Stories, First Person Accounts,  Oral Histories, Old Letters or What Have You About The Hansen/Hanson Roots.
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After his discharge from the army in the Civil War my grandfather, George Charles Keith, homesteaded a farm in the town of Scott, Columbia County. That is where I first saw the light of day in December 1894. One of my first recollections is of my grandfather, with whom my father and mother, Steven and Mary Keith-Hanson lived. He was a kindly man with a full beard and curly gray hair and blue eyes. On Saturday he always hitched "Old Nell" to the buggy drove to town (Pardeeville). I always knew he would bring me a square of maple sugar and bananas when he came home.
There were a couple of times when there was excitement at our house and I was told to stay in the kitchen. A man came with a little satchel and later I was told I had a baby brother and another time a baby sister. Grandpa was a good "baby sitter". The baby buggy was a high affair with big steel wheels. Grandpa would tie a heavy cord or rope to the front of the buggy and sit in his old rocker and push the buggy back and pull it to him and Mother could go on with her work and baby would go to sleep.
When I was about seven years old it was time to go to school. Shy and scared and dressed in my new calico dress and button shoes and in the care of an older neighbor girl, I started my schooling. at that time a county superintendent made yearly calls at each school. He came one day - a large, loud-speaking, burly man, who frightened me and caused me to cry. The teacher took me on her lap and assured me I was in no danger. The next year Mr. Sylvester Cushman was county superintendent and he was a soft spoken man with a beard and he told us the story of "Heidi" the little girl who lived with her grandfather in the Swiss alps. I decided then that the school superintendents were not so bad.
In the fall of the year it was time to get up the wood for the cook stoves and "Round Oak Heater:. My father and uncle brought forth axes that had to be sharpened on the hand turned grind stone. At the first snow fall a team of horses was hitched to the bob sled and the pole wood was piled in the back yard. Dad had his own "saw rig" which was a gas engine mounted on a wooden frame, like a wagon, and pulled by two horses. It took five or six men a day or more to saw up the wood. Then Grandfather's job was to split and cord, in a cone shaped pile. My father and uncle then made the rounds of the neighbors, sawing wood all winter. I later learned how the wood was carried into the house and the wood box filled.
Mother usually spent her winter evenings sewing carpet rags and rolling them in balls, and later taking them to a carpet weaver, who wove them in strips, thirty-six inches wide and as long as were needed for the room. The strips were sewed together and when house cleaning time came, after putting down papers and a lot of clean straw, the carpet was stretched to fit the room and tacked down. 
In spring sheep shearing was a big event. My father could sheer them and he also took care of the neighbor's flocks. Mother insisted that Dad bring no sheep shearing clothes in to the house on account of "sheep ticks". At the end of the season she washed them in boiling water for safety.
When I was eight years old one of my uncles decided he wanted to get married and buy the homestead, so my father bought a farm about a mile up the road. It was near enough so that I could walk and go to see Grandfather. He was soon pushing the old baby buggy again when the new little cousins arrived. I soon learned when Aunt Ruth Keith put on the big full "Mother Hubbard" dress that the "stork" was coming again. No "maternity" clothes in those days.
Our new home was across the road from the school house and we three kids had to come home for noon lunch. When Mother would be going to town or to Ladies Aid we could pack our lunch in a syrup pail and eat at school. What a thrill!
Crops were planted in preparation for winter. Lots of potatoes, carrots, rutabagas and beets were put in bins, jars of salt pork, smoked hams, a can of home sorghum and jars of sauerkraut. When winter set in Mother started her buck wheat pancakes with yeast. She set them every night and put them on the reservoir of the cook stove to keep warm. In the morning the cakes were fried, also salt pork and along with sorghum we had a "farmer breakfast". We had not heard of calories, high blood pressure or cholesterol at that time.
Mother often entertained the Ladies Aid. A big meal was served for ten cents. Ice cream socials were popular in the summer time. Mother always cooked the "custard" and the other ladies would bring their amount of milk, cream and eggs. Neighbors brought freezers and anxious kids would help them turn and then get a chance to "lick the paddles", afterwards. There was a cheese factory next door and they had stored ice from a local lake so ice was available. Oyster suppers were held every winter. Oysters were about fifty-cents per gallon and Mother was always the cook. She would scrub a wash boiler and cook the oysters. Twenty-five cents per person was the going price.Mother baked bread twice a week and on Saturday it was molasses and sour cream cookies and probably a batch of fried cakes. There were five of us in the family. Besides Mother "boarded" the school teacher and cheese maker at $2.50 per week. We kids always paid a visit to the cheese factory every day and sampled the "cheese curds".
