Mary 'Mamie' (Perdew) Lamb was the 6th of 12 children born to:
Rufus Putnam 'Putt' Perdew Sr., b. Aug. 14, 1854 in Sioux City, Woodbury County, IA. and d. Sep. 7, 1939 in Upland, San Bernardino County, CA. &
(2nd wife), Georgianna (Day) Perdew, b. May 16, 1873 in Etiwanda, San Bernardino County, CA. and d. Jan. 11, 1932 in San Bernardino County, CA.
'Putt' and 'Anna' Perdew's children were:
1. Daisy May Perdew, b. Feb. 3, 1890 in San Bernardino, S.B. Co., CA. and d. Jul. 16, 1938 in Chino, S. B. Co., CA. Daisy marr. Christian William Niederman.
2) Birdie Leone Perdew, b. Nov. 2, 1892 in Etiwanda, S. B. Co., CA. and d. 1978 in Upland, S. B. Co., CA. Birdie married Adam Bryden.
3) Josie Perdew, b. Nov. 11, 1894 and d. Nov. 13, 1905 at the age of 11.
4) Rufus Putnam Jr. ('Doc') Perdew, b. Jun. 11, 1897 in Grapeland, S.B. Co., CA. (according to San Bernardino Birth records) and d. Jul. 4, 1948 in Ontario, S.B. Co., CA. 'Doc' married Ernestina Carpena.
5) Florence Perdew, b. Jul. 10, 1900 in San Bernardino, S.B. Co., CA. and d. abt. 1970 in Upland, S.B. Co., CA. Florence marr. Carl Stewart Graves.
6) Mary ('Mame') Perdew, b. Sep. 2, 1902 in Etiwanda, S. B. Co., CA. and d. May 2, 1975 in San Antonio Hospital, Upland, S.B. Co., CA. 'Mame' marr. Louis Clinton Lamb.
7) Etta Mae (changed from Henrietta Wanda) Perdew, b. Sep. 19, 1904 in San Bernardino, S. B. Co., CA. and d. Dec. 17, 1975, in Upland, S.B. Co., CA. 'Etta' marr. Peryman Hubbard Evans.
8) George Ralph Perdew, b. Jan. 11, 1907 in San Bernardino,S.B. Co., CA. and d. abt. 1971, in San Jacinto, Riverside Co., CA. Ralph marr. 1) Dorothy Kaufman, 2) Marcia __ and 3) Grace Zingler.
9) Victor Perdew, b. Jan. 5, 1909 in Etiwanda, S. B. Co., CA. (according to San Bernardino Birth records) and d. Sep. 8, 1962, Lake Arrowhead, S.B. Co., CA. Victor marr. 1) Odessa McLaughlin and 2) Mrs. Joyce L. (Russell) Sather.
10) Hazel Elizabeth Perdew, b. Mar. 28, 1911 in Etiwanda, S.B. Co., CA. and d. May 8, 1977, San Bernardino, S. B. Co., CA. Hazel marr. Theodore Roosevelt Lamb.
11) Douglas Steven(s) Perdew, b. Jan. 5, 1914 in Upland, S.B. Co., CA. (according to San Bernardino Birth records, where he is listed as the 11th child) and d. Mar. 2, 1958 in Medford, Jackson Co., OR. Douglas marr. Sara Harrietta Mapstead.
12) Benjamin Greenberry Ferdinand Rubidoux Benton Perdew, b. Jan. 6, 1916 in Upland, San Bernardino, CA. (according to San Bernardino County Birth records) and d. Oct. 25, 1977 in Joplin, Jasper, MO. Benjamin marr. 10 Maudie Balding/Baldwin and 2) Mrs. Vada (Lewis) Campbell.
Rufus Putnam Sr. also had three other children by his first wife, who died in childbirth:
1) Grace Lillian Perdew, b. Nov. 12, 1882 in Grapeland, S.B. Co., CA. and died April 1939 in Richmond, Contra Costa Co., CA. She marr. __ Warner.
2) Belle Perdew, b. Dec. 28, 1884/1885 in Grapeland, San Bernardino Co., CA. and d. Feb. 11, 1964 in Los Angeles Co., CA. Belle marr. Johannes Anthony Van Koevering.
3) an infant who died at birth, Nov. 07, 1887, along with Sarah Elizabeth, having previously contracted the measles.
The San Bernardino Daily Sun (San Bernardino, CA.), P. 7, Col. 2
Fri., Aug. 24, 1917
Item from: ETIWANDA
At Henderson Home
Mr. and Mrs. W.S. Henderson entertained Monday night in honor of their daughter, Miss Matilda's eighteenth birthday. The guests present were Misses Anna Hoppe, Isabell Smith, May Orendorff, Mabel Marler, Amy Orchard, Mamie Perdew, and Cecil Jennings, Messrs. George Hoppe, Harold lemon, John Orchard, Clyde Westphal, Herman, Fred and LeMoyne Henderson. They played various games in the earlier part of the evening, dancing being enjoyed later. Ice cream and cake were served.
Riverside Daily Press (Riverside, CA.), P. 6, Mon., Dec. 9, 1918
Married in Los Angeles
Word was received last week of the marriage in Los Angeles of Louis C. Lamb of Upland. The bridegroom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. E.C. Lamb and is at present in the Navy, having enlisted early last summer.
Mamie married Louis Clinton Lamb in Los Angeles, CA. on Nov. 30, 1918. Louis was the son of Edgar Clifford Lamb and Mary Matilda (Ellison) Lamb. They lived on a large citrus farm near Anaheim, CA.
Louis and 'Mamie' Lamb had three children;
1) Robert 'Bob' Leroy Lamb, b. Oct. 29, 1921 in Etiwanda, San Bernardino, CA., according to San Bernardino County Birth records and d. Feb. 15, 2005. Bob Lamb and Wanda Lou Russell were married on Sept. 26, 1942, while he was in the Navy, and he shipped out shortly after they were married. Their daughter, Sharon, was born in 1943.
2) Howard Loren Lamb, born July 26, 1925 in El Monte, L. A., CA. and d. Dec. 8, 1995 in Arcadia, L. A., CA. Howard joined the Navy in 1943, just before his 18th birthday, and on April 24, 1945, while still in the service, he marr. Betty Jane Friend.
3) James 'Jim' Eugene Lamb, born Dec. 2, 1942 in Anaheim, Orange, CA.
18 yr. old Jim marr. 17 yr. old Annette 'Nan' LeMay at the 'Old Rock (Methodist) Church' on Archibald Av. in Cucamonga, S. B., CA. on Jul. 1, 1961.
The San Bernardino Daily Sun (San Bernardino, CA.), P. 9, Col. 6
Fri., Jun. 6, 1919
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Lamb, of Upland, were guests of Etiwanda relatives Monday night. Mrs. Lamb was formerly Miss Mamie Perdew of Etiwanda. Mr. Lamb obtained his discharge from the service two weeks ago.
San Bernardino Daily Sun (San Bernardino, CA.), P. 7, Col. 2
Tue., Oct. 7, 1919
Item from: ETIWANDA NEWS
Mrs. Lewis Lamb, who was formerly Miss Mamie Perdew, of Etiwanda, is very ill with pneumonia at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. J.(R.)P. Perdew of Upland. Mrs. Lamb's home is in San Jacinto.
