2022 Foundations

The foundation of my love of history began with my mother’s love of history.  Although I didn’t realize it at the time how much I would grow to love family history;  I did listen to her stories.  I have always liked history & regret that I didn’t major in history in college.  I grew up in Beaverhead county, Montana where we lived among history,  Living close to Bannack, Big Hole Battlefield, Virginia City as well Lewis & Clark’s route through Montana, we were immersed in history.

Our family visited Mom’s hometown of Waitsburg, Washington often on Memorial Day weekend.  While Mom & her mother decorated family graves, my sister & I tagged along as we waked through 2 cemeteries.  Of course Mom told us what she knew about each ancestor.  Another time I should have listened more! And written the information down!

Genealogy was also mother’s other passion.  I knew she was collecting information but had no idea the extent of the collection until I brought it home when her health declined.  It took 12 hours to sort the box of files and pictures into the manila folders that I created.  Her collection was pre-computer age, so I realized I had to learn genealogy software & computers.  I estimate I brought her collection to my house in 1995 about 26 years ago. 

Lois Heath 1787-1878

Lois is my third great aunt, a sister of my third great grandmother.

The handwriting is my mother's.

Mom's collection was started by her great aunt on her paternal side.  Her Aunt Gilla collected information from her father & mother, Albert Gallatin Lloyd and Lois Jasper Lloyd.  Albert crossed the plains to Oregon in 1845 while Lois crossed in 1854.  

Gilla Lloyd

Gilla Lloyd researching in Tennessee at her grandfather's grave on

 17 October 1927

My mom added to the Lloyd Family collection with newspaper articles, funeral cards and pictures.  She even collected quilts made by ancestors.   She was born in 1924 and her first scrapbook was created in the 1930’s.  During Mom’s life she created scrapbooks, one is of her first year of college.  She also created scrapbooks for my sister as well as for me.

I would be the 5th generation to have the collection and add to it.  Although much of the information has not been documented, I attempt to find the source for the facts.  So far, I’ve only found 1 mistake in Aunt Gilla’s collection.  

 My Grandfather (my Dad's father) lived to be 103.  He also had a love of family history and wrote stories of his life, labeled pictures as well as inheriting the Family Bible, which has information pre-1850.  And yes, I inherited more family history pictures and stories.

My dad with the Shaffner Family Bible

I began collecting information on my husband's family when we married nearly 50 years ago.  His paternal line did not have much information since they were Germans from Russia.  Beginning with collecting obituaries, death certificates and marriage certificates, I tried to connect Gabel families.  It was worth it when I was able to connect his family to census records and families in Frank, Russia.   

Will the collection ever be complete?  At this point in life I wonder who will be the 6th generation to continue the family history?

#6-2021. Valentine. Sweetheart Swirl 1946

#6-2021.  Valentine

Sweetheart Swirl 1946

More dancing-Sweetheart Swirl

Washington State College

Pullman, Washington

Since my mother made scrapbooks beginning in the 1930’s, I thought it would be fun to find old valentines for this week's challenge.   She kept every card ever given to her, I am quite sure.  But as I began looking through her scrapbook of her college years I found this gem; Sweetheart Swirl of 1946.

Apparently Mom & Dad were dating!  She saved the dance program and her corsage.  Along with their marriage license!  

The page of her scrapbook!

The dance program

My Mom's dance card!

The best artifact

They were illegally hitched!

 

#5-2021. In the Kitchen with Helen Shaffner

#5-2021. In the Kitchen  with Helen Shaffner

The challenge each week is to write a story for the assigned topic.  “In the Kitchen” was easy!  My mother, Helen Shaffner!

Don & Helen Shaffner

25th Wedding Anniversary Party-July 1971

At the ranch on Grasshopper Creek

I don't remember if Mom made the cake.  But I am sure she provided the food for the party!

Many people will remember Helen’s cooking. No one went without food if they visited our house.  She was even known to invite friends walking down the street to return for dinner, When asked by another friend what she intended to feed them; her reply was “Not a problem as there is a frozen pie in the freezer as well as a casserole dish”.  Typical Helen!

