Buildings, Farm and Town

To the east of the little brown house (across the street) were several undeveloped lots. These were areas in which I can recall playing as a child. There were trees, long grass, remains of tall weeds. One of these lots was behind the residence of on Anton Byers. His house was of interest because it was the house (according to my brother Vincent) that uncle Carl used as sort of a model for my grandmother’s house in town. It was built in the middle of the 1910s.

One of the impressions I have received from my mother was that my grandfather Peterson sort of retired from any active work, upkeep, development of the farm and the buildings in the last decade of his life. As I may have mentioned already his daily exercise was to pump water at the lower well for the livestock.

During this period those of his sons who were at home did the farm work and my impression is that they may have been involved in the actual construction of some of the farm buildings and in the tiling of the farm. It is certain that they participated in the design in some cases. For example the corn crib had an inside elevator that uncle Carl designed and constructed himself. Most of the arm in the vicinity had the usual outside elevator.

As the other sons left the farm uncle Carl took over the management and in this role he played an important part in the design of the house in town. The main difference I see between my grandfather Peterson and any of his sons was that in economic planning he had more foresight and better judgment. I suspect this may have been due to the much broader geographical and social contact that my grandfather had in the years before his marriage. Uncle Carl’s outlook was limited in range and limited in vision and the capacity for assessment. The experiences that my grandfather had broadened his horizon which was restricted in his children, at least the older ones.

A few of the buildings on the farm such as the hog house and the sales pavilion (which uncle Carl had converted into a tool shed) were the evidences of my uncle Serenus’ ill-considered attempt to enter the pure-bred hog business.

I wrote that the lots to the east of the little brown house were undeveloped at the time we lived in Gowrie before the move to the farm. That does not mean that they were uninhabited during that time. At some time, I suppose it was in the early 1930s in the days of the Depression there was a family that camped in the area. I don’t recall how long they were there but I’m sure it was for several months — certainly long enough to impress the occurrence on my recollection. I speculate that it was only during the late spring, summer and early fall months; I can’t picture a family residing in a tent in Gowrie during the winter. There were one or two children in the family and we had some superficial contact with the family.