Testin Harry01

Waupaca County Post

November 17, 1977

I was born in the Town of Dayton in 1892. My father and mother were married by a justice of the peace in 1890. Their firs child was born in the Town of Springwater, which is in Waushara County. His name was Ned. The next year on December 15, I was born.

My father too was born in Springwater. My mother was born in Saxeville. My grandmother, whose name was McLaughlin, was born in Ireland. I don’t know where my grandfather was born, but I know he was of Irish descent. He died when I was three years old, so I never knew him. They lived in Springwater.

The first year of their marriage my father and mother lived on the old Testin homestead, in a log house, in Springwater. After living there one winter, my grandmother said that it was time for them to get out and be on their own. So they rented a farm where my brother Ned was born. Then the next year in 1892 they rented another farm in the Town of Dayton where they raised their family. If I remember right, the McLaughlins homesteaded the farm in Springwater.

My father and mother had five children: Ned, Harry, Lee, Ella, and Robert. Robert passed away and my brother Lee passed away two years ago. Ned died in 1967. Mother, Dad, Robert, and Ned are buried in the Lakeside Cemetery in Waupaca.

Question: Why did you ancestors come to America:

I don’t know exactly why they came or exactly when they came. It could be that they knew someone here. My grandmother was part Irish and part German, I think.

My mother’s family had a farm just southeast of Saxeville. They died when their children were quite young and are buried in the Saxeville Cemetery. They had six children. My grandmother died in childbirth when Kate was born. Kate was brought up by foster parents, the Nels Brighams in Springwater. She was not adopted by them.

I can remember my mother talking about working for a doctor in (Dart), which is directly across Green Lake. The place is not well known now. Mother remembered filling capsules with quinine, which was used a lot for treating fevers, pneumonia, etc. I remember the first time that I had pneumonia, the doctor filled me up with it. It a strong medicine which puts one out of his head.

At an early age my mother took us to Sunday School at a little Baptist church located about 2 miles south in the town of Springwater. We walked most of the time. Sometimes we would be picked up by Tom Jones, who was a member of that church. It was torn down later.

I started school when I was four years old. I went up to the Post Corners School which has since passed out of existence. A young lady, fourteen years old, who lived across the street, took me to school, leading me by the hand. I guess I went there for eleven years. We had a lot of good teachers. The first teacher I can remember was Roy Merrill, and the second was Fred Stratton. Fred was a brother of the one who lived in Waupaca. Another fine teacher was Bertha Smith, who taught more years than any of the rest. Minnie Chapin was one of the last. She was from Manawa, I think.

Frederick S. Osterkeld, fresh out of college, trained us to pass from the 8^th grade into high school in Waupaca. Mr. Osterkeld was athletic. He trained us to run, to jump, and to play basketball. He erected a basketball hoop on the woodshed. After several weeks of practice, we thought we were well enough trained to take on some other players. So Mr. Osterkeld arranged a meeting with a team from Waupaca, and we played them at the Y.M.C.A. building on a Saturday. I don’t recall the names of any of the opponents, but I do remember that we took a trouncing. The Y.M.C.A. was located where the Wisconsin Telephone Company now stands. I think that Irving Hanson was custodian at that time.

We boarded with Mrs. George McLain when we attended high school. Father paid her five dollars a week for the two of us.

She was a good cook, and we always ate well. I remember that her husband always kept a barrel of apples in our closet. He thought this was the coolest place in the house, because we kept our windows open during the night.

In the early days we got our mail at Crystal Lake Corners. It came to us about once a week, sometimes by the hand of the milkman. The post office was kept by Bill Eaton. It was located on the corner now owned by Harry and Mabel McCauley.

I went to high school only a little over one semester. I got sick with the flu during the second semester and never went back. I’ve always been susceptible to pneumonia, and have come down with it three times since I was thirteen years old.

I knew my wife from the time that she was a little girl. She came to visit and help her aunt when help was needed. In the winter of 1911-12 I was working for Tyler Bowers. My future wife, Iva Wing, was their niece. There we got better acquainted, and I asked her to marry me. We were married on October 3, 1912, at the Methodist parsonage in New London.

My wife and I started looking for a place to farm. Then my father said that he needed help. It seemed that Ned, my older brother, did not want to stay on the farm. So Dad rented the place to me on shares. He rented a home on Division Street in Waupaca for $15 a month. He lived there for a number of years, and then he bought a house on fifth and Main from Fallgatters.