In the 1920 U. S. census, 18 yr. old Mamie Lamb, b. in CA., was living on South Central Ave. in San Jacinto, Riverside, CA. with her
23 yr. old husband, Louis C. Lamb, a farmer, b. in CA.
Mamie's father was b. in IA. and her mother in CA.
Louis' father was b. in NV. and his mother in NE.
In 1921, 25 yr. old yr. old L. C. Lamb, a rancher, b. in CA. and 19 yr. old Mamie Perdew, b. in CA., were residents of Etiwanda (according to their son, Robert Leroy Lamb's San Bernardino County Birth record.
According to the 1930 U.S. census, 28 yr. old Mamie Lamb, b. in CA., was living in Brawley, Imperial, CA. with her
33 yr. old husband, Louis C. Lamb, a dairyman living on a dairy farm, b. in CA.
8 yr. old son, Robert Lamb, b. in CA.
4 yr. 9 mth. old Howard Lamb, b. in CA.
Louis' father was b. in CA. and his mother in NE.
Mamie's father was b. in IA. and her mother in CA.
Lou was 22 yrs. old and Mamie was 16 when they married.
The following is from the 2020 memoirs of Mamie's son, Jim E. Lamb, and shared with his permission:
"My mother originally was hired by the Bryant Ranch, in 1938, as the ranch cook, cooking for up to 52 ranch hands. She took the job providing that they hire my dad to help her. She cooked two meals a day, breakfast and dinner (or supper, as we knew it), lunches were packed for their lunch time, and Dad would take them to the ranch hands in the field. We lived in what was known as "the cook house." It was a large house and I believe I counted 13 rooms. There was a separate bunk house for the ranch hands, as well as individual houses for married ranch hands. In the beginning, Mom would cook on three wood stoves, getting up at about 3:30 a.m. to begin breakfast. Dad got up at 3:00, and started the wood fires in the stoves, then helped her with breakfast, then they would both do the clean-up after the hands went to work at 6:00 a.m. During this same time, Dad did field work also, when done in the cook house, while Mom rested and got ready to prepare the supper meal eaten at 5:30 p.m. I remember when the ranch replaced one of the wood stoves with a new butane stove. She was scared of the gas stove, and rightly so, for one time, she turned the gas burner on, then went to the other side of the kitchen to fetch a wooden match. When she struck the wooden match, she ended up with singed hair and eyebrows!
After WWII started, there were only a few of the single ranch hands left to cook for, and she would, from time to time, work away from the ranch. She worked picking garlic, and for a while, she cooked at what is known as Orange Wood ranch. Once while working at a laundry in Santa Ana, she fainted and fell into a large vat of bed sheets; hence, she discovered she was pregnant with me! -This was 6 weeks before I was born.
I can't imagine her getting up at 3:30 a.m., cooking breakfast, then going to town working for 4 or 5 hours picking garlic, or working in a laundry, then coming home to cook supper for us and the 5 or 6 remaining ranch hands. She did take off working the last 2 weeks before my birth!
(*Lou & Mamie's son, Bob, marr. Wanda and middle son, Howard marr. Betty._
Wanda lived with us in the cook house after (their daughter) Sharon was born in 1943; and Betty lived with us after she and Howard were married in 1945. They would help Mom with the cook house chores, while Dad took over more of the ranch field work, operating heavy equipment and such."
In the Apr. 29, 1940 U.S. census, 37 yr. old Mamie P. Lamb, a housekeeper in a private house, b. in CA., was living on a farm at 1157 W. Juanita Av. in San Jose, Los Angeles, CA. with her
43 yr. old husband, Louis C. Lamb, a laborer on a citrus ranch, b. in CA.
18 yr. old son, Robert L. Lamb, b. in CA.
14 yr. old son, Howard L. Lamb, b. in CA.
The family was living on a farm in El Monte, Los Angeles, CA. in 1935.
The highest grade Louis had completed was 6th. Mamie had finished 8th grade, Robert had finished three years of high school and Howard had completed 7th grade.
In the week prior to the census, Louis had worked 54 hours.
In 1939, he had worked 52 hours. His income was $1,000.
Continued from the 2020 memoirs of Mamie's son, Jim E. Lamb:
On Sept. 2, 1945, Mamie celebrated her 43rd birthday - but it was also the day that the surrender of Imperial Japan was formally signed by Japanese Emperor Hirohito, bringing the hostilities of World War II to a close. She always said the end of WWII was the best birthday present she would ever have, getting her boys out of danger !!
In 1947, I recall Mom telling me about "George I. Day, Jr., my grand-uncle, who operated, for several years, the "gravity mule-drawn streetcar" that ran from Ontario up to San Antonio Heights. The streetcar was called "Ontario & San Antonio Heights RR Co., which operated (from 1887 to 1895), along Euclid Ave. It was unique in that it was pulled (up the 1,000 ft. in elevation rise) to the top of Euclid Ave. to San Antonio Heights, by two mules, Sanky and Moody. Sanky and Moody got to ride the pull-out platform, behind the streetcar, coming back down the hill. It took almost two hours to get to the top, but only about half an hour to come back down to Ontario station. The streetcar would seat about a dozen people. George said that when the streetcar was replaced with an electric streetcar, Sanky and Moody were sold to a farmer, but they didn't work out very well behind the plow. They kept wanting to ride! I remember hearing how it all worked. I didn't really understand at the time, but Mom drove over to Euclid Ave and we started at the top of Euclid, where the streetcar turned around and followed it all the way down. The rails were still in place down to almost Foothill Blvd."
*Note from Wikipedia: The obituary for the mule Sanky on the front page of the Ontario Daily Report from Feb. 6, 1914 was under the headline, "Mule, Figure in Early History of Ontario, is Dead." It mentioned that in 1895, Sanky and his partner Moody were sold to farmer C.B. Adams in San Antonio Heights after the inauguration of the electric tram had made them obsolete. Ranch work was apparently far below their dignity and when hitched to a harrow, they persistently refused to budge, and coaxing and force were equally without effect. The farmer had to motivate them by attaching a bell from the old rail car to his harrow. With the familiar signal, the mules started valiantly up the orchard, but at the head of the orchard, Moody and Sanky persisted in attempting to climb onto the harrow for the downward journey, said the obituary. It took weeks before the pair could be trained to plow in both directions.
"As I recall, we took Euclid all the way down to Mission Blvd., then west towards Pomona and finally ended up in Carbon Canyon (now near the Lambert exit off the 57 freeway), where our old '37 Plymouth broke down on a hill, and Mom rolled it backwards down to a pullout. Mom tried several times, but the car wouldn't start. This must have been about 5:00 in the evening, and 95 degrees. I stayed in the car and Mom hiked to the top of the hill, to someone's house and made a call to the Bryant Ranch office phone. Probably the superintendent or foreman contacted my brother, Bob, and Dad. After dark, Bob came riding to our location on his motorcycle. Mom said, "Now I wonder what he thinks he can do with that motorcycle." (He and Dad had decided, Bob should ride up to see if he could get it started, and if not, Dad would then bring a ranch vehicle up to tow us home.) Bob looked under the hood for a while, then told Mom to start it again, and the car started right up! Evidently, the problem was a fuel vapor-lock, due to the heat of the day. Bob told Mom he would follow her home, and asked if I wanted to ride with him. He sat me in front of him, on the fuel tank, and we followed Mom all the way to the "cookhouse", about 35 miles. It must have been after ten, that night, when we got home. -Just another adventurous day with my mother!!"
