Henry Gabel Farming

Often we forget what life was like for our ancestors.  To make a living was hard work, especially in agriculture.  Often a family did not have money for a camera.   It is easy to not understand or even know what agriculture was like 70 years, or even 50 years ago.  Thankfully there are a few pictures to remind us of what life was like.  

Henry Gabel (Leroy's grandfather) with a team of white mules.  It looks like he is hauling hay or straw.  Since he was born in 1901, I would guess the time frame of this picture to be in the 30's.  

Henry Gabel, Leroy's grandfather with a team cultivating a row crop.  Probably sugar beets  Notice the iron wheels on the cultivator.  Think it would rough riding?  Imagine spending a day cultivating.

And don't forget that the team had to be harnessed, usually before breakfast.  Often the team was unharnessed at lunch and feed and watered.  All before the teamster ate.

Henry Gabel with a pen of Hereford cattle.  Since there were no feed trucks, all the feed was

shoveled onto a truck and shoveled off into a bunk.  

Henry Gabel with a load of beets.  He is holding a beet fork which was used to load the truck.  Notice the piles of beets.  They were forked onto the truck.  It is hard to tell the type of truck, but we think the picture is in the late 1930's or early 1940's.   The beet puller lifted the beets up out of the ground. Then a worker came along, lifted the beets, cut the tops off and put the beets into a windrow or a pile.  Wonder how many acres they dug per day?

How Old is the Rose?

The legend of the rose:

Growing in the Waitsburg City Cemetery is a little old moss rose bush.  The original bush was brought to the American colonies from Europe.  This rose was blooming in the Carolinas when Colonel William Heath and Sergeant William Jasper were heroes in the Revolutionary War.  In the early eighteen hundreds, it was "slipped" and transferred to Kentucky where Polly Heath married John Jasper.  In 1847, the little rose was again "slipped" and was brought across the Oregon Trail by the Jasper's, by ox team to the Williamette Valley.  In 1856, Albert G. Lloyd, while serving with the Oregon Volunteers in the Indian Wars, found a piece of ground on the Touchet River that was to his liking.  He returned to the Williamette Valley, married Lois Jasper, and in 1859, left on horseback with his bride to the land that was to be the first pre-emption in the Touchet Valley.  Again a slip from the rose was in the saddle bags.  This little rose was first planted as were the first corn crops in the valley, in the mounds of dirt thrown out of the ground by the gophers.  In 1865, the City of Waitsburg was incorporated, and a cemetery laid out.  The Lloyd's twins, Clara and Freddie, who died in infancy, were buried there.  The little rose was again dug up and put at their headstone as a living memorial, and now a hundred years later, it is still blooming there. 
Headstones in the cemetery bear out this history:
A. G. Lloyd
Lois Jasper Lloyd
Polly Heath Jasper
Lois Heath

(The story was written by Eric N. Aldrich, grandson of A. G. and Lois Lloyd.  It was published The Times, Waitsburg, WA, 30 September 1965)

I often wonder if the legend is true, or is it just a family story.  But the rose meant a lot because it is on the graves of Lois Lloyd's babies.  Fredy & Clara died in 1877, 138 years ago.

Morgan and Jace Kuntz, at the rosebush in Waitsburg City Cemetery

They are the 4th great grandchildren of Albert G. & Lois Lloyd

The rosebush in Huntley

Mother gave me a slip of the rosebush for my home in Huntley.

The year after she died, was when it bloomed the best.  

Now I need to learn how to "slip" a rose so that I may give plants to other family members.

Any tips would be appreciated!

Tony Lloyd

A grandson of my great grandfather, Albert Gallatin Lloyd, died in a Japanese POW camp in World War II.

This picture was in LIFE magazine.  

 Tony was a First Lieutenant, USA, assigned to Battery H. 60th Coast Art. Reg., Corregidor, Phillipines.  He was taken a POW when the island was captured by the Japanese during WWII.   He died January 7, 1943 in the Kokura POW Camp, Shioku, Japan.

"The Waitsburg Times"     Lt. Tony Lloyd Dies in Japanese Prison Camp- News Arrives Here of Death on January 7, 1945 

A telegram from the War Department has just been received by Mr. and Mrs. Wesley A. Lloyd notifying them of the death of their son, First Lt. Tony Boynton Lloyd in a prison Camp in Japan, January 7, 1943.  Tony Lloyd was born at the old farm home west of Waitsburg, March 12, 1915.  ................"

