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FACTS, HEARSAY AND MEMORIES - Page 6 During the long illness of her husband and following his death grandmother Ann resumed the practice of her trade and did anything else that came to hand. She took aged women to board for the price of a dollar and a half a week, a far cry from present day prices. These elderly women though not related were called aunt. I recalled hearing of two of them as being Aunt Amy Case, and Aunt Polly Pinder. In 1869 my aunt Mary was married to James Gifford. My grandmother sold the home on Main Road and she and my mother went to live with them after a few years. James Gifford had purchased the farm which had belonged to great grandfather John Macomber. He had previously managed the farm after the latter became feeble and following his death still worked for the three daughters, Mary S., Lydia, and Olive. I wish I had a picture of that farm house torn down about 1903. I still have a clear mental picture of it. It was lacking in architectural beauty, but I venture to say that Mary Gifford made it the most hospitable home for miles around. Perhaps I can as well pay a tribute to her here as anywhere. She always made all the stepchildren and grandchildren of Ann Allen welcome on the many visits made her. In those horse and buggy days, book agents, peddlers of every sort and anyone passing through the town found it a convenient house at which to arrive at mealtime or for a night's lodging. One more never made any difference. Traveling ministers always found a welcome for a meal, a night's lodging or a stay for several weeks. Aunt Mary was a very religious woman and was made a minister in the Society of Friends. She was naturally gifted in her speaking and was highly respected throughout the town. She was especially gifted in the conduct of funeral services and was called to bereaved homes more times no doubt than any other minister in town. She was often called in the neighborhood to officiate at births, all sorts of illnesses, emergencies, and to carry comfort at any time. She was I am sure the best known and most highly respected woman in Westport. To return to the house as I knew it. It was low studded with windows reaching the eaves. There were two windows each side of the front door, no hallway but a very small entry. There were three bedrooms, and as people spoke of them, four fire rooms. I cannot account for the fact that there were no fireplaces in my day. The kitchen was huge, the floor covered with a homemade rag carpet. The cookstove was always in use for heating or cooking the ample meals. The johnnycake griddle always intrigued me as it was so long as to extend over the two front stove covers. Many were the johnnycakes made there to accompany the hearty breakfast of homemade sausage or home cured ham topped off with molasses and sugar cookies and doughnuts. The huge stone crocks filled with these were never allowed to be empty. Beside the closets for dishes and cooking utensils was a very large one called the milk room, where the shelves seemed always to be full of large pans of milk set for the cream to rise. Everything was cooked on a large scale and in the early summer of a Saturday morning I have seen by the well a big wooden tub filled with potatoes, beets, carrots, spinach, etc., washed, to be cooked for dinner and still have enough to be rewarmed in various ways for the Sunday dinner. The long table in the kitchen had places for, beside the immediate family and the usual company, chairs for several hired men, always two or three and in the haying season or when the threshers came two servings were required, and the quantity of food prepared was inconceivable. Beyond this kitchen was an unfinished room where cooking was done in summer leaving the big kitchen cooler for eating. Beyond this room was a woodshed and still father an inside toilet far superior to that of any other house of its time to my knowledge. The upstairs rooms were very low and there were several over the kitchens for the hired men, and others over the main house. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21
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