Jim Lamb continues:
"In 1950, we had planned to go deer hunting over the weekend. I was really excited about going camping and was telling all on the school bus who would listen. It was Friday and we were leaving that afternoon. On the school bus, we were heading home, and just about a half a mile from the ranch gate, we came across a vehicle accident. Bobby Friend and I, with a couple of the ranch's Mexican kids, were the only kids left on the bus, and we were all staring out the window to see what happened What we saw was: a blue colored car wrapped around a power pole with people trying to get the driver out. The driver's face was covered in blood, but she waved at us as we went by. Bobby said, "Was that your mother?" - which I already knew it was. I didn't recognize her or the car until I realized it was Dad yanking on the door, and Bob was on the hood getting ready to use a cutting torch that Carson Campos, our ranch mechanic, was handing up to him.
Mom had swerved to miss old Mr. Crown, the water company man who pulled out in front of her. She had hit the pole on the car's left side, which trapped the car door - and her leg - around the pole. Mom's left leg was broken in 15 places between her knee and hip. A surgeon who had just returned from Korean battlefield service, installed a diamond-shaped stainless steel rod in her leg, which was threaded through the broken bone sections and extended from her knee to the hip ball. She spent 6 weeks in the hospital, then in bed at home for two months before she was able to use a wheelchair and eventually a walker. Wanda (her daughter-in-law) took care of her, bathing, bed pans and such, until she was able to get into the wheelchair. The rod was removed 11 months later. Mom said, all along, she would walk again without a walker, drive and dance on the one-year anniversary of the accident. We went to a party exactly on year later, at my uncle Joe's home, and she danced! She was crippled all the rest of her life, and limited as to what she could do as a result."
Jim Lamb continues: "My mother worked all the time, it seemed to me, anyway. She said she worked to relax?? The only time I can remember when she wasn't working was for a period of 3 1/2 months after her car wreck, and only until she was able to get into her walker.
She had 11 siblings, and she loved to be around family. Anytime she had extra time, she and I would go visit one or two of the relatives.
"Mom, also, is one of those who did the research on the family's lineage, which resulted in the first publication of the Hoskinson genealogy. Mom worked with her cousins, Alice Wooldridge, Lulu and Harmon 'Bud' Day, and Mrs. Harry Hoskinson, interviewing relatives and gathering data for the publication, 'One Branch of the Hoskinson Family,' which Alice Wooldridge had published in 1963.
"Mom was born in 1902 in Etiwanda, CA. (formerly Grapeland, founded by the Perdews in 1860/'61) in the old rock house. She went to the one-room Perdew School, built in 1885 by her grandfather, Alexander Glenn Perdew; then later, she attended the original Etiwanda Schoolhouse. She only went as far as the 7th grade, however that was the norm back then, for girls. She said they didn't have paper to write, or figure on, rather they each had a slate to write on. Mom could take a 5-digit number and multiply it by another 5-digit number, and come up with the answer using only one line of numbers. In other words, she did all the figuring and carrying of numbers in her head, rather than writing out the full problem! She taught my brother, Howard, and me how to do it, and Howard could work up to 4-digit numbers, but I could only easily work out 3-digit numbers.
"Mom loved to cook, and even after the Bryant Ranch cookhouse was shut down, she still cooked three meals a day, and baked her breads, as long as she lived. Whenever she went to visit someone, she always took food of some kind. She once told (my wife) Nan, that cooking relaxed her. Ironically, our daughter, Molly, has told Nan the same, 'Cooking is how I relax.' Mom was 40 years old when I was born. I guess I was Mom and Dad's 25th wedding anniversary gift!!
Back then, 40 years old was considered pretty old for a woman to give birth. I remember frequently, as a child, being out with Mom, someone would ask her if I was her grandson.
My mother always seemed to have enough time to teach me things, right along with all the other work she may have been involved with. Before I started school, she had taught me to add, subtract, and some of the multiplication table, and to print my name and address. As a result, I was placed in first grade, rather than kindergarten.
"Before the folks started working for the Bryant Ranch, they had worked at many different jobs. During the 1920's, they owned a small dairy of 56 Jersey cows. The dairy was located in El Monte, CA. on Peck Road and named 'Champion Dairy,' and only Mom and Dad worked it. They had to milk the cows twice a day, in the morning and evening. Mom hand-milked 26 head of cows (that's before milking machines) and Dad would milk the rest of the herd. The bulk milk was placed in 10-gallon milk cans that Mom would lift up to Dad (80 lbs. each) and he stacked them on a flatbed truck which would be used to haul in for processing. They also had a milk route, where the milk was bottled in glass and delivered to individual homes. Mom drove the milk delivery van, and ran the bottles up top the customers' door steps, and picked up their empty bottles. While Mom delivered the milk to customers, Dad would clean up the milk house, pile up the manure, feed the stock and deliver the bulk milk in to Los Angeles. During the day, they would sterilize the milk bottles and milk cans with steam and get ready for the evening milking, then do it all over again tomorrow! Also, during those times, Mom had two small boys, Bob and Howard, to care for. (Maybe cooking for 52 Bryant Ranch hands was easier!?) During 'the Depression', they lost their dairy and both worked for wages from then on.
"After the 'cookhouse' was shut down and we moved to the 'gate house' on the Bryant Ranch, Mom worked in town. She had about five families she did house cleaning for, and one of the families would pay her extra to cook up to seven casserole dishes the family could eat during the next week. She made the casseroles while doing their housecleaning! During summers, I would go with her, and she paid me to help her vacuum and dust. Two of the families paid her extra to do their laundry. She would bring the laundry home and wash it on Saturday and Sunday, using our old Maytag wringer washing machine, doing the rinsing in stationary tubs. Mom would also iron their laundry. She taught me how to iron clothes, and would give me 10 cents for each garment I ironed. She wouldn't let me iron the frilly blouses though! She was afraid I'd scorch one and she would have to replace it.
"If you haven't guessed already, Mom was one tough cookie! If pushed, she would 'fight at the drop of a hat,' - and I mean, fist fight! Dad used to say, 'she could kick the s**t out of a fire plug!' During the 'Depression' years, after they had lost their dairy, she and Dad worked at any work they could get. One job they worked together was for a collection agency. Most of the time, Dad would wait in the car, or otherwise close by, while Mom went and knocked on the doors to make the collections. Dad said he didn't have to give her a hand more than just a couple times!
"One time when I was about 14 years old, a salesman knocked on our door at the 'gate house'. Mom answered the door and the salesman started rattling off his sales pitch. Mom finally got tired of not being able to get in a word. I heard her yell loudly, 'Listen now, I've told you I am not interested, now get the hell off the property!' I jumped up off the couch and ran to the door; I stepped in front of Mom and told the salesman, 'You've heard my Mom, now get going!'
