Next - 1931

Hi all.  I'm just letting you know that we're going to begin tomorrow, January 1st, with the first entry from Mom's new diary, 1931. She did't seem to have kept a diary in 1930 or at least if she did I don't have it. Her entries are very short, just two or three sentences. But I also have my Dad's letters home to his parents. So between the two writings I think you'll get a pretty good picture of college life at Oregon during that period. And, this is the year that they meet so you'll read about that as well. Hope you enjoy the reading.

December 11, 1930

December 11, 1930

Dear Folks,

Here it is the eleventh and your letter is still here, but I just had to tell you the news.

June Bryant sent Bill and I a package, and we just opened it. Boy it’s a big box of cookies and just about the best I ever tasted too. Pretty nice.

I received the result of an accounting examination we had last week. The test was sprung on us without any chance for preparation at all, and it took a whole hour to complete. Well I made forty-four points out of a possible fifty, and that was the highest grade in the class. Maybe you don’t think I feel good.

December 10, 1930

December 10, 1930

Dear Mother,

Thank you so much for your encouraging letters; they did me a lot of good. I have a bit of good news to tell you and Dad here: about a week before Thanksgiving we had an examination in Social Science over our whole term’s work. We just got the results today and little sonny here pulled down a two. There were only four in the class who received as high a mark as that, and out of a class of one hundred three that is very good. I was so darned elated that I couldn’t do anything in Military all the next hour. No foolin (sic), I have been going around here with a wild look in my eyes and a song on my teeth all day.

After supper this evening, I went over to the Gamma Phi house and sat on the davenport with Helen Burns for half the evening. I may come home on the train with her Thursday afternoon at four-twenty. My gym exam comes off five o-clock Monday evening; so I will be able to get home Thursday instead of Friday. Boy I will be plenty glad to get home.

I made sixty cents taking tickets at a basketball game the other evening and eighty cents at a concert las night; so the University now owes me a dollar and forty cents if I add correctly. I still have a dollar and a half left from Grandpa’s five dollars and with twenty dollars and fifty five cents in the bank, I am sitting pretty.

Not much more to say except that Thursday evening I would like to go to a Hi-Y meeting if you won’t think me too neglectful in rushing off.

Love, George

December 5, 1930

December 5, 1930

Dear Folks,

I think I had better write to you now, because the next two weeks will be very busy. This grind of studying is terribly monotonous.

As to finances. It will take quite a lot of money to be initiated, and without my mail job it will no doubt be very hard. Now here is my plan, but I don’t know whether or not you two will agree to it. The University makes a practice of lending money to the students in need. If I borrowed this money, I could no doubt pay it back next year; because I will get a job this summer some place. Please think it over, and we can talk more about the proposition when I get home.

When I send my washing home, you might as well keep all of it but the handkerchiefs there, because I will need some at home.

These darn exams are sure beginning to worry me a lot; everybody says they are terribly hard. I have two weak subjects that must come up if I expect to be initiated this term. Next term I am certainly going to carry more house; so I will be sure and make lots of points. I hope I don’t worry too much, but things are certainly tough. Sometimes I almost feel as though I would like to give up the sponge and come home, but that isn’t a good sign of character is it?

Maybe I am just discouraged, but it will probably soon pass.

Love, George

Jane’s Notes: Throughout these letters there is much discussion about finances. I think it must have been hard to go to college during the depression.

Memories of Ann Elizabeth Powell Hibbard - Episode 11

We needed a chauffeur because of course we only had one car. He had to take us where we needed to go when my father was at work altho’ he drove my father too. For a while Sleepy’s husband was our chauffeur but he proved unreliable so my father had to discharge him. Before we had a car and a chauffeur we traveled about by horse drawn cart. There were three classes of them, the caratella, the carametta and the calaea. The caratella you hailed on the street whether it was occupied or not and were dropped off near your destination. This was an open cart that the driver filled with as many people as he could crowd in and that the poor little pony could pull. It was used by the poorer people.

Then the Carretla was also pulled by a pony, but it only carried one fare of one or two people and just went to your destination. You also hailed the Carametta from the street like a taxi. It was enclosed around the sides and back and had an oil cloth curtain to go across the front in case of rain. the Calaesa was a much larger two wheel cart also enclosed and pulled by a horse. When you were going to a party you called the livery stable and ordered it to arrive at a certain time and the driver wore a uniform! Then there was the ultimate, a Victoria!, a four wheeled carriage with room for four with the driver on a box in front. It could be covered or have the top down. This could be ordered from the livery stable but the wealthier families had their own!

Well I have strayed a long way from my mother’s life as a bride in Manila in 1908.  My mother and father were married on Dec. 7, 1907. Before my father left Manila for his visit home he had lived in a boarding house for bachelors so I am sure many of my mother’s first friends in Manila were men friends of my father’s. In fact some of them even boarded with them when I was a little girl. Their first home was a cottage in the suburbs, a place called Santa Mesa. There’s a picture of it in my baby book. One of their friends was a photographer. That’s why there are so many baby pictures of me because that was before every family had a snap shot camera.

January 4, 1994

I discovered this in Ann’s desk a day or two ago. My eyesight has become too poor to peruse it completely, but I assume it is Ann’s effort to flesh out what her father was unable to complete. I assume her father’a account is with the family historical papers in the teakwood chest and I will place this tablet in that chest. In August Ann will have been deceased three years.

George L Hibbard, husband of Ann Elizabeth Powell Hibbard.

I have lots of letters that my Dad, George L. Hibbard, wrote to his parents from Eugene. My grandmother never threw anything away. Since the next installment of Mom's diary begins in 1931, I thought I'd publish these few letters that I have from 1930. These would have been from Dad's freshman year in college. He makes no mention of Mom so I don't think they had met yet, although they were in school together.

December 2, 1930

Dear Folks,

I certainly had a pleasant trip with the “Dean”. He is easy to talk to, and that is the kind of person I like.