Telegram Following is the text of the message received:  

"The Secretary of war has asked me to express his deep regret that your son, First Lieutenant Tony B. Lloyd, died in Japan, January 7, 1943, as a result of malnutrition while a prisoner of war of the Japanese government.  I regret that unavoidable circumstances made necessary the unusual lapse of time in reporting your son's death to you.  Confirming letter follows.

 Tony was with General Wainwright at the time Corregidor was captured.  He was with a Coast Artillery anti-aircraft outfit.  These men of Corregidor were marched down the streets of Manila in wretched condition to prove to the silent thousands of natives that the Japanese conquerors were superior in every way.  They were led to Billibid prison were the Americans were separated from the Filipinos and taken to Cabanatuan in May of 1942.  From the story of Tony's existence must be left to the imagination until further information can come from the lips of those who survived.  The picture below was clipped from a captured Japanese newsreel film showing the surrender of American troops on Corregidor.  The man on the extreme right has been identified as Lt. Tony Lloyd.  (I don't have this picture)

 Tony was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action on Corregidor in March of 1946.  The Silver Star Citation reads:  "For Gallantry in action on Corregidor, Philippine Islands, on 28 April 1942.  During a heavy Japanese artillery concentration on a battery position, the electrical power transmission cables were destroyed.  Completely disregarding his own safety, Lieutenant Lloyd, Battery H, 60th Coast Artillery Regiment (Anti-aircraft) left cover, exposed himself to enemy fire for two hours, and repaired these vital cables thereby bringing the battery back into synchronization.  By his sustained gallantry and courageous devotion to duty, Lieutenant Lloyd rendered invaluable aid to our forces during a critical period of operation." (newspaper clipping from the Waitsburg Times)

-DEATH NEWS ENDS YEARS OF HOPING-Parents Learn Son Died, Victim of Jap Cruelty.  (see pictures page 12) Waitsburg, Wash., Jan 3---For Mr. and Mrs. Wes Lloyd, pioneers of this community, a weary period of alternate hope and despair, extending from Wainwright's surrender on Corregidor to V-J day and the months immediately following, came to an end with the advent of the Christmas holidays.  A telegram from the war department informed them that their son, Lt. Tony Boynton Lloyd, died in a Japanese prison camp on January 7, 1943.

   Born March 12, 1915, at the family home west of Waitsburg, Lt. Lloyd as a small boy played among the Indian tepees which dotted the traditional camp site near the ranch buildings.

Among First Settlers

   The Lloyd family was one of the first to settle here.  Curiously, Wes Lloyd once sold a horse to "old" Capt. Wainwright of the cavalry when he was stationed at Fort Walla Walla.  By coincidence Wes Lloyd's boy later served under Capt. Wainwright's son, Gen. "Skinny" Wainwright.

   Esteemed by the Indians as being the oldest son in a family whose friendship dated back to the 1850's, Tony acquired much native lore, various buckskin garments, numerous headdresses and the ability to carry on ceremonial and war dances long before he reached the proper age for entering elementary school.

Was Noted Marksman 

He attended Central grade school here, graduated from high school and completed four year at the University of Washington, majoring in chemical engineering.  While there his natural skill as a marksman won for him signal recognition.  Equally adept with rifles or revolvers, a painstaking artist who loaded his own ammunition, Lt. Lloyd was prominent in rifle team activities during his entire university career.

   He was a member of the rifle team that won national collegiate honors and the Hearst trophy in 1936.  He also won the individual intercollegiate rifle championship in 1938.  As a representative of the university he competed in the national rifle matches at Camp Perry, Ohio, winning top honors for his R.O.T.C. team and qualifying for that highly coveted position, a place on the President's Hundred.

Called to Colors Early

   Called up with other reserve officers in August, 1940, he reported for duty with the coast artillery corps at March field, Calif., and a year later was transferred for duty in the Philippines, at Fort Mills, Corregidor.

   That he was taken prisoner there was strikingly revealed on the screen of the Waitsburg theater when a newsreel flash prepared from Japanese war films was shown.  One scene featured several American prisoners, hands in air, awaiting the next command of their guards.  The parents were positive one of the captives was their son, and when a special reprint was made from the film any lingering doubts were removed.

   It was thought he later escaped.  Consistent rumors had him serving with Filipino, and later, Chinese guerrillas, where his resourcefulness and skill with weapons were being utilized against the common enemy.  Now it is known that following the surrender he was variously at Billbid prison, Cabanatuan and finally Kokura, Japan on Shokuku island.