Helen was always prepared.  Pies, cakes or desserts in the freezer where common, maybe even a loaf of banana bread.  She had a freezer full of meat and could whip up dinner fast in the days before microwaves!  The oven was her friend!  The Cookie Jar was always full.

If there was a death in a family of friends,  she was probably the first to arrive with food. It was common knowledge in our house when the green pistachio salad (Watergate salad) appeared in the refrigerator or on the counter that someone had died. 

Helen was also the bookkeeper and sometimes receptionist at the Veterinary Hospital.  Dad’s work as a veterinarian was hard with various hours.  Somehow with her schedule, volunteer projects as well as teaching piano lessons, Mom had dinner ready every night.

Dad was also a rancher.   We lived in town; the first ranch purchased, Grasshopper Creek, was 10 miles away with a “cabin”.  The cabin had a barrel stove for heat, wood stove and a pitcher pump.  Mom never cooked there but served many a “meal” after branding or pregnancy testing cows.  That meant she hauled the food, precooked from the house in town.  She began her collection of coolers, plastic containers and boxes to haul the food in.  

Cows were always trailed to summer pasture, which meant Mom provided breakfast (often at 3 AM) and sack lunches for the crew as we walked out the door in the dark.  And of course dinner that night for the family which often included the crew.  Summer work often involved a week’s worth of work gathering cattle as well as the trail to summer pasture.  Each day Mom had breakfast and sack lunches prepared.

The sack lunches are remembered by many!  A few giggles (never in front of Mom) about the contents of the sack lunch.  We all learned to eat everything or we might find in the next day’s lunch. (Because we had to return the plastic sacks & paper sacks daily).  Her lunch was sandwiches (only butter on bread in case of spoilage), cookies, maybe potato chips, a candy bar (usually Salted Nut roll), often a small can of fruit, including a plastic spoon and a hard boiled egg which she had peeled.  The egg was in a baggie, complete with salt and pepper!  Sometimes extra salt packets were included, but it was in the era before water bottles were packed by everyone.  Sometimes we got a can of soda pop.  And sometimes the water was from a stock tank and sometimes lunch was eaten while in the saddle while trailing.  (Cows don’t stop for meals).  We considered ourselves lucky if we got to eat near a water tank filled with spring water.  Not all of the crew knew to go easy on the extra salt when eating their hard boiled egg!  As they looked around for more water, we laughed!

If we were trailing along a road, Helen arrived in her car with food.  The trunk opened and she spread out the fare; usually a hot casserole dish.  That was a treat as we then got to stop and let the cows drift while we ate.  Since breakfast was a 3 AM, the sack lunch might have been eaten by 9.  

The upper ranch was also a “cabin”, again no cooking facilities. Thus Mom hauled food 50 miles (give or take few) to feed the crew.  Or maybe a party was hosted there.  Her trunk opened and the containers came out.  She always had coolers of water or iced team and a thermos of coffee.

Once dad & I were moving cows across the creek on a very hot June day.  I was 4 months pregnant but still had to flank a calf or two to get the rope off as some were dragged across the creek to reunite them with their mothers.  It was a miserable day, hotter than expected and full of issues.  The hired man claimed he was having a heart attack (he wasn’t but a good way to get out of work) as Mom rolled up in her car.  Now to get her drive up this road took a lot of courage for her as she was not brave on the “ranch roads” and this may have been the only time she drove it by herself.    She was very pleased with herself that she had brought “hot coffee”!  She was immediately ordered to take the hired man back to the cabin  and return with ICED TEA and COLD WATER.  I think the only mistake she ever made while hauling food to the crew!

Her legacy may have been the meal she provided after the Parade on Labor Day.   It was a big 4 event over Labor Day weekend in Dillon, Montana, with the parade and rodeo ending the weekend.  During the weekend festivities Helen provided meals as payback for Dad’s clients (which were more friends than clients) who had provided him a noon meal when he worked cattle on their ranch.  Because Dillon is small and few restaurants, our friends & relatives had no place to eat between the parade and rodeo.  So Helen fed them!  It was common knowledge about Helen’s & often people brought their friends!  I think it was normal to feed 50 people after the parade!  Somehow Mom made the food stretch for the “extra’s” that showed up, but no one ever felt they were an “extra”!   They were a friend of a friend, so thus a friend! 