Thank you so much for the pajamas and scarf. The scarf should have waited until Christmas though, and you should have bought something for yourself mother.

Jimmy Bravis thinks we are out of luck for a mail job this year, because his father tried to get Jim a job. He had an application in as early as I did too. Mr. Bravis has a lot of influence; so I don’t know what to think.

I went to the dispensary this afternoon to see about my wart. Doctor Phy cut the top off and then burned it with an electric needle; the sparks from the needle burned clear down in and wasn’t the most pleasant sensation imaginable. I have to go back in  about a week for another treatment.

I helped Bill get out the house bills today and mine is only thirty-nine fifty; so I should be able to save some money this week or rather month. If my mail job doesn’t come through, I am going to come down here for a couple of days during the holidays and help Jean and Bill close the books for the term. I may be able to work into this job yet by my junior year.

The slippers I left at home are in sad need, but I can manage until they get here.

I am fine; so you two be that way too. Mrs. Grady asked me to invite you over to their home anytime to play cards or something.

George

Memories of Ann Elizabeth Powell Hibbard - Episode 10

Nov. 2, 1982

It has been four years since I wrote the above and I don’t want to leave it unfinished as my father did. When I think of the early years of my parents marriage in Manila I can’t help but imagine  what a glamours life it must have seemed to a girl raised on a farm in Iowa. It was a very cosmopolitan life. Many of her friends were English women (Colonials) who observed the manners of high society. Exchanging calls and calling cards (there were strict rules about how many cards you left, your own and your husband’s even tho’ he didn’t go with you). They entertained at tea parties. There was an abundance of servants because help was very inexpensive. Many of them lived in, so they were furnished with food and housing and a small salary. They were anxious to work for the Americans and English because they could learn a skill.

One time my mother needed a new cook and she was interviewing applicants. She felt she was indebted at entertaining and was planning a series of dinner parties so she was looking for one who could make good deserts. A man named Manuel applied but he couldn’t make deserts and was turned down. About a week later he applied again. In the mean time he had learned to make deserts and he was our cook for many, many years. He made wonderful pies and his lemon pie became famous among my mother’s friends. 

At the time I was in high school we had six servants The cook, laundress, two house boys, the nurse maid, and the chauffeur. In a country where the clothes were mostly cotton and silk and you changed often and there were no washing machines yet, a laundress was very necessary. The house boys did the house work. We had two because the younger one was the brother of the actual house boy and he was working for nothing so he could learn. Later he learned to drive the car from the chauffeur because that was a higher paying job of course. The nurse maid was our legendary “Sleepy”. Her name was Felipa. She came to us when I was perhaps about two years old. I couldn’t pronounce her name and she became Sleepy because that was as close as I could come to her name. She stayed with our family until after I was married and came back to the States twice with my mother. In 1920 we came back to Minnesota to spend a year because my other had had a near nervous breakdown after Eleanor’s birth. Sleepy had been so much help and comfort to her that she agreed to come back and spend the year in the States. In 1920 Sleepy was a great curiosity and of much interest to the people of LeRoy, Minnesota and you can imagine her experiences of a winter in Minnesota with lots of snow and coal stoves after her life in the orient!

Then in 1933 after I graduated, my father retired from business and they came back to live in California at Lakeport. They had become Sleepy’s family and she decided to stay with them so she came back and lived with them for several years. She had no children of her own, altho she told my mother that she had had two little boys who had died as infants. Eventually she felt she had to go back to Manila where she lied with a niece who could write English and we kept track of her until the niece wrote us of her death. She could not write but she did read books in Tagalogue. We didn’t know her age. In 1920 when she came back to Minnesota she needed a passport. She didn’t know when she was born, date or year. So we gave her a birthday and my father decided from what she could remember of her childhood that she must have been about 37 in 1920. The year that she lived in Minnesota my father withheld her salary and gave it to her in a lump sum when she got back to Manila. It was enough that she could buy a house of her own and she became a woman of substance in the little community where she lived besides a woman of the world with all her traveling. There are pictures of her among my pictures. She was devoted to Eleanor who was a bond between my mother and Sleepy.

November 20, 1930

November 20, 1930

Dear Dad,

This probably will not sound so good, but we won’t arrive in Portland before seven or seven-thirty in the evening. Classes all day Wednesday make it impossible to leave before three-thirty. We can start out then, however, and drive during the night.

I received a letter from mother today informing me that my washing was altogether too dirty.

There was an accounting test this morning which was the hardest I have had yet. Twenty-five questions and all about such things as inventory turnover, percent of return on proprietor’s investment, etc. The professor said we would be doing well if we answered nineteen of the questions, and I finished twenty-three. It remains to be seen how accurately though.

Goodbye until Wednesday, and I am sorry I can’t arrive sooner.

George.

November 15, 1930

November 15, 1930

Dear Folks,

I certainly am getting lots of practice in swimming lately. We swim between classes; or almost that anyway. The rain is coming down in torrents here.

On Armistice Day, Tom Moran, Jean Grady and I hiked to spencer’s butte and back. It is about eight miles south of here and is 1600 feet above Eugene. It is about the steepest climb I have ever made, just like the last 1500 feet of Mount Hood. We arrived at the top at five o’clock, just dusk. On the way down, it became so dark and foggy that we lost our way. I mean lost too, our direction was all gone. We wandered around for a long time, until we saw the light from a farm house. The farmers showed us a road and the right direction to town. So we started out, walked five miles to the Lodge, and arrived too late for dinner. We went in the kitchen and warmed up some stale butter horns and let it go at that. I don’t think I have every felt quite so tired.

Wednesday evening, from six thirty to seven thirty was “dime crawl”. You go into any sorority house you want, pay a dime, and dance with the lady of your heart or otherwise. I shined enough shoes; so I took in a couple of houses and had a great time.