Died of Starvation

   His death there was due to malnutrition, but of the events during the preceding months it is thought nothing further will ever be made known, except by survivors, or through later war department releases.

   Lt. Lloyd, now established as the first Waitsburg man to die in the service of his country, was affiliated with Tau Kappa Epsilon, was a member of the national military honorary organization, Scabbard and Blade, the Ammonii socii, a chemistry professional honorary, and the Masons.  He is survived by his parents, and a brother, Milton Lloyd, recently discharged from the army and now residing in Walla Walla. (Newspaper clipping presumably from "The Waitsburg Times")

MILITARY: BG Wainwright met with his parents after WWII and confirmed the above information.  Additionally the last pictures the family has of him were captured Japanese news reels that showed the surrender of BG Wainwright's staff at Corrigodore.  Information that I have found would indicate that he was awarded the Silver Star for action at Corrigodore

OBITUARY: Tony Lloyd A Jap Victim Waitsburg - First Lt. Tony Boynton Lloyd, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Wesley A. Lloyd, died in a Japanese prison camp January 7, 1943, according to word just received by his parents.  Death was due to malnutrition.  He was born in Waitsburg March 12, 1915, graduated from the Waitsburg schools and attended the University of Washington where he was a member of the R.O.T.C.  He was also a member of the National Rifleman's association and made two trips to Camp Perry, Ohio as a state representative.  He enlisted in the army in 1940 and went overseas in September, 1941 with the 78th coast artillery anti aircraft outfit.  He was with Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright at the time Corrigedor was captured. His parents last heard from him in November, 1941.  The telegram received Thursday was signed by Edward F. Witsell acting adjutant general of the army and said:  "The secretary of war has asked me to express his deep regrets that your son, First Lt. Tony B. Lloyd died in Japan January 7, 1943 as results of malnutrition while a prisoner of war of the Japanese government.  I regret that unavoidable circumstances made necessary the unusual lapse of time in reporting your son's death to you, confirming letter following."  Besides his parents, he leaves one brother, Milton Lloyd, who recently received his discharge from four years service; three aunts, Mrs. C. C. Mellinger of Tacoma; Mrs. Carl Kinder of Kirkland, Miss Opal Boynton of White Plains, N.Y.,and one uncle, Ralph Lloyd of Waitsburg.  His grandfather, the late A. G. Lloyd and wife were among the first settlers of this valley. (newspaper clipping presumably from the Waitsburg Times)

Because it is Veterans Day...in honor of my Dad and uncles who served in World War II.

My grandmother, Della Kurtz Shaffner,  had 3 sons in the South Pacific at one time.  She saved every letter they wrote home.

Walter was the oldest son and was killed in action in 1944

Don, my father, served with the 163rd Infantry, which was a National Guard unit from Montana that was activated.  He mostly served in the New Guinea theatre of action and was often a clerk since he could type.  He told stories of flying over "the hump" with a bag of money to pay the soldiers.

Dean, the youngest, served with the Headquarter unit under General McArther.

I have a scrapbook of information that I just briefly went through.  (more to scan)  Of course, my dad kept a scrapbook!

John F. Shaffner 100 years old!

John F. Shaffner, 103 years old

John Shaffner celebrates his 103rd birthday with style, is the headline in the Dillon Tribune's 26 September 1990 interview with Grandpa Shaffner.

The interview is great with lots of information....

Born in 1887 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, he's been a printer, a telegrapher, a railroad station agent, and a long time rancher and homesteader in Beaverhead County.  The fourth of six children, he was raised by his older sisters after his mother died when he was 12.  He finished the seventh grade and then went to work as a printer's apprentice for the sum of $3 a week.  He moved to Washington, D.C. where he worked for an Oregon Congressman and became a member of a motorcycle club in the early years of the vehicle.  He worked in the Postal Telegraph office for a year, learning Morse telegraphy.  He started work for the Northern Pacific Railroad at Glendale, serving at the station in Simms, North Dakota.  He later went to work for the Union Pacific Railroad and in 1913 he married Della Kurtz in Dillon.  In 1915 he filed on a homestead west of Dillon, and while working on the railroad, he proved upon the homesteaded and added other ground over the years.  Mr. Shaffner continued as a telegrapher and station agent for the Union Pacific until 1944, when he requested a 60 day leave of absence to take care of the ranch because three of his sons were in the military.  He and his wife, Della, made their home on the Rattlesnake until they sold the ranch and moved to Dillon in 1958.  She died in 1960 and he married Frances Brady Harper in 1967.  She died in 1971.  One of Shaffner's sons, Walter, died during World War II, and another, George, whom he ranched with on the Rattlesnake, died in 1979.  A third son, Dean, owned a book bindery in Missoula for many years, and died in 1990.  His son, Don continues as a local rancher.  He has voted in every presidential election since he turned 21 and has voted for only one Republican.  ""I always regretted that," he joked.