He said, 'Oh, a real tough kid, huh? Talking like that will get you hurt, Sonny," at which time Mom, from behind me, threw a punch over my shoulder at his face. He started backing up and cussing her, so she grabbed my .410 shotgun from behind our door, and stepped outside. He headed for his car, got inside and rolled the window down and cussed her again. Some were words I heard for the first time. She pointed the shotgun at him and he spun the wheels and hollered one last thing, 'You m**r f**er." Well, that did it. She yelled, "Jim, get in the car; here, take this gun," and off we went, chasing him about 12 miles before she turned off and headed for the Placentia police station. We had got close enough to get his license plate, so she filed a report with them. Now, you need to realize, at that time, Mom was crippled, and that salesman was about 6'3", 240 pounds, with red hair. Of course, I didn't know that when I ran to the door to help her, but, oh well, I couldn't back down. I had to say something. (I guess I take after Mom in that way.) As tough as Mom was, she was one of the most caring people I have ever met. She was always there to help anyone in need, or if only for their reassurance.... but don't give her any crap!!"
Mamie died Fri., May 02, 1975 in Upland, San Bernardino, CA.
The San Bernardino County Sun (San Bernardino, CA.), P.15
Sunday, May 4, 1975
Mamie Lamb, Lytle Creek
Mamie Perdew Lamb, 72, of 13934 Hazel Dr., Lytle Creek, died Friday in Upland. She was born in Etiwanda and was a ten year resident of Lytle Creek.
Survivors include her husband, Louis C.; three sons, Howard L. of Duarte, Robert L. of Alta Loma and James E. of Upland; two sisters, Birdie Bryden of Corona and Hazel Lamb of Yucaipa; a brother, Benjamin Perdew of Missouri; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Stone Funeral Home, Upland. Burial will be in the Bellevue Cemetery, Ontario. Friends may call from 5 to 9 p.m. tomorrow at the funeral home.
In the preface to Alice H. Wooldridge's book, 'Genealogy of One Branch of the Hoskinson Family; Some Descendants of George Washington Hoskinson' (which is an invaluable source of information on the Perdew family and other related lines), Mrs. Woolridge states: 'I would particularly like to express my appreciation to Mr. Harmon Day, Mrs. Louis C. Lamb and Mrs. Harry Hoskinson without whose help this book would not be as complete or even possible.'
Rufus Putnam 'Putt' Perdew Sr., b. Aug. 14, 1854 in Sioux City, Woodbury County, IA. and d. Sep. 7, 1939 in Upland, San Bernardino County, CA. &
(2nd wife), Georgianna (Day) Perdew, b. May 16, 1873 in Etiwanda, San Bernardino County, CA. and d. Jan. 11, 1932 in San Bernardino County, CA.
'Putt' and 'Anna' Perdew's children were:
1. Daisy May Perdew, b. Feb. 3, 1890 in San Bernardino, S.B. Co., CA. and d. Jul. 16, 1938 in Chino, S. B. Co., CA. Daisy marr. Christian William Niederman.
2) Birdie Leone Perdew, b. Nov. 2, 1892 in Etiwanda, S. B. Co., CA. and d. 1978 in Upland, S. B. Co., CA. Birdie married Adam Bryden.
3) Josie Perdew, b. Nov. 11, 1894 and d. Nov. 13, 1905 at the age of 11.
4) Rufus Putnam Jr. ('Doc') Perdew, b. Jun. 11, 1897 in Grapeland, S.B. Co., CA. (according to San Bernardino Birth records) and d. Jul. 4, 1948 in Ontario, S.B. Co., CA. 'Doc' married Ernestina Carpena.
5) Florence Perdew, b. Jul. 10, 1900 in San Bernardino, S.B. Co., CA. and d. abt. 1970 in Upland, S.B. Co., CA. Florence marr. Carl Stewart Graves.
6) Mary ('Mame') Perdew, b. Sep. 2, 1902 in Etiwanda, S. B. Co., CA. and d. May 2, 1975 in San Antonio Hospital, Upland, S.B. Co., CA. 'Mame' marr. Louis Clinton Lamb.
7) Etta Mae (changed from Henrietta Wanda) Perdew, b. Sep. 19, 1904 in San Bernardino, S. B. Co., CA. and d. Dec. 17, 1975, in Upland, S.B. Co., CA. 'Etta' marr. Peryman Hubbard Evans.
8) George Ralph Perdew, b. Jan. 11, 1907 in San Bernardino,S.B. Co., CA. and d. abt. 1971, in San Jacinto, Riverside Co., CA. Ralph marr. 1) Dorothy Kaufman, 2) Marcia __ and 3) Grace Zingler.
9) Victor Perdew, b. Jan. 5, 1909 in Etiwanda, S. B. Co., CA. (according to San Bernardino Birth records) and d. Sep. 8, 1962, Lake Arrowhead, S.B. Co., CA. Victor marr. 1) Odessa McLaughlin and 2) Mrs. Joyce L. (Russell) Sather.
10) Hazel Elizabeth Perdew, b. Mar. 28, 1911 in Etiwanda, S.B. Co., CA. and d. May 8, 1977, San Bernardino, S. B. Co., CA. Hazel marr. Theodore Roosevelt Lamb.
11) Douglas Steven(s) Perdew, b. Jan. 5, 1914 in Upland, S.B. Co., CA. (according to San Bernardino Birth records, where he is listed as the 11th child) and d. Mar. 2, 1958 in Medford, Jackson Co., OR. Douglas marr. Sara Harrietta Mapstead.
12) Benjamin Greenberry Ferdinand Rubidoux Benton Perdew, b. Jan. 6, 1916 in Upland, San Bernardino, CA. (according to San Bernardino County Birth records) and d. Oct. 25, 1977 in Joplin, Jasper, MO. Benjamin marr. 10 Maudie Balding/Baldwin and 2) Mrs. Vada (Lewis) Campbell.
Rufus Putnam Sr. also had three other children by his first wife, who died in childbirth:
1) Grace Lillian Perdew, b. Nov. 12, 1882 in Grapeland, S.B. Co., CA. and died April 1939 in Richmond, Contra Costa Co., CA. She marr. __ Warner.
2) Belle Perdew, b. Dec. 28, 1884/1885 in Grapeland, San Bernardino Co., CA. and d. Feb. 11, 1964 in Los Angeles Co., CA. Belle marr. Johannes Anthony Van Koevering.
3) an infant who died at birth, Nov. 07, 1887, along with Sarah Elizabeth, having previously contracted the measles.
The San Bernardino Daily Sun (San Bernardino, CA.), P. 7, Col. 2
Fri., Aug. 24, 1917
Item from: ETIWANDA
At Henderson Home
Mr. and Mrs. W.S. Henderson entertained Monday night in honor of their daughter, Miss Matilda's eighteenth birthday. The guests present were Misses Anna Hoppe, Isabell Smith, May Orendorff, Mabel Marler, Amy Orchard, Mamie Perdew, and Cecil Jennings, Messrs. George Hoppe, Harold lemon, John Orchard, Clyde Westphal, Herman, Fred and LeMoyne Henderson. They played various games in the earlier part of the evening, dancing being enjoyed later. Ice cream and cake were served.
Riverside Daily Press (Riverside, CA.), P. 6, Mon., Dec. 9, 1918
Married in Los Angeles
Word was received last week of the marriage in Los Angeles of Louis C. Lamb of Upland. The bridegroom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. E.C. Lamb and is at present in the Navy, having enlisted early last summer.
Mamie married Louis Clinton Lamb in Los Angeles, CA. on Nov. 30, 1918. Louis was the son of Edgar Clifford Lamb and Mary Matilda (Ellison) Lamb. They lived on a large citrus farm near Anaheim, CA.