I don’t know what has come over me down here, but I seem to have a good time with whatever I do. Maybe it is the newness of it all, the new friends, or maybe it is a change of attitude. Anyway I feel right at home.

Today is the date of our game with Corvallis, and it ought to be good. The atmosphere of rivalry between the two schools is so intense, that the teams play their hardest on this event. Last night, the OSC rookie team came over, and the Oregon rookies took them - 20 to 0.

Say hello to the Grandfolks and tell them not to go to too much fuss for Thanksgiving.

Love, George

November 9, 1930

November 9, 1930

Dear Folks,

This has certainly been a busy week. The bonfire was started Thursday noon, and I had to guard it that night. I had nine bonfires going all night in such places that the light would prevent anybody from creeping up. One of the fires was at the bottom of the road, and there were about ten boys there to prevent anybody but freshman to come up.  I walked from fire to fire all night long in order to be sure there were enough men at each one and enough wood.  At twelve o’clock the truck brought all the freshman girls up to refresh us with doughnuts and coffee. At six in the morning I came home, did my detail, ate breakfast went to classes, then back on the butte. About four o’clock we looked at the bonfire which was about completed, and saw it going up in smoke. We all ran to the spot, pulled off the packing box that was burning in it and found an infernal machine in it. Such luck --- the fire was saved. This machine was composed of a time clock, two batteries, a switch, and a bunch of excelsior soaked in flammable chemicals. We smothered the flame and found that the excelsior was wrapped in a Corvallis paper. That is Oregon State College for you. Well they have a bonfire next week, and I will tell you in my next letter whether a scheme that some of us freshman have will work or not.

Our home coming sign received fourth honorable mention. It was floated in the mill race. The mill race turned two paddle wheels which in turn made a bear dance up and down, a duck turn an old fashioned organ. The bear is symbolical of UCLA and the duck of course is for Oregon. The bear was attached to the organ by a chain, and both were in a football field. In the rear and out of sight we had a loud speaker. This was attached to our phonograph inside, and we played a record all night long which had nothing but street organ music on it. It was real clever. 

They wanted Bob Norton and I to go down town and get some lumber, Saturday. We took the canoe and went clear down the race to a mill and bought it. Here is where the story comes in. We tied the lumber in the shape of a raft and tried to tow it home. Boy what a time. The darn lumber acted as a rudder and took us from one side to another of the old race.

We have a holiday Tuesday, and I believe I will study most of the day.

Fletch and I went up on the heights this morning; there certainly are some beautiful homes up there.

I can’t think of much more to say except that Aunt Lil and Uncle Vic failed to call. They probably couldn’t remember the name of the Lodge.

Say hello to the Grandfolks and take good care of yourselves.

Love, George

November 6, 1930

November 6, 1930

Dear Folks,

All of my mid-term grades are in and I made forty-two points. II in accounting, II in gym, IV in social science, V in Survey of Physical Science, III in personal efficiency, and I in Military. These grades are all good but the IV and V. they are only mid-term grades however and I can bring them up by the end of the term. The difficulty is that these two courses consist of reading books and picking out the main points. Evidently I don’t have the knack of doing this very well, but I certainly am going to acquire it.

Howard Steib’s mother died Tuesday evening. I wrote a letter of sympathy, and Bill, Jean, and I wired a spray for the funeral today. It certainly must be a blow to loose one’s mother; because nobody knows better than I, what a mother means in a boy’s life.

Last night word came around that Oregon State was coming over to blast our concrete “O” on Skinner’s Butte. All of us freshman had to get up at one this morning, dress, and beat it for the “O”. It must have been a farce because no none was there. It was plenty cold. Tonight we guard the bon fire and the girls will bring doughnuts and coffee up to us at different intervals.

Last Saturday I went to the Sophomore informal with a girl named Lois Sharp; a Pi Phi. Just about the prettiest girl I ever was out with; I will certainly have to do something about this.

Bob Steuver was reinstated in school, and he is doing real well.

Ruth Stone wrote me a letter today. Two pages long. She said she wasn’t in the mood for writing, but she felt is was her duty. Nice gal ----- no pleasure in writing to me huh ---- I’ll fix her ---- I won’t write back! Oh I probably will weaken.

Say hello to the Grandfolks and take good care of the sagebrush.

Lovingly, George

Jane's Notes: The reference to sagebrush must mean his parents are in Bend visiting the grandparents.

October 24, 1930

October 24, 1930

Dear Folks,

Things are fine here, and I am performing this little writing at the late hour of ten o’clock.

Wednesday, we had a dinner dance here; and I had Frances Carpenter over from the Gamma Phi Beta house. I certainly go for these free affairs. We eat dinner and then dance in between the main course and dessert. After dessert we dance until seven thirty, at which time everybody must go home and study.

Tuesday evening after dinner, the whole Lodge went across the race and danced at the Alpha Phi house until the closing time, seven-thirty. These little socials certainly break the monotony of studying and make the time go very swiftly.

George and I were late getting home Wednesday night in order to clean the house up. I guess we acted too nonchalant about it; because we each got a hack the pizzaza for our attitude.

I put a five cent shoe shine sign in front of my room this evening and took in the fast sum of thirty-five cents. Am I sitting on top of the world ---- well I guess. I can break the stock market now. Grady and I are the two wealthiest gents on this campus --- sure!

Next weekend the sophomore informal takes place, and it is free too. Well I guess I can have a date for that without much worry. Tomorrow we play Idaho, and I have a job taking tickets which will mean about a buck and a quarter to me.

Week after next, the mid-term grades come out; so I will be able to write home and tell you where I stand. I don’t really know myself now.

I won’t have any further need for clean shirts; although I had better exchange the lace pillow slip for a plain one at home.

Fletch has gone home to Berkley for a visit, but he will be back soon.

Love, George

P.S. Would like to have the dog.

