A portion of a letter written by Lettie Yeager's daughter, dated August, 15, 1962.
My mother did not have an easy life, but I can not remember that she ever complained. For several years before her marriage, and afterward until about the time of my birth, she taught school in the old-time one-room schools, where she had all grades from beginners through eighth. In 1905, because of my father's health, it was necessary for them to leave the damp climate of the lake regions, and our family moved to McLean County, North Dakota, where my father took a government homestead, and my mother became a prairie frontier wife. There were no schools within many miles, and at first the nearest town was twenty-four miles away. In this hard and lonely land, my mother set about making do with what she had, and succeeded in making a home that I shall always remember for its spirit of warmth and good will. Though she was a crack shot with both a rifle and a revolver -- and I never saw her show fear of either man or beast -- she never forgot that she was a "lady", and she refused to allow herself to become coarse or vulgar, as many of the frontier women did. She was always careful to see that courtesy and manners and correct speech were maintained in our home. Though my father's formal education ended with the sixth grade, he hungered for knowledge, and respected and admired my mother's keen mind. From early spring until the last furrow was turned in the fall, my parents' day began at 4 A.M. and ended about 10 P.M., so there was no time for anything but work. But when winter came, and there were only the chores to do, I remember the long and happy evenings when my mother and father sat in their rockers beside the "library" table, under the light of our big old lamp, and took turns reading aloud from Dickens and Scott and from Ridpath's History of the World, or any other good book on which my mother could get her hands, while I lay on the couch and listened, and a world outside of the prairies, and the heartbreaking work, and the bitter storms, opened to my eager mind. My mother never lost this quality, and even during the last four years of her life, when a series of strokes left her partially blind, and paralyzed from the waist down, her mind stayed keen and eager.
--------------------------------------
Lettie married Clayton Harlow Yeager in Hubbard, MN on July 19th, 1893.
notes: In the 1940 census enumerated on April 26, 1940 she is listed as being 72 years of age, widowed and living with her brother Frank in San Diego, California.
A different entry for the 1940 census enumerated on April 10, 1940 shows her as being 72 years of age, widowed and a patient who was living at a residence with other patients in San Diego, California. She is listed as being incompetent.
My mother did not have an easy life, but I can not remember that she ever complained. For several years before her marriage, and afterward until about the time of my birth, she taught school in the old-time one-room schools, where she had all grades from beginners through eighth. In 1905, because of my father's health, it was necessary for them to leave the damp climate of the lake regions, and our family moved to McLean County, North Dakota, where my father took a government homestead, and my mother became a prairie frontier wife. There were no schools within many miles, and at first the nearest town was twenty-four miles away. In this hard and lonely land, my mother set about making do with what she had, and succeeded in making a home that I shall always remember for its spirit of warmth and good will. Though she was a crack shot with both a rifle and a revolver -- and I never saw her show fear of either man or beast -- she never forgot that she was a "lady", and she refused to allow herself to become coarse or vulgar, as many of the frontier women did. She was always careful to see that courtesy and manners and correct speech were maintained in our home. Though my father's formal education ended with the sixth grade, he hungered for knowledge, and respected and admired my mother's keen mind. From early spring until the last furrow was turned in the fall, my parents' day began at 4 A.M. and ended about 10 P.M., so there was no time for anything but work. But when winter came, and there were only the chores to do, I remember the long and happy evenings when my mother and father sat in their rockers beside the "library" table, under the light of our big old lamp, and took turns reading aloud from Dickens and Scott and from Ridpath's History of the World, or any other good book on which my mother could get her hands, while I lay on the couch and listened, and a world outside of the prairies, and the heartbreaking work, and the bitter storms, opened to my eager mind. My mother never lost this quality, and even during the last four years of her life, when a series of strokes left her partially blind, and paralyzed from the waist down, her mind stayed keen and eager.
--------------------------------------
Lettie married Clayton Harlow Yeager in Hubbard, MN on July 19th, 1893.
notes: In the 1940 census enumerated on April 26, 1940 she is listed as being 72 years of age, widowed and living with her brother Frank in San Diego, California.
A different entry for the 1940 census enumerated on April 10, 1940 shows her as being 72 years of age, widowed and a patient who was living at a residence with other patients in San Diego, California. She is listed as being incompetent.