Louis and 'Mamie' Lamb had three children;
1) Robert 'Bob' Leroy Lamb, b. Oct. 29, 1921 in Etiwanda, San Bernardino, CA., according to San Bernardino County Birth records and d. Feb. 15, 2005. Bob Lamb and Wanda Lou Russell were married on Sept. 26, 1942, while he was in the Navy, and he shipped out shortly after they were married. Their daughter, Sharon, was born in 1943.
2) Howard Loren Lamb, born July 26, 1925 in El Monte, L. A., CA. and d. Dec. 8, 1995 in Arcadia, L. A., CA. Howard joined the Navy in 1943, just before his 18th birthday, and on April 24, 1945, while still in the service, he marr. Betty Jane Friend.
3) James 'Jim' Eugene Lamb, born Dec. 2, 1942 in Anaheim, Orange, CA.
18 yr. old Jim marr. 17 yr. old Annette 'Nan' LeMay at the 'Old Rock (Methodist) Church' on Archibald Av. in Cucamonga, S. B., CA. on Jul. 1, 1961.
The San Bernardino Daily Sun (San Bernardino, CA.), P. 9, Col. 6
Fri., Jun. 6, 1919
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Lamb, of Upland, were guests of Etiwanda relatives Monday night. Mrs. Lamb was formerly Miss Mamie Perdew of Etiwanda. Mr. Lamb obtained his discharge from the service two weeks ago.
San Bernardino Daily Sun (San Bernardino, CA.), P. 7, Col. 2
Tue., Oct. 7, 1919
Item from: ETIWANDA NEWS
Mrs. Lewis Lamb, who was formerly Miss Mamie Perdew, of Etiwanda, is very ill with pneumonia at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. J.(R.)P. Perdew of Upland. Mrs. Lamb's home is in San Jacinto.
In the 1920 U. S. census, 18 yr. old Mamie Lamb, b. in CA., was living on South Central Ave. in San Jacinto, Riverside, CA. with her
23 yr. old husband, Louis C. Lamb, a farmer, b. in CA.
Mamie's father was b. in IA. and her mother in CA.
Louis' father was b. in NV. and his mother in NE.
In 1921, 25 yr. old yr. old L. C. Lamb, a rancher, b. in CA. and 19 yr. old Mamie Perdew, b. in CA., were residents of Etiwanda (according to their son, Robert Leroy Lamb's San Bernardino County Birth record.
According to the 1930 U.S. census, 28 yr. old Mamie Lamb, b. in CA., was living in Brawley, Imperial, CA. with her
33 yr. old husband, Louis C. Lamb, a dairyman living on a dairy farm, b. in CA.
8 yr. old son, Robert Lamb, b. in CA.
4 yr. 9 mth. old Howard Lamb, b. in CA.
Louis' father was b. in CA. and his mother in NE.
Mamie's father was b. in IA. and her mother in CA.
Lou was 22 yrs. old and Mamie was 16 when they married.
The following is from the 2020 memoirs of Mamie's son, Jim E. Lamb, and shared with his permission:
"My mother originally was hired by the Bryant Ranch, in 1938, as the ranch cook, cooking for up to 52 ranch hands. She took the job providing that they hire my dad to help her. She cooked two meals a day, breakfast and dinner (or supper, as we knew it), lunches were packed for their lunch time, and Dad would take them to the ranch hands in the field. We lived in what was known as "the cook house." It was a large house and I believe I counted 13 rooms. There was a separate bunk house for the ranch hands, as well as individual houses for married ranch hands. In the beginning, Mom would cook on three wood stoves, getting up at about 3:30 a.m. to begin breakfast. Dad got up at 3:00, and started the wood fires in the stoves, then helped her with breakfast, then they would both do the clean-up after the hands went to work at 6:00 a.m. During this same time, Dad did field work also, when done in the cook house, while Mom rested and got ready to prepare the supper meal eaten at 5:30 p.m. I remember when the ranch replaced one of the wood stoves with a new butane stove. She was scared of the gas stove, and rightly so, for one time, she turned the gas burner on, then went to the other side of the kitchen to fetch a wooden match. When she struck the wooden match, she ended up with singed hair and eyebrows!
After WWII started, there were only a few of the single ranch hands left to cook for, and she would, from time to time, work away from the ranch. She worked picking garlic, and for a while, she cooked at what is known as Orange Wood ranch. Once while working at a laundry in Santa Ana, she fainted and fell into a large vat of bed sheets; hence, she discovered she was pregnant with me! -This was 6 weeks before I was born.
I can't imagine her getting up at 3:30 a.m., cooking breakfast, then going to town working for 4 or 5 hours picking garlic, or working in a laundry, then coming home to cook supper for us and the 5 or 6 remaining ranch hands. She did take off working the last 2 weeks before my birth!
(*Lou & Mamie's son, Bob, marr. Wanda and middle son, Howard marr. Betty._
Wanda lived with us in the cook house after (their daughter) Sharon was born in 1943; and Betty lived with us after she and Howard were married in 1945. They would help Mom with the cook house chores, while Dad took over more of the ranch field work, operating heavy equipment and such."
In the Apr. 29, 1940 U.S. census, 37 yr. old Mamie P. Lamb, a housekeeper in a private house, b. in CA., was living on a farm at 1157 W. Juanita Av. in San Jose, Los Angeles, CA. with her
43 yr. old husband, Louis C. Lamb, a laborer on a citrus ranch, b. in CA.
18 yr. old son, Robert L. Lamb, b. in CA.
14 yr. old son, Howard L. Lamb, b. in CA.
The family was living on a farm in El Monte, Los Angeles, CA. in 1935.
The highest grade Louis had completed was 6th. Mamie had finished 8th grade, Robert had finished three years of high school and Howard had completed 7th grade.
In the week prior to the census, Louis had worked 54 hours.
In 1939, he had worked 52 hours. His income was $1,000.
Continued from the 2020 memoirs of Mamie's son, Jim E. Lamb:
On Sept. 2, 1945, Mamie celebrated her 43rd birthday - but it was also the day that the surrender of Imperial Japan was formally signed by Japanese Emperor Hirohito, bringing the hostilities of World War II to a close. She always said the end of WWII was the best birthday present she would ever have, getting her boys out of danger !!
In 1947, I recall Mom telling me about "George I. Day, Jr., my grand-uncle, who operated, for several years, the "gravity mule-drawn streetcar" that ran from Ontario up to San Antonio Heights. The streetcar was called "Ontario & San Antonio Heights RR Co., which operated (from 1887 to 1895), along Euclid Ave. It was unique in that it was pulled (up the 1,000 ft. in elevation rise) to the top of Euclid Ave. to San Antonio Heights, by two mules, Sanky and Moody. Sanky and Moody got to ride the pull-out platform, behind the streetcar, coming back down the hill. It took almost two hours to get to the top, but only about half an hour to come back down to Ontario station. The streetcar would seat about a dozen people. George said that when the streetcar was replaced with an electric streetcar, Sanky and Moody were sold to a farmer, but they didn't work out very well behind the plow. They kept wanting to ride! I remember hearing how it all worked. I didn't really understand at the time, but Mom drove over to Euclid Ave and we started at the top of Euclid, where the streetcar turned around and followed it all the way down. The rails were still in place down to almost Foothill Blvd."