Jane's Notes: My Dad always said he didn't meet my mother until the summer after his freshman year when they were both working at Crater Lake. Here's proof that he at least was in the Alpha Phi house. Mom was an Alpha Phi and always said that she remembered him from before their first summer at Crater Lake.

October 20, 1930

October 20, 1930

Dear Mother and Dad,

It is 9 PM and I have just finished my accounting. We are taking up profit and loss statements now; and from all reports, they are certainly the worst yet.

I thought I had better write and tell you that I have dropped my Spanish. It was way over my head; and I went to see my advisor, George Robbins, about it today. When he learned of my poor foundation, he advised me to drop it. He said that constant worry over one subject, demoralizes one to such an extent that their other studies suffer accordingly. I certainly feel a lot easier tonight; so it must have been the right thing to do.  Mr. Robbins goes to our church every Sunday, and Sunday before last he introduced Fletch and I to his mother.

It was terribly cold in the rumble seat. I rode from Portland to McMinnville, Phil Smith rode form McMinnville to Corvallis, and JIm Travis rode from Corvallis to Eugene. We all took turns at my stocking hat and gloves too.

Clean sheets felt great and mighty cold at first too. I think last night was about our coldest night so far; it surely took will power to get out of bed.

I am going to bed now and get some sleep. I was so sleepy on the Military field today that I couldn’t even lift the rifle or obey orders correctly. Don’t think I was the only one in the same boat; everyone was dead on their feet.

Goodbye and write me soon.

George

P.S. Fletch surely has nice stationary. GLH

October 12, 1930

October 12, 1930

Dear Mother,

I am just home from church; I went all along today because Fletch went fishing.

Three boys drove up from the Stanford Lodge this week and in a great big Cadillac Phantom. They certainly are nice fellows, and we have been showing them a nice time.

Last night I went to a Sorority pledge dance and had a great time. That made my third dance down here, and I haven’t spent a cent on a pleasure yet. If I can only work it that way all through college, I will be sitting pretty.

My studies are coming along all right as far as I can see. It is hard to tell just what you are doing, because most of your work consists of reading and listening to lectures. They don’t examine you on anything until mid-term; so I ought to know what I am doing by then. It surely is funny how one’s attitude changes. In high school I would have died rather than study on weekends, but here everyone does and you don’t think anything of it.

Our political party won and so we are sitting great this term. I ought to receive some kind of an appointment through my help in the election.

Every once in awhile we go over to the Gamma Phi house right after dinner and dance with the girls until seven-thirty, when we come home and study. It surely is lots of fun, and a great way to become acquainted.

We will be home about six or seven Friday.

Say hello toDad and put a leash on the dog when I bust in at the end of the week.

Love, George

October 6, 1930

October 6, 1930

Dear Mother,

After our telephone conversation, I think I had better write; although I don’t think I have neglected you. This is the first day I have had any respite from my studies.

Bill is house manager, and I helped him buy tonights dinner. He certainly is an old Jew. he goes to about five places and then picks the cheapest one.

Fletch and I went to church yesterday. About two o-clock, I went to the library and studied until eight.

There isn’t much doing but studying here until Saturday night, and then there is plenty to do. Last Saturday was “Open House” night and next Saturday I am invited to the Alpha Omicron Pi pledge dance, which won’t cost me a cent.

Politics are certainly played down here. right now two factions are each trying to put over a man for political office of freshman class president. The two parties offer you different political offices if you will support their candidate. Some game, the man who might deserve it, never gets the office.

I am pretty well up on my studies; all I have to do tonight is do my accounting.

We are going to have a dance when in Portland; so I think I will call up Stone or somebody tonight for a date.

They call me cotton here because of my hair and to distinguish me from the other George.

I will write you again next Sunday; so don’t worry about me and say hello to Dad.

Love, George

October 4, 1930

October 4, 1930

Dear Mother,

There are no football tickets for sale here, because we all get in on our student body tickets.

Things are going along fine here, you know, good old college life: no sleep, all study, good meals etc. the assignments surely do pile up, and I have to study every minute in order to keep up. I try to get to bed by ten or ten thirty every night though. I am becoming better and better acquainted in the house, and I realize more and more what a wise decision I made. the Betas are right next door as you know, and there certainly exists a wonderful friendly spirit between the two. There are always some Betas in the Lodge or else some Chi Psis’ in their home. We go places with each other, and have great times.

I am rooming with Fletcher Udall, and he sends his best regards to you. Every morning I get up at six-forty-five and do my detail before breakfast. My detail this week is to sweep the walks and porches. No demands are made on me however which will take me from my studies, in fact everybody is very anxious to help me. Jean helped me with my accounting tonight.

When I come home, I am going to bring George Rischmuller and Bob Norton with me; so please don’t embarrass him, because the fact hurts him enough as it is.

I received a letter from Malcom today, and he is pledged to Phi Gamma Delta. He came right out and said he wasn’t happy, dam it all.

Say hello to Dad and don’t worry about me; I am all well.

George

October 27, 1930

October 27, 1930

Dear Folks,

Little news, some scandal, and a little tragedy this time.

Howard Steib and Ruth Stone were visiting at Corvallis this weekend, and they took a run over with Malc to see us. They stayed about an hour I guess.

I am on wake up duty this week, and it certainly is a dinger. Besides waking everybody up, I have to keep the fires going.  The place is so hot right now, that everyone is running around in their shirt sleeves.

Bob Stewer got drunk and put in jail one night and as a result the University got rid of one of its members, and Chi Psi received a blot on its reputation. He left today, and the boys all heaved a sigh of relief.

Pauline Leupold’s mother died Friday night, and I wrote her a letter Sunday. Rather a difficult type of letter to write.

I went to church Sunday, and that was about all for that day.

