ELLA VICTORIA KROTH CLEMENTS
by her daughter, Ina
Mother was born on August 4, 1862, to Henry and Louisiana Kroth, at Easton, Kansas, and moved with her parents to their farm near Buck's Grove in 1869, where they lived until their death.
Being the oldest girl in the family, she helped her mother a great deal with the housework. I have heard her tell about the Indians coming to their home when she was only a little girl and how scared she was. They always just stalked in, never knocking, making no noise, looked around and grunted but would not talk. Grandma would ask questions but they only grunted. She gave them food and they would leave as noiselessly as they came.
She used to help her Grandmother Loughmiller with her work too. Every year, in early spring, Grandma and Grandpa Lough- miller would take to the woods to fish, gather wild lettuce and other edible greens, and they often took her with them. Later in the year came strawberries, gooseberries, wild plums and other fruits which they gathered. All her life, she loved to fish and gather wild lettuce along the creek bank, which was so appetizing to all of us, since it came before the garden stuff was ready. She instilled a love for the out-of-doors in all of her children. Grandma Loughmiller also taught her how to make cheese, and she would save milk for several days, use renhet tablets to curd the milk, and later put it through the colander and press it as best she could, since she had no cheese press. We liked it and couldn't let it age as it was soon eaten. She did not color it so it was a creamy white, but very good.
At the age of eighteen, she was married to Sam Clements by Rev. Pasley, the Buck's Grove minister. They set up housekeeping on a farm 15 miles west of Holton, Kansas, near the Buck's Grove Church. The farm was owned by Jerry Bottom, a half-brother of Sam. They had a small house of two rooms at first, but later they bought the land and added extra rooms until the downstairs had a large kitchen and pantry, livingroom and bedroom. The up- stairs one room was made into three bedrooms and a hall, as the children came along and grew up. There were five of us; Rosa May, Ina, Henry Clare, Ralph Ivan, and Ole Verne. Verne, being so much younger than the rest of us, missed the companionship and early training we older children had with one another but we all loved him dearly. He had his dog and pony and a good friend, Harold Woodruff, who lived close to us. That friendship lasted until Harold's death a few years ago.
In their early married life, Pa went out one Sunday morning and shot a squirrel. Mother didn't like it and he didn't like for her to make pies on Sunday morning, which she sometimes did. He felt that if the pies were not baked on Saturday, we should do without pie. They made an agreement, that he would shoot no more squirrels if she would make no more pies on Sunday. To the26 Next Page
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