margaret.html

Bessie's Story...


as remembered and written by Margaret A. James

Bessie Butler Carrington was born near Harrisburg, Colorado. Don't look on a map for Harrisburg for there is no longer a town by that name, it was 15 to 20 miles southwest of Akron, Colorado. Bessie's parents William and Ella (Plank) Carrington moved by covered wagon from the Harrisburg community to near Cheraw, Colorado when she was quite young (I think 5 or 6). She went to school in a country school, and her parents always boarded the school teachers. One man was particularly difficult to get up of a morning. Ella would call and call him, finally she had enough. She told him she would call him one time and one time only. The next morning she did just that, she called him once. Much later he arose and came to the kitchen for a warmed over breakfast saying "Miss Ella you didn't call me and I may be late to start school". Ella informed him she had called him but called only once as she had told him she would. Guess what it only required one call from that time on.

Bessie worked in a general store ("drygoods" and groceries) as a clerk. She was helping her father, William, with some farming one day when a bad storm was coming. William said, "Bessie, I believe we can make one more round," and they did. But by that time the storm was violent, they got across a bridge and William said, "Bessie, we had better turn the team loose. They will find shelter and will be okay." This they did and began to make their way to the house. As they got next to the well-house, William again spoke saying "Bessie, lets stop here a minute or two but we mustn't stay long because the windmill has already blown onto this building." By this time they were just inside and out of the violent storm. Bessie said her father no sooner got the words out of his mouth when the building collapsed. She seemed to remember her father shoved her, and she was unconscious for a few minutes. She came to and could see her father was pinned under the roof; she got a five gallon milk can and could lift the roof but could not get the can under it so she could pull her father out. She finally went to the house to get help but her father was dead. The coroner told her that her father was knocked unconscious and with his head in the water he suffocated. Bessie always blamed herself for not being able to get her father out. For as long as she lived she relived that day when a bad storm came.

Bessie was an "old maid", she always said, "I was not missed. I simply never dated a man I could love and marry," but she finally met a man she loved. She was 36 or 37 years old when she met Harry Barber who had moved from Kansas to Colorado in 1925. He dated her and one day Bessie's youngest sister, Myrtle (Carrington) Reeder, had fixed a cake for their picnic. Myrtle had put cayenne pepper in the cake as a joke. When Harry was taking Bessie home he drove the team and wagon under Myrtle and Harold's bedroom window and said, "Myrtle get me some water, my throat is on fire". Myrtle opened the window and said. "Harry, be quiet or you will wake my children". Of course, Harry only yelled louder and did eventually wake some of the children. As long as they lived Harry and Myrtle teased each other. Harry had a 9 year old son, Roy Harry, and a 7 year old daughter Shirley Marie. Harry's beloved wife Katrina Ermine (Yakle) barber, had died about three months after Shirley was born. Katie asked Harry as she was dying to raise the children properly, to always have a table cloth on the table and the table to be set properly (knife and spoon on right and fork on the left side of the plate). When Bessie married Harry she honored the death bed wish of Katie's. Bessie many times on wash day would say, "I wish I could leave the tablecloth off the table on wash day at noon, but I can't for your Dad (Harry) will not allow it".

Well, yes, Bessie married Harry on January 22, 1928. Ella was much opposed to the marriage for she felt Bessie should remain single and take care of her. Bessie was always so grateful to Myrtle for encouraging her to be married, telling her that Ella could live with either family. And Ella did live mostly with Myrtle or Bessie throughout the rest of her lifetime.

June 29, 1929 a wee little girl was born to Harry and Bessie. She was named Myrtle June and was born at the Mennonite Hospital in La Junta. Harry had lost two children prior to Roy and Shirley and he did not want to lose another child or his wife Bessie so Harry insisted that the baby be born at the hospital. Bessie told Harry that she wanted another child. Harry said, "Well, you better get busy then." And one year and seventeen days later another daughter Margaret Alice was born July 16, 1930. This time Bessie was able to persuade Harry to let her have the baby at home since she had no problems with the first baby. Shirley has said she must have been stupid to not know that Bessie was going to have a baby. But at that time pregnancy was not discussed even with family members. Shirley has said that Bessie wanted to name her Margaret Jean. Roy and Shirley wanted her named Margaret Alice. Margaret heard all her life that the Alice was from "Miss Alice", Roy's and Shirley's teacher, whom they knew to be a very kind teacher. And to compound the interest of the name, when Margaret got her birth certificate in 1954 it listed her name as Martha Alice. Bessie was very upset with the doctor for putting Martha instead of Margaret. Harry, Bessie and Margaret made a trip to town and Margaret's parents had it notarized that her name was MARGARET. And a new birth certificate was issued.

