Memoirs bring olden days to life

By Bill Vossler

Life in Minnesota in the 1920s-30s had some similarities to today, yet it was very different. A memoir written by the late Lloyd Fossum of Hayfield, Minn., gives some insight on some of those similarities and differences.

After milking cows in the evening and finishing other farm chores, no matter the time of day, Lloyd Fossum sat down to write in his diary, and then his memoir. Photos provided by Mike Fossum

Lloyd’s son, Mike Fossum, of St. Cloud said, “Dad rose at four every morning  to milk cows. No matter how long a farm day he had, he wrote in his diary -- where he went, who he saw, what he did, and the weather, from Jan. 1, 1945 until 2007.”

Parts of the memoir are paraphrased for space purposes. The quotes in this story (unless otherwise marked) are direct excerpts from Lloyd in his memoir.

Early Days

Lloyd condensed his diaries into a memoir showing what life was like from his 1917 birth into the 1930s.

“I have many happy memories of childhood on the farm. Also scary ones. I fished, swam, and ice skated on the nearby Cedar River. One time while ice skating I came very close to drowning; I fell through the ice, but was able to pull myself up onto the ledge of thicker ice.”

“Living was very simple in those days, with second-hand furniture, a wood- and coal-burning kitchen range for cooking, and a potbellied stove heating only the dining room. I remember waking up to frosted windows and white breath. I don’t know how my mother got out of bed those cold mornings to get it somewhat warm for us children.”

Old-Time Housing

“Lighting was provided by kerosene lanterns, or gasoline-burning ones that gave off very bright light. If the flame burned too high, the chimney would get black with soot and need to be cleaned.”

“With no plumbing, we pumped water by hand and carried the pail from the yard to the house. Hot water was heated on top of the kitchen range.”

The night-time chamber pot had to be carried to the outdoor toilet to be emptied. Bathing meant heating a lot of water and pouring it into a metal wash tub.

Lloyd Fossum with one his first vehicles parked in front of the farm house.

Soft rain water was used for washing clothes, which had to be ironed.  “Mother had two or three other irons heating on the stove while using one at a time for ironing.”

Early hand-operated telephones had a party line, each house with a different ring.

“Every one could hear each other’s ring, and when they heard a neighbor’s ring, most people listened in,” said Mike Fossum. “My grandmother was a great one for rubbering (eavesdropping). When she heard something she didn’t like, she’d say, ‘Huh!’ so everyone knew she was on the line.”

Vehicles and transportation

“Our transportation was horse power,” Lloyd wrote. “I remember riding in a sleigh behind a team of horses, each with a different-tone bell on their harness. They made harmony, jingling together merrily as they trotted along. I can still hear the crunch of sleigh runners on the snow, see the beautiful full moon, and the vapor from the horses nostrils. If the weather was very cold, Mom heated “flat irons” to warm our feet under the blankets.”

In 1924, transportation for the Fossum family changed.

“Dad traded a saw rig for a 1917 Model T Ford. What a change! We could drive 25 miles an hour, quite a speed!”

A hand crank started it, and it had no driver side door, and no gauges. “Most motorists carried tire chains for better traction. Antifreeze was a mixture of alcohol and water.”

Animals on the farm

The dozen cows were milked by hand. “We sat on a low stool holding the milk pail between our knees. The separator separated the cream and skim milk, which was fed to calves, pigs, and chickens, while the cream was sold to the local creamery.”

“Cattle drank from the river, so in winter, every day Dad cut a hole in the ice for them. For the horses we pumped water by hand. With no refrigeration, Mom kept perishable food like milk in stone crocks in the basement.”

“Six horses did the farm work.“

The farm’s Cedar River provided fish like bullheads, suckers, sun fish, and an occasional turtle. “Ugh. I hated turtles. When the fish spawned, we speared them at night with light from a gasoline lantern.”

“The river’s swimming hole had a sandy bottom. If only boys, we swam in the nude. Quite often, we had to pull off ‘blood suckers’ or leeches afterwards.”

Horses were used to do most normal chores on the Fossum farm. The guys posed for a photo as stack hay. The horses are in place to move the rack when it is full. Photo provided by Mike Fossum

Music

The Fossums’ musical abilities were highly prized because with radios very uncommon, music came from people playing instruments. “I got introduced to music very early, learning to play the mandolin when I was five. Next was the fiddle.”

Music was so important that Lloyd’s dad ordered a Stradivarius copy for $20. “Dad purchased an old pump organ, and when uncles visited, we always had old time music. I can still remember drifting into dreamland to the sweet melodies of old-time fiddle music.”

“I also sang around three or four. Our neighbor wanted me to sing for him. I was bashful, so I crawled under the dining table, and sang a World War I tune... ‘Katie, Beautiful Katie, You’re, the Only One I Adore.’ But I sang ‘You’re the Only Girl Behind the Door’ instead. Boy that got some laughs.”

School

Lloyd started school in 1923 at the age of six. 

“With my sister Ilene and brother Orville we walked only a half mile east and one mile north to a large, nice, rural school, including a library.”