In the family scrapbook, Donnee wrote that he celebrated his birthday with a family dinner at Bannack.  At the celebration were Don & Helen, Stella & Jack, Gail & Rick Kuntz, Bob & Rene and family, Les Kurtz, Fred and Donnee Stibal.  Donnee added that on day of his birthday I went to town to take him to lunch, with Stella, Helen, Gail, Rene & Megan.  After that he came to the Centennial with me for a visit.  All his idea and was packed and ready when I got there.  He even had some new stories to tell me which I  hadn't heard before.

Walter Shaffner, World War II casualty

For some reason,  my mind has been telling me that I have forgotten something for the 1st of October.  I kept looking at my calendar thinking I had forgotten an appointment.  And then I began planning my next blog and looked at dates.  Someone upstairs is nagging me....

John & Della Shaffner's son, Walter Fanoit Shaffner was born the 29th of December 1917 in Dillon, Montana.  He went to college at University of Montana in forestry and joined the ROTC graduating from college on 9 June 1941.  

Walter enlisted in Marines in 1942 as a private, received his commission to 2nd Lieutenant and was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in field.

In the Dillon Tribune issue of 5 February 1943 there is a picture of Walter F. Shaffner with a Resing submachine gun.  The article beneath the picture states that ...A Dillon Marine Corps officer, Second Lieutenant Walter F. Shaffner is eligible today for assignment to a combat unit or specialist's school for final training after completion of reserve officer's school at Quantico, Virginia, according a release from Marine headquarters in San Francisco.  Lieutenant Shaffner, while training in Quantico qualified as an expert with both the rifle and pistol.  

Dillon Tribune October 27, 1944. First Lieutenant Walter Shaffner, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Shaffner, was killed in action in the South Pacific on October 1, according to word received from the War Department by his parents yesterday.  Information as to the place of his death has been withheld for security reasons but the message stated that he was buried on an island in grave No. 150.

Walter F. Shaffner

As you research ancestors, you learn about genealogy serendipity and this story is one of my unbelievable ones!  My sister, Gail mentioned that a person in Dillon had been at a meeting where the speaker upon learning he was from Dillon, Montana; inquired if he knew Walter Shaffner's family.  This person then asked Gail about Walter.  I was excited to learn that someone knew him because of course; he was a forgotten soldier except to his family.  

Upon learning the name, I searched the internet and located the man, wrote him a snail mail letter and below is what I received in return.  I will not name the individual because I don't have him permission.  When Dad read the letter, tears came to eye and he said...this man knew Walter and described him perfectly.  Dad also went onto to say that while they knew he had been killed in battle; they never knew the story.  

