Where Are You From?
A writer friend asked me several weeks ago if I would consider answering the question "Where are you from?" He hopes to receive other answers to the same question and write something based on what he learns.
As I tend to do, I thought of too many ways to answer the question--all at once, and in great detail. The effect is paralyzing. And thought-provoking. It's a little bit like having to tell others "something about yourself" as I needed to do in the LRC class. Where to start?
The simplest, most basic answer to the question "where are you from?" addresses location of residence.
Place of birth? Hutchinson, KS (at Grace hospital--while my family had a rural Partridge address).
Current residence? Rural Partridge, KS (at 13611 W. Partridge RD--about 2 1/3 miles west of Partridge)
In between birth and now? Rural Partridge and rural Nickerson (3 different residences), with these two exceptions: Rural Jerome, Michigan for about five months during the winter of 1955/1956.
--Rural Sugarcreek, OH during each school year from the fall of 1973 to the spring of 1978.
Three in-between residences:
--On West Illinois Avenue, about 1 1/2 mile west of Partridge RD, in the little house that has recently been available as a Bed and Breakfast called Homespun Hideaway. My parents lived here when I was born, and our family moved away from that house when I was three years old. My Miller grandparents lived in a larger house on the same property, separated from our house by a walking path. The Dwight Miller family (my cousin Karen) and the Oliver and Emma Troyer family (my aunt and uncle) live on that farm now, along with Monte who has taken up long-term residence in the B&B.
--At 3015 S. Partridge RD. My grandfather Beachy bought this place from Elvin and Bertha Helmuth when they moved away from Kansas (to Ohio?). Earlier, Bryan Tedder had owned this place. My parents moved here in about 1955 and stayed there till all twelve of their children left home and they became empty nesters. After that, Hiromi and I lived there with our children for about fifteen years, moving from there to our current residence in 2013.
The first house we lived in on Partridge RD was an old house with a tiny cellar under part of it. The house had a porch on each of its four sides. Over time, all of them had been enclosed except the east porch. From a landing at the top of a steep stairway two doorways on opposite sides of the landing opened into bedrooms tucked under the roofline of the house. Only a small area at the center of the rooms had a ceiling parallel to the floor. These rooms were always girls' rooms while we lived there. The boys slept downstairs.
Later a one-story house was moved in and positioned over a rectangular basement. To the moved-in house were added two bedrooms, a bathroom, a hallway, and a laundry room. That's the house our son Shane and his family occupy now.
--In a little house on West Clark Road, in rural Nickerson, 1 1/2 mile West of S. Partridge RD. Hiromi and I moved here when we were first married, in 1981. We lived there until 1984 when we bought a place and moved--to the same house where we live now, on Trail West RD. My brother Lowell and his family own the farm now where we first lived, and they have raised their family there.
*************
Our current home sits on a three-acre property which is surrounded by land owned by Miller Seed Company (or LaVerne Miller, perhaps--not sure). LaVerne's father Ervin owned the field before him. He was the founder of Miller Seed, which now has at least one 4th-generation family member working there.
Fred and Fern Brent at one time owned this place, which was at that time part of a 40-acre property. Fred raised hogs and sometimes sold feeder pigs to my father, who then grew them to market size and sold them to Winchester Packing Company in Hutchinson. Fern was the postmistress at Partridge.
When Fred Brent fell on hard times, he shared his woes with my dad who suggested that he might consider selling the farm ground to Ervin Miller, in order to gain some financial stability. He followed through on that suggestion, and that's how Ervin came to own the field around this place.
Fred and Fern had added a piece to the south side of the house. It was moved in from elsewhere and apparently fit the dimensions exactly. The "seam" is still visible. Those rooms were made into a kitchen and bedroom, with a bathroom between them.
The Brents eventually moved off the place and sold it to Ron and Beverly Thiessen. Ron was killed in an explosion at work, and Beverly later died alone here in the house. They had no children. Her parents, Marion and Ijean Benton, fell heir to the place and moved here temporarily to get the place ready to sell. They did a lot of good work. At some point, a utility room had also been added to extend the house still farther south. It opened into the kitchen.