All the boys here at school are wearing something that I would like very much if you can see your way clear. They are blue flannel shirts, almost black. Bill got his in the basement of Meier and Frank for two ninety-five. They look great with a light colored tie. Bill’s is an Argonaut shirt. If you would box up a little pumice for my teeth and an orange stick, I think I could eat better.

Bye, George

October 31, 1930

1930_Oct_31_Newspaper

Oregon Daily Emerald Volume XXXII Number 22

Ahern Named To Boss Frosh Bonfire Work

Kendall Releases Complete Committee Line-ups For Labor

James, Malkasian, Klinker, Hibbard, and Wagner Made Heads

With the appointment of Fred Ahern as general chairman of the frosh bonfire by John Kendall, president of the freshman class, plans for the first homecoming bonfire to be constructed under restrictions as to height, size, working hours, and materials were launched last night.

The first will be lit on the south side of Skinner’s butte the night of the Homecoming rally, Friday night, November 7.

Working under Ahern are the following committee chairmen: Leroy James, transportation; Fred Malkasian, material; bob Klinker, construction; George HIbbard, vigilance; and Margaret Wagner, refreshments. Sheldon Dunning has been named secretary. .... The vigilance committee has as its member, besides Hibbard, Ed Schweiker, Jimmy Flanagan, Dick, Stone, and Charles Johnson. there will be no working after a certain hour in the evening.....

Jane's Notes: Dad slipped into a leadership role right away when he landed in Eugene.

September 27, 1930

September 27, 1930

Dear Mother,

I am living at the Chi Psi Lodge, and I enjoy it very much. I am through registering and ready to start school Monday. Last night I saw my first night football game, and it was against Willamete University.

I wish you would send my black leather coat, my shoe shining outfit, with some polish, my heavy shoes, the bottle of blue ink in the little closet next to the book-case, and another blanket.

All of my troubles are cleared up, and I wrote my last letter to Mrs. McCune this morning.

Dean Faville, the head of the business Administration School, comes here for dinner every once in a while. He is very young and has a yellow Buick sports roadster. He calls all of us by our first name, and he took some of us for a long ride last night.

We are going to have a dance in the Eugene Hotel tonight, and I am looking forward to a great time at my first college dance.

I am taking Commercial Spanish, Spanish Composition and Conversation, Personal Efficiency, Constructive Accounting, Survey of Physics, Military, and Gym.

I will write next week; and at that time, I can tell you more about my studies

George

Chi Psi Lodge

1018 Hillyard

Jane's Notes: My father was raised in the Christian Science religion. Throughout these letters he often refers to Mrs. McCune, whom I assume was the family practitioner. I remember my grandmother always calling her "practitioner" for advice. 

September 30, 1930

I'm going to fill in letters from the end of 1930 that my dad, George L. Hibbard, wrote to his parents during his freshman year in college. Since my mother doesn't pick up her diary again until 1931, this will give you a flavor for the separate lives of my parents before they met officially. My mother always said she knew my Dad when he was a freshman but that he didn't remember meeting her until the following summer when they both worked at Crater Lake Lodge.

September 30, 1930

Dear Mother,

This is my first day of school, and I must say it is quite different from high school.

I called Mrs. McCune this morning for help with this vaccination. Mortal mind tries to claim an infection, but I know he is all wrong. I don’t have a class until three this afternoon; so I am spending the time writing to you and reading the Science and Health. Fletcher and I went to church Sunday, and I am going to do it every Sunday too.

You had better send me two blankets instead of one; and I would also like my pipe.

Say hello to Dad; and be sure you don’t worry about me, because I know who is taking care of me.

George

Chi Psi Lodge

1018 Hillyard

Eugene, Oregon

Memories of Ann Elizabeth Powell Hibbard - Episode 9

One of the earliest memories of my mother’s life that I remember her telling me about was of going to North Dakota in the summer. Civil War veterans were awarded homestead land. He (I assume she’s talking about her grandfather) took up some in North Dakota but he had to live on it so many months a year. So the family would pack up in the summer and go out to a sod house in North Dakota. I don’t know how many years they did that but my mother was very young and actually I heard the most about it from Aunt Anna. My mother had many pleasant memories of family gatherings with the Thompson cousins. She also remembered all night dances because they were infrequent and people had to come so far and the children sleeping on the floor to make room for everyone. She also remembered that they had oyster stew for midnight supper.  Where in the world did they get oysters in Minnesota around 1900? After my grandfather died, she and her mother moved into the town of LeRoy to a house I remember as Grandma Howe’s house. I can see it clearly in my mind and have often wondered if it is still standing. I don’t know whether Uncle Wilber and Aunt Mabel were still at home too. 

My mother taught school in a one room school house, all grades. She said some of the boys were bigger than she was. Later she worked in a store in LeRoy in the dry goods section. At the time she met my father she was working in Austin, Minn. several hours by train north of Leroy. She was thirty-one years old and not married by her own choice. She had had many beaus and had even been engaged twice to the same man but broke it off when it came time to set a wedding date. My father was thirty-three years old at this time but they both must have known what they wanted because the same evening of the picnic that Aunt Beth had arranged when my father took my mother home he proposed marriage to her. She made him wait until the next morning before she accepted him. Whenever we would tease her about her whirl wind romance she would always say “But we were engaged two whole months before we were married.” The honeymoon was a train trip to San Francisco and an ocean voyage to Manila. In spite of the many times my mother crossed the ocean over the years she was always sea sick! That first trip the ship went from San Francisco to Honolulu and then on to Manila. Also passengers on that trip were some young men who were taking one of the first motor cars to the Hawaiian Islands. During the stop over they took my mother and Dad on a ride around the island. Can you imagine the sensation that must have caused? I think there was a picture of that car with them in front of it.

Since my father hadn’t realized he would be getting married on his trip home he had to borrow $500 to take my mother back to Manila so for a while (I don’t know how long it took) both of them taught the Filipinos English in night school to pay back the debt.

