3. Hardman-Hunter

Owen Monroe Hardman and Ullie May Hunter

0. Owen and Ullie were married in Lewiston, Idaho, on 2 April 1910. Ullie was born in West Plains, Howell County, Missouri.
1. Ullie and Owen's first child, Ullie Adeline, was born in 1911 in Peck. She was later known to her family and friends as "Babe" Hardman. She married Howard Dammarell, then after being divorced by him she married Ralph Emerson, with whom she had two children, then divorced Ralph, lived again with Howard for a while, then remarried Ralph, but again divorced him. See 3.1 Hardman-Emerson below.
2. Ullie and Owen's 2nd child, Louida Orene, was born in 1913 in Peck. She was later known to her family and friends as "Bug" Hardman. She married William Bascom Wetherall, with whom she had two children. See the Wetherall-Hardman family page for details.
3. Burton Hunter was Ullie's youngest sibling. Ullie took him in after their mother died of influenza in Seattle on her way home from a visit with relatives in Missouri in 1920. See the Hunter-Thomas family page for details.

Chronology of Hardman-Hunter family through censuses

Hardman-Hunter galleries

Forthcoming.

Owen and Ullie Hardman

Forthcoming.

Ullie's death

I learned of Ullies death letters from both parents, mailed to me in Japan from Grass Valley. It was the only occasion on which both of my parents wrote to me at around the same time about the same event. My mother wrote frequently, but my father rarely wrote. I have kept the two letters together in a file on correspondence and detritus related to my grandmother.

Mother's letter

Ullie passed away at 1:30 in the morning of Friday, 25 January 1980, two weeks after her 89th birthday, at the Orchards Nursing Home in Lewiston, Idaho, where she had been living for about 6 years. Both of her daughters, my mother Orene Wetherall, and my aunt Babe Emerson, were at her side.

My mother describe Ullie death and burial in the following letter dated 30 January 1980, which I received in Japan a few days later.

Father's letter

My father's letter, dated 27 January 1980, arrived before my mother's.

Babe Hardman

Forthcoming.

Bug Hardman

Forthcoming.

Burton Hunter

Forthcoming.

Babe and Bug

Forthcoming.

Bug and Burton

Forthcoming.

Ullie, Babe, Bug

Forthcoming.

Central Ridge ranch

Central Ridge refers to the high prairie on the top of the mountain between Big Canyon Creek, which runs west of the ridge and passes Peck just before it empties into the Clearwater River, and Little Canyon Creek, which runs east of the ridge and spills joins Big Canyon Creek just upstsream from Peck. The ridge itself runs from the north (where the two canyons meet) to the south (toward Nezperce).

Once on Central Ridge, you can drive the full length of the ridge until, leaving the ridge, the prairie reaches Nezperce, the county seat of Lewis County. The county, and Central Ridge, called Central Ridge Precinct in the 1900 and 1910 censuses, were part of Nezperce County until 1911, when Lewis County was created. The name change creates some confusion in family histories that fail to note such redrawings of administrative districts. From Nezperce, the prairie continues to Kamiah, which is on the Clearwater River downstream from where the South and Middle Forks of the river flow together near Kooskia. This entire stretch of land represents the heart of the Nez Perce Reservation that was opened for homesteading in 1895 and 1896.

Central Ridge was nether a township nor a village. Its post office, which appears to have operated from 1896-1923, was situated in a ridge settlement called Steele, after the man who established his homestead there and began to develop the area. Some corresponsdence in the Wetherall Family Collection, letters and postcards, bear "Steele" postal franks. An autograph book that belonged to Lucy (Gallaher) Hardman, this writer's maternal-paternal great-grandmother, includes the signatures of a number of ridge residents, including the "Major" Steele after which the settlement was named. Nothing remains of Steele today, andthe settlement today. The name appears only on only a few historical maps.

See Central Ridge and Steele on the "Places and Times" page for maps and other details.

Central Ridge in 1900, 1910, and 1920 Censuses

The 1900 census was the first to embrace the homesteads that were opened on the Nez Perce Reservation in 1885-1886. The 1900 census for Central Ridge Precinct consists of 6 enumeration sheets on which census data is recorded for 297 individuals living there as of 1 January 1900 in 88 households residing at 85 locations.

The 1910 census also consists of 6 enumeration sheets, but none of the sheets -- which accommodate up to 50 individuals -- is full. Only 236 individuals living in 48 households at as many locations are listed. This suggests that people were already leaving the ridge, presumably selling their homesteads to neighbors

The 1920 census consists of 4 enumeration sheets, all but the last of which is full. They list 214 individuals living in 39 households at the same number of locations. Depopulation and consolidation continued at conspicuous rates.

Household names

Many of the family names figure in stories told by my maternal grandmother, and by my own mother and other relatives who were raised on Central Ridge or in neighboring communities.

Among my immediate ancestors, the most closely realted, through marriage, were the Hunters, Thomases, and Hardmans. My mother was a daughter of a Hardman-Hunter union, and her mother was a daughter of a Hunter-Thomas union. The McGee-Hunter and Hardman-Hunter unions were collateral. The Hunter wives wives in the two families, including my maternal grandmother, were sisters, and their children, including my mother, were 1st cousins.

Locations of ranches

I have photographs of the approximate location of the ranch homesteaded by Alfred Christopher Hardman and Lucy Jane (Gallaher) Hardman, which was succeeded to by their 4th and last son Owen Monroe Hardman, my maternal grandfather. Owen married Ullie May Hunter, a niece of John W. Thomas, who also homesteaded on Central Ridge. This is the J.W. Thomas ranch" alluded to in the following flyer advertising the sale of the ranch on Tuesday, 14 October 1919, by its then owner, Albert Douglas Hunter, who was Ullie's father, hence my maternal maternal great grandfather.

I have no descriptions of the homesteads, other than those that appeared on facing pages in An Illustrated History of North Idaho, which was published in 1903, just a few years after the two homesteads were opened. See John W. Thomas and Albert C. Hardman for transcriptions and comments.

John W. Thomas family leaves Central Ridge

Theo Vincent, born Eleanor Theodosia Thomas (1916-2007), the daughter of John W. Thomas, was born in Clarkston, Washington, across the Snake River from Lewiston, Idaho, in 1916 -- after her parents left Central Ridge. She describes the occasion for their move in her autobiography, Missouri Transplant (Vincent 1985, pages 5-6, [bracketed remarks] mine).

Theo says nothing about the disposition of her family's Central Ridge ranch. About "the Ranch" she says this (Vincent 1985, page 89).

Another summer rolled around. After school was out in May, I went up to visit the ranch with Daddy to spend some time at Howard's, but mostly, to visit my cousin Bug.

Howard Thomas

Theo describes her oldest brother, Howard, as follows.Thomas (Vincent 1985, page 35).

"The upshot of all this was that Daddy was eventually forced to mortgage land in order to pay Howard's gambling debts," she wrote. "The end result was only too predictable."

Left   Theo's brother Howard Thomas at the home place on Central Ridge aiming revolver Top right   Sep Puckett, Ted Hamilton, Howard Thomas (2nd from right), and father John Wesley Thomas (right) after hunting at lower place on Central Ridge Photos scanned from Theo's autobiography, Missouri Transplant (1985, page 48) Bottom right   Headstone of Howard Thomas (1895-1958 and Ethel May (Bloodsworth) Thomas (1893-1957) Normal Hill Cemetary, Lewiston, Idaho Photograph by Baily copped from Find A Grave (www.findagrave.com)

The narrative at this point continues like this (Vincent 1985, page 92, [bracketed remarks] mine).

Sale of J.W. Thomas Ranch by A.D. Hunter

Be thankful for packrat ancestors

Theo writes nothing about the disposition of her father's properties -- when, and under what conditions, he sold them.

The 1910 census for Central Ridge list the family of John W. Thomas (39) with his wife Virginia E. (36), son Howard (15), son Martin B. (9), and boarder Arthur Shoemaker (28), immediately after the family of Albert C. Hardman (49), his 2nd wife Jennie M. (24), and sons Coral P. (24), William A. (22), and Owen M. (20), and daughter Emma M. (6 months) and daughter-in-law Ullie M. (19), who was Owen's wife. Howard, the oldest of J.W. Thomas's sons (his daughter Theo was not yet born), and 5 years younger than Owen, the youngest of A.C. Hardman's son's, but photographs of them together survive.

Ullie, of course, was the oldest daughter of A.D. Hunter, who acquired J.W. Thomas's ranch at some point before the 1920 census, by which time neither family is living on Central Ridge. My mother, Orene Wetherall, who was born and raised in the A.C. Hardman ranch, states that when she was born in 1913, her father, Owen, called his mother in law -- i.e., Ullie Hardman's mother Ida Frances Thomas, who was J.W. Thomas's sister, on the telephone, and that she came running over the hill from where she lived near the Hardman ranch. How "near" was "near" is not clear. Whatever the distances between their homesteads, the Hunters, Hardmans, and Thomases were neighbors.

Thanks to Ullie Hardman's attachment to the detritus that she accumulated over the years, concerning the history of her families, as the oldest daughter of Albert Douglas Hunter and Ida Frances (Thomas) Hunter, and the husband of Owen Monroe Hardman, the youngest son of Albert Christopher Hardman -- and thanks to my own mother's nostalgia for things her mother thought to save from the old days -- I found in 2015 and 2017, among the things my mother left, which had been in my sister's garage since my father died in 2013, the following notice of A.D. Hunter's sale of J.W. Thomas's ranch.

The sale took place -- if on "Tuesday, October 14th" with banknotes due "October 1, 1920" -- in the fall of 1919.

Hunting for meat on the table

The following photographs show members of the Thomas, Hunter, and Hardman families after some very successful hunts. They enjoyed the camaraderie as men and relatives, and took pride in the number and quality of the game they "racked" or "bagged". But they were not hunting for sport. They were hunting to put meat on the table, in winter.

