Issac L. Standafer

Issac L. Standafer

This is a story told by Bertha5 Sommer, (Mable4, Issac3, Jeremiah2, Archibald1Standafer) to her niece, Marlys Sommer, recorded on a tape and transcribed for us by Carol Kopp.
The following information was gotten from Bertha SOMMER HOLLENGBERG. Most of it came from a tape. She had some problems getting it recorded. There were blank places and I [Marlys] am sure some was recorded over something else.

Isaac L. STANDAFER, son of Jeremiah and Malinda PERVIS STANDAFER and Isabell KERCHEVAL, daughter of Edward and Sarah PERVIS KERCHEVAL, were married in Moultrie County, Illinois on January 25, 1883.

It was evident that shortly after they were married, the STANDAFERS moved to Nebraska for the older children are all born there. Mabel was born in Seward County near Grand Island. They lived between the two branches of the Platte River at one time. One time they lived near Ogallala. While living there, Mabel herded cattle with a horse as there was evidently free range there. She used to play with her horse a great deal. They lived in a sod house at one time. They lived on a seed farm. This seed farm may have had other things, but I know it had a lot of watermelons and save the seed for them. Grandpa always saved the heart of the melon and gave it to Edith.

Early in their life the STANDAFERS were called upon to sing a duet at funerals. Grandpa had a singing school.

They moved to Worthington, MN in a covered wagon. Part of the time, I imagine at first, they lived in town. Grandma took in washing and ironing to help meet the bills. They moved so often that it was hard for the children in school. Mabel never got any fractions. They were always just through with it when she would go to another school.

When they were in Worthington, the girls [Mabel and Myrtle] were teased. Grandma made them dresses alike, but she didn't get them done at the same time so one was dirty before the other one got her dress. Then they teased them about wearing one another's dresses. Another thing that bothered Mabel was the fact that she always had to sing. She did not realize that she was not being discriminated against, but was rather being picked out as having special talent.

Sometime they moved to a Brethren Community at Worthington, MN. It was when they were living on a farm here that Peter first saw Mabel going to church. She had a horse hitched to a stoneboat. For those of you who doesn't know what a stoneboat is, it is something like a sled. She was using it like a sled and driving it up and down the corn rows.

The children went to the Brethren Sunday School. They were baptized, I think before the parents, I'm not sure. But eventually the entire family joined the Brethren Church.

Mabel [and I assume Myrtle] was popular. She had a lot of beaus. In those days a lot of the courting was walking them home from church. They also had a literary society and debates.

Mabel was always singing and whistling. Grandma used to say "A whistling girl and crowing hen always came to some bad end. Isaac encouraged Peter's courtship as he realized that Peter was stable and had a better bank account than most of the young men.

They moved to Hancock, MN in 1902 or early 1903. The STANDAFERS and Peter SOMMER moved at the same time. The STANDAFERS lived on a farm that Peter had bought now. He had sold his farm at Worthington and had bought a farm at Hancock. Peter worked out as a hired man for Pete SCHETTER (I'm not sure on the spelling of this name) while the STANDAFERS lived on his farm.

It was here that Ollie died at two years old. She was a very pretty little girl with lots of curly hair. She was very sweet, loving and helpful. She would bring Grandpa his slippers. She could sing before she could talk. She went in the bedroom and found some matches and was so badly burned that she died. She died singing "Jesus Lover of my Soul".

Myrtle and Mabel worked as hired girls. Alonzo worked out and his father took his wages which was common, I guess, in those days. At least it was legal to take their wages until they were 21.

Rev. Jessie Ralston came from Sheldon, IA to Hancock to marry Peter and Mabel. They were married in March of 1904. He was not licensed to marry in Minnesota so he has teased Bertha (me) many times that she was illegitimate because her parents were never legally married.

From May to August, they were in Denmark. They traveled to Denmark third class. Peter tipped the steward so he would get special food for them from the other classes because in those days third class was pretty awful. Both Peter and Mabel believed in prenatal influence on the child. Peter said that the reason that Bertha liked to travel so much is because she crossed the Atlantic Ocean twice before she was born. Mabel thought that Erma had such a stormy disposition because Mabel and her father were at such loggerheads so much of the time while she carried Erma.