A true legacy of her kitchen and caring spirit was the others invited to her table.  A couple older  friends were widowers, Helen often included them at her dinner table.  My grandfather, Dad’s father, was also a recipient of Helen’s kitchen.  He always had dinner with our family but when could no longer venture out of his house, Mom took him food.  He lived to be 103, living in his own house!  

Whenever we host a gathering, set a nice table, feed a crew; a remark might be heard:  Helen would be proud of us!

Her kitchen legacy remains in many of her friends and families memories.

 

2021-#1. Beginning. 52 Ancestors in a Year

I am not sure where genealogy passion began in my family, but definitely my mother, Helen Lloyd Shaffner, had an interest & passion for her family history.  It was my mother who collected and inherited information.  I grew up hearing stories about her ancestors and placing flowers on graves.  So it was natural that I listened and eventually discovered I had a passion for genealogy.  Although I wish I had listened, written down what was told and asked more questions.  

The one who told the stories, and collected the memorabilia, thus creating my interest.

Helen Lloyd Shaffner

I believe her collection began with my 3rd great grandparents, Nancy Walker Lloyd and her husband John Lloyd.  This couple married in 1823 in Caswell County, North Carolina, moved to Clay County, Missouri in 1824 and went to Oregon in 1845.  But along the way, memorabilia and family history was kept and shared with their family & descendants.  

I enjoy the treasure of letters that they wrote back to their family in North Carolina & Tennessee telling of their life, in Missouri, their trip on the Oregon Trail to Oregon and after arriving in Oregon.  They kept letters written to them by those family members too.  The letters are filled with information of births, marriages & deaths that occurred since they last wrote.  They included prices of things they bought and sold.  My mother’s collection included pictures, many that have the names on them and she created family group sheets from information she searched for.  Her inherited collection contained information from her great aunts, Gillian Ann and Angeline.  There were newspaper articles, funeral cards, obituaries and paper with hand written information.  Although there were never any mention of where they obtained that information, such as the name of the newspaper, when it was printed or where they got the birth/date/marriage dates.  When I did ask Mom a question about it, she would reply; “Well Aunt Gilla said…”.  In other words, don’t question Aunt Gilla’s information!  I inherited the collection when she passed away 20 years ago.  

I am now the 5th generation (maybe the 6th generation) to maintain and keep the family history.

During those generations a lot of memorabilia has been collected.  I have file cabinets and boxes of pictures.  What do I do with it all?  I am slowly trying to digitize information.  But I can’t throw out the original papers.  I have had the letters digitized and donated to the Fort Walla Walla Museum in Walla Walla, Washington.  I have donated items to the Waitsburg Historical Society.  I will continue to donate where applicable.  

But how did I begin?  I began with no knowledge, a box full of files & pictures. I was also collecting snip-its of information on Leroy’s ( my husband) family.  By collecting death and marriage certificates we were able to connect his family to records in Warenburg, Russia.  His family has Germans from Russia heritage, no stories and limited memorabilia. Finding more ancestors & information in Russia was amazing.

Approximately 48 years of collecting, and research, I am still learning!  I have taken classes, joined genealogy groups, traveled for research and discovered a passion.  Helping others find their ancestors and heritage is fun and also helps me learn more about research.  

And a hobby that keeps me busy, off the streets and busy while “shelter in place” during a pandemic!    

#19 Service. Helen Lloyd Shaffner

#19 Service.  Helen Lloyd Shaffner

“Service is the price I pay for the spot I occupy”

 These words were spoken by my mother, Helen Lloyd Shaffner, when honored in 1984 as Women of the Year in Dillon, Montana.

Helen was born 14 August 1924 in Waitsburg, Washington where her great great grandparents had settled in 1859.  Her mother, Mary Caroline Summers and George Marvin Lloyd had married in 1918.  

Graduating from high school in 1942, Helen went off to college at Washington State College in Pullman, Washington.  Helen made her first scrapbook in 1933, continuing her scrapbooking with a scrapbook of her first year of college.   Scrapbooks and keeping family history began early in her life.