One teacher taught all eight grades and was the janitor. She built fires with coals and carried out the ashes. “Students took turns washing blackboards and cleaning erasers. One outdoor toilet was for boys, another for girls, unpleasant places to go when it was cold!”

Most students brought lunch in a pail. “Sometimes parents brought soup, scalloped potatoes, or beans. In winter, we carved our initials on a potato, and about 11 a.m. put them in the ash pit under the stove grates. By noon, we had a hot baked potato!”

With no well, students took turns walking to the nearest farm to carry back pails of water for drinking and hand washing.

Each grade came to the front of the room for class. 

“All students could see and hear what went on in each class. We started each day by singing songs like ‘Old Black Joe,’ ‘America the Beautiful,’ ‘Auld Lang Syne,’ and so on. Twice a year we put on a program of skits and music for the parents.”

Lloyd Fossum had some fun riding a pig on the family farm. Pigs were often butchered and used for food. Photo provided by Mike Fossum

Weather

In 1927 when Lloyd was 10, a “real bad” blizzard erupted while the children were in school. 

“Earl Smith brought a horse-pulled wagon so his children, Paul Arendts and I rode with him to the Smith home safely. Dad and brother Orville started from home with a team and sled to get me, but half way had to return. A telephone connection told Mom and Dad I was safe. The next morning, Mrs. Smith served pancakes with store-bought corn syrup. I just loved corn syrup! With no school the next day, Dad walked to Smiths and we walked home together. A rural mail carrier froze to death during this blizzard, though his horses survived in a grove of trees.”

Roads

Roads were a problem, especially in winter. “The state highway between Hayfield and Blooming Prairie was gravel, and the only one plowed in winter. Some winters snow banks were ten to fifteen feet high on the sides of the road.”

“Instead of automobiles in the winter, people used wagons or sleighs with steel wheels. No rubber tires! Horses had to be shod in the winter, as without shoes, on ice a horse was helpless. Their bare hooves could not grip the ice, or got sore on hard paved roads. The blacksmith played an important part in a farmer’s life. He put shoes on horses, repaired wagons, buggies and machinery, sharpened plow lays and so forth.”

Radio

The Fossums’ neighbor, J. D. Smith, had the first radio in the area about 1925. “Just earphones clamped over one’s head and plugged into the radio set. What a thrill to hear voices and music from far away places! Sometimes if I stopped at Smith’s on the way home from school, Mrs. Smith would let me listen to the radio for a little while.”  

Butchering

Butchering was hard work.

“About 25 gallons of water needed to be heated to butcher a hog. We saved the blood for blood sausage. The dead pig was hoisted with a block and tackle, and dipped in scalding water from both ends. The pig was cut into various cuts of pork, and sausage made. Chickens were also butchered.”

Field work

Besides regular chores morning and night, field work was added. “Plowing was done with three horses with a sulky plow. Dad planted oats, barley, wheat, corn, and sometimes flax.”

In June, alfalfa and wild hay were cut, dried, and taken to the barn and stored in the hay loft.

The next big job was harvest, cutting oats, barley, wheat or flax. 

Mike Fossum, son of Lloyd Fossum, now has his father’s diaries, photos, and memoir. Photo by Bill Vossler

“Grain was shocked together, and dried for about ten days. Then threshed. Dad belonged to a threshing ring. One farmer owned the threshing machine. Bundles were put into the tractor-powered thresher, and grain came out the side and was automatically measured. Grain was taken to the granary where a horse-powered elevator put it into the granary.”

Farm women had to work hard to get food ready for dinners and suppers for the threshing crew in a very hot kitchen, Lloyd wrote. “Pies, cakes, cookies, and bread. Wash basins with soap, water and towels were provided for the men to wash up. After threshing was finished, farmers settled up, and the rig owner was paid at a pre-agreed price per bushel.”

Fall days were spent plowing, and hauling manure to the fields, Lloyd wrote. “When the corn ripened, stalks were hauled home or shredded, separating the ears from the stalks. Ear corn was chewed right off the cob by the pigs. Grain was hauled to town in sacks to be ground by the feed mill.”

Grocery store

“A customer in a grocery store read off what he wanted, and the clerk got each item. We usually traded eggs, sometimes owing the grocer, other times getting chips for future groceries.”

Little food was prepackaged.

“White and brown sugar, navy beans, powdered sugar, were scooped out of large drawers behind the counter, put in paper bags and weighed.”

Gas station

“Gasoline was pumped by hand from underground tanks up into a round glass cylinder with gallon marks starting at the top. Gravity poured gasoline through the hose by gravity into the car’s gasoline tank. Gallons were measured by reading the ruler.”

“Whenever we were in town, Dad gave me a nickel to spend. What should I buy, pop, ice cream, gum, chocolate drops? I almost always bought a Baby Ruth candy bar.”

The Depression

When the stock market crashed in 1929, many farmers lost their farms.

 “We were fortunate to have our own eggs, milk, butter, and meat, and scraped together enough money to buy flour, sugar, and salt. We never went hungry.”

“Hobos stopped to ask for food, and mother would make sandwiches for them. Sometimes they would offer to split wood for the cook stove.”

In the end, life was the same in the 1920s and 1930s, yet very different.