The men "field dressed" the bucks and an occasional bear -- eviscerating them, and leaving most of the entrails for other animals to eat -- and brought home the carcasses, which were skinned an butchered. The womenfolk "put up" the meat in glass Mason jars for winter. They similar "canned" (in glass jars) all manner of vegetables and fruit, also for winter consumption.

I have recorded dialogs with my maternal grandmother, the first child and daughter of Albert Douglas Hunter and Ida Frances Hunter, in which she relates that her family let seasonal bands of Nez Perce hunters camp on their ranch -- homesteaded out of Nez Perce reservation land -- and swapped the skins from their family hunts for finished moccasins and other clothing.

The Nez Perce hunted, and gathered berries, for the same purpose -- food.

John Abraham Logan Thomas (1887-1982), Owen Monroe Hardman (1890-1949), and Albert Douglas Hunter (1862-1945) Owen Hardman is Douglas Hunter's son-in-law John Thomas is a 1st cousin of Ullie (Hunter) Hardman, Douglas's oldest daughter and Owen's wife Owen Hardman was "Papa" and Douglas Hunter was "Grandpa Doug" to my mother John Thomas, though a 1st cousin once removed, was closer in age to a cousin Owen was my maternal grandfrather, Douglas my maternal maternal great grandfather Scan of original print, circa 1910s, in Wetherall Family Collection

Back   John A. Thomas, Morris Brandt, John Wesley Thomas (younger), and John Wesley Thomas (older)   Front   John and Hiram Lent The two "John Wesley Thomases" cause confusion in Thomas family histories Christopher Columbus Thomas, Jobe Cornelius Thomas, and John Wesley Thomas (the older) were brothers -- John Abraham Thomas was Jobe's son, the younger John Wesley Thomas was Christopher's son -- So the older J.W. Thomas was John A. Thomas's uncle and the younger J.W. Thomas was his 1st cousin Scan by Niki Lee of circa 1911 photograph in Lee Family Collection

The younger John Wesley Thomas (left) and his cousin Sydney Thomas (right) Syndey, a son of Jobe Cornelius Thomas, was John A. Thomas's 1st younger brother These bucks have been racked by their necks in preparation for dressing Scan by Niki Lee of 1910s photograph in Lee Family Collection

Christopher Columbus Thomas (with large knife) and his son the younger John Wesley Thomas (left) Christopher named his son after his own younger brother, the older J.W. Thomas These carcasses, of bucks racked from their hind legs, have been gutted and bled out Scan by Niki Lee of 1910s photograph in Lee Family Collection

"Hunting Widows" Ullie Hardman (right) and sister Eva Keene Dated 1921 and labled by Ullie, near "Central Ridge barn" according to her daughter Orene Wetherall Family photo			Owen Hardman (right) and brother-in-law Albert Hunter (with knife) Preparing to field dress a freshly killed buck Circa 1920s, Wetherall Family photo
"4 Bucks asleep" according to caption by Owen Hardman Circa late 1930s, early 1940s Wetherall Family photo		"To Bugs From Dady" inscription by Owen to his daughter Orene Both wallet-size prints have this inscription on back Wetherall Family photo		Owen (left) with hunting friends (possibly Thomases) The owner of the 4th rifle may be snapping the picture Wetherall Family photo

Deer

Fleet

The Hardman-Hunter household consumed a lot of venison in winter, but the family also raised, and several times photographed, a deer named Fleet.

Most of the several snapshots of Fleet describe who is in the photograph, in what appears to be Ullie Hardman's hand. One of the duplicates of the prints showing Fleet with Babe has "Fleet" (in quotation marks) written in fountain pen in the bottom margin. A larger print showing Burton with Fleet shows Oh "M'dear"! (quotes around only "M'dear") in the bottom margin. Again, the writing appears to be Ullie's.

On the back of one of the small prints of Babe with Fleet, according to what appears to be Ullie's writing in pencil, is the following pencilled note, which I made when confirming the prints with my mother in the late 1990s.

Mother killed spotted fawn
brought by Grandpa's father Albert Hardman

I believe I was quoting what my mother said -- referring to Ullie as her mother (who she more commonly called Mama), and referring to her own paternal grandfather Albert Hardman as the father of her father, who was Grandpa to me. In conversations like this, we got used to switching the reference points of terms of relationship. Whether she called her own parents "Mama (Mother) / Papa" in relation to herself, or "Grandma / Grandpa" in relation to me, or mixed her references, I knew what she meant.

I can't member if I asked, or if we otherwise talked about, why Ullie killed the fawn, or if the fawn she killed as a fawn other than Fleet. Taking the identities on the photographs at face value, Fleet the fawn grew up to be Fleet the young buck.

Dating prints

My mother remarked, in reference to the photo her her and Babe with Fleet with horns, that Babe was in the back, and that she was at Fleets side, and that she was 9 years old. Hence I am dating this picture circa 1922, and the photos of Fleet as a spotted fawn circa 1920.

The 1920 census shows the Hardman-Hunter family on Central Ridge, The 1930 census shows them at Peck. Exactly when they moved to Peck is not clear. The dating of the photographs of Fleck imply that the family lived on the Central Ridge ranch until at least 1922.

"Points"

To be continued.

Horses

Frank

Horses played a big role on the homesteads before the start of mechanization, which significantly changed the farming industry, beginning with the scale of farms and the ways people farmed.

The story handed down in the Hardman-Hunter family, by Ullie (Hunter) Hardman, was that her husband, Owen Hardman, preferred to ride back on the haunches of horses, Nez Perce style. I have seen only one photograph of Owen on a horse, in a photograph in the Wetherall Family Collection. But it appears from the photograph that he is sitting sideways, to face the camera, which shows a rather interesting view of the Hardman ranch on Central Ridge.

To be continued.

Dogs

Taft, Old Bob, Little Coyote

Forthcoming.

Peck

The village of Peck is about a mile up Big Canyon Road from its junction with Highway 12 along the Clearwater River. It straddles but spreads mostly to the southwest of the road, which runs up Big Canyon Creek, which spills into the river at the junction.

The Hardman home in Peck had a Pine Street address but fronted on Kirby Street (now West Kirby) between Pine Street and Marion Street, both of which parallel Big Canyon Road on the southwest. Imagine Pine running south and slighly east down the left of a street map of Peck, and Kirby running west and slighly south from Marion across the bottom of the map. Kirby butts into and ends at Pine.

The T-intersection of Kirby with Pine defined the southwest corner of the Hardman property. Maps today show the corner to be wider and rounder than I remember it.

Owen parked his car in the short driveway off Kirby in front of the garage-cum-tool shed immediately downhill from the house. The driveway and garage defined the southeast corner of the property.

Between the garage and the house, which fronted on Kirby St., was a path wide enough for a vehicle. The path led to the back of the lot, where the outhouse stood. From inside the house, you went out the back door to get to the outhouse, along a path that crossed the back yard. The backyard and outhouse defined the northeast corner of the property.

The yard was immediately below the barn, which fronted on Pine St. and defined the northeast corner of the property. To the west of the barn -- left of the barn if seen from the house looking north, right of the barn if seen south from Pine Street -- was a small field. The field, which defined the southeast corner of the property at Kirby and Pine, was accessible from Pine through a gate beside the barn.

To be continued.

Ullie Hardman's treasures

I am that when Ullie Hardman died, my mother Orene "Bug" Wetherall, Ullie's 2nd daughter, came into possession of the most items among Ullie's possessions in terms of their family history value -- not only her own diary, autograph books, and wallet contents, but the autograph books of her husband her husband and of his mother, and numerous photographs. Both my mother and aunt, Ullie's 1st daughter, Ullie "Babe" Emerson, were at her side when she passed away in Lewiston in 1980. And her youngest sister, Almeda Oglesby, who lived in Clarkston, and was geographically and socially the closest in touch with Ullie, also participated in the disposition of her property, which by then consisted of only a few cardboard boxes of clothing -- and the sort of detritus that testifies to the sort of trivia that writers of family histories treasure.

Ullie's aunt May (Thomas) and husband Benjamin Callison Moscow Cemetery, Moscow, Latah County, Idaho Photograph by jtb from Find A Grave (www.findagrave.com)

Ullie's cousin Norlie Callison and his wife Mabel Kendrick Cemetery, Kendrick, Nez Perce County, Idaho Photograph by Gravely_and Morticia Diggens from Find A Grave (www.findagrave.com)

9 January 1904 - 29 June 1927

Ullie Hardman's autograph book

"Jan. 9th, 1904" is inked inside he back cover. The date appears to have been written by Ullie.

Three entries have the same date, all in Kendrick -- Norlie Sammie (page 13), May (page 21), and Ben (page 45). The undated inside front cover is inscribed by Aunt May, Uncle Ben, and Cousin Norlie in May's hand.

May is Ullie's maternal aunt, Minnie May (Thomas) Callison (1876-1920), the 12th and last child of Thomas-Forbes family. Ullie's mother, Ida Frances Thomas, was the 10th sibling. May married Benjamin Eddington Callison (1878-1953), who thus became Ullie's uncle-in-law. Norla Samuel Callison (1903-1983), or Norlie Sammie, was their son. Norlie was born on 9 May the previous year and was thus just 8 months old. But his mother troubled herself to autograph the album on his behalf.

9 January 1904 was Ullie's 13th birthday. The autograph album was a present from the Callison family, which lived in Kendrick. A number of Thomas and Hunter families lived in in around Kendrick, and Ullie herself went to high school there.

Practically all of entries in the album were made between 1904-1909, when Ullie Hardman was Ullie Hunter. Owen Hardman (1890-1949), who she married in 1910, made an entry on 20 January 1905 in Steele (page 26). She had just turned 14, and he would soon be 15. Steele was the post office for Central Ridge, where Ullie lived with her Hunter-Thomas family, not far from where Owen lived with his Hardman-Gallaher family.