Helen joined the Pi Kappa Delta sorority and graduated with a degree in sociology in 1946. But along the way, she met a student in veterinary medicine from Dillon, Montana.  They say opposites attract and I believe this to be true.  Don was born to a ranching family, grew up herding sheep, loved animals, work and had served in WWII.  Helen was born to a farming family but had allergies to animals, hated horses (bucked or fell off one), played the piano and sewed.  When they married in 1946 and she visited Dillon, Montana during the Labor Day weekend, she was shocked to see people drinking liquor as well as probably other various things that might have occurred during the “famous weekend”.  

They moved to Dillon in 1949 after Don graduated from Veterinary School as he was anxious to get back to his beloved Beaverhead County.  Life as a veterinarian was varied from day to day and the county was large with lots of cattle; so Don was often gone for hours and maybe not around much during calving season.  Helen found her niche in Dillon.  

 As her daughters grew and became involved Helen was right there to volunteer, from serving as troop leader in Girl Scouts, serving as President of the local PTA and also finding time to serve on the Presbyterian church session.  Helen served as Presbyterian church organist (and backup organist) for over 40 years. She last played for church on Mother's Day, 14 May 1995.  She always found time to play for a wedding or a funeral.  The first wedding that she played for was in 1945 in Waitsburg!  She thought her daughters needed to play the piano so she began teaching them, which progressed to her teaching piano to many others.  As a member of the community she served as a member of the Barrett Hospital Auxiliary.  She also served as a member and officer of in the local chapter of P.E.O.; as well at the Cattlewomen’s group (former Cowbelles).  When Dillon formed a Community Orchestra, Helen joined and played the timpani, an instrument she had played in college.  

She was Don’s partner in life, always supporting him.  As a partner in the Veterinary Hospital, Helen was also the bookkeeper.  Supporting her husband meant that she also was a member of the Montana Veterinary Medical Association Auxiliary, and served as President.  Don was involved in the Inter-Mountain Veterinary Association so naturally Helen joined their auxiliary and served as President.  The next step was then serving as the national secretary for the American Veterinary Medical Association Auxiliary in 1964.  

Don & Helen

1986

Supporting her daughters meant that Helen rode the ski bus every Saturday while they took lessons at Rainy Mountain (Maverick Mountain).  Somehow she had learned that kids were unruly on the bus & kids were being teased, which made it hard for the bus driver to concentrate on driving snowy roads.  Helen stepped up to serve! 

Don came home one day and decided that there was a girl at a ranch, over 60 miles from Dillon that needed a place to live during the week while attending high school.  Why of course; Helen stepped up to help and provided a room.   Since Helen was often alone with 2 small girls, it was perfect.  The girls got an older “sister”, Helen got some help but more important Helen provided a home for others.  Over the years 3 girls attended school, and lived with the Shaffner’s.  Helen never thought twice about helping out.

The "Bonus" daughters, 1996 at Don & Helen's 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration

Lynn, Elaine and Heidi 

And then her husband realized his dream of owning a ranch.   Now Helen added the job of bookkeeper for the ranch and providing saddlebag lunches for riders, meals for branding crews and hauling lunches to the crew trailing cattle.  

Helen's knack for hauling food is legendary! 

 Sometimes it was 60 miles to find the crew!

She always had plenty of food, no one ever went hungry!

It must have a large gathering, look at the steaks!

Helen was also manning the BBQ grill at the ranch.

When you own a ranch, horses are involved.  Helen did not like horses.

This is the only picture of her on a horse!

As a woman who had lived through World War II, Helen was thrifty.  Her sewing talents included sewing clothes for her daughters, remaking clothes from others, as well as quilts. 

