April 27, 2020
More stories from my sister Nancy Hyde Seyfried.
Grandpa and Grandma Hall
My maternal grandparents lived across the river, up a dirt road, on the side of a big hill, outside of Tioga, PA. Grandpa Hall (Charles Rowland Hall, a descendant of Col. George Jackson) was born in Kentucky about 20 years after the Civil War (He was born in 1885). And Grandma Hall (Margaret Thorton Morrison Hall) was born near Richmond, Virginia in 1899. My family would make the 2 1/2 hour drive from LeRoy, NY it seemed like at least once a month to visit the grandparents. They lived on a small farm, in a big old farm house with a great front porch. Coming from Virginia my Grandma knew how to handle the summer heat, she would open the house all up in the early morning then shut it back up keeping the cool in. She hung heavy drapes in the doorways to keep the kitchen heat out of the other rooms. Because the farm was between two hills, you wouldn’t know what the weather would be that day until about 10am when the sun peeked over the hill in the east. My mother and all her siblings and their kids would gather at Grandma’s home for all of the various holidays. Some spent the night and those close by didn’t.
Bird Lice
I, as the oldest grandchild, was sort of the leader of the pack, in other words, the instigator. I discovered a swallows’ nest on top of one of the porch posts. It had babies in it. If l stood on the porch rail l could look into the nest and see them. Well, the little cousins wanted to see the baby birds too. Unbeknownst to us the porch post was covered with bird lice, bizilions of them. When the adults came to check on us, because the little ones were fussin’ about “not being able to see the baby birds,” the adults panicked about the lice and set up a wash tub out in the yard with hot water and kerosene and dunked each of us in to kill the lice. We had to strip down out in the yard (horrors!). When we were dried and dressed, all we could do was sit in a chair and be quiet till it was time to go home.
Bear!
One other time my brother Dean and I wanted to get away from the little kids, so we walked down past the barn across a small creek and up into the woods. Not long after we could hear the little ones crossing the forbidden creek coming to look for us. Dean went left, l went right and we ran out of the woods screaming “Bear, Bear run for your lives!” We blew past the little kids who were now terrified and crying and falling in the water and stepping in cow plops trying to escape the “Bear”. Dean and l were sitting under a tree by the little ones, dirty, wet and crying made it back to the house. Well, we had to clean up all those dirty kids and sit in a chair till it was time to go home.
Lost in the Woods
One time brother Dean and I found an old logging road up in the woods and were following it. We weren’t sure where we were but I thought I had spotted the barn so we headed for it. We came out by a barn alright but not grandpa’s barn, we were on the other side of the mountain. A friendly farmer took pity on us and drove us several miles back to our grandparents.
Grandpa and Grandma Hall’s Old Farm House in Tioga
There were two huge white oak trees in the front yard, some called them Bride and Groom trees. When my grandparents bought the farm about 1946 the house had three porches. A large front porch which the grandkids spent a lot of time on. The adults would send us all outside while they all gathered around grandma’s kitchen table to play cards. So the front porch became our playhouse, hospital for our dolls, the vet for our stuffed animals and stage. We would put on little plays and talent contests, singing into the handle of a jump rope. There were clothes lines on this porch so laundry could still be hung out on rainy days.
There was a small side porch just off the kitchen, that was quickly closed in with windows on three sides. This was where the “kids” table was during holiday meals. On the side porch is where I would sit with my Grandpa and count the cars of trains passing down in the valley. He would tell me all about the trains. Grandpa had worked on the railroad in Virginia until a flying metal sliver out his eye.
The third porch was the back porch, it wasn’t closed in at first. But my uncles got together one weekend for a “work weekend” and closed in the porch with windows and installed a small sink for hand washing. Grandma didn’t want “barn dirty” hands in her kitchen sink. I have always loved porches and drool over houses with large wrap around porches, sadly I do not have a porch.
Out the Back Door
If you went out the back door of the farm house you were headed towards the barn. A couple of small tool sheds and the corn crib on the left, and a patch of currant bushes, garden, and chicken coop and pen on your right. Straight ahead was the Barn, a magical place. The central room was typical of a ramp barn, it held the grain bins, some old horse collars and harnesses hanging on the wall. Hanging above from the ceiling was the huge hay fork that could impale a whole wagon load of loose hay and with ropes and pulleys you could guide it up into the hayloft. And the Corn Sheller, you could drop in an ear of dried corn, turn the crank and the corn kernels fell into a bucket shooting the empty cob out the other side. We all wanted to turn that crank. “Down under” on the right side was the pig pen, above was the hayloft. On the left were the cattle stanchions, this room had a concrete floor with the “gutter” where the cows did their thing. Above the cows in the upper level was the turkey pen where two large turkeys were fattening up for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Out back was the manure pile.