A portion of a letter written by Lettie Yeager's daughter, dated August, 15, 1962.
My mother did not have an easy life, but I can not remember that she ever complained. For several years before her marriage, and afterward until about the time of my birth, she taught school in the old-time one-room schools, where she had all grades from beginners through eighth. In 1905, because of my father's health, it was necessary for them to leave the damp climate of the lake regions, and our family moved to McLean County, North Dakota, where my father took a government homestead, and my mother became a prairie frontier wife. There were no schools within many miles, and at first the nearest town was twenty-four miles away. In this hard and lonely land, my mother set about making do with what she had, and succeeded in making a home that I shall always remember for its spirit of warmth and good will. Though she was a crack shot with both a rifle and a revolver -- and I never saw her show fear of either man or beast -- she never forgot that she was a "lady", and she refused to allow herself to become coarse or vulgar, as many of the frontier women did. She was always careful to see that courtesy and manners and correct speech were maintained in our home. Though my father's formal education ended with the sixth grade, he hungered for knowledge, and respected and admired my mother's keen mind. From early spring until the last furrow was turned in the fall, my parents' day began at 4 A.M. and ended about 10 P.M., so there was no time for anything but work. But when winter came, and there were only the chores to do, I remember the long and happy evenings when my mother and father sat in their rockers beside the "library" table, under the light of our big old lamp, and took turns reading aloud from Dickens and Scott and from Ridpath's History of the World, or any other good book on which my mother could get her hands, while I lay on the couch and listened, and a world outside of the prairies, and the heartbreaking work, and the bitter storms, opened to my eager mind. My mother never lost this quality, and even during the last four years of her life, when a series of strokes left her partially blind, and paralyzed from the waist down, her mind stayed keen and eager.
--------------------------------------
Lettie married Clayton Harlow Yeager in Hubbard, MN on July 19th, 1893.
notes: In the 1940 census enumerated on April 26, 1940 she is listed as being 72 years of age, widowed and living with her brother Frank in San Diego, California.
A different entry for the 1940 census enumerated on April 10, 1940 shows her as being 72 years of age, widowed and a patient who was living at a residence with other patients in San Diego, California. She is listed as being incompetent.
My mother did not have an easy life, but I can not remember that she ever complained. For several years before her marriage, and afterward until about the time of my birth, she taught school in the old-time one-room schools, where she had all grades from beginners through eighth. In 1905, because of my father's health, it was necessary for them to leave the damp climate of the lake regions, and our family moved to McLean County, North Dakota, where my father took a government homestead, and my mother became a prairie frontier wife. There were no schools within many miles, and at first the nearest town was twenty-four miles away. In this hard and lonely land, my mother set about making do with what she had, and succeeded in making a home that I shall always remember for its spirit of warmth and good will. Though she was a crack shot with both a rifle and a revolver -- and I never saw her show fear of either man or beast -- she never forgot that she was a "lady", and she refused to allow herself to become coarse or vulgar, as many of the frontier women did. She was always careful to see that courtesy and manners and correct speech were maintained in our home. Though my father's formal education ended with the sixth grade, he hungered for knowledge, and respected and admired my mother's keen mind. From early spring until the last furrow was turned in the fall, my parents' day began at 4 A.M. and ended about 10 P.M., so there was no time for anything but work. But when winter came, and there were only the chores to do, I remember the long and happy evenings when my mother and father sat in their rockers beside the "library" table, under the light of our big old lamp, and took turns reading aloud from Dickens and Scott and from Ridpath's History of the World, or any other good book on which my mother could get her hands, while I lay on the couch and listened, and a world outside of the prairies, and the heartbreaking work, and the bitter storms, opened to my eager mind. My mother never lost this quality, and even during the last four years of her life, when a series of strokes left her partially blind, and paralyzed from the waist down, her mind stayed keen and eager.
--------------------------------------
Lettie married Clayton Harlow Yeager in Hubbard, MN on July 19th, 1893.
notes: In the 1940 census enumerated on April 26, 1940 she is listed as being 72 years of age, widowed and living with her brother Frank in San Diego, California.
A different entry for the 1940 census enumerated on April 10, 1940 shows her as being 72 years of age, widowed and a patient who was living at a residence with other patients in San Diego, California. She is listed as being incompetent.
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