After Peter and Mabel came home from Denmark, I think that the STANDAFERS lived in one part of the house and the SOMMERS lived in the other east of Hancock. Anyway, while Peter was working outdoors, Mabel decided she wanted to rearrange the furniture. She moved some heavy furniture and that brought on labor at seven months. Bertha was born in November, 1904, weighing 4 1/2 pounds. Mabel didn't know much about taking care of a baby, especially a premature baby. She washed me everyday and nearly washed me away. She doesn't know what I weighed at one month of age, but she said I wasn't as big as when I was born.

The STANDAFERS moved to Ramey, MN. which is in eastern Minnesota, not far from St. Cloud. There Myrtle met Percy DAGE. Percy had lived in Nebraska, too, but I don't think they knew one another at that time. I don't have any dates for that.

Edith came to visit Mabel in the summer of 1914, I think it was, it might have been 1915. We had bought a Maxwell car that was a 1914 model. Peter wasn't a very good teacher. He was too impatient. So Mabel took Edith with her because Mabel couldn’t crank the car. They went out and taught themselves to drive.

Ralph SHADE was Peter's hired man. He was a brother to George SHADE who was one of the free-minister pastors. Edith and Ralph were married in George SHADE's home. That fall they moved to Green, IA. Where they went between then and the time that Ralph was a pastor in a Methodist Church in Ray, ND I don't know. But it was in Ray that Edith took care of Alonzo's boys.

The SOMMERS moved from east of Hancock in 1921. Mabel was always an outdoors person. She would much rather be outdoors than be in the house. She was very good with a hammer and saw. Sometimes it was necessary to be outdoors. One time we had a very unsatisfactory hired man and we had to fire him. Mabel went out and ran the binder. She made a play house along the fence for the children. Bertha had to look after the little ones. When the baby, Agnes, would cry, Bertha would go walking through the stubble and goto her mother for help. I remember one fall Mabel did most of the plowing. She made a box on the plow and sat Agnes in that box and did the plowing.

Although she didn't care for cooking or housework, what she did was very thorough with. She was not methodical. She had an inventive streak in her. She would not do things the hard way if she could find an easy way to do it. Since she was not methodical, often when Saturday night came, she didn't have her washing and ironing all done. So after she cleaned in the day time, often she spent Saturday night ironing and getting things ready for us to wear to Sunday School the next day. Sunday she never ate breakfast because she was always busy. We lived only a quarter of a mile from church so she would get us ready and send us off ahead and she would get herself ready and come later.

Bertha and Erma went to high school. Paul and Agnes went to Agriculture School. Paul went only for one or two short terms. Agnes went three years and graduated from there. She could have entered college from there if she has wished to.

The SOMMER children all had 4-H steers. Since we were all the only ones in Stevens County who had steers, the first year, we got first, second, and third prize. Erma had first prize and she went to the livestock show. She got 20 cents a pound for her calf.

One of those early years, Bertha and Erma had a livestock demonstration. It showed how to make the cuts of meat and gave the price you get for round steak and how sirloin was not so plentiful and so very high priced. When we were at the fair, we had a wild angus calf to demonstrate. It was halter broke all right, but it was not used to being cared for like a 4-H calf. We got honorable mention because they said we really knew how to handle that calf.

Myrtle was different from Mabel. She washed on Monday, ironed on Tuesday, etc. However, she was not really as good a housekeeper as Mabel. Edith was a poor housekeeper, but she was always attractively dressed.

Mrytle, Mabel and Edith I would say were handsome. Edith was an especially handsome woman. Myrtle was more of the cute type.

I am not sure when the DAGES moved to Hancock, but we have a picture of Harold about 6 or 8 years old. He was living there then. They lived on a farm which they bought from Peter that was right close to us.

(It could have been then one east of Hancock since the SOMMERS moved south of Hancock, If so, it would have been in 1921.)

