MySource:Kminnemeyer/Information Provided by Edith Matilda Smear Minnemeyer

Date: BET 1960 and 1974

Reference number: Type: Stories

CREA: Date: 14 May 2011 Time: 15:28:52

Edith was so happy that they had received a beautiful rug for a wedding present because she could put that down on the dirt floor of their Oklahoma home. Edith found Hollis (Charles Hollis Minnemeyer) crawling in their yard toward a very large rattlesnake and she had to kill the snake with her hoe even though she was terrified. When they determined that they were not going to be able to make a living in Oklahoma, Costa sent her and Hollis home. He stayed in Oklahoma to make arrangements for the sale of their animals, tools, equipment, etc. She was seven months pregnant with their daughter when she started home. Getting on the train at the first train station (possibly Kansas City) she stepped on the hem of her dress and tore the front of the skirt portion away from the bodice. The rest of the trip she was terribly embarrassed. Uncle Hollis (Charles Hollis), who would have been around two, was fussy all the way back to Indiana which only added to her embarrassment. Their families did not know she was coming home so there was no one to meet her when she got off the interurban in Ben Davis. It was dark when they arrived. She walked to her mother's home carrying their luggage and Uncle Hollis. She couldn't remember exactly how long it took, but it seemed she would never make it.