and Ina Dickson Dobson (my grandparents -- Ina, a daughter)
Junius
and Bertha Dickson Dobson (Bertha, a daughter)
Lafe
and Lucy (my great-grandparents, of course) and the Patchens sold out in the early 1900s
and moved to Drain, Oregon. Apparently Lafe and Lucy were especially close to Ida
and lived near her for the rest of their lives, but Lafe left his heart at
Gilbert.
Well,
I mention this family history because Lafe kept a diary, and several were
handed down to me, among them the one for 1896 when he and the others were
establishing their homesteads at Gilbert. We don’t find Lafe being very “Christmassy”
in his remarks. His entries are brief and mostly about the weather with a note
or two about this and that. But, since most of us are curious about the weather, I thought I’d
add an “on this date at Gilbert, 1896” segment to our advent posts. KW
Thursday,
Dec. 3, 1896 – On this date at Gilbert:
Warm. Rainy by
spells all day. The snow has settled much and is not over 4 inches deep. Water
standing in many places. There seemed to be hot puffs of warm air and a regular Chinook.
This P.M. a deer
went along in front of the house and several of us saw it. Ina came to see us
and stay overnight. Ida and Mabel busy making scrapbooks about these times.
Did the scrapbooks survive?
ReplyDeleteDo you think that it was a real event to spy a deer?
ReplyDeleteHi Chris! I have written a second cousin (Ida Jane's granddaughter) to ask if she knows about the scrapbooks, but I haven't heard from her.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, Hallie, at that time I think it was unusual to spy a deer, at least so close to the house. As I understand it, the hunting was better on the other side of the river -- up the North Fork of the Clearwater. I believe deer were present on Russell Ridge but not like today.