Among the dated entries, only two were made later -- one by Lora Lee Coon (1893-1988 Sailing) in Steele on 19 November 1911 (page 12), another by Maxine Keene (2017-2001 Jones), her neice, the daughter of Ullie's 1st younger sister Eva, on 29 June 1927 (page 46). Lora Coon was from Missouri, where the Thomases and Hunters had come, and the Coon family had also settled on Central Ridge. Some members of the Coon family, like the Hardman-Hunter family and some members of the Hunter family, moved to Peck after leaving Central Ridge during the 1920s.

Laura Coon

In memory's golden "casket",
Drop one pearl for
  Your Friend
    Lora Coon

Haura E. Hansen

When rocks and hills divide us,
  And you no more I see
Remember it was Laura,
  Who wrote these lines to Thee.
    Laura E. Hansen

Inside front cover  Aunt May, Uncle Ben, Cousin Norlie [Callison]
 1. [Partly unreadable, unsigned, undated]
 2. 28 Sep 06 Peck     Ullie Hunter (1891-1980) [self]
 3. 20 Jan 06 Steele   F. Linnie Hupp
 4. 21 Oct 07 Kendrick J. W. T. (1891-1977) [cousin]
 5. 24 Jan 09 Kendrick Etta Munsterman (1891-1995 Osborn)
 6. 16 Aug 08 Peck     William R. Galloway
 7. na     na          Miss Barkley [teacher]
 8. Blank
 9. 17 Dec 06 Peck     Grace Warren
10. Blank
11. 20 Nov 07 Kendrick Hugh Helpman
12. 19 Nov 11 Steele   Lora Coon
13.  9 Jan 04 Kendrick Norlie (Sammie) [cousin] [birthday]
14. 30 Jul 09 Peck     Iva L. Stamper
15.  9 Jan 04 Kendrick P. H. (Manly?) [birthday]
16. 12 Feb 06 Peck     John W. Thomas (1891-1977) [cousin]
17.  3 Mar 06 Peck     Mary E. Schadt (1882-1971)
18. 18 Mar 07 Peck     Laura E. Hansen
19. 27 Oct 05 Steele   Ada Johnson [teacher]
20. na        Peck     Osie Thomas (1892-1959) [cousin nee Randall]
21.  9 Jan 04 Kendrick May [Callison] (1878-1920) [aunt nee Thomas] [birthday]
22.  8 Nov 09 Kendrick Maude Früchtl (1884-1917) [cousin nee Thomas]
23. na        na       Blanche Whitted
24. 19 Nov 07 Kendrick Clella Reeves
MIDDLE
25. 16 May 04 Steele   Emma Stanley
26. 20 Jan 05 Steele   Owen Hardman (1890-1949) [married in 1910]
27. 20 Jan 05 Steele   Arthur (Stanter?)
28. 17 May 04 Steele   Nellie
29. 17 May 04 Steele   Lela [school mate]
30. 29 Mar 07 Steele   Pansy
31. 17 Sep    Peck     Vina
32. 24 Jan 08 Kendrick Mida Bailey
33. 17 Dec 06 Peck     Albert Setlow
34.  2 Apr 08 Kendrick Willie Watts [school mate]
35. 10 May 04 Steele   Carl Stanley
36. Blank
37. 17 May 04 Steele   Jean Powell
38. Blank
39.  5 Dec 07 Kendrick (Maudah Hines?)
40. Blank
41. 28 Jul 08 Peck     Fannie Galloway (1891-1973) [friend]
42. 22 Nov 09 Peck     Milton H. [Hunter} (1890-1983) [cousin]
43. 28 Jul 08 Peck     Lee Galloway
44. 22 Nov 09 Kendrick Sydney Tho [Thomas] (1889-1962) [cousin]
45.  9 Jan 04 Kendrick Ben [Callison] (1878-1953) [uncle-in-law]
46. 29 Jun 27 na       Maxine [Keene] (2017-2001) [neice]
47. 17 Dec 06 Steele   Ethel Stanley [school mate]
48. Blank
Inside back cover dated "Jan. 9, 1904"

Osie V. Thomas

Osie Violet Thomas was born in Missouri on 3 April 1892, 18 years at time of 1910 census, which shows her living in Kendrick, in Latah County, Idaho, with her father Nathan C. Thomas (40), Ullie Hardman's maternal uncle, her mother Marth L. Thomas (44), and two younger siblings, Opal V. Thomas (7) and Otho M. Thomas (4). On 15 November 1915, she married Ernest A. Randall in Nez Perce County, Idaho. She died in 7 May 1959 in Orange County, California.

Etta Munsterman

Etta Augusta Munsterman (1891-1995) was born in the state of Washington on 17 Februrary 1891 and died in Alameda County in California on 16 June 1995. As of 31 January 1912 she was living in Kendrick with her husband Louis Osborn and their son Jack Earl Osborn.

Ivy L. Stamper

Oregon-born Ivy L. Stamper (bc1893) was 17 and living on Central Ridge, in Nez Perce County, Idaho, at the time of the 1910 census, with her Missouri-born father and Oregon-born mother. She was occupied as a cook at home. On 30 October 1910, she married Robert E. McBride, who also lived on Central Ridge.

Mary Schadt

Mary Schadt (bc1879), born in Minnesota, was 31 and living on Big Canyon Road in Peck at the time of the 1910 census, with her husband John D. Schadt, the son of an Ireland-born father and England-born mother. They had been marred for 10 years, and both of the 2 children she had borne were living.

Lillian Maude Thomas

Lillian "Lillie" Maude Thomas (1884-1917) -- known as "Maude" -- was born in Missouri in January 1884. At the time of the 1910 census, she was 26 and living in Kendrick with her 44-year-old husband Joseph Anton Fruchtl (1866-1957), who was born in Missouri to a Norway-born father and Missouri-born mother. With them in the household were their 3 children, and two boarders, who were recorded as Fruchtls but were actually Maude's 1st two younger brothers, John Abraham Logan Thomas (1887-1982) and Sydney Garfield Thomas (1889-1962), who like Maude were Ullie's 1st cousins. Maude died on 11 November 1917 and is buried in Normal Hill Cemetery in Lewiston, in Nez Perce County.

To be continued.

Selections from Ullie Hardman's "Autographs" book 2 February 1927 to 19 September 1932 (all but 2 dated 1927 or 1928)
Front cover	Aunt May, Uncle Ben, and Cousin Norlie Callison	Caption
Caption	Caption	Caption
Caption	Caption	Caption
Caption	Caption	Caption
Caption	Caption	Caption

1908-1912

Ullie Hardman's postcards

Forthcoming.

Ullie Hardman's awards and certificates

Forthcoming.

Ullie Hardman's IDs and membership cards

Not only the stories my mother and father told me about my material grandmother, of the kind that family's are apt to embellish and beautify, but also the personal photographs and detritus she left when she passed away, suggest that Ullie Hardman was a socially very active woman even in her youth. She lived in an age when belonging to practically any kind of organization or club resulted in the issuance of a wallet-sized membership card. And she packed many of them around with her, which in her later years she kept in a plastic accordion card holder that she carried in her purse.

I found the card holder among my mother's possessions when going through them with my brother Jerry at our sister Mary Ellen's garage after ME passed away in 2017. Our mother died in 2003, and our father retained possession of our mother's belongings until he died in 2013, after which my sister retrieved most of our mother's belongings.

I can picture Mary Ellen flipping through Ullie's card holder but taking no further interest in it. My mother, though, had treasured her mother's few possessions. During almost every visit I made, from the early 1980s after Ullie died, the spring of 2003, the last time I saw her alive, we talked about family history. And on several occasions she brought a box or two of momentos into the living room and went through them, commenting on things and answering my questions about them.

The most puzzling item in the card folder was the clipping of the obituary of Ullie Adeline Emerson, my mother's sister. "Babe" as we called her died in 1983, 3 years after Ullie, and would guess my mother put the clipping in Ullie's card holder. My mother had a few photographs of Babe, but no detritus related to her personal life. So I expect my mother, having received a clipping of the obituary, from Babe's daughter Waki if not from Ullie's sister Almeda, put it in Ullie's card holder.

The cards in the holder, as received, were in fairly random order. A few were punched 3 to a pouch, while some pouches had only 1 card, so I pulled out the cards that had been sandwitched between other cards, and put them in pouches with only 1 card. I also inverted the few cards that were upside down. Otherwise, the order of the cards is as received.

SIDE ONE

 1. The Methodist Church -- Membership, 16 October 1951
      Back states she was paptized at Peck, Idaho
      Lewiston, Idaho address corrected in pencil
      from "210 Glass Way" to "216 4th St"
 2. North Idaho 65 Plan -- Supplement to Medicare, 1 July 1966
 3. Luna House -- "1961 Centenial Year Member", 30 January 1962
      Senior Membership, "Mrs. Ula Hardman"
 4. Nez Perce County Humane Society -- Membership, 1 October 1965
 5. Social Security -- 518-36-7807 -- "Ullie M. Hardman" 
      Newer style card probably issued to replace lost card
 6. Idependent Order of Odd Fellows -- 3 April 1967
      "Sis Ullie M. Hardman", Alpha Rebekah Lodge, Lewiston
 7. Lewiston Business and Professional Women's Club -- 1969-1970, Life Member
      The National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs
 8. Order of the Eastern Star -- 24 September 1963
      Laurel Chapter No. 13, O.E.S., Lewiston
 9. Empty
10. Irwin Memorial Blood Bank -- San Francisco County Medical Society
      Blood Group 0, Rh Positive, one donation, 18 June 1949
      [This was 2 months before Owen's death on 24 August 1949]
11. Empty
12. Empty

SIDE 2

 1. Empty
 2. Empty
 3. Empty 
 4. Idependent Order of Odd Fellows -- 12 February 1971
      "Sis Ullie M. Hardman", Alpha Rebekah Lodge, Lewiston
 5. Health Insurance -- Social Security, 518-36-7807-A
      Hospital Insurance, Medical Insurance
      Effective 1 July 1966, signed 26 February 1966
 6. Idependent Order of Odd Fellows -- 5 December 1968
      "Sis Ullie M. Hardman", Alpha Rebekah Lodge, Lewiston
 7. Slip of paper torn from larger sheet with numbers related to Babe
      Idaho [teachers] retirement # 13232
      Wash [Washington teachers] retirement # 73190
      RW [Ralph Waldo (Emerson)] Soc Sec # 518-01-7242
      Ullie A. [Emerson] Soc Sec # 518-01-0742
 8. Wesleyan Service Guild, Women's Division of Christian Service
      Membership, 1964-1965, Lewiston First Methodist 
      "Ula Hardman"
 9. Part of index card with numbers related mainly to Babe
      Idaho Teacher's Retirement number
      Washington Teachers Retirement number
      Ralph [Emerson] Soc Sec # 518-01-7242
      U.A.E. Soc Sec # 518-01-0742
      Ullie Adeline Hardman Emerson [spells out Babe's name]
      Ullie Soc sec # 518-36-7807 [Ullie's own number]
10. Lewiston Carnegie Library, Identification Card, Expires July 1965
      Mrs. Ullie M. Hardman, 216 4th Street, Lewiston
11. Rockwood Clinic, Spokane, Washington 
      Record # 87301, Dr. Parsons/Wilson
      [No date but possibly related to cancer operation]
12. Empty

1934, 1963

Ullie Hardman's diary

Forthcoming.

