My current goal is to better job of balancing my time between the two.
So where does this woman
fit into my family research experience? She falls under the column of facts
received from a reliable third party source. In her case for me that would be
many conversations with my father, who even though he did not meet
her until her late years, knew much of her life story as told to him by his
father, Maggie's brother. For me this is a reliable source of information
unless further research proves otherwise.
Meet, my great
aunt, Maggie
Margaret Davis
Barnett
Just as her mother's, era of the civil war draws my interest so does Maggie's
albeit, a few decade later.
I am drawn to Maggie's
story by her apparent courageous and adventurous spirit. I have no way of
knowing if she felt that in her spirit or if her decision to leave her home and
travel across the continent was directed toward a commitment to her family and their
care. Either way she took a journey I'm not sure I would have considered at
that date and time.
At the age of thirty-four
she embarked on a life changing journey. She, two of her brothers and a first
cousin boarded a train for Wallowa County, Oregon as homesteaders. Her obituary
gives this insight into early years there.
"Miss Barnett was an early settler of
Wallowa County coming to the county in 1903... She was also a pioneer school
teacher."
The rest of the story, as
related by my father, is that she never married and that her life was plagued
with financial woes. One of her brother's, Joseph, died twelve years after
their arrival and her younger brother was reported to have become an alcoholic.
And then of course there was the 'Great Depression'. These and other unknown
factors lead her to heavily mortgage her properties (two hundred plus acres as
a homesteader) which she struggled with up until she died.
At some point after my
father returned from serving in the Army in WWII in 1945, he and his father
traveled to Oregon at which time he took these pictures of the two homes she
owned at that time.
And so it was that after
residing there for forty-four years she died penniless and as the result of a
prolonged illness.
This post wouldn't be
complete without relating the 'other' family story about Maggie.
Family
lore has it that Aunt Maggie carried a gun in her apron pocket and that on one occasion
for an unknown reason it discharged and wounded her in the leg.
Note:
The story grew as time went by and another relative tells that after being
injured she lay by the kitchen door until being discovered some time later.
As a child who grew up
watching multiple 'cowboy' and 'pioneer' t.v. series and movies this story of
course made Aunt Maggie appear to be bigger than life.
As an older adult I now
appreciate that as a result of this character in the family novel, I was able
to spend time in the my father's company hearing his voice and experiencing his
wonderful sense of humor.
Those memories along with
Aunt Maggie's portrait hanging in my home contribute to my ongoing interest in
researching our family and passing on what I come to find to others.
While the photos from my first two posts came from the 'dress box' I told about in my first posts here and here ; this portrait rested in the attic of my childhood home. How it ever survived is amazing. It must have been covered by glass for at least part of that time or it would have been easily destroyed since I believe it is either pastels or chalk.