We had a hard time making it. First, my dad bought a good mulch cow from a neighbor for $50. I bought a two year old heifer for $25. This took some of the money he had to start housekeeping. In those days we bought our furniture from Asa Holley’s. I bought a table and six chairs. We brought these home in a sleigh. I also bought a board for my wife to use for ironing. We used that board to sit on as we rode home. One of the ladies who rode home with us sat in the rocking chair that went with the table and chairs. We still use the table, but some of the chairs have been taken care of. The rocking chair is still in use. Mayme used it when she got married, and she gave it to her daughter, Annette.

Holley’s Furniture Store was located where the Assembly Book Store is now. We bought a sewing machine there too, because my wife made almost all of our children’s clothes.

Our first purchase for the farm was four pigs at $2.50 apiece. I was working the farm on thirds. When we sold the pigs in the fall, we got 7 cents a pound for the pork. We did not make very much on that deal. Our first cream check was about $52. We took our cream to the Wild Rose Creamery. We used a delavel separator to skim the milk and we sold only the cream. The milk man would come and pick it up. He would take our can, weigh it, and then pour it into a 200 pound can on his wagon.

Before the Wild Rose Creamery was built, we had poured the milk into large pans, and skimmed it two days in a row. We saved the cream until it half filled a churn. The creamery let the cream ripen, churned it, and made it into butter. It was mixed in a wooden bowl and packed in two or four pound jars. Then in 1900 there was a skimming station built at Crystal Lake Corners. People sent milk there. The milk was run through two or three separators. The skimmed milk was returned, and we fed it to the calves and pigs. Some was made into cottage cheese. When the Wild Rose Creamery was built, they came after our milk, so it was a little easier.

Our first child was born in 1914. I had one heifer. My dad had left three acres and the machinery. I paid him $500 for these things the second year. We had a good team of blacks. Every time I drove into town with them, some one would stop and offer to buy them.

We brought up our family of 5 children on the home farm, at least their first years. Our last daughter died before she was a month old. One son and four daughters grew up. Mayme, who married a Dunbar, lives in Waupaca. She belongs to a world-wide organization, “People to People”, and is a world traveler, having traveled several times to countries across the oceans.

Question: Did you get into World War I?

No, I was married, had three children, and was running a farm with quite a few cows. This exempted me. They took my brother, and he was in Company C. My brother Ned got into the Navy. He was on the battleship Virginia, which did escort duty during the war.

We stayed on my dad’s farm until 1922, at which time I bought a farm for $8,000 and paid $800 down. It was 140 acres.

I raised hay and potatoes. I didn’t try melons or pickles. Most people had gardens and they raised vegetables for their own use. The soil where we raised hay was pretty well beaten up. Then we started to put lime on it. The lime came from Waukesha or some place near Milwaukee. When the lime was put on the soil, it sweetened it, lowered the acid content, and made it possible to raise alfalfa. Alfalfa had bigger roots that went down deeper for nourishment. Later we put more acreage into alfalfa.

Then in the 1920’s it was discovered that shell marl contained a high percentage of lime. It was called white gold. They started digging at Stratton Lake and soon had a large stockpile. We loaded it on the wagons or sleighs with shovels. I hauled hundreds of yards out of Stratton, Pine, Gilbert, and Dean Lakes. Before using this cheap marl, we used to buy hay shipped from as far away as Kansas. After getting alfalfa growing, we had ample feed. One year I sold 30 tons to Louis Bauer of the town of Royalton. He and lost his barn in a fire.

Question: Your daughter Mayme mentioned that you have an old barn. Is it that one across the street?

No, my barn is on this lot. George McGill says it is one of the oldest in the county. At first it was only big enough to house 6 cows and 2 horses. I got Cartwright to raise the barn up, turn it around, and move it east about 24 feet from where it stood. A violet storm tore off much of the roof. In repairing it I added 50 extra feet so that it could accommodate more horses and cows.

In 1929-30 I bought an acre of tamarack swamp and cleared off the logs to make lumber. We had it sawed into flooring and siding. At this time I went to the Wild Rose bank to borrow $500. I wanted it to pay for the addition on the barn. They granted me the loan. So I had to have a plan, and I went to Godfrey. He sent Claude Hartman and a Janesway Company man out to help lay out the plans. After we got the barn built in 1930, I thought that I would make enough to pay off the bank and also pay Sam Godfrey for the materials I had bought from him. It was a dry year. Then on the first of September we had a heavy frost that killed the potatoes. Then we got a heavy rain. The potatoes didn’t get any bigger than number two’s. So I didn’t have much of a crop to sell. It took me about four years to pay off the loan and straighten up with Sam Godfrey.