Ullie Hardman's purse photo album

Forthcoming.

Ullie Hardman's "Unknown Land"

Forthcoming.

Miss Ullie Hunter in school greatly favors Caesar, or Caesar greatly favors her, it matters little which way you put it. We find her to be a great comfort, when we get into a place where its [sic] too deep to wade out.

Kendrick High School, 27 May 1909

Ullie's high school graduation

Ullie saved three documents related to her high school graduation.

The image in the middle shows the front of commencement ceremony program, which consisted of a single folded sheet of paper. Inside are the brochure are the lyrics of the class song, and a notice that the program is the compliments of Fred S. Beckwith, General Merchandise.

The rightmost image shows the cover of a smaller, hand-made, decorated commencement week program. Between the front and back covers are 4 leaves representing 8 pages. 2 pages separately list 8th grade graduates (7 students) and high school graduates (6 students). The high school colors are crimson and gold, and the class flower is a crimson rose.

The smaller leftmost card appears to have been given to Ullie by her classmates. Perhaps everyone in the class got one.

Salutatory . . . . . Ullie May Hunter

Ullie was the salutatorian of Kendrick High School's Class of 1909.
Her 2nd daughter, Orene Hardman, would be the salutatorian of the Class of 1931 at Peck High School.
See Orene's Salutatory address on the Wetherall-Hardman family page.

16 June 1912

Ullie's baptism

Forthcoming.

Ullie Hardman's "The Selway Falls"

The Selway Falls are to a group of cascading falls about midway along the Selway river, which originates in the Bitterroot mountains that mark border of western Idaho and eastern Montanna, from which it flows generally east. Near Lowell, Idaho, the Selway joins the Lochsa [lock-saw] river, which originates futher north in the Bitterroot mountains, and the two rivers become the Middle Fork of the Clearwater river, which joins with South Fork of the Clearwater near Kooskia. Both rivers escaped damming, and are now protected by the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. And both rank high among kayakers and rafters for their long, continuous, and very scenic white-water runs.

The Selway, and Selway Falls, were objects of early photographs and subjects of early picture postcards. They were famous among local people in Ullie's time, and places where local families might go for an adventerous picnic.

The following poem is pencilled in Ullie's hand on both sides of a sheet of ruled letter-size tablet paper. I am unable to determine its source. Ullie may have written it herself -- she had a strong high school education in preparation for being a teacher and displayed her literacy in reading and writing. Or she may have transcribed it from a magazine or book.

The Selway Falls
I sit and dream away the hours Thinking of ways to be set free Thinking of bids, and trees & flowers And of things of nature that appeal to me. My mind is full of blurred pictures Of places and happenings of life And only one stands out clear and vivid Like the sharp clean thrust of a knife. That is a picture of nature uncovered And to the forest lover's heart it calls, It is the beautiful and magnificent, The mysterious & enchanting Selway Falls.	They are down in a deep green canyon And surrounded by massive stones And when one once hears their music He no longer cares to roam. The rocks are speckled like the painters [sic] palette And waters of deep green shade off into nile, In the dusk they seem deep and gloomy But in sunshine they sparkle and smile. Now I'll drop all this make-belief life And answer my hearts [sic] longing call Which will bring me far up the Selway To live by the side of the falls.

Ullie Hardman's Luna House and other historical society activities

Forthcoming.

Ullie Hardman's genealogy notes

Forthcoming.

Owen Hardman's treasures

All that survives of Owen, in material form, easily fits in two shoe boxes. Most of the items I recall seeing when my mother would take out the box of Hardman-Family mementos she kept in her closet to show me. At the time, I didn't ask enough questions, and today my memory of her answers to the questions I did ask is fuzzy.

I did not participate in the vetting of my mother's possessions after she died. My father kept her box of Hardman-Hunter mementos, and a number of her own possessions. Before he died, when selling our home in Grass Valley, he disposed of most things in the house, but he kept the boxes of family mementos, and the things he himself had saved of my mother's possessions. And when he died, my brother Jerry and sister Mary Ellen stored the boxes my father had saved in ME's garage in Grass Valley.

My mother, and then my father, in nostalgic moments, would take out one or another box of mementos and go through things. My sister, too, went through the boxes when, at my request, she made a quick and very casual inventory of things which she, in most cases, had never seen before. At my request, she sent me a number things, which she packed in smaller mailable boxes, though she tried to group things together as they came out of the larger cardboard boxes in which they had been stored over the years.

All this shuffling, beginning with the original sorting and selection of belongings that takes place when someone dies, destroyed whatever context existed for the items during Owen's life. All that I have is a bunch of his "stuff" that ended up in one or another box, some things sharing company with items that had belonged to others, at the convenience of the people who, in their turn, have sifted through the boxes of family mementos when they were in their custody.

It too me many days to sort out and organize, by family and individual, and time and place, the family photographs, which over the years my parents had thrown into boxes without much regard to order. As with the family photographs, I now had to go through everything that survived of the Hardman-Hunter family of my maternal grandparents, and try to impose some order on it.

Leather travel case

Among the few belongings of Owen that survived not only his death in 1949, but my grandmother's death in 1980, my mother's death in 2003, and my father's death in 2013, was a cheaply constructed but sturdy leather travel case or vanity box measuring 8-1/2" x 5-1/2" x 2-3/4" length, width, and depth. The box is made of leather-covered heavy cardboard, the lid is secured in the front by a leather strap with a simple snap, and on one end is a leather carrying loop. A tag inside the lid states "Guaranteed Genuine / Leather / Made in U.S.A."

Inside of the lid is a synthetic leather strap with two loops, one large enough for a toothbrush, the other for a tube of toothpaste. There are no other straps in the box, which measures 8" x 5" x 2-1/2" LWD on the inside -- large enough to hold a small shaving mug, lather brush, razor, soap box, hair brush, shoe polish and shoe brush -- though no such items were in it or otherwise among Owen's mementos.

The box is frayed but not in relatively good condition. I have no idea how old it is -- possibly 1920s, more likely 1930s. My mother said he had used it when traveling to San Fransisco, in 1943 to visit us, and again in 1949, the year he died while living with us in the city. I would guess that he also took it with him when visiting friends and family overnight in Idaho and possibly Oregon and Washington.

A fishing fly with a short lead was hooked to the flap inside the lid of the box as received. I would imagine Owen did this himself, but I can only speculate why. Did he take the box with him on fishing and hunting trips? Or was the fly a sort of good luck charm when traveling to the city?

The box, as received, also contained some fishing line, which had been spooled on a piece of corrugated cardboard. And it contained the small tools, steel rifle sight, pocket knife, flashlight, tire pressure gauge, and spark plug wrench with feelers for adjusting plug gaps, a single OPA ration coin, several animal teeth, and two pocket watches, all shown in images below.

I get the impression that, after his death, the leather box was pressed into the service of a cigar box, which at the time was one of the most convenient containers for keeping things like jewelry and accessories, stamps and coins, and other small trinkets. I myself, though I didn't smoke, acquired several cigar boxes when growing up, as did my brother. Some boxes were made entirely of cardboard, but others had paper-covered wooden lids, and some were made entirely of wood. The lids of most boxes just rested on the edges of the sides, but the most-prized wooden boxes had tight-fitting lids. Cigar boxes were relatively easy to get then, as most men who smoked occasionally lit up a cigar, and cigars were commonly distributed on ceremonial occasions, such as the birth of a baby.

Owen Hardman's autograph book

Forthcoming.

Owen Hardman's postcards

Forthcoming.

Owen Hardman's licenses and permits

Forthcoming.

Owen Hardman's IDs and membership cards

Forthcoming.

Owen Hardman's wallet photos

Forthcoming.

Owen Hardman's initialed ring

Forthcoming.

Owen Hardman's "End of the Trail"

Forthcoming.

Owen Hardman's hunting and fishing gear

Sometime Owen's death in August 1949, while living with us in San Francisco, his hunting rifle and pistol ended up in the Wetherall home. I do not know when Ullie sent them to us, but it may have been at the she shipped the parlor organ to us, which I believe was after we moved from the city to Grass Vally in May 1955.

A handful of gun sights, a fishing fly, and a spool of line were among other things of his that may have been sent to Grass Valley when Ullie moved from her apartment in Lewiston, to a nursing home, in 1974.

Firearms

In Owen Hardman's wallet, at the time of his death, was a member ship card for the Big Canyon Rifle and Pistol Club, based in Peck, Idaho, showing that he had paid dues to 1 January 1948. The club was affiliated with the National Rifle Association, and his wallet Owen's wallet included also an NRA membership card valid through February 1949.