Living through hard times, Helen was very compassionate.  She served her community in so many ways.  One of which was food.  Food was one of Helen’s best talents.  She made sure that there was food on the table for every meal, homemade.  She was always cooking or baking; cookies, pies for the freezer.  We had a salad my sister and I dubbed the “dead salad” because whenever it appeared on the counter or refrigerator, we asked who died.  Helen was always taking food to a family who had had a death.  Don’s father ate dinner with them for 20+ years.  Living to 103 years old, when he could no longer drive, Helen took food to him.  Helen always included others at her dinner table, often sharing with a couple of widowed men who helped Don.  Holiday dinner tables were often shared with friends in the community that had no family to gather with.

Helen Lloyd Shaffner more than paid for the spot she occupied.

“Service is the price I pay for the spot I occupy”

Happy Mother's Day in heaven, Mom!

#12-2020. Popular Labor Day weekend in Dillon-1979

#12-2020 Popular.  1979 Labor Day weekend in Dillon, Montana!  A popular weekend!

In September 1979 I was in Dillon, Montana for the annual Labor Day weekend festivities.  It was and is a very popular weekend in southwestern Montana.  It is the County Fair and Rodeo weekend.  It is the weekend that many return to their “roots”, hold family reunions and celebrate the end of summer.  

Dillon, Montana is in Beaverhead County, the largest county in Montana.  There were and still are more cows than people.  My father was the veterinarian and had a veterinary practice in the county and parts of other counties.  His speciality was large animals, and cows were a big part of his practice.  He traveled to many ranches through the year, often eating in homes or cookhouses at the ranches because of the distance from Dillon.  Sometimes he was gone for a couple of days during calving time or fall rush of working cattle.  For many years the roads were not even paved so ranchers were very generous to provide him a hot meal.  

And so began the tradition of my Mom (Helen) & dad (Don) hosting a “feed” at their house in Dillon after the parade on Labor Day.  This was their way of thanking clients and friends for feeding Don!  It was common knowledge that Helen would have food available.  And of course, my sister & I grew up with many of the ranch kids, so our house was often the common meeting place for many.  She feed lots of people throughout the Labor Day weekend!

Since it was a popular weekend, my grandfather volunteered to babysit my son for an evening.  This would be his first time at Dillon Labor Day weekend!  Of course I  joined my friends and family in the local celebrations downtown.  The celebrations occurred in the bars up and down Main Street.  Meeting friends & relatives you haven’t seen in years, is always fun and requires a “cheers” or more than one!

On Monday of Labor Day weekend is the Parade.  It is the last day of the festivities with a rodeo in the afternoon.  It is a very popular day.  But since I had celebrated too much, I thought attending the parade was not a wise decision and it would be best to stay at my parent’s house & stir the goulash and help get things ready. Mom took Greg, my son.   It was normal to have 50 people descend on the house after the parade, quickly eat and rush to the rodeo which started about 2 hours after the parade ended.

This is my mother's recipe for goulash. 

She gave me this recipe when I married.

She made more than 1 batch for a crowd.

Since I didn’t feel 100%, I laid down to rest.  Yep, fell asleep.  Suddenly my mother was at the bedroom door, holding my son who had attended his 1st parade, crying loudly.  I woke up immediately!  My first thought was I had burned the goulash!  And believe me, mother’s goulash was good, expected at the lunch and heaven help me if I had burned it!  Through tears she told me about the jets flying over of the parade and that one had hit the grain elevator where the parade passed by.  In disbelief of the events unfolding, and that my immediate family was safe, I rushed to the hospital.  The human hospital.  Dad was on the board of trustees for the hospital & had already left for the hospital to provide help.  He even stopped at his veterinary hospital to get x-ray film.  I was a medical lab technician and I had worked with the medical technologist there.  Anticipating injuries and fatalities, I rushed to help. The lab welcomed me with open arms.  We prepared for a major disaster as it was common to have thousands of people in town for the weekend and at the parade.  People, who had ever been employed at the hospital rushed to help.  I said, I can draw blood on patients until my best friend is brought in.  Knowing she was at the head of the parade on a horse and the jet had gone down near the front of the parade, I was worried sick.  And then we waited.

Suddenly Dad came into the lab and said he was going home to eat.  What???  Dad leaving; highly unusual.  He told us there was limited injuries; maybe 2 or 3 with burns.  Imagine our surprise!  But a welcome surprise.  There were many things that happened that day, many positive things displaying how a small community comes together & works together in a crisis.  Some things were truly unbelievable.  