Memories of Ann Elizabeth Powell Hibbard - Episode 8

The third child was a boy, Joy. He and Aunt Daisy lived in Glendive, Montana. They had no children. We visited them also in 1920. I don’t know what he did for a living.

My mother was next and then Uncle Charles. I think he was fairly close to her in age. He and his wife lived in North Dakota and they had two daughters.

I don’t know how much younger than my mother Aunt Mabel was but in old pictures of the family when my mother was a young lady, Aunt Mabel appeared to be a teenager. Aunt Mabel was married to another one of my Uncle Ed’s, Ed Moor. He was a great favorite, too. In 1920 they lived in Salem Springs, Iowa which was very near LeRoy and we saw quite a bit of them. She had five children but two of them died while they were still children. The oldest was Vernita, who was older than me. She still lives in Des Moines and has a large family. She is widowed. There is a boy eight or so younger than me who now lives in California. He was very smart and so were his children (Mom kept track of them). The youngest of Aunt Mabel’s children was Beth. By WWII she was widowed and she and Beth came out to California to work and thus were close again to my mother and Aunt Anna who was also widowed and living there. So in later years the three sisters were near each other again!

The youngest child in my mother’s family was Wilber. He came along lat like Edee and was much petted and favored especially by Mom and Aunt Mabel. In 1920 he and his family lived on a farm in Iowa not too far from Aunt Mabel Moor. We visited them also and had the fun farm experiences there! His wife was named Mabel, too, and she, Aunt Mable and Mom were very good friends. They had five children and even tho’ Uncle Wilber died when he was still in his thirties, Aunt Mabel Howe and her children have remained very close to Aunt Mabel Moor and I still exchange Christmas cards with one of those cousins.

Memories of Ann Elizabeth Powell HIbbard - Episode 7

My Mother was the middle child of seven children. There was an eighth child named Edmond David but he died in infancy and I don’t know just when he came in the sequence. The oldest was my Aunt Carrie. She married Ed Garvy. They had three children. The two oldest, a boy and a girl, were born before my grandmother’s youngest uncle Ed was an orphan and he delighted in all Aunt Carries relatives and took them for his own. In the 1920’s they were living on a farm in Wisconsin near Sloan Springs that he carved out of the woods. (You will read in this narrative a lot about the year 1920. That was a year that my mother, the three of us and Sleepy, spent a whole year in Leroy, Minn. and when I had a chance to know my relatives for the first time.) The McGinnis family was in Leroy, too, on a year’s leave from China. Uncle Ed & Aunt Carrie set up huge Army tents and a cook tent and we had a family reunion of all my mother’s sisters & brothers and all their families and kids for a week or more. Uncle Ed was so delighted with everything that he thought we ought to have Christmas. So he and all the fathers went into Duluth and came home with toys, candy, ice cream and he had a Santa Clause suit and we had Christmas in July in the woods in Wisconsin! This is a little out of place to tell this incident but I wanted to show how much fun Uncle Ed was and why he was such a favorite with his nieces and nephews. 

The next child was aunt Anna. She went to China as a young woman to be a missionary. She told me one time that she was driving home in a buggy one night from a prayer meeting when she received “a call” from God to go to China. Her family was the one of my mother’s that we knew the best. Not only did we spend the year in Minnesota together but we traveled from the Orient by boat & train together and also they visited us in Manila. In China she met Uncle James McGinnis who she married. He was the a missionary and the son of a missionary. He also was a favorite. He had a never ending supply of stories and both he & Aunt Anna had a wonderful sense of humor. they had five children, twins David & Jonathan, Griffith, Paul and Ann Elizabeth. They were the cousins we knew best, especially Paul and Ann who were closest to my age.

Memories of Ann Elizabeth Powell Hibbard - Episode 6

After my grandmother and my grandfather were married they lived on a farm. I suppose it was the same one where my mother was born. Grandmother churned the butter and took care of the chickens and the surplus was taken into town and sold. With her “butter and egg” money she bought extra things she wanted. One of the first things she bought when she had saved enough money was the bed room set that Dad and I have in our bedroom. We are just using the head board now but Dad had extended the sides to hold a double bed mattress but originally it was much smaller, probably 3/4 size and the chest of drawers is the only other piece I had. I don’t know whether there was a wash stand or not. The dressing table with the marble top and the little drawers was something we bought later for a little more than $100 which I thought was pretty extravagant but which would probably cost over $1,000. It is from a later period, I’m sure, even if the drawer pulls are similar. The chair at my desk also came from my grandmother Howe’s home. I don’t know when she got them but there were four of them and they were used in the parlor. After her death when they were breaking up her home each one of the girls took one of the chairs. Both the bedroom set and the chair were covered with a heavy dark varnish and the seat was out of the chair but Dad refinished them and brought out the walnut and made them the beautiful pieces they are now.

Jane's Notes: Until I read this I never knew the history behind their bedroom set. Missy has those pieces now.

Memories of Ann Elizabeth Powell Hibbard - Episode 5

Now I think it is time for me to fill in the story of my mother’s life up to this year in 1907 as well as I can remember from what I have heard and read. She was born on her parent’s farm in Iowa, just across the state line from Minnesota and near the town of LeRoy, Minnesota. In fact she said the barn which was across the road was in Minnesota. She arrived on Oct. 10, 1876. She said they called her a centennial baby. Jane’s Bryan is a bi-centennial baby. Many, many years later, Dr. Sun Yet Sen established the Republic of China on Oct. 10 and it became their “4th of July”. When my father was working for Mr. Polanca (a Chinaman) there was always a big celebration with many fire crackers on Oct. 10 and a big many course Chinese banquet. So for quite a few years my mother’s birthday was celebrated Chinese style!

My mother’s father was named Edmond David Howe. When she became a member of the DAR she traced her ancestors back to the Revolutionary War through her father’s side. Much to our delight, she also discovered that she was related to the British brothers General Howe and Admiral Howe who were “the enemy”. She established her relationship to the Howes who ran Howes Tavern which is still standing outside of boston and which was the sight of Longfellow’s poem “Tales of the Wayside Inn.”