When Bessie married she had a father-in-law, Fredrick Barber, a (step)son Roy, a (step)daughter Shirley, and her mother Ella living with her and her husband. It is sad but some of the neighbors had told Shirley and Roy that all stepmothers were evil, wicked and unloving. Shirley and Roy began to call Bessie "Mother", for as Shirley said they did not remember their own mother. Shirley found Ella as a Grandma to be a wonderful woman and she believes it was Ella who persuaded Bessie to use the name of Alice. One thing about it, Margaret was in her sixties before she knew her mother ever wanted a different name. Margaret learned this from reading Shirley's "Memories". Shirley in her "Memories" said "...Grandma Carrington ... was tall and slender and so stately. Her hair was always in place and she combed it one certain way. She was particular about her clothes, and her cleanliness and most everything. Her sewing was nearly perfect, she took such pains with her work. She taught me to embroider. She always took time to read her Bible and study it every day. I've never seen such a woman since. There's only one mistake I know that she ever made. She made an apple pie and thinking she had the cinnamon she got hold of the cayenne pepper instead. You just can't imagine how embarrassed she was because she hated to waste the pie. So to help her out Roy ate some of it even if it about burned his insides out. She (Ella) had a way of asking us to do things that really worked. We never refused her. She had a feather bed on her bed and I got to sleep with her. ... That is the year there was no Christmas gifts, but Grandma Carrington had managed to get Roy and I a picture book together. Grandma Carrington was with us then and she and I got the front room again for our bed but we managed somehow. She never seemed to mind and I didn't care either as long as I could sleep with her. She was so kind to me." So you see Roy and Shirley found great love from their new grandma Ella Carrington.

Harry and Bessie moved to several different rented places in Colorado and they raised pigs, cows, horses, turkeys, and chickens. They always had plenty of meat but other items were often scarce. Many times the meals were beans and cornbread. In reading about other families of that time you know this was common for most families. Harry and Bessie bought a place near Haswell, Colorado in 1945. While growing up the children went to many different one room schools. Shirley indicated that she and Roy went to Star Valley School, which was a two room school with all 8 grades. All of the children walked and rode horse back to school at various times. In the 1940's June and Margaret had the luxury of a bus to take them to and from school, but had to walk 1/2 mile to the bus pick up. Roy and Shirley graduated from High School at Karval. June and Margaret graduated from High School at Akron, Colorado.

Roy and Shirley herded pigs, gathered the milk cows and did chores. Later Shirley, June and Margaret did lots of the same together. Shirley was good to her two sisters and taught them a lot. Roy was always mischievous and got the girls into a lot of trouble.

In early 1940's Bessie and Harry received a wire that Ella was very ill and not expected to live. Ella was in Idaho at this time. Harry got someone to watch their place. He was very tired, but he put June and Margaret in the back of their pickup. Bessie was up front with him and was to keep him awake. They planned to drive straight to Idaho with no break at night. Bessie fell asleep and later Harry also went to sleep driving. Soon he heard a truck horn, he awakened and realized he was headed head-on for the truck. He was able to pull back to the right hand side of the road avoiding a head on collision. He stopped immediately, as did the trucker. Harry thanked the trucker for saving all of their lives. Harry did stay awake, and they went on to see Ella. Ella was being cared for at Mable (Carrington) Ebersole's. Only the adults were allowed to see Ella and then only for a few minutes at a time. Margaret vividly remembers that her Aunt Mabel made them ice sodas and they were sooooo good.

Harry always rented or owned places with good water, but often the house was small and sometimes very poor. One teacher was telling the children that they needed to have their bedroom window open, so Shirley told Harry and Bessie. Harry informed her it was not necessary since you could throw a cat through the cracks in the rooms. Shirley proceeded to tell the teacher this, much to the embarrassment of her parents. Shirley married George (Pete) Stoker, Roy was in the army at this time. Suddenly the family had decreased from six to four. June and Margaret helped with the chores especially the milking of the cows. Harry always farmed with horses as he said that riding a tractor hurt him too much. Both girls regularly helped with the farm work. June, more often, helped Harry with the farm work driving 6 to 16 horses hitched to various farm equipment. Margaret, more often, herded the cattle. Margaret remembers one summer getting up at 4 am, helped with milking, grabbed something for breakfast, saddled a horse and was out on the open range by 5:30 am. She had to ride and herd Harry's and Bessie's cattle into their home place.