*Note from Wikipedia: The obituary for the mule Sanky on the front page of the Ontario Daily Report from Feb. 6, 1914 was under the headline, "Mule, Figure in Early History of Ontario, is Dead." It mentioned that in 1895, Sanky and his partner Moody were sold to farmer C.B. Adams in San Antonio Heights after the inauguration of the electric tram had made them obsolete. Ranch work was apparently far below their dignity and when hitched to a harrow, they persistently refused to budge, and coaxing and force were equally without effect. The farmer had to motivate them by attaching a bell from the old rail car to his harrow. With the familiar signal, the mules started valiantly up the orchard, but at the head of the orchard, Moody and Sanky persisted in attempting to climb onto the harrow for the downward journey, said the obituary. It took weeks before the pair could be trained to plow in both directions.
"As I recall, we took Euclid all the way down to Mission Blvd., then west towards Pomona and finally ended up in Carbon Canyon (now near the Lambert exit off the 57 freeway), where our old '37 Plymouth broke down on a hill, and Mom rolled it backwards down to a pullout. Mom tried several times, but the car wouldn't start. This must have been about 5:00 in the evening, and 95 degrees. I stayed in the car and Mom hiked to the top of the hill, to someone's house and made a call to the Bryant Ranch office phone. Probably the superintendent or foreman contacted my brother, Bob, and Dad. After dark, Bob came riding to our location on his motorcycle. Mom said, "Now I wonder what he thinks he can do with that motorcycle." (He and Dad had decided, Bob should ride up to see if he could get it started, and if not, Dad would then bring a ranch vehicle up to tow us home.) Bob looked under the hood for a while, then told Mom to start it again, and the car started right up! Evidently, the problem was a fuel vapor-lock, due to the heat of the day. Bob told Mom he would follow her home, and asked if I wanted to ride with him. He sat me in front of him, on the fuel tank, and we followed Mom all the way to the "cookhouse", about 35 miles. It must have been after ten, that night, when we got home. -Just another adventurous day with my mother!!"
Jim Lamb continues:
"In 1950, we had planned to go deer hunting over the weekend. I was really excited about going camping and was telling all on the school bus who would listen. It was Friday and we were leaving that afternoon. On the school bus, we were heading home, and just about a half a mile from the ranch gate, we came across a vehicle accident. Bobby Friend and I, with a couple of the ranch's Mexican kids, were the only kids left on the bus, and we were all staring out the window to see what happened What we saw was: a blue colored car wrapped around a power pole with people trying to get the driver out. The driver's face was covered in blood, but she waved at us as we went by. Bobby said, "Was that your mother?" - which I already knew it was. I didn't recognize her or the car until I realized it was Dad yanking on the door, and Bob was on the hood getting ready to use a cutting torch that Carson Campos, our ranch mechanic, was handing up to him.
Mom had swerved to miss old Mr. Crown, the water company man who pulled out in front of her. She had hit the pole on the car's left side, which trapped the car door - and her leg - around the pole. Mom's left leg was broken in 15 places between her knee and hip. A surgeon who had just returned from Korean battlefield service, installed a diamond-shaped stainless steel rod in her leg, which was threaded through the broken bone sections and extended from her knee to the hip ball. She spent 6 weeks in the hospital, then in bed at home for two months before she was able to use a wheelchair and eventually a walker. Wanda (her daughter-in-law) took care of her, bathing, bed pans and such, until she was able to get into the wheelchair. The rod was removed 11 months later. Mom said, all along, she would walk again without a walker, drive and dance on the one-year anniversary of the accident. We went to a party exactly on year later, at my uncle Joe's home, and she danced! She was crippled all the rest of her life, and limited as to what she could do as a result."
Jim Lamb continues: "My mother worked all the time, it seemed to me, anyway. She said she worked to relax?? The only time I can remember when she wasn't working was for a period of 3 1/2 months after her car wreck, and only until she was able to get into her walker.
She had 11 siblings, and she loved to be around family. Anytime she had extra time, she and I would go visit one or two of the relatives.
"Mom, also, is one of those who did the research on the family's lineage, which resulted in the first publication of the Hoskinson genealogy. Mom worked with her cousins, Alice Wooldridge, Lulu and Harmon 'Bud' Day, and Mrs. Harry Hoskinson, interviewing relatives and gathering data for the publication, 'One Branch of the Hoskinson Family,' which Alice Wooldridge had published in 1963.
"Mom was born in 1902 in Etiwanda, CA. (formerly Grapeland, founded by the Perdews in 1860/'61) in the old rock house. She went to the one-room Perdew School, built in 1885 by her grandfather, Alexander Glenn Perdew; then later, she attended the original Etiwanda Schoolhouse. She only went as far as the 7th grade, however that was the norm back then, for girls. She said they didn't have paper to write, or figure on, rather they each had a slate to write on. Mom could take a 5-digit number and multiply it by another 5-digit number, and come up with the answer using only one line of numbers. In other words, she did all the figuring and carrying of numbers in her head, rather than writing out the full problem! She taught my brother, Howard, and me how to do it, and Howard could work up to 4-digit numbers, but I could only easily work out 3-digit numbers.
"Mom loved to cook, and even after the Bryant Ranch cookhouse was shut down, she still cooked three meals a day, and baked her breads, as long as she lived. Whenever she went to visit someone, she always took food of some kind. She once told (my wife) Nan, that cooking relaxed her. Ironically, our daughter, Molly, has told Nan the same, 'Cooking is how I relax.' Mom was 40 years old when I was born. I guess I was Mom and Dad's 25th wedding anniversary gift!!
Back then, 40 years old was considered pretty old for a woman to give birth. I remember frequently, as a child, being out with Mom, someone would ask her if I was her grandson.
My mother always seemed to have enough time to teach me things, right along with all the other work she may have been involved with. Before I started school, she had taught me to add, subtract, and some of the multiplication table, and to print my name and address. As a result, I was placed in first grade, rather than kindergarten.
"Before the folks started working for the Bryant Ranch, they had worked at many different jobs. During the 1920's, they owned a small dairy of 56 Jersey cows. The dairy was located in El Monte, CA. on Peck Road and named 'Champion Dairy,' and only Mom and Dad worked it. They had to milk the cows twice a day, in the morning and evening. Mom hand-milked 26 head of cows (that's before milking machines) and Dad would milk the rest of the herd. The bulk milk was placed in 10-gallon milk cans that Mom would lift up to Dad (80 lbs. each) and he stacked them on a flatbed truck which would be used to haul in for processing. They also had a milk route, where the milk was bottled in glass and delivered to individual homes. Mom drove the milk delivery van, and ran the bottles up top the customers' door steps, and picked up their empty bottles. While Mom delivered the milk to customers, Dad would clean up the milk house, pile up the manure, feed the stock and deliver the bulk milk in to Los Angeles. During the day, they would sterilize the milk bottles and milk cans with steam and get ready for the evening milking, then do it all over again tomorrow! Also, during those times, Mom had two small boys, Bob and Howard, to care for. (Maybe cooking for 52 Bryant Ranch hands was easier!?) During 'the Depression', they lost their dairy and both worked for wages from then on.