How many firearms he owened during his life is not clear. Presumably he was initiated into deer and other game hunting early in life, and probably owned a rifle by the time he was an adult.

The only two firearms to ever be kept in the Wetherall-Hardman home were a rifle and pistol that had belowed to Owen. They were never fired by us. No bullets were kept with them, and we did not otherwise maintain them for use. My mother kept them only as momentos, not liking them but unable to part with them, knowing how much they meant to her father.

.30-06 rifle

My brother and I shared a bedroom, and in the closet of the bedroom at our Grass Valley home was a rifle. We were not to play with it, though. We did, of course, occasionally touch it, but I can't remember taking it out of the room, much less the house.

I did not then understand its full significance. In time I learned that my mother had kept it only as a token of rememberance of her father. Sometime after my brother and I left home, my parents converted our bedroom into a guest room, put a window in the outside wall of the closet and installed a toilet, wash basis, and mirror. The rifle sat in her own closet for a while, but eventually she got rid of it.

The rifle, to the best of my memory, was was a bolt action .30-06 (thirty-ought-six). Though I have never owned a gun, I had begun collecting cartriges of all sizes, including larger military shell casings, and by my late teens I had a fairly large collection. To help me recognize cartridges, I kept a Remington cartridge chart on the wall in the room I shared with my brother Jerry. I had a few live .30-06 rounds in my collection, but I never put a cartridge in "Grandpa's rifle" as I knew it.

The standard rifle during Owen's childhood in the late 1890s and early 1910s was a bolt-action .30-30 (thirty-thirty), of the kind introduced by Winchester in 1895. He was in his mid teens when Springfiled introduced a .30-06 (thirty-ought-six) bolt-action rifle.

Both rifles fire .308 caliber bullets but the cartriges are differently sized. The smaller .30-30 casing was originally loaded with 30 grains of powder, hence the "-30" in the name. The casing of the longer, fatter .30-06, so named because it was introduced in 1906 (nineteen-oh-six), can hold more powder, hence fire with greater pressure, which can propell heavier, better penetrating bullets. This made the .30-06 rifle more attractive for hunting but also as a military weapon, hence the most common infantry rifles and light machine guns used by U.S. military forces during the World Wars I and II, and the Korean War, were of this calibre.

.22 caliber pistol

I clearly remember -- and my brother Jerry says he also remembers -- our grandfather taking us down to the bridge across the Clearwater at the turnoff to Peck, and firing the pistol at a tin can he had thrown into the river. This was probably in 1947, the last year my brother and I were together at our grandparents home in Peck.

The pistol, in a holster, turned up in a box of our mother's belongings, which had been stored in our sister Mary Ellen's garage in Grass Valley, California, among other boxes of Wetherall family belongings we had to dispose of after ME died in 2017. It is now in the possession of our adopted sister, Clara Yang, in Placerville, California.

I had seen the pistol before, when my mother was showing me some of the things she had kept. But I was under the impression that she had gotten rid of it when she got rid of the rifle. But there it was, in one of the boxes in my sister's garage.

Obligatory keepsakes

Having grown up in a family in which the men hunted deer every autumn and the women put up venison in mason jars for winter, my mother knew how to cook venison in various ways when we occasionally received cuts in Grass Valley from friends and neighbors who hunted. But neither she nor my father liked the idea of hunting for sport. And they didn't want guns in the house.

To the best of my knowledge, my father grew up without firearms. All the menfolk in my mother's family hunted for meat on the table, and all the womenfolk learned how to preserve and cook wild game, mostly deer, but also elk, bear, and rabbit, and various fowl. But my mother disliked firearms and only with great reluctance kept her father's favorite rifle and pistol (see next) as mementos, knowing how important they were to him.

I feel my mother kept her father's rifle and pistol out of a sentimental sense of duty, as tokens of the importance they had meant to him as a hunter. Several entries in her diary, made when she was living with her parents in Peck while attending Peck High School, reported when Owen had gone hunting and whether he came back with anything. These entries were made without comment, as matters of fact, in the same manner she reported the weather or her own state of health on a particular day.

My mother, however, finally decided that she did not want any firearms in the house. I can't remember exactly when she got rid of the rifle, but it was after her uncle Burton Hunter shot himself in 1973. I'm fairly sure it was gone before Ullie died in 1980, for by then my parents had converted the back bedroom into a guest room and made the put a window, toilet, wash basin, and mirror in the closet.

I believe Orene got rid of Owen's rifle mainly becasue of the manner of Burston's death. The rifle she had kept mainly for the sake of her father now reminded her of her uncle-cum-brother's suicide.

Burton Hunter was Ullie (Hunter) Hardman's youngest brother and sibling. He was only 5 months younger than Ullie's 2nd dauther, my mother Orene, and Ullie had raised him from the age of 5 when their mother died in 1920. So Burton and Orene virtually grew up as brother and sister, and were classmates throughout their schooling -- both graduating from Peck High School in 1931. He had learned to hunt from Owen, and also from Ullie's father, his uncle Albert Douglas Hunter, who lived with the Hardman-Hunter family in Peck, and was "Grandpa Doug" to Ullie's children -- my mother Bug and aunt Babe -- and apparently also Burton, whose children learned to call Ullie Hardman "Grandma Ullie" as though she had been his mother.

Gun sights

The rifle and pistol that my grandfather left had simple open iron sights. He may have used aperture sights also, but I doubt if he ever used a scope. All the rifles in hunting photos appear to have iron sights.

The front sight of most simple open-sight firearms consist of a post, or a bead on a post, which is mounted on the top of the front end of the barrel. Though some front sights are adjustable, typically they are fixed, and the rear sight is adjusted for different users, cartridges, and ranges.

The shooter draws a bead on the target by fixing it in relation to the front sight, usually immediately above the post, The back sight is used to align the barrel so that the bullet will strike the target fixed by the front sight.

Simple rear sights consist of a steel plate with a V, U, or square notch in a steel plate that can be adjusted in order to align barrel with the line of sight established by the shooter's eye and target, which was fixed by the front sight. The simplest back sights can be adjusted vertically and laterally. Some can also be adjusted along the barrel.

Most factory-installed back sights are of the simple stepped-slider and screw-adjustable kind, which allows for elevation and lateral adjustments. The main advantage of such out-of-the-box sights is that there is little that can go wrong with them, and once set, they resist recoil and other effects that can loosen screws and otherwise jar the alignments.

Factory sights are mounted in grooves that can accommodate other designs, however, and many hunters swap them for more elaborate, more adjustable, and more easily adjusted sights. The alignments of more complex sights, however, are more likely to be affected recoil, bumping, and other mechanical shocks.

While I have no interest in hunting, the physics of motion -- the dynamics of moving objects, whether aircraft or space ships, bullets or rockets, or baseballs or frisbees -- intrigues me. If he were still alive, I would love to ask him how he compensated for changes in load and range, and how he took into account the effects of wind, paralax, air temperature and light, and parallax, not to mention the movements of his game.

Among Owen's treasures are several iron sights, or parts of sights, of various kinds, and in various states of repair, still smelling of gun oil. There is even a ratchet.

Fishing tackle

Owen Hardman's motoring gear

My maternal grandfather, Owen Hardman (1890-1949), was born and raised before the first affordable automobiles began to be mass produced in the United States. He was 18 when the Model T debuted in 1908. He probably owned one by the time the Hardman-Hunter family moved from Central Ridge to Peck in the early 1920s.

I rode in the car Owen owned when, as a child, I visited Peck in the 1940s. I can't recall the make or model. Earlier photographs of a car at the Hardman home in Peck show what appears to be a conventional late Model A sedan.

I distinctly remember my grandfather taking delight in showing my brother Jerry and I how to crank the engine. So possibly he was still driving a Model A in the 1940s. Whatever the model, I expect he bought it used.

Owen parked his car in the short driveway in front of the garage-cum-tool shed immediately downhill from the house (see Peck above).

Other than gasoline, the major worries of drivers were tires, spark plugs, water and oil. and fan belts. Men of Owen's generation, who owned automobiles, learned to be prepareed. Even as late as the 1950s and 1960s, car owners commonly crried a can of oil in the trunk, along with a spare title, jack, ,

Tire gauge

The photo to the right shows Owen's "U.S. Gauge Co. / Tire Pressure Gage / For Ballon or Standard Tires" and what I presume to be its original leather case. The gauge can measure up to 80 pounds. There's still some grime on the gage. The gauge probably still works. It seems to date from the 1920s which was the decade of Model As.

Owen Hardman's spark plug wrench

Forthcoming.

Owen Hardman's essential gadgets

Forthcoming.

Tools

Owen, like many of his generation, born and raised on farms, grew up learning how to build and repair various kinds of wooden structures and fences, and to repair rpractically any kind of machine that might have been bought new or used, or built from salvaged parts. After selling the ranch on Central Ridge, and moving to Peck, he worked for a while as a drayer, and then became a carpenter and, apparently, a jack-of-all-trades, who once even served as a deputy justice of the peace.

To be continued.

Owen Hardman's pocket knife

Forthcoming.

Owen Hardman's pocket watches

Forthcoming.

Owen Hardman's pocket flashlight

Forthcoming.

Owen Hardman's tobacco box

Forthcoming.

Owen Hardman's animal teeth

Forthcoming.

Owen Hardman's OPA token

Forthcoming.

Owen Hardman's "Sally of Hollywood and Vine" novelty

Forthcoming.

Owen Hardman's overland trunk

Forthcoming.

3.1 Hardman-Emerson family

Forthcoming.

Babe and Ralph

Forthcoming.

I'man and Waki

Forthcoming.

3.12 Forgey-Emerson

Forthcoming.

3.3 Hunter-Foley

Forthcoming.