I saw a lot of Aunt Myrtle. Gilbert was two years old and sick all that summer. I always remember being at their house quite a little.

The DAGES always had sourdough pancakes for breakfast. Of course, at the SOMMER home, it was oatmeal 99% of the time.

(There was a section blank on the tape, I assume it was about Bill Stratemyer SOMMER since the next sentence was about him. All I know is that he was taken in by the SOMMER family. He may have been adopted since he went by the SOMMER name.)

Bill STRATEMYER SOMMER and Cecil were baptized in the Chipawa River. It was a private baptism. I wasn't there at the time.

Alonzo, in 1914, tool a box car (rented) and took all his belongings out to Montana. Charles WOLFE and Grandpa and Grandma went along. There were quite a few people who moved out there at the same time. They homesteaded. You could get 160 acres if you improved on it and stayed a certain amount of time. Beside homesteading and farming, Alonzo had a star mail route from Havre to Gilford. Grandma had a Post Office in her house at Fairchild.

Elmer went out there and homesteaded. There was a young lady by the name of Tracie who had a homestead near his. They not only joined their land, but their hands and were life long companions.

During this time, there was only one bumper crop in seven dry years. Alonzo had a lot of big machinery. His father pulled a many bottomed plow. I believe it was a steam engine that he pulled it with. Times got so bad that a big group including Isaac, Isabel, Alonzo, Cecil and Elmer and the WOLFES moved to Oregon.

It was out there, I think that they hadn't been there very long , that Bessie died. I think it was from pneumonia. This was very hard on Alonzo. He was ill for a long time. I think he has sciatica. It is the same thing as happened to Paul. I have heard of it happening to other people. It is a physiological illness, I guess. It is a painful affection of the sciatic nerve which runs down the back of the thigh and leg.

He couldn't take care of the children so the boys went to live with Edith. I don't know how long they lived with Edith. When he brought them to the SOMMER home, the boys were 4, 6,and 8. They lived with the SOMMERS two years. During that two years, Alonzo courted and married Grace Cook who had four children. The boys then went to live with their father. But they got away from home pretty quickly. They didn't seem to enjoy being there.

Sometime Cecil came to Hancock from Montana and worked for Paul NICKY. He then went back to Montana and on to Oregon. When his first marriage didn't work out, he and Lenore were divorced. Cecil took it badly. He had married in Oregon. He left Oregon and went down to Arkansas and for years and years no one knew anything about him. Then as he got older and not in good health, he began wanting to know someone about his family. He was working in bauxite mining. The bauxite and cigarettes got his lungs, he also had a bad heart. After that he was working in a filling station.

He wanted to find and contact his family. I don't know if he couldn't or what. Our mail probably couldn't reach us. We had left, then Peter SOMMER had gone down to Iowa. But he stopped everyone coming through from Minnesota and asked if they knew Peter SOMMER or Percy DAGE.

One of the people that he asked this happened to be Grace COOK's brother. He wrote to us and told us that he was remarried and that he had two daughters. That fall Mabel and Bertha visited him. Bertha went to visit him the second time, but in the meantime, he had died and she visited his wife.

Mabel went to Annual Conference which was at Winona Lake in 1919. When she was there, she went to Sullivan, Illinois which is in Moultrie County, and visited her Aunt May. I think it was Aunt May Davis. I'm not positive about that and there were other relatives there, too. There are two other names--PERVIS and BARNES. I know that she had a cousin Vic BARNES who lived in Chicago. We have a picture of the BARNES family. There was a list of about 60 benefactors from this inheritance.

While mother was there, she found out that she had some Indian blood. They said that Grandma had a little bit of Indian blood. There was also a little French on that side. It must have gone way back to Colonial times when the French were in Illinois. A Frenchman must have gotten himself a squaw and that's where we get our drop of Indian blood, I would assume.

The name PERVIS may have been spelled PURVIS. All this that I have typed and sent to you was again from a tape recording that my Aunt Bertha had told us. Some or all may have been true.

contributed by Carol Kopp
copied from twillastinytreasures.com