We purchased the place in 1984 for $16,500. The house was liveable, but Hiromi happened to be between jobs at the time after being laid off from working at Business Computer Center. We had just returned from a trip to Japan, and Hiromi had finished up a class in Business Law at Hutchinson Community College, and we decided to take full advantage of the timing and do some more extensive work before we moved in. We tore off lath and plaster throughout the four rooms that had originally made up the whole of the house, and replaced it with sheetrock. All the wiring was redone, new windows and doors were installed, and all the exterior walls were insulated. .The opening between the living room and dining room was a small one, arch-shaped. We removed all of the wall beyond the doorway and joined the dining and living rooms. Paint and paper on walls, new floor coverings and refinishing of wood floors--oh my--it was all a lot of work. We moved in on Nov. 4, 1984, when our oldest child, Joel, was about 18 months old. The house wasn't really finished then, but the main part of the living area was done, and the kitchen and bathroom were functional.
Most of the dilapidated farm buildings have disappeared or are still in the act of disappearing. We've made some massive changes in the landscape, while also making use of some of the features that were here when we came. A class offered by the Extension Service gave us a lot of help with making a landscape plan, and we worked doggedly over many years to work the plan. We left in place several trees that were here when we arrived: A pair of Kentucky Coffee Trees, a Cottonwood, a Siberian Elm, and three pear trees that produced delicious fruit. We removed a number of Siberian Elms and transplanted several small trees to new locations. The large maple in our circle drive was one of them. The Green Ash north of the house was another. We also created new rows of Vanhoutte Spirea bushes from a row that was eliminated directly north of the house where we wanted to restore the front-door function of an exterior door.
I may think of things to add to this section, but I'm ready to move on to some of the other kinds of answers to the "Where are you from?" question. That will likely happen in future posts.
As I tend to do, I thought of too many ways to answer the question--all at once, and in great detail. The effect is paralyzing. And thought-provoking. It's a little bit like having to tell others "something about yourself" as I needed to do in the LRC class. Where to start?
The simplest, most basic answer to the question "where are you from?" addresses location of residence.
Place of birth? Hutchinson, KS (at Grace hospital--while my family had a rural Partridge address).
Current residence? Rural Partridge, KS (at 13611 W. Partridge RD--about 2 1/3 miles west of Partridge)
In between birth and now? Rural Partridge and rural Nickerson (3 different residences), with these two exceptions: Rural Jerome, Michigan for about five months during the winter of 1955/1956.
--Rural Sugarcreek, OH during each school year from the fall of 1973 to the spring of 1978.
Three in-between residences:
--On West Illinois Avenue, about 1 1/2 mile west of Partridge RD, in the little house that has recently been available as a Bed and Breakfast called Homespun Hideaway. My parents lived here when I was born, and our family moved away from that house when I was three years old. My Miller grandparents lived in a larger house on the same property, separated from our house by a walking path. The Dwight Miller family (my cousin Karen) and the Oliver and Emma Troyer family (my aunt and uncle) live on that farm now, along with Monte who has taken up long-term residence in the B&B.
--At 3015 S. Partridge RD. My grandfather Beachy bought this place from Elvin and Bertha Helmuth when they moved away from Kansas (to Ohio?). Earlier, Bryan Tedder had owned this place. My parents moved here in about 1955 and stayed there till all twelve of their children left home and they became empty nesters. After that, Hiromi and I lived there with our children for about fifteen years, moving from there to our current residence in 2013.
The first house we lived in on Partridge RD was an old house with a tiny cellar under part of it. The house had a porch on each of its four sides. Over time, all of them had been enclosed except the east porch. From a landing at the top of a steep stairway two doorways on opposite sides of the landing opened into bedrooms tucked under the roofline of the house. Only a small area at the center of the rooms had a ceiling parallel to the floor. These rooms were always girls' rooms while we lived there. The boys slept downstairs.