We used to drive horses to church. In 1922 we got a Model T Ford and attended oftener. In fact, in 1945 we both joined the Methodist Church at Crystal Lake. (My wife had been a Congregationalist in New London.) But we still attended the Doops Church in Wild Rose at times.

Question: Do you remember the old “Grade Church”:

Yes. I helped tear it down and then I helped build the new one. We built it down at Mrs. Shepherds who lives at Pine Lake. She still owns the farm.

Question: What did it take to make a go at farming?

Well, if a couple had 2 or 3 horses and 6 to 8 cows, they could make it. I think that we milked 8 cows. After 1930 when I had built on to the barn, we milked 16 cows. We milked them by hand. When I got a chance to buy a milker, Kim at Lind had a used one. I had to have a permit for it. I went to the Town Board for one. They told me that if I could find one, I could buy it. We got a milk machine that we ran with a gasoline engine. In 1942 we got electricity. My wife and two daughters used to help me milk.

We moved to this farm in 1947. I paid $7500 for these buildings and 160 acres of land. The buildings were only shacks and I had the barn and house fixed up. Paul Burgoyne, the former owner, had a stroke and his wife wanted to sell. In fixing the barn, I tore the bottom out. A man from Nekoosa came and raised it up so that a new plank floor could be put in. There was room for 4 horses and 10 cows.

My wife and I didn’t belong to many organizations. There used to be a Grange in the late 1800’s and it died out. When it was reorganized, we joined. It was a good place for farmers and their wives to get together socially. Of course their purpose was to organize the farmers and show new methods and new machinery.

In the earlier days, John Burgoyne, who married Andrew Pott’s sister, used to come and stay over night and go fishing. There used to be wonderful hunting and fishing around here. You know Radley Creek down here? On the old maps that used to be Pearl Creek. It flows into Crystal River. I used to fish quite a lot, but they haven’t stocked the rivers lately.

A year ago two or three parties came to buy a little acreage so they could build a house on the water and have a spot where they could hunt and fish. Real estate men were also anxious to buy. So I dropped a card to the D.N.R. and asked them what this place was worth. They appraised it thoroughly and offered $500 an acre. That leaves me with the buildings and about ten acres of land. So, rather than see the place sub-divided, I took them up on it.

I spent a lot of time in building up this place. In 1947 I started building windbreaks. It used to blow terribly. So I put in 30 acres of pines. They are not quiet ready yet. By 1981 they will be ready to be thinned out.

I think that the D.N.R. will leave it as it is. It’s recreational land. But I didn’t want to see it divided into building lots.

I see some farmers cutting off their windbreaks. Then after taking off a crop, many sow it to rye. This seems to hold the soil in place. Then the rye is plowed under. But pines are needed to hold the soil so it won’t blow away.

Many farmers with their big tractors take out anything that interferes with their long rows. In Waushara County you’ve got to have trees. I can’t remember dates very well, but that’s where it started near Hancock, where Professor Alberts from Madison planted trees on the rough spots. Wind breaks have helped very much in the conservation of soil.

Question: This is a big house. Do you live all alone:

Yes. I make my own meals. Sometimes I’m invited out, which I appreciate very much. My daughters invite me quite often.

There are a lot of deer around here. Sometimes they come and eat in my garden. They keep the apple trees trimmed down. Last year they ate squash. They like carrots and beets.

I see too many of the farms being sold. The real estate people divide the land into lots and sell them This trend spoils the natural attraction for hunting, fishing, and enjoying nature.

I was never on the Town Board, but I was clerk of the school down here for 20 years. I’ve been a Grange member since 1931, and I’ve been on the Executive Board of the State Grange. I belong to the Masonic Lodge of Wild Rose, and have been a member for almost 60 years. I was chairman of the Finance Committee of our church for a number of years. I was a member of the Executive Board of the Waushara County Co-op. I was one of the first to sign up for Rural Electrification. It did away with the old lanterns in the barns.

I have about 25 cords of wood piled up outside. I have 29 grandchildren and 52 great-grandchildren.