Amanda Jane Nation-O’Dell
These are some of the memories I have of my Great-Grandmother, a true pioneer woman born in 1888. She lived in Brackenridge Missouri and after the death of great-grandpa Ancil O’Dell in 1954, turned her home into a boarding house. She rented to men who worked on the railroad saying they were reliable and always paid on time. The family legend said she was related to David Nation, the husband of Carrie Nation the American activist and prohibitionist. I have never been able to verify this, but some members of the family are adamant that the stories are true. That she even went on a few missions with Carrie in Missouri and Kansas. The time period and location are of the right era, but there are no written accounts.
When I would visit as a child we would set on the back porch shelling peas or snapping beans. It was always cool and breezy from the many fruit trees that surrounded the back of the house. The wind rustling in the leaves made you feel like taking a nap on the cot she kept on the back porch. But work came first she would always say. When it was getting close to picking season the smells of the different kinds of fruit were heavenly. First were the mulberry’s, she would tell us not to eat too many as we picked, she need to sell the pies she made from them to the truck stop in town. As we sat there working and enjoying the breeze she would tell me stories of her childhood and growing up as a young married woman working for the railroad with Ancil.
One day as we sat on the porch I asked her how she and Grandpa met, I didn’t think she would tell me, she never talked much about him. I think her memories of him still hurt a lot. I was there the day he died; I can still remember it like it was yesterday, but that is another story. To my surprise, she got this dreamy look on her face and started telling me the tale.
“I was sitting on the front porch with my sister Ann; Mom and Dad had gone into town, and the little ones were down for their afternoon nap. It was a beautiful spring day and we were enjoying the peace and quiet. It hadn’t started getting real hot yet and a gentle spring breeze was blowing. I was the middle child of eleven and it was my job to watch the younger ones. Ann was a year younger than me and too big to take a nap. We were best friends as well as sisters. We daydreamed about what we wanted to do when we were out on our own. There weren’t many choices in those days; marriage to a farmer, school teacher, or married to a storekeeper. Sometimes dad would bring home a newspaper, we would read it over and over, devouring any news of the world beyond our small community of Union, Missouri.
We noticed someone coming up the road toward the house. As he got closer I could tell he was a soldier by the uniform and hat. The Spanish American War had recently ended and men were coming home. Several had gone by lately but none had stopped before. This one drove a wagon with a team of big red mules in harness and two more tied to the back. He was handsome and tall and stopped in front of the house. He said he was an acquaintance of our paw.
He wondered if our pa was home; could he water his mules and wait for pa in the shade by the barn. I told him I thought it would be ok. Pa had said we should be hospitable to those who had fought in the war. I asked if he was hungry, I could make him a sandwich. He said that would be nice, but not to go to any trouble, I made him one and brought it with a glass of cold milk out to the barn where he was waiting in the shade. When Pa got home he and the soldier talked for a long time.
I was 13 almost 14, had never had a boyfriend, and little did I know that my whole world was about to change. Ma called us in to help with supper and said to set another place as the soldier was going to stay for supper and spend the night in the barn. When I asked who this soldier was she said his name was Ancil Robert O’Dell and lived north near Raytown.
His father and pa had been friends when pa’s family lived near Brackenridge. He had been in the war and recently returned from fighting with Teddy Roosevelt in Cuba. I could hear them unhitching the mules and getting them settled. He had an easy laugh and didn’t come to the house until he had washed up at the well. As he came in I noticed his wet hair was dark blonde, shoulder-length, and glistened in the sun.
That night at supper he told us of his time in Cuba and that he was on his way to a job working for the railroad as a muleskinner. He laughed when one of the boys asked why he was going to skin his mules. He told us that a mule skinner was someone who took care of the mules that were used by the railroad to haul the rails out to the men on the line. He was very proud of his mules and had won lots of prizes, for pulling heavy loads and for racing.
He entertained everyone with stories of racing his mules and his time in the newly organized National Guard. It was formed so men could fight for the country then go home when the conflict was over but would come back if they were called on at a later time. Finally, Pa sent the boys off to bed and he and Ancil went out to the barn to get him settled.
Ancil stayed for two weeks helping pa put the spring crops in. Two pairs of mules could get a lot done. We became friends working in the fields together. He was the kind of person who laughed easily and was easy to talk to. I learned that he wanted to make enough money working for the railroad to be able to have a farm of his own and raise red mules.
At the end of his time with us, pa informed me that Ancil had asked to marry me. He seemed nice enough but I was only 13 and he was 33. I told ma I didn’t think I was ready to get married, she said I knew enough about running a house and I would learn the rest. She said that was what women were put on earth for. Besides, I could read and write and that was more than most girls were able to do. That I could be a big help to Ancil and maybe even get a job teaching. I hadn’t been to school much more than the 8th grade but it was our God-given responsibility to pass on what we had learned.
That it would help them out also, that Ancil was going to give them the wagon a pair of mules and the supplies he had in the wagon. He only needed what he could pack on the other set of mules. Ann was old enough to help with the young kids and I would be leaving sooner or later anyway, that a lot of girls got married at my age. Ma said he was a good man, able to take care of me. If he wasn’t Pa would not have said yes. I would learn to love him, just listen to what he had to say, and not give him any trouble.
That evening after supper he asked if I would take a walk with him. We walked down by the creek and set under a tree. He asked me if I would be willing to marry him and go with him on his job with the railroad. He said he would take care of me and make a home for us after his job with the railroad was over. I told him I was only 13 and wasn’t that too young to get married. He said he didn’t think so, that I was almost 14, and that he could teach me what I didn’t know. I said ok then and he gave me a gentle sweet kiss. He tasted like the honey we put on the biscuits at supper and I felt warm all over.
Great-grandma O’Dell told me lots of stories about her time with Ancil working on the railroad. I think she knew that I would become a writer and tell others about those times. I have decided to put those stories in a book about her life. I will let you know when that happens, Do you have a favorite relative, Have you kept their memory alive telling others about them. We can’t forget those who came before us, they are part of our history on this earth.
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