Memories

I am going to shift from good old neighbors with this article to another family who I knew, but each family member was older than me at the time. This came about when my wife (who loves poetry) came across a poem written by “Cub” Welch. To my surprise, I didn’t remember that Cub wrote any poetry. These poems will be presented later.

For my memories I am once again returning to Shifting Scenes Vol. II, pages 918 and 919 with articles by Lucile Welch Venhaus. She has information about the Welch family beginning with her grandfather and grandmother.

I am going to share some of her Welch history to remind us how and when individuals came to live in Carter County and Ekalaka.

Her report: “Grandfather, Charles S. Welch was born back east in 1860 in Vermont, I believe. Besides farming he ran grain elevators in different times: at one time in Reeder, North Dakota, later in Baker, Montana. He married Mary MacRae who was born in Scotland on the little isle of Skye in 1861. She came to the U.S. when she was a little child with her parents, Andrew and Mario MacRae.”

Charles S. and Mary came to southeastern Montana from Pithney, South Dakota in 1915 where they had migrated from Wayne, Nebraska about 1908. They homesteaded about twenty miles east of Ekalaka on Horse Creek.

One of their boys, Forest A., married Hollie Nies and located near the Charles Nies farm east of Ekalaka. They had five children, one of them was Charles. I am going to continue this article about the Charles F. and Maude O. Welch family.

Now on to Lucile’s article about her parents and her family: “Both my parents Charles (Chuck) and Maude O. Wilson were born in Iowa, grew up in Nebraska, first met in South Dakota and were married in Sioux City, Iowa on December 9, 1912, They lived in Pithney, South Dakota until the spring of 1914 when they moved with their baby son to Carter County to homestead about sixteen miles east of Ekalaka. The baby, eight month old Woodrow Wilson, died at Ekalaka, May 1914.”

As I read about all of those homestead days I recall that so many young children were lost because of disease or some tragedy. My grandparents, Fred and Eva Townsend, lost a boy and girl during the winter of 1918 with complications of whooping cough and pneumonia. They are buried at Camp Crook, S.D.

The Welches moved their belongings, household furniture, farm machinery and livestock by emigrant train to Baker and then on to their new land by team and wagon. Maude had her own buggy and registered trotting mare which brought her to Lucile’s uncle’s homestead a few miles east of Ekalaka in what was known as the H.S. Basin.

Charles (Chuck) and his brother-in-law, Vince Steiber, who had an adjoining homestead, owned a water-well drilling rig and dug many wells throughout the county. They were never able to find a good well of water on the Welch homestead and Maude hauled all her household water from a neighbor’s wonderful spring.

Many of you in Carter County have had such an experience. This neighbor was Albert Jardee. Mrs. Jardee (Ada) and Maude became lifelong friends and two of their grandchildren, Sherry Marston and Ada’s grandson, Ivan Jardee, are now married to each other.

This has gotten a little long so more Welch memories will be continued at another time.