It was open range. The cattle could go 22 miles east but could also go one mile west to a neighbors place and he had only water enough for his own cattle. Margaret usually could herd the cattle back to the home place by about 11:30 am. Margaret then helped Bessie with the noon meal. Then about 3:30 pm Margaret again saddled her horse and brought the cattle to water one more time (the cattle watered, ate and rested after being brought into the home place). Then, Margaret drove the cattle slowly, so they could graze as they went, about 3-5 miles east of the home place. She often did not get home until 10 pm. It was to bed (she had taken a sandwich for supper with her) and do it all over again the next day. One day June was bringing the team to the end of the row, she was unhitching them when something spooked them and they raced head-long into the fence and very effectively took out 1/2 mile of fence before June could get them stopped. Needless to say Harry, June, and Margaret built fence that afternoon.

When Harry and Bessie moved to Akron, Bessie commented on the fact that it took about the same hours to move from Haswell to Akron as it had taken days to move by covered-wagon from Harrisburg to Cheraw when she was a child. This move was by truck, all belongings, cows, chickens, and horses were trucked to Akron. In fact, the paper in Akron did a story on her return. Harry rented a place since he could not get possession of the place they had bought for 5 months. Margaret remembers her Aunt Laura (Carrington) Ricketts and her Grandma Carrington coming to visit while they lived at this place. One humorous incident happened there. An elderly neighbor came to the door and Margaret answered it. The neighbor said, "My gentleman cow got out and I wonder if you have seen him". .After visiting with the neighbor and being sure no one had seen the "gentleman cow" the neighbor left. Margaret went into the living/dining room where Aunt Laura, Grandma Carrington, her mother Bessie, and sister June were, and she began to laugh about the neighbor calling his bull a "gentleman cow". Wow!! Margaret was quickly informed by her Aunt Laura that the neighbor was a true gentleman and Margaret should not laugh about it. Margaret was a ranch raised girl and "gentlemen cows" had always been called bulls, and female cows were heifers (until they had their first calf) or cows (after their first calf). But, Margaret respected her Aunt Laura and Grandmother and laughed no more.

June had been called Myrtle June until the move to Akron and she announced that she was to be called June now. She was tired of the sick jokes about her name like "Myrtle, how's your girdle" and many others. Margaret remembers slipping only once at school, and saying Myrtle. It was a very few weeks until we were all saying June. One thing about it, Margaret's and June's Aunt Myrtle called both girls by both names, namely Myrtle June, or Margaret Alice as long as she lived. When someone says Margaret Alice, Margaret knows it is one of her .aunt Myrtle's family members.

Ella always read and studied her bible and tried to witness to her son-in-law Harry. Harry did not attend and did not encourage attendance of Sunday School or Church. Harry would work in the field especially during harvest on Sunday. Ella would say, "Harry, you will lose one day during the week, because you have worked on Sunday". And yes, that is what happened. Harry had a break-down of machinery or something every week. Harry's answer was always that God understood that harvest had to be done at once. Ella always told him that God would bless the harvest if Harry would honor Sunday. Margaret remembers that Bessie, June and she attended Sunday School and Church irregularly. Margaret always resented that her parents had not had her baptized as a baby. Margaret did not understand that she had to accept Jesus as her personal Savior, until 1950 when she did take Jesus as her Savior. This is a decision that Margaret has never regretted.

June and Margaret remember their Uncle Will Carrington visiting their home when young. And he came to see Bessie several times when he was older. June and Margaret believe Bessie was very special to her brother Will. Margaret was visiting at home in January 1953. Margaret was with Harry in Akron. Harry was taking care of a business transaction. Harry told the businessman that he and Bessie would celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary that month. The man said, "Harry Barber, you are a liar. I know it has to be more than that. Roy is considerably older than that. And you cannot convince me that he his not Bessie's son." Harry told the gentleman several times that Roy was a son of his first marriage. The man said he had never seen greater love between a mother and son. Submitted June 1997


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