Owen Monroe Hardman

Owen Hardman had an almost "legendary" standing in my growing memories of him -- "growing" because he died when I was 8 years old, and what I "know" of him was through the stories about him, told by my grandfather Ullie, my mother Orene, my aunt Babe, great aunt Almeda, and other Hardman, Hunter, and Thomas relatives. I remember him personally, of course, but he was not a subject of family lore until after he died. This is probably the case with most people -- we don't "matter" until we are gone, and then only if we leave someone who feels like talking about us. Ullie kept at least one photograph of Owen by her bed, even at the convalescent home where she died, and she would start talking about Owen at the mere sight of me, who she thought looked like him.

Owen's death

I turned 8 years old just 5 months before Owen Hardman, my grandfather, died of cancer at our home on 33rd Avenue in the Sunset District of San Francisco in August 1949. His birthday came 2 days before mine, which came 2 days before my father's. My brother Jerry turned 7 years old about 2 weeks after Owen died.

Owen and Ullie had come to the city to live with us in February that year, according to Ullie's diary. And judging from the date on Ullie's blood donor card, he appears to have undergone surgery around to remove his left eye and associated tissue in June.

The operation proved too late to prevent the spread of the cancer to his brain. He died about 2 months after losing his eye. I suspect everyone except the children understood that it was too late. My mother told me he submitted to the operation with the understanding that he would be contributing to research on cancer intervention, including ocular and craniofacial prosthesis.

My mother spoke of Owen receiving a prosthetic eye but needing a replacement as the remaining tissue continued to deteriorate. I have no member of seeing his bandaged face after the operation. I recall seeing only a patch on his eye. Once, however, when he left the bathroom door ajar, I saw the gaping hole in his face -- and remember this because he screamed for me to get out. Years later, when I mentioned this to my mother, she said he didn't want anyone -- especially the children -- to see his disfigured face.

1948

Before coming to San Francisco, my grandparents sold their home at Peck and moved into a home -- or apartment -- in Lewiston. My guess is that my trip to Idaho with my mother, during the summer of 1948, was related to their need to pack and move, with her help. We made our move to the 33rd Avenue home, from the home we had been living in on 24th Avenue, later in 1948. And my guess is that this move, too, was related to the need to accommodate Ullie and Owen.

I have only recently put this timeline together, from my own memory, and from some documentation, but I am unable to confirm the sequence and dates of events, as my parents and other witnesses are dead.

My mother's tears

One incident I will never forget was an afternoon, probably in the spring of 1948, when some mail dropped through slot in the front door of our home on 24th Avenuedoor. I was always excited when hearing the mailman's steps on the stairs, and the sound of mail being pushed through the slot and plopping to the floor, for there might be something I had sent for with a dry-cereal box top and a quarter.

That day, though, there was a letter to my mother, from her mother, and my mother took it to her chair to read it. I can't remember if I was watching her reading it and saw her begin to cry, or I was playing and heard her sobbing and looked her way. I only recall her eyes full of tears. And this is my first recollection of seeing her cry.

I distinctly recall asking her what was wrong, and hearing her say "Papa is dying." She called her father "Papa" and her mother "Mama". She and my father were "Mommy" and "Daddy" to me and my siblings. Her father -- my grandfather -- referred to himself as "Daddy" (or "Dady") in his letters to her, and at times she called him that, but it was mostly "Papa".

I was old enough to know that tears signified pain or sadness. And I was old enough to know that living things died -- at least insects, and the trout I caught when I went fishing with the Gilberts, a family that lived on 24th over the hill toward Taraval. But I don't recall, then, having any idea of what it was like for a human to die, much less a member of the family. I knew, though, that something in our lives would change.

Toolbox

When my grandparents came, my grandfather brought me a toolbox he had made for me. It . He had made it for me he had made for me. It had a leather grip on top, a small saw and hammer inside and room for a few other small tools. And it light enough for me to lug around. I was probably 7-years at the time. He had been a carpenter the last few years of his life, and I imagine he made at home, in the back yard if not on the porch. He had nothing like woodshop, but he had plenty of farm and carpentry tools. Like most farmers, basic carpentry skills were something you learned in the process of repairing or expanding, of not building, your own home.

To be continued.

For photographs of Owen before his marriage to Ullie, see the Hardman-Gallaher family page.

Ullie May (Hunter) Hardman

Grandma Ullie had two or three times the amount of school-room education than Grandpa Owen. She would miss the her husband and the father of her daughters for over thirty years after his death in August 1949. She took his body from San Francisco to Lewiston, probably by way of the overnight Cascade, a Southern Pacific Railroad train that ran between Oakland and Oregan, or possibly SP's newer Shasta Daylight that began running over the same tracks, through the Cascade Range in northern California and southern Oregan, just a month before Grandpa's death. She would change change to a Union Pacific Railroad train from Portland to Lewiston, where she would bury him in a double plot they had bought at Normal Hill Cemetery. She would be able to travel to Peck on the Camas Prairie Railroad up the Clearwater River until its passenger service ceased in the late 1950s, an early victim of improvement in roads and the increase in automobile ownership and bus services in the area.

For photographs of Ullie before her marriage to Owen, see the Hunter-Thomas family page.

Babe, Bug, Burton

Burton was 5, Bug (Louida Orene) was 6, and Babe (Ullie Adaline) was 8 when Burton became a member of the Hardman-Hunter family on Central Ridge. I have several photographs of Bug and Burton, at different ages, as they were growing up, but none of Babe and Burton.

3.1 Hardman-Emerson

Adaline Ullie "Babe" Hardman and Ralph Emerson

0. Ullie Adeline Hardman was the 1st of 2 children and daughters born to Ullie May and Owen Monroe Hardman. She is "Ullie" like her mother on early records, but in the family, and socially, she was "Babe". She was "Aunt Babe" to me and my siblings, and she signed her letters "Babe".
   Babe married Howard Dammarell, was divorced by him, then maried Ralph Emerson, with who she had 2 children, then divorced him, and later lived with Howard again, then married Ralph again but soon divorced him again, after which she remained single.
   Babe died in 1983 in Yakima County, Washington, and her ashes are in the mausoleum at Normal Hill Cemetery in Lewiston.
0. Babe married Howard Dammarell no later than early 1937 (see below), but he divorced her in 1942 when she deserted him.
0. Babe, as "Ullie H. Dammarell", married Ralph Emerson in Multnomah County, Oregon, on 11 December 1943, and they had two children, I'man (born 1945) and Waki (born 1950).
1. Albert I'man Emerson was "I'man" in the family. "Albert" was the name of Babe's maternal grandfather Albert Douglas Hunter, as well as of her paternal grandfather, Albert Christopher Hardman. The former was known as "Grandpa Doug" in the family, and the latter as "Grandpa Al".
   After serving in the Navy for a few years, I'man worked in Florida as a heavy equipment operator who eventually specialized in cranes. He became fluent in Spanish, and on 12 August 1994 he married Martha O. Ibarra (born 23 August 1953) in El Paso Texas.
2. Frances Waki Emerson was known as "Waki" in the family. "Frances" was the name of Babe's maternal grandmother.
   Waki married Michael J. Forgey in Franklin County, Washington, on 20 November 1971. They have 2 sons, Jason Byron Forgey (born 28 February 1974) and Joshua Edmond Forgey (born 19 June 1977).
0. Babe divorced Ralph (date unknown) and lived with Howard for a while in Lewiston (dates unknown). During the summer of 1952, my mother, brother, sister, and I stayed with them for about a week.
0. Babe remarried Ralph on 9 January 1958 in Orofino, in Clearwater County, Idaho, in the witness of Dorothy [Marie] Hunter [nee Powell] (1933-2001) and [her husband] Lowell [Nathan] Hunter (1922-2014).
   1. Lowell was the 3rd son and 5th of 6 children of Milton Nathan Hunter (1890-1983) and Frances "Frannie" Albert Hunter [nee Langdon] (1894-1974). Milton Nathan Hunter and Babe's mother, Ullie May Hardman [nee Hunter], were 1st cousins, hence Lowell was Babe's 2nd cousin. Lowell and Dorothy had married in Orofino in 1956, lived there all their lives, and are buried in Weseman Cemetery in Orofino. Milton and Fannie are buried in Kamiah Cemetery in Kamiah.
   
   Not long after she remarried Ralph, Babe again divorced him (date unknown).

The Majestic Cafe, a Chinese restaurant on Main Street in downtown Lewiston, as it looked in 1940 Ullie "Babe" Hardman once worked at the restaurant, which was run by the Eng family Some photos of Jack Eng and his family are in the Wetherall Family collection Copped from Historic Lewiston, Idaho (Facebook) The posted description of the photo is as follows (10 October 2015) "The Majestic Cafe was a very popular Chinese restaurant on Main Street for decades. In the summer of 1940, the owners completely remodeled the eatery. Here is how it looked in the September 1 issue of the Lewiston Morning Tribune."

Howard Dammarell

Howard Taft Dammarell was born in Idaho to parents born in Canada. A representation (not facsimile) of a birth index shows his name as "William [sic] Howard Laft [sic] Dammarell".

The 1920 census shows Howard living in Kendrick at age 8 with his parents and 7 siblings. Both his parents were born in Canada to parents who were born in England. Their oldest child was born in North Dakota, the next four in Washington, and Howard and the youngest two in Idaho. His father was a merchant of general merchandise.

The 1930 census for Kendrick shows "Neward J. Dammarell" [sic] (18) with his parents and 4 siblings, the youngest of which was born since the 1920 census. His father is described as being of "Canada-French" birth and his mother as being of "Canada-English" birth. His father is "Postmaster" and his older brother is an "asst. Postmaster" at the Post Office in Kendrick.

The 1940 census, evaluated for residence as of 1 April 1940, shows Howard Dammarell (29), head, and Ullie (29), wife, living at 1510 G Street in Lewiston, Nez Perce County, Idaho. Both had completed 4 years of high school. Both were residing at other Idaho addresses in 1935, he in Latah County, she in Nez Perce County. He was employed as a clerk at a retail grocery. She was employed as a waitress at a restaurant.

