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| The Dobson Farmhouse is now the home of Mike and Kathy Warnock |
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| The new house, 1917 |
One
hundred years ago, my grandparents, Jack and Ina Dobson, built this sturdy
farmhouse on their homestead at Gilbert, south of Orofino. Modest by today’s
standards – and perhaps modest in their day as well – it was nevertheless a
giant step forward in their living circumstances. For the first 20 years of
their life here, they lived in a rustic, hastily-built little cabin onto which
Grandpa eventually added a lean-to. The youngest three of their six children
were born in that cabin, including my dad Vance. So, in a sense, the farmhouse
came too late to benefit the family situation because by 1917, only my dad and Shirley
were still at home.
Lacking
the amenities – plumbing, electricity, and heat – the house nevertheless served
Grandma and Grandpa comfortably for the rest of their lives. Grandpa passed in
1946, and Grandma Ina continued to live here with the care and companionship of her daughter
Myrtle until she passed in 1957. My dad and his family lived in Orofino, but he came frequently to provide maintenance and supplies. He also farmed.
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| The south side |
After
Grandma’s passing, the house received some care through my dad and half-brother
Chuck, but eventually it fell into disrepair. When a tree fell on it in 1996, Mike and I decided to remodel it with an eye to preservation as well as modernization. I like to think the house still stands as a testament to a
bygone way of life. KW
[A portrait of the family on the front steps of the new house was a great idea. Too bad it isn't good. Nevertheless, I cropped the picture and enlarged it in order to identify: Ina and Jack Dobson stand on the right. The others are five of their six children: Vance (my dad) and Shirley stand in front with Ethel, Earle, and Pearl behind.]
5 comments:
In the photo shot from back, doesn't it look like some of the windows are open? It also feels like the hill in front of the house is closer. Optical illusion? Finally, I love love how many more trees there are. It's just beautiful.
Oh, wait--one more thing. You never knew your grandpa! I am not sure I realized he passed before you were born. What was the cause of death?
Yes, Hallie, it does look like some of the windows are open. It's clearly winter, so I don't know what that means. Fresh air? This picture does provide clues about the house and land features. The sun porch was screened. Daddy had windows installed much later. After Mike and I moved there, one of the windows cracked due to heat, and we replaced it with a window that slides open.
Yes, the bank was quite close to the back of the house, and our contractor told us that it simply had to be moved away from the house, so it was excavated, resulting in the loss of the two old pie cherry trees. That broke my heart, but the contractor was adamant that the hillside would continue to move into the house and ruin the foundation unless we pushed it back. I'm sure there are other positives, such as better afternoon/evening sunlight for the house. But the loss of the pie cherry trees was unfortunate.
Grandpa Jack died Nov. 24, 1945, at the age of 81, about four years before I was born. He had prostate cancer. Actually, I never knew the cause of death and assumed he was just worn out. However, a few months ago my shirttail cousin Leah forwarded six family death certificates from Ancestry, including Grandpa's, and the cause of death was stated.
While Daddy and I never discussed the cause of Grandpa's passing, he did tell me that the only means of automotive transportation available to the family at that time was Daddy's old red pick-up. And he said that Grandma Ina refused to ride to the funeral in the pick-up, so the funeral home had to send a car for her.
You have beautifully and lovingly preserved this wonderful house as well as bringing into this century with lights, heat and water. You've created a wonderful place for yourselves while keeping true to the home your grandparents were finally able to build for themselves. And I think it was quite a grand home for its day. Dan's parents and grandparents lived in homes in Spokane of the same vintage and they were quite tiny compared to this house. I know, because I was often in both of them in the early years of our marriage.
Happy anniversary!!
I meant the hill in FRONT of the house (east)--beyond the little fence in the photo. It looks closer than what I can recall the distance of that hill by the barn. Has it possibly been graded as well? Perhaps with the creation of the lane into the yard?
Oh. Neighbor Pete told me that June believed there was a belt of rocks through there and he never tried to cultivate it. In part, he was right. The next owner worked to remove the rocks (and had a heart attack doing it). So -- that might have changed the hill a little. The gate there was the approach to the farm yard at that time. Their only access was through June's property.
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