At haying time Mom, Dean and I would go to the farm. Mom drove the tractor to pull the hay wagon. Grandpa would fork up a pile of hay unto the wagon. It was our job to spread it around and tamp it down. The more we walked around on it the better it held together, easier it was to get it up into the hayloft.
The creek down behind the barn was also spring fed. There was a pipe driven into the hillside and the water poured out into a big wooden spring box used for watering the cows. In the bottom of that box lived a big old bullhead fish. We were told he took care of the mosquitoes. The water coming out of that spring was very cold.
One very hot summer day Grandma and I went to play in the creek. I had on an old bathing suit, gGrandma didn’t, she just took off her house dress and there she stood in a big bra and huge panties. Quite a sight! We moved some of the stones around in the creek bottom, till we had a big hole we could both sit in. That water felt so good I think we sat there till we were prunny.
More on Grandpa and Grandma Hall
I mentioned that Grandpa Hall lost the sight in his eye. That eye turned a milky blue. When grandpa came in for lunch he usually had four-leaf or five-leaf clovers tucked into his hat band. He seemed to have a special knack for spotting lucky clovers and arrow heads, he would always have a couple in his pocket. [One time while I was helping Grandpa in his Lower Garden, he said “Skip, you just walked past that neat arrowhead.” He stooped down and picked up a beautiful white quartz arrowhead in the dirt.- Dan alias Skip] When we would ask him why he was lucky finding neat things, he said it was because of his magic eye. He always carried a whole nutmeg his pocket, “to protect him from the rummytiz.” He also carried an old newspaper clipping celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 1815 eruption of the volcano that caused “the year without a summer”. As a farmer that fascinated him.
[When I was kid I sometimes stayed a whole week at Grandma’s house all by myself, meaning Mom, Dad, Nan and Dean weren’t there. I spent many hours working on the farm and talking with Grandpa. He told me many wonderful stories! But unfortunately, I have forgotten most of them. He did tell me that when he was a boy it was a very different time and he had seen many changes. He was born in 1885 and died in 1960. I remember him telling me as a boy he and the other kids were not allowed to use the word “bull.” They had to say “gentleman cow.” He told me that one time he was on a ladder putting in hay in a hayloft and lightning hit the ladder. He was thrown off but not injured. However, the small African American boy holding the ladder at the bottom was killed. – Dan]
Grandma would peel and slice apple’s (she called them apple snits) and spread them out on an old sheet laid on the metal roof of the chicken coop to dry. She would bring them into the house by late afternoon before the dew fell. She used these dried apples to make her much loved baked apples.
Everyone loved her white cornmeal spoon bread. Started in a hot cast iron skillet then finished in an oven. I liked syrup or honey on the warm tender bread.
I liked to go with Uncle Pete [Not our real uncle. A guy who the family took in and lived with them for many years. We always called him Uncle Pete. – Dan] when he took the cans milk to the cheese factory. Also grandma churned her own butter, l helped turn the crank.
Another food we looked forward to was Grandma’s corn pudding. But beware of the mashed potatoes, if they looked yellow it wasn’t butter, it was turnips that she mashed in there. Yuck.
Grandma used a clothes line prop, a long slender sapling with a Y at the top. You would hang up your sheets and so they wouldn’t drag on the ground, you pushed the line up with the prop. One spring the prop sprouted leaves.
Each summer there was a big family reunion. Several long tables and chairs were set up in the side yard. There was so much food and desserts, we couldn’t wait till Grace was said so we could dig in. Later a brick fireplace was built along with a weather tight, mouse proof cupboard down at the end of the yard.
Some extra special holiday memories. I love chicken gizzards and I asked my Grandma if I could have the turkey gizzard one Thanksgiving. When I got to the table there at my spot, on my plate, was that big old turkey gizzard. I was so happy and I began to eat that gizzard, l chewed and chewed till my jaws grew tired. I had lost my appetite and couldn’t eat any Thanksgiving dinner.
I remember one Easter driving to Grandma’s and we were stopped by a terrible flood. The river in Corning, NY was flooding through the city. I remember seeing a house float by. It was so bad, we had to turn around. The Front Room in their house was used only on special occasions. At Christmas time, Grandma would set up a faux fireplace in the Front Room and hang a white stocking for every grandchild. There would be a small orange, nuts in the shell, a small gift, and a candy cane in each stocking. Early on there were 14 stockings, there were more later on. Also my grandparents had great outdoor Christmas decorations. There were the three Wise Men on huge plywood camels, and the house outlined in colored lights. SInce they lived high up a hill, their house and lights could be seen from US Route 15 two or three miles away down in the valley. One year they won the Best Decorated House Award.
I have lots of fond memories of visiting Grandpa and Grandma Hall in Tioga, PA.
Submitted by Nancy Hyde Seyfried