Babe's work at the Majestic Cafe

Babe waitressed at the Majestic Cafe in Lewiston (see photo to right). It is not clear, however, when she worked there. But whether she was working there in 1940 is not clear. My mother Orene, who was Babe's sister, when explaining the several photographs of Jack Eng and his family in the Wetherall Family (Wetherall-Hardman Family) collection, said that Babe had worked as a cashier at Jack Eng's parents' restaurant in Lewiston. Whether Babe got the job because the Hardman family already knew the Engs, or the Hardman family got to know the Engs after Babe began working at their restaurant, is not clear. Either way, not only Babe, but her sister Orene (my mother) and their mother Ullie Hardman (my grandmother) new the Engs. Hence the several photographs of Jack Eng in uniform during World War II, and the photographs of Jack Eng and his wife, who he married after the war, and their children, in the Wetherall Family collection.

Howard Dammarell's military service

Howard Taft Dammarell registered for Selective Service on 16 October 1940. His registration card lists Burton Lee [sic] Hunter as his next of kin. Military records show two periods of consecutive enlistment in the U.S. Army -- enlisted 18 March 1942, released 2 April 1943, then enlisted 3 April 1943 and released 25 December 1945.

Burton Lee Hunter appears to be an error for Burton Lyle Hunter (1914-1973) -- Ullie May (Hunter) Hardman's youngest sibling and a younger uncle to her daughters Babe and Orene. But since Ullie raised Burton along with Babe and Orene, he was more like their younger brother.

Howard sues Babe for divorce alleging desertion Spokane Daily Chronicle, Wednesday, 21 January 1942, page 3 Front page headline: "M'ARTHUR'S TROOPS DRIVE JAPS BACK" Copped and cropped from Google News

Howard sues Babe for divorce alleging desertion

The Wednesday, 21 January 1942 edition of the Spokane Daily Chronicle has a legal notice which reads "Howard Dammarell, Lewiston, filed suit to divorce Ullie Dammarell, alleging desertion" (page 3, column 3).

On 18 October 1947, over 5 years after divorcing Babe, a "Howard T. Dammarell" married Aimee Lou Eyraud (1911-2001), in Walla Walla, in Walla Walla County, Washington.

Hereby we have a problem

As the following obituary suggests, the "Howard T. Dammarell" who married Aimee Lou Eyraud worked in a grocery store before he married her in 1947. The following obituary notwithstanding, I have not been able to confirm that this is the same Howard Dammarell who married Babe no later than 1937 and divorced her in 1942, but my guess is that he is. Contrary to what I had understood from the circumstances, I cannot confirm that Howard and Babe remarried and divorced a second time. My impression is that they did not formally remarry but simply lived together for a while during a hiatus in Howard's marriage with Aimee Lou. Photographs of our stay with Babe at Howard's home in Lewiston in 1952 shows another small child there who, according to the caption I wrote on the back, when going through the photographs with my mother, was Howard's son Craig.

Howard Dammarell's obituary

The following obituary for "Howard T. Dammarell" was published in The Lewiston Tirbune. I have slightly reformatted the version published on the newspaper's Lewsiton Morning Tribune website (lmtribune.com).

The [bracketed remarks] and highlighting are mine. Some reports claim that he died in Lynden, in Whatcom County, Washington. While he and his family lived in Lynden, he died in a facility in Bellingham, the county seat.

Howard T. Dammarell, 84, Kendrick High graduate Jan 16, 1996 BELLINGHAM, Wash. Howard T. Dammarell, 84, a Kendrick High School graduate, died Thursday [11 January 1996] of causes related to age at Shuksan Rehabilitation and Living Center here. He was born Oct. 6, 1911, at Kendrick to Edgar and Nellie Middleton Dammarell. After graduating from KHS he attended the University of Idaho at Moscow and worked for Safeway at Lewiston between 1935 and 1941. During World War II he served as a tank platoon leader in France and Germany. He was awarded the Silver and Bronze stars, Purple Heart and French Croix de Guerre. He married Aimee Lou Eyraud Oct. 18, 1947, at Walla Walla and they lived there while he worked for the U.S. Postal Service there. He retired as a supervisor in 1972 after 25 years and they moved to Sequim, Wash., in 1973. He became a Christian in 1981 and in 1995 they moved to Meadow Greens retirement center at Lynden, Wash. He was a member of Trinity United Methodist Church at Sequim. He enjoyed gardening, camping and fishing. Survivors include his wife, Aimee Lou Dammarell of Lynden; one son, Craig Dammarell of Ferndale, Wash.; three brothers, Robert Dammarell of Boise, Paul Dammarell of Kendrick and Quentin Dammarell of Santa Rosa, Calif.; and four grandchildren. She [sic = He] was preceded in death by one son, Douglas; four brothers, John, Frank, Edgar and Keith; and two sisters, Ruth Asplund and Edith Wirt. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Birch Bay Bible Community Church at Blaine, Wash., with the Rev. James Totzke officiating. Moles Funeral Home at Ferndale is making the arrangements. Memorials may be made to Gideons International. The article shown to the right was published on page 3 of the 4-page 18 January 1996 edition of the The Kendrick Gazette, thus two days after The Lewiston Tribune version, which the Kendrick version essentially recycles. The age in its headline is 10 years off. The image was screen captured from a pdf file downloaded from Juliaetta-Kendrick Heritage Foundation, which consisted of a scan of the edition from Idaho State Historical Society Library & Archives.

Howard Dammarell's sons

According to the obituary, Dammarell was survived by one son, Craig, and was preceded in death by another son, Douglas.

Whatcom County, Washington records show that on 9 July 1977, Craig Howard Dammarell, 28, of Blaine, Washington, born in Walla Walla, Washington -- married Mavis Cathleen Fadenrecht of Ferndale, Washington, and that one of the two witnesses was Douglas S. Dammarell. The marriage was recorded on 13 July 1977, but the certificate inexplictly states that the license was issued on 19 July 1977.

Craig Howard Dammarell was born on 1 July 1949 in Walla Walla, Washington, and appears to still be alive at the timeof this writing and apparently living in Ferndale. His brother, Douglas Stevens Dammarell, was born on 3 February 1951 in Walla Walla, Washington, and died on 15 February 1992 in New York, New York.

Ullie Adeline Emerson remarries Ralph Emerson in Orofino on 9 January 1958 Copped and cropped from Ancestor.com

The Big Sky ROK Pictures, 29 July 1952 Directed and produced by Howard Hawks Based on A.B. Guthrie Jr. novel of same title Cinematography by Russell Harlan Kirk Douglas (as Jim Deakins), Dewey Martin (as Boone Caudill), Elizabeth Threatt (as Teal Eye), and Arthur Hunnicutt (as Zeb Calloway) Teal Eye, the daughter of a Blackfoot chief, is captured by Boone's uncle, Zeb. Jim, who likes her, wants to return her to her father in order to get trading rights with the tribe. In the end she takes Boone into her tent, and when they come out her father pronounces them married. She gets Boone to pay her father tribute for the right to leave her someday. The footloose Boone rides off with his buddies but soon returns. Academy Award, Best Supporting Actor Arthur Hunnicut Academy Award, Best Cinematography Black-and-White, Russell Harlan

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Emerson was the son of Frank E. Emerson (1886-1949), born in Montana, and Emma J. Emerson (nee Sims) (1896-1934), born in Missouri. His namesake was the poet and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882).

The 1920 census for Ahsahka, in Clearwater County, shows Ralph at age 3, the 2nd of 3 children of Montana-born Frank Emerson (32), a laborer working in lumber, in the woods, and Missouri-born Emma Emerson (23).

The 1930 census for San Antonio, in Los Angeles County, California, shows Ralph at age 13, still the middle of 3 children, with his father Frank (42), a laborer working on city streets, and mother (33).

The 1940 census for Ahsahka, Idaho, evaluated for residence as of 1 April 1940, shows Ralph at age 23, with his father Frank (54), who is widowed. Ralph had finished 10 years of schooling, his father 4. Both men are employed as laborers in a forest. Both had been living at the same Ahsahaka address in 1935.

Selective Service records show that Ralph registered in Orofino on 16 October 1940, at which time he was unemployed. He was described as having a ruddy complexion, blue eyes, and brown hair.

Ralph and Babe married on 11 December 1943. At the time, she was 32 and he was 27. She was 34 and 39 when their children, I'man and Waki, were born in 1945 and 1950.

Waki had not yet been born when I stayed with Babe, Ralph, and I'man, at their bungalow in Headquarters, for a week or two during the summer of 1948.

Babe's marriages

By Babe's account, Ralph was a hard drinking and at times abusive man. Why she preferred him over Howard is not entirely clear, but I would guess she was simply more attracted to Ralph, despite his difficulty in controlling his drinking and anger. My mother said Babe was simply bored with Howard.

I met both Ralph and Howard as uncles. I stayed a week or two with Babe, Ralph, and I'man in Headquarters during the summer of 1948 (see photographs). I also stayed about a week with Babe, Howard, I'man, and Waki at their home in Lewiston during the summer of 1952 (see photographs). And Babe, Howard, I'man, and Waki visited our home in Grass Valley for Christmas in 1955, barely half a year after we had moved there from San Francisco (see photographs).

From my standpoint, as a young boy, I recall Ralph as being much more animated, interesting, and fun-loving. That being said, the whys and wherefores of marital relationships are beyond the reach of 3rd-party accounting.

Babe, for whatever reasons, left Howard again, and she remarried Ralph in Orofino on 10 January 1958. She soon divorced him again and remained single the rest of her life.

Aunt Babe

My mother's only sibling, Ullie Adeline Hardman, was "Babe" to family and close friends, and "Aunt Babe" to me and my siblings. She was a rougher-cut diamond than my mother, and she lived a harder life after finishing high school. Nevertheless, she never gave up. She twice married and/or lived with two men -- Howard Dammarell and Ralph Emerson -- before deciding that she was better off without men. And from that point in her life, after raising the two children she had with Ralph, she went to college and became a school teacher. And in her late 50s she returned to college, got an MA in education, and became a supervisor as well as a teacher.

