Happy Birthday, Grandpa Beard, born October 15, 1905!
Grandpa’s early life in Wilford, Idaho, in a family with twelve
siblings, was no doubt full of hard work and sacrifice. From a very young age,
he was required to labor in the fields and the barn. From this he learned to
love work and he never shied away from it throughout his entire ninety-four
years on earth.
Today’s focus is on happy times with his playful father and
loving mother, as gleaned from delightful memories recorded by his niece, Edna
Beard.
The following are excerpts from Edna’s account of Grandpa’s
parents, who she refers to as Grandpa Beard (James Thomas Beard, Sr.) and
Grandma Beard (Mary Goodworth Beard):
- I have so many memories of Grandpa Beard. The thing that stands out in my memory most is Grandpa blessing the food. When we sat down to the big long table on benches that Grandpa had made, Dave and Elmer were at the end of the table on their special benches. We all knew we couldn’t start to eat until the blessing was given on the food, which was given most of the time by Grandpa. As soon as he lifted his head, he would reach for a bunch of watercress that he had gathered fresh from the spring, and give it a good shake at one of his grandkids. It really gave you a start, with that shake of cold water!
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| Whittling |
- Grandpa always got up early in the morning and built the fire with shavings he had whittled the night before on kindling sticks mostly with good pitch that took off like lightning.
- My very special memory of Grandpa was when he whittled me a little doll from wood. For hair, he put corn silk on her head. I really loved that little doll. He was always whittling a lot. I can still see him now, in deep thought, just whittling away.
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| Toasting bread on a fork |
- I also remember him toasting bread on a fork in the front door of the old cook stove. The toast was made form Grandma’s big slices of bread.
- For a long time there was a high chair around that Grandpa had made for the babies to sit on. He whittled all the spokes and the arms. It was really something.
- My fondest memories are of the wildflower garden that Grandma and Grandpa had in front of the mill house. They had a good tight fence made of 2 x 2. It was so lovely. Grandpa had dug wild columbine from the canyon. The columbine was Grandma’s favorite flower. They also grew Sweet Williams. The humming birds came several at a time, to flutter in and out of the garden. It was so beautiful, and Grandpa watered and took care of it faithfully.
- Grandpa liked to tease and always had to pull a little tuft of hair, and act like he hadn’t made a move.
- Grandpa had a nickname for everyone. He called me “Betty Blue Clothes”. When he called me that he sang a little song that he had made up about it.
- Grandpa played the accordion, tunes like “Pop Goes the Weasel” and “Wait for the Wagon”. Grandpa called the cows out of the canyon, and I can still hear him singing “Dandy Cow-ow”. When he called Grandma, it was “Mary-e-e”, with a loving ring.
- My first memory of Grandma Beard is of how clean she always smelled. She didn’t have deodorants or body powder that we use today, but I always loved to sit on her lap and have her pat me and sing very softly a little song to me, or even just to hum to me was very special.
- If Grandma ever gave a baby something, like a cookie or a piece of bread and butter, she had to put it in both little hands. She always loved their little hands most of all, and would hold their little hands in her hands and say, “I do love their little hands”.
- How, I wonder, did she cook and take care of so many, and always had lots of food on the table, along with peace and harmony?
- She always called her sons “My Dear Boys”, and the daughters, “My Dear Girls”.
- I loved Grandma’s house at the ranch, but I especially loved the one at the mill. The old floorboards and the tables and benches were always scrubbed white with lye water.
- I remember at the mill house, huge bumblebees would fly in. Of course we were always scared of them, but Grandma would just talk to them and somehow get them into her apron and carry them outside. She would never let anyone harm a bee.
- At the birth of each grandchild, Grandma would be there for the delivery, and stay until the new mom was back on her feet. She bathed the tiny one, cooked meals and kept up everything else that needed to be done.
- Grandma was never idle. If she had to go to town with Grandpa to take lumber, she would always take her knitting along and sit there knitting away as the oxen slowly made their way along.
- Grandma made the best teacakes. Mid-afternoon she always thought the men needed a bite to eat around 3 o’clock. She hurried and stirred up the teacakes, with a few raisins in them. When they were fresh and hot from the oven and spread with fresh butter and cut in squares, she would send them out with a child to the mill. The men would shut the mill down and have their bread. They either had tea or root beer from the spring house, which Grandma made and kept in a big keg with a spigot on it. I don’t know how she made that either. I wish I did! It had stinging nettle and dandelions in it, and various barks and roots.
- Living at the mill most of every summer, Grandma would milk the cows. Sometimes she made cheese; but once a week she would separate the milk and take the cream to town to trade for groceries. Sometimes she would trade a little of the cream for a piece of cloth to finish a quilt she was making.
- Her quilts and knitting were beautiful.
- How she ever got so much done besides is a mystery to me; like 12 huge loaves of bread every day, washing on the board, scrubbing, and making the meals.