She has told me that she remembers her father’s mother living with them when she was small. She remembered her as being a small sort of dried up old lady who sat in rocking  a chair, smoking a long clay pipe for her “dispepsia.” (I like to think that perhaps the rocking chair she used was the wicker one that Edee has that she painted black.) She used to tell them stories about her trip to Minnesota by covered wagon and of their trails and encounters with Indians. I don’t know whether this was after she was married or whether it was when she was a child so I don’t know whether my grandfather, Edmond David, was born in Minnesota or not. Perhaps it is in some of my mother’s records. When he was 18 he became a soldier in the Union Army but I don’t know what year that was but again that probably is in my mother’s records some place. We have a picture of him in his uniform with a bare trace of a beard beginning. We also have a tin type of him at that age that my grandmother carried all through the war and we have a companion tin type of my grandmother Howe in long curls at age 16 which my grandfather had through the war. They were married after the war. My grandmother’s maiden name was Thompson and her parents had come to this country from Edinburgh, Scotland. I have no idea how they ended up in Minnesota. When Dad and I went to Europe in 1965 we visited St. Cuthbert church in Edinburgh, where Ann Lawrence was Married to William Thompson. We have the marriage certificate and listed on the back the names and date of birth of their children. The first ones were born in Scotland. My grandmother, Ann Thompson, and I think there was a  younger brother, were born in this country but i don’t know whether it was in Minnesota or not.  However some of them must have settled down around LeRoy, because my mother had a whole raft of Thompson cousins that she grew up with.

Memories of Ann Elizabeth Powell Hibbard - Episode 4

At the turn of the century when the Spanish American war started, my father and his friends were at the age to enlist to see some of the world. Many of them did but my father came down with typhoid fever and wasn’t able to go with them but by the time my father was finally graduating from Normal School the government was sending out an appeal for teachers to volunteer to go to the Philippines to teach English. Since he had missed the war, here was his chance for adventure. He never talked much about those early days but he had many friends who I later knew as a child who came to the house and who also stayed in the Philippines. The first load of teachers went out on the Army transport Thomas. In later years there would be reunions of those original Thomasites who stayed in Manila. The Thomas was a regular transport to Manila from San Francisco for many years and there were lots of tales about those trips. My first trip back to the States when I was two was made on the Thomas because my father was still working for the Government.

One of my father’s friends in those days was a man named Fisher. I believe he was someone he knew in Kansas who went out during the war and decided to stay. Later a number of my friends in school were sons and daughters of American soldiers who decided to stay in the Philippines. In 1907 my father and Mr. Fisher decided to come home for a visit and they planned to go on around the world instead of going back across the Pacific. I don’t know what their itinerary was but my mother’s engagement ring was an oriental pearl he bought on the way back before he had even met her. We had pictures of my father and Mr. Fisher taken on camels in front of the pyramids and he also brought home a beautiful cameo that he must have gotten in Italy and I do remember his telling about seeing the ruins in Pompeii. On this trip home my father met and married my mother. Mr. Fisher did not go back to Manila but many years later when we were back in the States on a visit we stayed a few days with the Fishers who were living in Seattle.

As I said earlier, my mother and Aunt Beth were good friends so when my father planned to come to LeRoy to see his younger sister, she became match maker and planned an all day picnic for the four of them, she, her husband, my father and my mother.

Jane's Notes: I have that engagement ring with the oriental pearl. It's a lovely old fashioned setting and if fits me perfectly. I enjoy wearing it.

Memories of Ann Elizabeth Powell Hibbard - Episode 3

My father had three sisters and his brother Harry who he has mentioned. I believe Hortense (Aunt Horty) and Blanche were the oldest and Harry was older than he by several years. Aunt Beth (Elizabeth, after whom I was named) was the youngest but I don’t know whether she was born before or after they moved to Kansas. It must have been in 1875 that they moved to Kansas. He told us of hearing about Indians still raiding in the territories when he was a child and of tornados striking near by farms.

Aunt Horty was married at sixteen. She was a grandmother while still in her thirties and a great grand mother while still in her fifties.  I only remember meeting her once also on the trip in 1929. She was a tiny wiry person. Aunt Blanche I think must have been a beautiful girl. She was more like my father, a calm person. She and her husband lived on Whidby Island when he retired and I had seen more of them. He was an Englishman, the younger son in the family, who could not inherit but he had a small inheritance and he came to America to learn how to be a cowboy. From things my father has said I think he must have been quite a romantic hero for him and a catch for Aunt Blanche.

Uncle Harry stayed on the farm and inherited it from Grandfather. He and Aunt Carrie had two sons, Gerald and Charles and when we visited them on the farm at Blue Rapids in 1929 the boys were in college at Manhattan, Kansas.

Memories of Ann Elizabeth Powell Hibbard - Episode 2

Aunt Beth was a worshipful younger sister. My father had a very good baritone voice and he loved to sing and Aunt Beth played the piano. I think that they went to a lot of parties together and did the entertaining. Jane has a large book of music I sent her (along with all the old music) that belonged to my father and had a lot of songs and music they used. Aunt Beth later married a second cousin named Ed Bosworth and they moved to Leroy, Minnesota where she became a good friend of my mother’s and eventually became the matchmaker that introduced my father and my mother.

As we have seen by my father’s narrative, his mother’s family seemed to have a pretty good education. He seemed to be the only one of the children who was inspired to seek more than a country school education. He taught country school one year and then the alternate year he would go to Normal School in Topeka until he graduated. He said he would tell later of what effect the $60 inheritance from his Grandfather Birdseye had on his life. He had never mentioned that to me that I remember but I wonder if perhaps it had something to do with his being able to go on to college. From the pictures we have I know he was a very handsome young man and I suspect somewhat of a dude. He was the member of a quartette which he claimed was very good and he had some pictures of that quartette with hats and umbrellas that are wonderful.