1937-03   The 1st page of the 4-page Thursday, 4 March 1937 edition of the Kendrick Gazette carried who articles about Mrs. Wade Keene and Mrs. Ullie Hardman, as follows.

Bridge Party   Tuesday afternoon Mrs. Wade T. Keene entertained a number of ladies at bridge in her home in honor of her sister, Mrs. Ullie Hardman of Peck, who has been a guest at her home the past two weeks. . . .

THIS AND THAT ABOUT / FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS   Mrs. Wade Keene and Mrs. Ullie Hardman left for Lewiston Wednesday, where they plan to spend some time visiting Mrs. Hardman's daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Dammarell, and other relatives.

"Mrs. Ullie Hardman" is Ullie May (Hunger) Hardman (1890-1980). "Mrs. Wade Keene" is Ullie's 1st younger sister Mary Eva (Hunter) Keene (1895-1973). Ullie's daughter is Ullie "Babe" (Hardman) Dammarell (1911-1983) and her son-in-law is Howard Taft Dammarell (1911-1996). The bridge party article listed the names of the ladies who were present, noted that delicious refreshments were served at the close of play, identified the highest scorer, and reported that Ullie was awarded a guest prize.

In addition to showing the sort of gossip that dominated local papers, the report of Ullie's and Eva's trip to Lewiston to visit Babe and Howard are the only proof I have of about when they were married -- no later than early 1937 -- which was a year before her sister Orene, my mother, married my father, William Bascom Wetherall.

1942-01   "Howard Dammarell, Lewiston, filed suit to divorce Ullie Dammarell, alleging desertion." (Spokane Daily Chronicle, Wednesday, January 21, 1942, page 3, column 3)

The 1940 census for Lewiston, Idaho, shows Ullie and Howard Dammarell, both 30, with 4-year high school educations, he a clear, she a waitress.

Selective Service records show that Howard Taft Dammarell registered for the draft on 16 October 1940 in Kendrick. The registration card lists Burton Lee Hunter as a next of kin. Burton was Ullie Hardman's (Babe's mother's) youngest brother. While technically Babe's younger uncle, Ullie (Hardman) raised him as her own son, hence was like a younger brother to Babe.

Waki's family

Waki married Mike Forgey and they had two sons, Jason and Joshua, whose photographs decorated the kitchen of the Wetherall family in Grass Valley.

Jason Byron Forgey was born Born 28 February 1974 at 11:47 pm at Deaconess Hospital in Spokane, Washington, weighing 7 pounds and measuring 19-1/2 inches, according to Babe's letter to the Wetheralls, dated 3 March 1974. In the letter, she writes this.

He looks exactly like Mike except I think he has Ralph's hands. Mike said to the doctor, "Can't you slow things down until March 1st?" (Mike wanted the baby to have his own birthday -- but won't I'man be proud?) The doctor said at 11:46, "Can't be done, I can see his hair." As soon as that baby had his head out he began to bawl and when the doctor held him up, Jason piddled on the front of the doctor. Some way to start good Public Relations, huh?

Babe wrote the way she spoke. She was the most gifted story teller in the family, taking after her mother and namesake, Ullie Hardman. My mother could tell stories, too, but her big sister Babe was wilder and more animated, and was good at throwing her husky and throaty voice to affect mannerisms of speech.

Jason married Melissa Dawn Cook (born c1976) in Harris, Texas, on 18 Februray 1995.

A second son, Joshua Edmond Forgey, was born born on 19 June 1977.

To be continued.

Photographs forthcoming.

Babe and Ralph

Forthcoming.

I'man and Waki

Forthcoming.

3.12 Forgey-Emerson

Frances Waki Emerson and Mike Forgey

0. Frances Waki Emerson was known as "Waki" in the family. "Frances" was the name of Babe's maternal grandmother.
0. Waki married Michael J. Forgey in Franklin County, Washington, on 20 November 1971.
1. Jason Forgey married Melissa Dawn Cook (born c1976) in Harris, Texas, on 18 Februray 1995.
2. Forthcoming.

Owen and Ullie Hardman's headstones Normal Hill Cemetery, Lewiston Nez Perce County, Idaho Above   Owen's headstone Photographed by his daughter Orene Wetherall Scan of negative in Wetherall Family Collection Top right   Owen's and Ullie's headstone Photographed around July 1980 Scan of print in Wetherall Family Collection) An urn with Ullie's ashes was deposited immediately above or in Owen's casket Right   Owen's and Ullie's headstone Photographed 18 December 2013 by cskow Copped from Find A Grave (www.findagrave.com) Grass has begun to cover the flat stone
Headstones of Ralph Emerson and his parents Frank E. and Emma J. Emerson Ahsahka Cemetery, Ahsahka, Clearwater County, Idaho Photographs by Bailey copped from Find A Grave (www.findagrave.com)

Hardman-Hunter graves

The story behind the headstones of first Owen and then Owen and Ullie Hardman in Normal Hill Cemetery in Lewiston, Idaho -- but also of other members of their immediate family and their descendants -- reflects the rapid change in attitudes in the United States, during the latter half of the 20th century, toward cremation. The turning point between burial and cremation came between the deaths of Owen in 1949 and Ullie in 1980.

Owen's and Ullie's grave

Shortly before they came to San Francisco in 1949, to deal with Owen's terminal cancer, Owen and Ullie bought two side-by-side plots at Normal Hill Cemetery in Lewiston. While they were familiar with Lewiston, they were not Lewistonians. Neither was born in Idaho, but both had partly grown up on Central Ridge, then lived on central ridge for about 20 years and in Peck for another 20 years. Moreover, their own parents were buried at Central Ridge Cemetery. Why not be buried there?

Owen's mother, Lucy Jane (Gallaher) Hardman (1864-1904), and his father, Albert Christopher Hardman (1860/1-1929), were buried under separate headstones at Central Ridge Cemetery (see Hardman-Gallaher graves on the Hardman-Gallaher family page).

Ullie's parents, Ida Francis (Thomas) Hunter (1872-1920) and Albert Douglas Hunter (1862-1945), were interred under a common headstone at Central Ridge Cemetery (see Hardman-Thomas graves on the Hunter-Thomas family page).

By the time Owen and Ullie had to decide where to be buried, Central Ridge Cemetery was all but "dead". Very few people had been buried there since the original homesteaders moved away. Ullie's father had been buried there in 1945, but under the same headstone as her mother. But as former Central Ridgers with family tombs there, Owen and Ullie could have made arrangements to be buried there. Both were close to their families, and members of close families generally chose to be buried close together.

My mother's explanation was that Owen and Ullie, having moved to Lewiston from Peck, felt Lewiston would be more convenient for their children and grandchildren to visit. They were used to the journey between Central Ridge and Peck, which they had made countless times, in horse-drawn vehicles when they were growing up and in the earlier years of their marriage, and later in automobiles. But even for people living in Lewiston, and even considering the major improvements in the road between Lewiston and Peck, and the minor improvements in the road between Peck and Central Ridge, the cemetery was remote.

Driving from Lewiston to Central Ridge and back, and taking time to enjoy the trip, will take the better part of a day. I made the trip in 1977, leaving Lewiston around noon, driving Babe's car with Babe, my mother, and Almeda -- all Ridge-and-Peck-born-and-raised natives -- as guides. We made brief stops -- at Peck, naturally, and along the grade up to Central Ridge, and on the ridge itself, including, of course, the raised site of the Hardman homestead and the cemetery -- and it was very dark, and we were very hungry, by the time we got back to Lewiston.

Just my mother and I had driven up to Lewiston from Grass Valley in September 1977 to visit Ullie, who had been in the Orchards Nursing Home in Lewiston since the early 1970s. I had been there with both of my parents, and my sister and then wife, in 1973, shortly after she entered the home, mainly because of dementia in the form of extreme short-term memory difficulties that made it dangerous for her live alone. But in 1973, we did not even go to Peck. I had been to Peck several times when a young boy, but had not been to Central Ridge.

In any event, according to my mother, when visiting Ullie in 1979, Ullie decided to sell her plot at Normal Hill Cemetery, and she instructed her daughters Babe and my mother to cremate her and deposit her ashes in Owen's grave. Almeda, Ullie's sister in Clarkston, who frequently looked in on Ullie and took care of some of her affairs, was also party to the discussion.

And so it was that the idea of cremation began to take root in the thinking of other members of Ullie's extended family, including Babe herself when she died 3 years later in 1983, and so far all members of the Wetherall-Hardman family who have passed away, including my mother in 2003, my sister Mary Ellen's son Peter in 2004, my father in 2013, and Mary Ellen in 2017.

Ullie was very frail but alert and animated in 1977, but she continued to get weaker. My mother flew up in 1979 to visit her, taking with her enlarged photographs of my daughter Saori Orene, who was born in 1978, and of me holding Saori. Saori's middle name, Orene, was my mother's middle name, but the name my mother went by. Photographs were taken at the nursing home of my mother and Ullie holding the photographs I sent from Japan, to show 3 and 4 generations of the family.

Ullie Adeline "Babe" (Hunter, Dammarell) Emerson's ashes

The problem of where to be buried or where to bury someone arises when one has no living relatives, or no living relatives who are ready, willing, and able to decide one's posthumous fate.

I have no information about who decided that Ralph Waldo Emerson would be buried with his parents. I am not even sure of whether "with" means "alongside" or "in" their grave. Possibly his body was buried there. More likely he was cremated and his ashes were buried there.

Babe (Hardman) Emerson, never remarried. She died in Yakima, Washington, but her ashes were deposited in a mausoleum at Normal Hill Cemetery in Lewiston, Idaho, presumably through the agency of her daughter Waki Forgey, her aunt Almeda Oglesby, and her sister Orene Wetherall (my mother).