My husband who was at home in Huntley, was on a tractor piling corn silage during harvest, and heard the first news of the crash on his radio.  He knew my family always stood by the depot for the parade.  He rushed to the phone to call my parents house.  He was quite glad to hear good news that we all OK!

My family is standing in the lower right of the left hand picture.  

So a popular weekend turned into a popular memory; one I will never forget!  Nor will the town of Dillon or anyone who was there!  And I think of it every time I make goulash!

#3 - 2020 Long Line

#3-2020. Long Line.  52 Ancestors in a Year

In the western heritage culture, the term long line might refer to the length of a rein on a team of horses.

Combine on Bob Hayden-Colfax, Washington

30 head team hooked

My mother, Helen Lloyd, was raised in Waitsburg, Washington.  Farming in that area and Palouse Hills of eastern Washington was done with teams of horses or mules.  The hills were steep, the soil was great and wheat was the crop.  

Combining on McKinney Land

32 head team hooked

Plowing on McKinney Land

These pictures are from Helen’s collection, but not from her family farm. 

Can you imagine the daily chore of caring for this many horses in the team?  Daily chores of feeding and watering the team, in the morning, at noon and at night.  At noon, the dream was team was unhooked and watered and then re-hooked to the equipment.  If you count the horses or mules in the team, there are  25-33 head.  (And they are hard to count in the picture!). And don't forget that the men that worked the teams and helped with harvest also had to be fed!  That is another story!

A team took a long line  of leather rein from the teamster driving the team to the lead team.

At Fort Walla Walla Museum, in Walla Walla, Washington, there is an excellent life size display of a team hooked to a combine.  It was one of my Dad’s favorite displays.  He loved teams and grew up in the era of using teams to feed cattle as well as put up hay.  On a trip there Dad was like a kid in a candy store explaining to me all the details of the workings of such a large team, from the lead team to the wheel team and all points in between.  Oh how I wished I had an iPhone to have recorded his explanations!  

Don Shaffner viewing and explaining the team!  

A replica of the driver, thick long lines in his hands.  

The driver of the team even had a can of pebbles next to his seat.  That was for an occasional rock thrown at a horse to “giddy up”!  Sometimes the long line wasn’t an effective method to encourage a horse to “step up”.  

An explanation and example of how a team was hitched with "long lines".

#37 Mistake I should have paid attention 52 Ancestors in a Year

#37 Mistake  52 Ancestors in a Year

A mistake not to listen, write down or pay attention.

My mother, Helen Lloyd Shaffner, was interested in her family history for as long as I can remember.  There was a trip to a cemetery in Oregon in an effort to find a headstone.  I vaguely remember, as I was young, but I do remember a hill, trees, grass and probably rolling my eyes at the thought of this stop.  I think my Dad probably led the way of “wasting time doing this" attitude.  

Helen Lloyd
She graduated from high school in 1942

1938

What I would give to know where and what she found in that cemetery.  If only she had taken pictures or written a story down.  So far I have not discovered those 2 pieces of information in her genealogy collection. 

It was normal that we went to Mom's hometown of Waitsburg, Washington for Memorial Day festivities, which included a class reunion.   We took flowers and toured the cemeteries and decorated graves including my great great grandparents.

Mom never called herself a genealogist. Nor did anyone else.  But she was.  I have files, pictures and scraps of paper written on them.  Mom created family group sheets.  I have duplicates of many of them.  She shared her information with others too.  My mother, Helen Lloyd Shaffner, inherited a collection from her great aunt, so those letters and scraps of paper are also included.  

One of the many Family Group Sheets in her collection.

Many of her family group sheets have notes written on the back

Mom also created scrapbooks.  I think the earliest one I have is 1930.  Many include newspaper clippings of obituaries or other family information.

Mom had paid attention to her grandparents and knew many stories.  She did write a few down, but I want more!  But I wish I had written her recollections down or recorded them.

What a mistake I made by not spending more time learning the family history!

Mom was most proud of her heritage, especially the ancestors who came across on the Oregon Trail.