Your letter of inquiry as to your Uncle Walter's military experience in the South Pacific brought back for me many memories of those far away and long forgotten bloody struggles on islands rarely mentioned in comment today.  Putting your uncle's experience in perspective, the First Marine Division badly mauled and ridden with malaria left Guadalcanal December 22nd, 1942 and sailed in transports first to Brisbane, Australia and then subsequently to Melbourne, since the former was too tropical a location to give optimal chances for recovery from malaria, whereas the latter did.  It was there that your uncle Walter came in early 1943.  Your uncle was assigned as a replacement infantry officer and joined "C" Company of the First Battalion, First Regiment, the unit which I had commanded for most of the year preceding the initial assault on Guadalcanal August 7th, 1942.  I gave 2nd Lieutenant Shaffner command of the second platoon of the "C" Company, and was immediately impressed with his quiet but very effective leadership of that platoon. When the first division was deemed again ready for combat, we were shipped north to a staging area on New Guinea and then turned loose in an assault against Cape Gloucester on the island of New Britain, December 26th, 1943.  Although initial Japanese resistance was light, the beachhead itself was extremely narrow, only a few yards wide and then immediately we plunged into a formidable jungle swamp (which had then been noted on aerial photographs as "rainforest").  As the rest of the division came ashore, we received our orders to move out of the swamp and be prepared to attack the airstrip which the Japanese had constructed on Cape Gloucester to support the major airbase they had maintained at Rabaul.  From the moment of our landing it never stopped raining for eleven days.  Approaching the airstrip and emerging from the swamp, "C" received intense machine gun fire, but were assisted in the final assault which seized the airstrip by adequate support from both mortars and artillery.  Having seized the airstrip in late afternoon, we hastily prepared the perimeter defense of fox holes lightly "protected" by bar wire hastily assembled.  During the hours between midnight and dawn, "C" company sustained and repelled a determined Japanese counter attack, during which your uncle distinguished himself as he led his platoon in frustrating the Japanese attempt to re -conquer the airstrip. The Cape Gloucester campaign lasted many months, with nearly every day marked by at least a partial tropical downpour, as the Japanese retreated toward Rabaul, the first regiment was engaged in active combat in pursuit, mainly with long foot patrols through the jungle, where again your uncle demonstrated his competent leadership as a platoon leader. When the caands near Guadalcanal, which then, had become a major staging area for American force. Reaching Pavuvu, I was promoted to Major and became second in command of the battalion, saying good- bye to beloved "C" Company after commanding it for nearly three years.  Captain Everett Pope succeeded as "C" Company commander. In late summer we were informed that our next objective would be the capture of Peliliu, an island in the Palau group, five hundred miles east of the Philippines, in order to neutralize its airstrip in preparation for the larger assault planned by the army in returning to the Philippines.  It was forecast as a "quickie" operation, to be preceded by five days of bombing and shelling by the Air Force and Navy. Landing on the beach soon proved it was the exact opposite.  The Japanese had been fortifying the steep limestone ravines inland from the beach for many years, so the shelling and bombing were largely ineffective and the casualties on the beach mounted with each passing hour.  Fighting day and night against bitter Japanese resistance, casualties continued to mount.  On the fourth day orders were received from Regiment that "C" Company would be transferred from the First Battalion to temporary duty with the Second.  It was with a sense of foreboding,  remembered to this day; that I watched Captain Pope lead what was left of the Company away toward their new assignment, which was to assault a heavily defended spur of Bloody Nose Ridge, the principal line of the Japanese defense in depth.  The ferocity of the struggle on that hill during the following night cannot be adequately described.  Only a dozen men stumbled back down at dawn's first light.  Sadly, your uncle Walter was not one of them.  He died there that night as bravely as he had led his troops from the day he joined "C" Company.  You and your family have every reason to take pull pride in your uncle's unflinching valor as I, myself, take in having served as his commanding officer.

Walter's body was returned to Dillon for burial where a ceremony was held 12 October 1948.

His father applied for a Headstone or Marker

Mountain view Cemetery, Dillon, Montana

And then in my files is this receipt for a headstone purchased by Donnee Shaffner Stibal on July 24, 1989

Recognition for Walter Shaffner at the Veteran's Park in Dillon, Montana

Don Shaffner included his brothers on this wall of memory for those that had served.

Donnee never forgot Walter, always keeping his memory alive for the family to remember.

And then she died on 1 October 1993, 49 years later.

The Angels are still tapping on my shoulder........

Meanwhile back at the farm, we are busy.  So the blog had to be a low priority!

Family recipes always interest me, and I have my mother's and grandmother's recipe boxes to go through!  Maybe if I am snowed in, I'll get around to that project.

Meanwhile I will share Della Kurtz Shaffner's Apple Dumpling recipe.

This is Grandpa Shaffner's handwriting, as he gave me the recipe!

I apparently added notes

Apple Dumplings:
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. lard
7/8 cup of sweet milk
1 tbsp. Cinnamon
2 tbsp. sugar
3 tart apples
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt.  Work this into butter and lard then make dough using the milk.  Roll into sheet 1/2 inch thick.  Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon and then cover with chopped apples.  Roll up and cut into 12 slices.  Pour over 1/2 sauce and bake.

Sauce:
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup hot water
1/2 lemon sliced
Mix flour, sugar and salt.  Add butter & lemon & hot water.  Stir until well mixed, cook 3 minutes pour over raw dumpling.  (save the remainder to pour over the dumplings before serving)

I also have the recipe from Stella Shaffner.  (She probably gave it to me when I got married!)
Stella wrote that when she and George (Della's son) were first married, he asked her to make apple dumplings, but she could never make them to his liking.  She finally got his mother's recipe.  Stella said she asked Bob Latimer and other family members if this was a family recipe, but no one knew.  She wrote that possibly someone else out of the family gave it to her or she made it up or she found it in a magazine.

Hope you make the recipe! Let me know what you think.