Later a one-story house was moved in and positioned over a rectangular basement. To the moved-in house were added two bedrooms, a bathroom, a hallway, and a laundry room. That's the house our son Shane and his family occupy now.
--In a little house on West Clark Road, in rural Nickerson, 1 1/2 mile West of S. Partridge RD. Hiromi and I moved here when we were first married, in 1981. We lived there until 1984 when we bought a place and moved--to the same house where we live now, on Trail West RD. My brother Lowell and his family own the farm now where we first lived, and they have raised their family there.
*************
Our current home sits on a three-acre property which is surrounded by land owned by Miller Seed Company (or LaVerne Miller, perhaps--not sure). LaVerne's father Ervin owned the field before him. He was the founder of Miller Seed, which now has at least one 4th-generation family member working there.
Fred and Fern Brent at one time owned this place, which was at that time part of a 40-acre property. Fred raised hogs and sometimes sold feeder pigs to my father, who then grew them to market size and sold them to Winchester Packing Company in Hutchinson. Fern was the postmistress at Partridge.
When Fred Brent fell on hard times, he shared his woes with my dad who suggested that he might consider selling the farm ground to Ervin Miller, in order to gain some financial stability. He followed through on that suggestion, and that's how Ervin came to own the field around this place.
Fred and Fern had added a piece to the south side of the house. It was moved in from elsewhere and apparently fit the dimensions exactly. The "seam" is still visible. Those rooms were made into a kitchen and bedroom, with a bathroom between them.
The Brents eventually moved off the place and sold it to Ron and Beverly Thiessen. Ron was killed in an explosion at work, and Beverly later died alone here in the house. They had no children. Her parents, Marion and Ijean Benton, fell heir to the place and moved here temporarily to get the place ready to sell. They did a lot of good work. At some point, a utility room had also been added to extend the house still farther south. It opened into the kitchen.
We purchased the place in 1984 for $16,500. The house was liveable, but Hiromi happened to be between jobs at the time after being laid off from working at Business Computer Center. We had just returned from a trip to Japan, and Hiromi had finished up a class in Business Law at Hutchinson Community College, and we decided to take full advantage of the timing and do some more extensive work before we moved in. We tore off lath and plaster throughout the four rooms that had originally made up the whole of the house, and replaced it with sheetrock. All the wiring was redone, new windows and doors were installed, and all the exterior walls were insulated. .The opening between the living room and dining room was a small one, arch-shaped. We removed all of the wall beyond the doorway and joined the dining and living rooms. Paint and paper on walls, new floor coverings and refinishing of wood floors--oh my--it was all a lot of work. We moved in on Nov. 4, 1984, when our oldest child, Joel, was about 18 months old. The house wasn't really finished then, but the main part of the living area was done, and the kitchen and bathroom were functional.
Most of the dilapidated farm buildings have disappeared or are still in the act of disappearing. We've made some massive changes in the landscape, while also making use of some of the features that were here when we came. A class offered by the Extension Service gave us a lot of help with making a landscape plan, and we worked doggedly over many years to work the plan. We left in place several trees that were here when we arrived: A pair of Kentucky Coffee Trees, a Cottonwood, a Siberian Elm, and three pear trees that produced delicious fruit. We removed a number of Siberian Elms and transplanted several small trees to new locations. The large maple in our circle drive was one of them. The Green Ash north of the house was another. We also created new rows of Vanhoutte Spirea bushes from a row that was eliminated directly north of the house where we wanted to restore the front-door function of an exterior door.
I may think of things to add to this section, but I'm ready to move on to some of the other kinds of answers to the "Where are you from?" question. That will likely happen in future posts.
posted by Miriam Iwashige at
9:00 PM
2 Comments:
This post makes me want to see your present house/homestead. Do you have any pictures to post?
By
Norma Schrock, at 6/01/2019
Thanks for asking, Norma. I can't think of any pictures I have to post at the moment, but I'll keep it in mind and may do so later. I'm not great at the whole picture posting thing so it takes me a while to figure things out.
By
Miriam Iwashige, at 6/01/2019
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