Jane's Notes: When I read this I went and looked in my collection of music and I do have that book. I'm sure at the time Mom gave it to me it didn't have much meaning. Now it does. On the inside cover page  written in pencil is "A.B. Powell, Cabin No 302, S.S. Sharnhorst." The title page is missing but the spine is imprinted with "English Songs and Ballads". There are 103 pages of songs with piano music and lyrics. Inside the front cover is a sticker that says Morales Y Cribe - Crespo, 101-Quiapo. Imprents, encuadernacion, estucheria, Fabrica de Timbres, Marcadores de Gomay y Metal.  Emilie, I'll rely on you to translate. I assume the book was purchased in the Philippines. There are lots of repairs to the pages. Obviously well used.

Memories of Ann Elizabeth Powell Hibbard - Episode 1

Mom began to write down her life story on March 30, 1978. In this narrative she refers often of the history her father wrote of the family. I don't have that book. Does anyone else have it? 

Chapter I

My father lived six more years after he wrote the first part of his story and of course we will always regret that he never got back to it. I am only one year younger than he was when he put down his memories so time is running out and I suppose it behoves me to try to sketch in the rest of his life as well as I can from the stories I remember that he told  us. Also I’ll try to tell of my mother’s beginnings and the romantic story of their marriage and life in the exotic orient.

In 1929 when my father was 55 years old we took a summer long trip by automobile from the west coast to Florida, north to New England and back to Oregon in time for me to enter college in Eugene. When we went thru Michigan we stopped outside of Lansing. The memory my father had of his birth place was so vivid he was sure that he could drive right up to the farm even tho’ he was only 3.5 when he left. Of course the country was so changed that he wasn’t able to but when we stopped to ask if anyone knew where the old Powell farm was we were directed to an old timer who did know. In fact he owned the farm and we were there. We found a rather small log building behind the barn that was being used to store corn and my father decided that must be the house he was born in and I took a picture of it.

On that same trip we stopped in Ohio and visited the two cousins that he mentions. As I remember them they were both a number of years older than my father and unmarried. The brother had exactly the same name as my father Arthur Birdsey Powell. I don’t remember the sister’s name or whether she was widowed or a maiden lady. All I can remember is a beautiful handmade spool bed frame that still had the rope springs that had been brought to Ohio from connecticut and for which she had been offered hundreds of dollars (now of course it would probably be worth thousands).

And The Story Continues

Jane’s Notes: The next diary doesn’t start until 1931. At one point Mom started to write her life story, beginning with her parents’ history. I have transcribed that document and will fill in over the next weeks with sections of the story. I’ve also inherited all the letters between my father and his parents and between my parents once they met, plus some letters that Mom wrote to her father. Mom, June and Granny Powell (or Mama Powell to some in the family) stayed in Eugene during Mom’s freshman year living in that apartment. I do have some letters that she wrote to her Dad back in Manila. I have letters and diaries that stretch into 1938. So if you’ll stick with me, we’ve got another 8 years of reading to get through. I won’t be posting everyday, but will post on days that correspond to the literature I’ve inherited. Stay tuned, there’s lots more to this history, and yes Emily, I will write that book one day.

September 20

The diary comes to an end on September 19, 1929. She seemed to have stopped at that point and doesn’t take up another diary until January, 1931 (or at least that I've inherited). As I look through them I see that she had difficulty finishing any year out. I’m very disappointed to not know about her first impressions of classes and campus life at the U of O. However, in the back of the diary on a page marked Memoranda, there is a family tree of sorts which was either written by her mother or father (it’s not Mom’s handwriting). My guess is it was written down so that Mom could keep track of all the relatives they were visiting along the way on their trip. Emily, this may provide information for you to add to the family tree.

Arthur Birdsey Powell and Stella Howe Powell married Leroy, Minn. Dec 11, 1907.

Genealogy - Father’s side entered here june 13, 1929

Your father. born Lansing, Michigan Nov. 8, 1874.

Your mother. born Howard County Iowa, Oct. 10, 1876

Your father’s sister Hortense Ann, born Lansing, Mich. Aug 27, 1867

Your father’s sister Blanche Lottie, born Lansing, Mich. June 7, 1869

Your father’s brother Harry Starr, born Lansing, Mich. May 11, 1872

Your father’s sister Elizabeth Jane, born Frankfort Kan. Oct. 30, 1880

Your father’s father, born Charlotte Vermont, June 23, 1837

Your father’s mother, born Litchfield, Ohio, March 14, 1838

Your father’s father’s name Lorenzo Cullianmore Powell, died July 7, 1926

Your father’s mother’s name Harriet Jane Nevines, died Aug. 14, 1912

Your father’s mother’s father, birdsey Nevins, born Litchfield Conn. Oct, 22, 1802, died Frankfort Kans. 1879

Your father’s mother, Jane F. starr, born Litchfield conn. Jan. 20, 1807, diend amherst Ohio Feb. 21, 1876.

The genealogy of the Starr family including your grandmother Harriet June Nevins (Powell) and her mother Jane F. Starr Nevins was published in the eighteen eighties and a copy of the book is in the New York City Public Library.

Your father’s mother’s parents had children as follows:

Ann Eliza Starr Nevins born Litchfield Ohio July 31, 1835, married Daniel Bosworth and died LeRoy Min.. Oct. 21, 1915

Harriet Jane Nevins born Litchfield Ohio see above

Fredric Buell Nevins, born Elyria Ohio May 10, 1840

Charolotte J. Nevins born Elyria Ohio May 6, 1844 died Frankfort Kansas May 1896

Seymore Starr Nevins born Elyria Ohio Jan 25, 1848, died at your father’s home Frankfort Kans. 1888.