Dad had two brood mares, Doll and Queen, and every spring they presented us with frisky colts, who were pastured all summer in the orchard, where we kids had a swing in the old black walnut tree. We had to reckon with their antics when we wanted to swing. Dad also raised pure bread Berkshires hogs and in the fall of the year when Columbia County Fair time arrived, he would hitch the mares on the hog rack wagon and some choice hogs and drive to Portage, about fifteen miles, the colts cantering along beside their mothers. Dad usually came home with some blue ribbons for his efforts. One day during the fair, after packing a picnic lunch. Mother would hitch a team on the family surrey and with her own three children and four or five neighbor kids, drive to the fair. After several rides on the "Merry Go-around" and some cotton candy and looking over all the displays, we spread horse blankets on the ground and had our dinner and what was left was eaten for supper and then we would start for home. One time there was a bad storm and how Mother ever drove through the night to arrive safely with load of sleepy kids was a miracle.
Threshing grain was another big even. The grain was stacked in cone shaped stacks and one day towards night the threshing rig would pull in. The steam engine was fired with wood or coal and the separator and the tank on the water wagon pulled with horses. It took three men to run the machinery. Of course, they had to be bedded down for the night. Next day about ten neighbors came to help thresh the grain; men to pitch the grain, run the bagger and to stack the straw. Of course, at noon Mother, with the help of neighbor women, had prepared a good dinner. Chicken was quite often served, although Father used to say he was tired of chicken. Of course, any other meat would have to be gotten from town. A trip by horse and buggy took time.Of course, every farmer had chickens and they often stole their nests in the straw stack and one day my sister found a large nest of eggs and put them in her apron and took them to Mother. She broke a few and soon found out they were rotten. My sister was forced to undress and take a bath outside and warned not to hunt eggs again.
About this time the hand cranked, two battery telephone came to us and it was easy to keep check on the neighbors by "rubbering". Five long rings meant there was something every farmer should know. The first rural mail delivery came along at this time - a "box like top" on wheels and in winter was put on runners for snow; U.S. Mail on the side of the vehicle. One day word came an automobile was going to pass through the community. The whole neighborhood gathers to see the open car go chugging along the sandy road. The women passengers had their hats held in place with scarves, although the car was moving slowly.
One time when Dad went to town he came home with an Edison Phonograph, with a big horn and some cylinder records, and wound by hand. The whole family enjoyed the music and often the neighbors dropped by to listen.
Winter brought sledding down hill or skating on the pond with a big bonfire. Sometimes there were broken bones or skinned shins. Also there were lots of house parties; dancing was the chief entertainment. One man with a fiddle and one on a dulcimer made the music for square dances, two steps and waltzes. At midnight a lunch was served and by this time all the small children were fast asleep on the bed amongst the coats and wraps.
Holidays always meant big family reunions. Relatives from near and far came. After the men had their dinner they went to the parlor to visit and smoke. Someone would mention the name "Bob LaFollette" and "Progressive". I often wondered why they talked so loud and argued and later found out they were talking "politics".
Summer time brought lots of apples and we kids would pick and fill our express wagon and take them to the kindly old neighbor who had a hand turned cider press and we came home with a jug of cider.
My father was health officer in the township and often had to go to quarantine a case of small pox, scarlet fever and later fumigate them. The Dr. came to school and vaccinated the youngsters. One of the thrills for us youngsters was the appearance of a "pack peddler" and the displaying of his wares. He usually made our house near supper time and of course, was invited to spend the night for free. Sometimes Mother's spare bed was left with "bed bugs" after his visit and Mother had to get out the kerosene and blue vitriol. 
Kerosene lamps furnished our light and a pail of cold water in the basement was our refrigeration. Electricity, radio, television, automobiles, refrigerators, air planes and many other modern devices came along during my life time.
I have always been thankful for good Christian parents, who taught us to respect God and Country.
I think these were "the good old days".

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Some family tales submitted by William Clements (Great-great Grandson of Wm Hanson)

Will Hanson rode the train from Wisconsin to Big Spring Texas, with a herd of horses, and was hired by the Curry family to drive them to Glasscock County. When he foundout they were homesteading land there he started his own. I don't know if you have been to Glasscock County but its' some rough country. When Will Hanson went to pick up his new bride at the Big Spring train station, all the time she kept telling him" Will you can turn this buggy around anytime and we can go back to Wisconsin" but he didn't!"

My W.A. (William Archibald Bigby) and Christine Bigby got stranded in Wisconsin during the First World War, W.A. had gotten a draft notice and was inducted in Wisconsin, I think? Anyway
He had owned the phone company in Garden City and they put him in the Balloon
Corp to lay phone lines over the trenches, right before he was to be shipped out
overseas his unit came down with the influenza, needless to say after he got out
of quarntine, the war was over. Christine worked in a shoe factory and a plant that
canned (english) peas, she got a free can everyday to take home, she was so sick
of peas she woudn't touch them after that.

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