"After the 'cookhouse' was shut down and we moved to the 'gate house' on the Bryant Ranch, Mom worked in town. She had about five families she did house cleaning for, and one of the families would pay her extra to cook up to seven casserole dishes the family could eat during the next week. She made the casseroles while doing their housecleaning! During summers, I would go with her, and she paid me to help her vacuum and dust. Two of the families paid her extra to do their laundry. She would bring the laundry home and wash it on Saturday and Sunday, using our old Maytag wringer washing machine, doing the rinsing in stationary tubs. Mom would also iron their laundry. She taught me how to iron clothes, and would give me 10 cents for each garment I ironed. She wouldn't let me iron the frilly blouses though! She was afraid I'd scorch one and she would have to replace it.
"If you haven't guessed already, Mom was one tough cookie! If pushed, she would 'fight at the drop of a hat,' - and I mean, fist fight! Dad used to say, 'she could kick the s**t out of a fire plug!' During the 'Depression' years, after they had lost their dairy, she and Dad worked at any work they could get. One job they worked together was for a collection agency. Most of the time, Dad would wait in the car, or otherwise close by, while Mom went and knocked on the doors to make the collections. Dad said he didn't have to give her a hand more than just a couple times!
"One time when I was about 14 years old, a salesman knocked on our door at the 'gate house'. Mom answered the door and the salesman started rattling off his sales pitch. Mom finally got tired of not being able to get in a word. I heard her yell loudly, 'Listen now, I've told you I am not interested, now get the hell off the property!' I jumped up off the couch and ran to the door; I stepped in front of Mom and told the salesman, 'You've heard my Mom, now get going!'
He said, 'Oh, a real tough kid, huh? Talking like that will get you hurt, Sonny," at which time Mom, from behind me, threw a punch over my shoulder at his face. He started backing up and cussing her, so she grabbed my .410 shotgun from behind our door, and stepped outside. He headed for his car, got inside and rolled the window down and cussed her again. Some were words I heard for the first time. She pointed the shotgun at him and he spun the wheels and hollered one last thing, 'You m**r f**er." Well, that did it. She yelled, "Jim, get in the car; here, take this gun," and off we went, chasing him about 12 miles before she turned off and headed for the Placentia police station. We had got close enough to get his license plate, so she filed a report with them. Now, you need to realize, at that time, Mom was crippled, and that salesman was about 6'3", 240 pounds, with red hair. Of course, I didn't know that when I ran to the door to help her, but, oh well, I couldn't back down. I had to say something. (I guess I take after Mom in that way.) As tough as Mom was, she was one of the most caring people I have ever met. She was always there to help anyone in need, or if only for their reassurance.... but don't give her any crap!!"
Mamie died Fri., May 02, 1975 in Upland, San Bernardino, CA.
The San Bernardino County Sun (San Bernardino, CA.), P.15
Sunday, May 4, 1975
Mamie Lamb, Lytle Creek
Mamie Perdew Lamb, 72, of 13934 Hazel Dr., Lytle Creek, died Friday in Upland. She was born in Etiwanda and was a ten year resident of Lytle Creek.
Survivors include her husband, Louis C.; three sons, Howard L. of Duarte, Robert L. of Alta Loma and James E. of Upland; two sisters, Birdie Bryden of Corona and Hazel Lamb of Yucaipa; a brother, Benjamin Perdew of Missouri; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Stone Funeral Home, Upland. Burial will be in the Bellevue Cemetery, Ontario. Friends may call from 5 to 9 p.m. tomorrow at the funeral home.
In the preface to Alice H. Wooldridge's book, 'Genealogy of One Branch of the Hoskinson Family; Some Descendants of George Washington Hoskinson' (which is an invaluable source of information on the Perdew family and other related lines), Mrs. Woolridge states: 'I would particularly like to express my appreciation to Mr. Harmon Day, Mrs. Louis C. Lamb and Mrs. Harry Hoskinson without whose help this book would not be as complete or even possible.'
Mary 'Mamie' (Perdew) Lamb was the 6th of 12 children born to:
Rufus Putnam 'Putt' Perdew Sr., b. Aug. 14, 1854 in Sioux City, Woodbury County, IA. and d. Sep. 7, 1939 in Upland, San Bernardino County, CA. &
(2nd wife), Georgianna (Day) Perdew, b. May 16, 1873 in Etiwanda, San Bernardino County, CA. and d. Jan. 11, 1932 in San Bernardino County, CA.
'Putt' and 'Anna' Perdew's children were:
1. Daisy May Perdew, b. Feb. 3, 1890 in San Bernardino, S.B. Co., CA. and d. Jul. 16, 1938 in Chino, S. B. Co., CA. Daisy marr. Christian William Niederman.
2) Birdie Leone Perdew, b. Nov. 2, 1892 in Etiwanda, S. B. Co., CA. and d. 1978 in Upland, S. B. Co., CA. Birdie married Adam Bryden.
3) Josie Perdew, b. Nov. 11, 1894 and d. Nov. 13, 1905 at the age of 11.
4) Rufus Putnam Jr. ('Doc') Perdew, b. Jun. 11, 1897 in Grapeland, S.B. Co., CA. (according to San Bernardino Birth records) and d. Jul. 4, 1948 in Ontario, S.B. Co., CA. 'Doc' married Ernestina Carpena.
5) Florence Perdew, b. Jul. 10, 1900 in San Bernardino, S.B. Co., CA. and d. abt. 1970 in Upland, S.B. Co., CA. Florence marr. Carl Stewart Graves.
6) Mary ('Mame') Perdew, b. Sep. 2, 1902 in Etiwanda, S. B. Co., CA. and d. May 2, 1975 in San Antonio Hospital, Upland, S.B. Co., CA. 'Mame' marr. Louis Clinton Lamb.
7) Etta Mae (changed from Henrietta Wanda) Perdew, b. Sep. 19, 1904 in San Bernardino, S. B. Co., CA. and d. Dec. 17, 1975, in Upland, S.B. Co., CA. 'Etta' marr. Peryman Hubbard Evans.
8) George Ralph Perdew, b. Jan. 11, 1907 in San Bernardino,S.B. Co., CA. and d. abt. 1971, in San Jacinto, Riverside Co., CA. Ralph marr. 1) Dorothy Kaufman, 2) Marcia __ and 3) Grace Zingler.
9) Victor Perdew, b. Jan. 5, 1909 in Etiwanda, S. B. Co., CA. (according to San Bernardino Birth records) and d. Sep. 8, 1962, Lake Arrowhead, S.B. Co., CA. Victor marr. 1) Odessa McLaughlin and 2) Mrs. Joyce L. (Russell) Sather.
10) Hazel Elizabeth Perdew, b. Mar. 28, 1911 in Etiwanda, S.B. Co., CA. and d. May 8, 1977, San Bernardino, S. B. Co., CA. Hazel marr. Theodore Roosevelt Lamb.
11) Douglas Steven(s) Perdew, b. Jan. 5, 1914 in Upland, S.B. Co., CA. (according to San Bernardino Birth records, where he is listed as the 11th child) and d. Mar. 2, 1958 in Medford, Jackson Co., OR. Douglas marr. Sara Harrietta Mapstead.
12) Benjamin Greenberry Ferdinand Rubidoux Benton Perdew, b. Jan. 6, 1916 in Upland, San Bernardino, CA. (according to San Bernardino County Birth records) and d. Oct. 25, 1977 in Joplin, Jasper, MO. Benjamin marr. 10 Maudie Balding/Baldwin and 2) Mrs. Vada (Lewis) Campbell.
