Person:Edwin Inman (2)

Interesting write up by Al Pfeifle from a book that he wrote in 1996.This was obtained from the Iowa genealogy mailing list through Rootsweb:

Working on a threshing crew was hard work, but it also was a job manylooked forward to all year. For the young men it was food, fun, andcamaraderie. They made all sorts of competitions among themselves to seewho could load or unload their bundle rigs the fastest. Normally bundleswould be pitched on the feeder, one at a time, with the heads first andnot overlapping. If the bundle pitchers would see the engineer napping ornot paying attention, they would throw two to three times as many bundlesas normal placing them crosswise and butt end first which would slug themachine and throw off the main drive belt stopping the separator. Theengineer and fireman then had to crawl inside the threshing machine anddig out the excess straw and grain by hand before they could restart theseparator. On an August day this was very hot and miserable work. Thistrick perhaps happened only once a season, and the engineer had many waysto get even with the young smart aleck bundle wagon ! drivers. For the young man on the crew, it was a time to be on his own,to be his own boss, even if he had only a team and wagon. He hadresponsibility and new found respect as he was doing important man'swork. He slept in the barn or bunkhouse, bathed in the stock tank, andate three enormous meals a day, plus midmorning and afternoon lunches. Healso had a better chance to check out the neighborhood girls than justseeing them in church on Sunday. He knew if they were good cooks liketheir mothers, and, more importantly for the future family, if they weregood workers. Feeding the Threshers

It was the women and girls of the family who really had theresponsibility that determined whether or not the threshing was asuccess. Good weather and a smooth operation all helped, but it was themeals and food that the threshing crew remembered. To prepare for threeto five days of threshing took the farm wife literally months ofplanning, working, and physical recovery. The status of the family in thecommunity in many ways depended upon the housewife's preparation andserving of food to the threshing crew. There was also a friendly rivalryin the matter of feeding the threshers, to see who could outdo the other.Neighbor women also helped each other cook and serve on the days the rigwas at 'your place.'

Imagine the magnitude of feeding an extra 20 men, plus one's own family,breakfast, dinner, and supper. They also served substantial midmorningand afternoon lunches out in the field consisting of meat sandwiches,cookies, cake, coffee, and drinks. In good weather breakfast was servedshortly after daybreak and supper served after the machine shut down forthe night and the animals were taken care of. It could easily be twoo'clock in the morning before the women finished supper dishes andcompleted preparations for the early breakfast they would be serving inabout three hours. Just consider: they did not have refrigeration,piped-in water or a sink in the house or summer kitchen; and they had tocook and heat all water on a wood or coal stove that cast off an enormousamount of heat while frying, cooking, or baking in the hottest part ofthe summer.

The social standing of the housewife was greatly diminished if shescrimped on food for threshers - if she did not use raisins in her milkrice pudding or serve it with thick cream and sugar, or, heaven forbid,if she used a thin layer of dried fruit with a lot of cornstarch puddingin her fruit pies. There were times when threshing crews were shorthandedbecause crew members refused to go to farms where they did not like thefood. Talk about loss of social status for the family!!

Article From "Oregonian" Page 8, Column 4; Portland, Oregon; Saturday,November 15, 1941:

COLLAPSE FATAL

Earl E. Inman, 65, 1134 N. Larrabee Street, died Friday following hiscollapse at the Interstate Terminal.

Death was attributed to natural causes in a report of the coroner'soffice. The body has been removed to the Pearson Funeral Parlors.

Obituary From "Oregonian" Page 1 Classifieds; Portland, Oregon; Monday,November 17, 1941:

INMAN - Nov. 14, Earl E. Inman, late of 1106 N. Crosby Ave. Husband ofAlice May Inman, father of Dorothy Inman and brother of George and NormanInman. Funeral services will be conducted Monday, Nov. 17, at 2 p.m.,from Pearson's Funeral Church, Knott Street at Union Avenue. Friendsinvited. Interment Rose City Cemetery.

1. ↑ Diary of John Madison Inman.
2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 1895 Iowa State Census, Worth County, Lincoln.
3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 Obituary.
4. ↑ ^4.0 4.1 Death Certificate.
5. ↑ Cemetery Records.
6. ↑ 1880 U.S. Census, Iowa, Worth County, Lincoln, T9 0371, Page 498D.
7. ↑ 1900 U.S. Census, Iowa, Emmet County, Center Township, Film 431, Book 2, page 20a.
8. ↑ 1910 U.S. Census, Colorado, Kit Carson County, Stratton, 6 Precinct, T624 120, Page 261A.
9. ↑ Death Certificate of Grace Lillie Murray Inman.