Rufus Putnam Sr. also had three other children by his first wife, who died in childbirth:
1) Grace Lillian Perdew, b. Nov. 12, 1882 in Grapeland, S.B. Co., CA. and died April 1939 in Richmond, Contra Costa Co., CA. She marr. __ Warner.
2) Belle Perdew, b. Dec. 28, 1884/1885 in Grapeland, San Bernardino Co., CA. and d. Feb. 11, 1964 in Los Angeles Co., CA. Belle marr. Johannes Anthony Van Koevering.
3) an infant who died at birth, Nov. 07, 1887, along with Sarah Elizabeth, having previously contracted the measles.
The San Bernardino Daily Sun (San Bernardino, CA.), P. 7, Col. 2
Fri., Aug. 24, 1917
Item from: ETIWANDA
At Henderson Home
Mr. and Mrs. W.S. Henderson entertained Monday night in honor of their daughter, Miss Matilda's eighteenth birthday. The guests present were Misses Anna Hoppe, Isabell Smith, May Orendorff, Mabel Marler, Amy Orchard, Mamie Perdew, and Cecil Jennings, Messrs. George Hoppe, Harold lemon, John Orchard, Clyde Westphal, Herman, Fred and LeMoyne Henderson. They played various games in the earlier part of the evening, dancing being enjoyed later. Ice cream and cake were served.
Riverside Daily Press (Riverside, CA.), P. 6, Mon., Dec. 9, 1918
Married in Los Angeles
Word was received last week of the marriage in Los Angeles of Louis C. Lamb of Upland. The bridegroom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. E.C. Lamb and is at present in the Navy, having enlisted early last summer.
Mamie married Louis Clinton Lamb in Los Angeles, CA. on Nov. 30, 1918. Louis was the son of Edgar Clifford Lamb and Mary Matilda (Ellison) Lamb. They lived on a large citrus farm near Anaheim, CA.
Louis and 'Mamie' Lamb had three children;
1) Robert 'Bob' Leroy Lamb, b. Oct. 29, 1921 in Etiwanda, San Bernardino, CA., according to San Bernardino County Birth records and d. Feb. 15, 2005. Bob Lamb and Wanda Lou Russell were married on Sept. 26, 1942, while he was in the Navy, and he shipped out shortly after they were married. Their daughter, Sharon, was born in 1943.
2) Howard Loren Lamb, born July 26, 1925 in El Monte, L. A., CA. and d. Dec. 8, 1995 in Arcadia, L. A., CA. Howard joined the Navy in 1943, just before his 18th birthday, and on April 24, 1945, while still in the service, he marr. Betty Jane Friend.
3) James 'Jim' Eugene Lamb, born Dec. 2, 1942 in Anaheim, Orange, CA.
18 yr. old Jim marr. 17 yr. old Annette 'Nan' LeMay at the 'Old Rock (Methodist) Church' on Archibald Av. in Cucamonga, S. B., CA. on Jul. 1, 1961.
The San Bernardino Daily Sun (San Bernardino, CA.), P. 9, Col. 6
Fri., Jun. 6, 1919
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Lamb, of Upland, were guests of Etiwanda relatives Monday night. Mrs. Lamb was formerly Miss Mamie Perdew of Etiwanda. Mr. Lamb obtained his discharge from the service two weeks ago.
San Bernardino Daily Sun (San Bernardino, CA.), P. 7, Col. 2
Tue., Oct. 7, 1919
Item from: ETIWANDA NEWS
Mrs. Lewis Lamb, who was formerly Miss Mamie Perdew, of Etiwanda, is very ill with pneumonia at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. J.(R.)P. Perdew of Upland. Mrs. Lamb's home is in San Jacinto.
In the 1920 U. S. census, 18 yr. old Mamie Lamb, b. in CA., was living on South Central Ave. in San Jacinto, Riverside, CA. with her
23 yr. old husband, Louis C. Lamb, a farmer, b. in CA.
Mamie's father was b. in IA. and her mother in CA.
Louis' father was b. in NV. and his mother in NE.
In 1921, 25 yr. old yr. old L. C. Lamb, a rancher, b. in CA. and 19 yr. old Mamie Perdew, b. in CA., were residents of Etiwanda (according to their son, Robert Leroy Lamb's San Bernardino County Birth record.
According to the 1930 U.S. census, 28 yr. old Mamie Lamb, b. in CA., was living in Brawley, Imperial, CA. with her
33 yr. old husband, Louis C. Lamb, a dairyman living on a dairy farm, b. in CA.
8 yr. old son, Robert Lamb, b. in CA.
4 yr. 9 mth. old Howard Lamb, b. in CA.
Louis' father was b. in CA. and his mother in NE.
Mamie's father was b. in IA. and her mother in CA.
Lou was 22 yrs. old and Mamie was 16 when they married.
The following is from the 2020 memoirs of Mamie's son, Jim E. Lamb, and shared with his permission:
"My mother originally was hired by the Bryant Ranch, in 1938, as the ranch cook, cooking for up to 52 ranch hands. She took the job providing that they hire my dad to help her. She cooked two meals a day, breakfast and dinner (or supper, as we knew it), lunches were packed for their lunch time, and Dad would take them to the ranch hands in the field. We lived in what was known as "the cook house." It was a large house and I believe I counted 13 rooms. There was a separate bunk house for the ranch hands, as well as individual houses for married ranch hands. In the beginning, Mom would cook on three wood stoves, getting up at about 3:30 a.m. to begin breakfast. Dad got up at 3:00, and started the wood fires in the stoves, then helped her with breakfast, then they would both do the clean-up after the hands went to work at 6:00 a.m. During this same time, Dad did field work also, when done in the cook house, while Mom rested and got ready to prepare the supper meal eaten at 5:30 p.m. I remember when the ranch replaced one of the wood stoves with a new butane stove. She was scared of the gas stove, and rightly so, for one time, she turned the gas burner on, then went to the other side of the kitchen to fetch a wooden match. When she struck the wooden match, she ended up with singed hair and eyebrows!
After WWII started, there were only a few of the single ranch hands left to cook for, and she would, from time to time, work away from the ranch. She worked picking garlic, and for a while, she cooked at what is known as Orange Wood ranch. Once while working at a laundry in Santa Ana, she fainted and fell into a large vat of bed sheets; hence, she discovered she was pregnant with me! -This was 6 weeks before I was born.
I can't imagine her getting up at 3:30 a.m., cooking breakfast, then going to town working for 4 or 5 hours picking garlic, or working in a laundry, then coming home to cook supper for us and the 5 or 6 remaining ranch hands. She did take off working the last 2 weeks before my birth!
(*Lou & Mamie's son, Bob, marr. Wanda and middle son, Howard marr. Betty._
Wanda lived with us in the cook house after (their daughter) Sharon was born in 1943; and Betty lived with us after she and Howard were married in 1945. They would help Mom with the cook house chores, while Dad took over more of the ranch field work, operating heavy equipment and such."
In the Apr. 29, 1940 U.S. census, 37 yr. old Mamie P. Lamb, a housekeeper in a private house, b. in CA., was living on a farm at 1157 W. Juanita Av. in San Jose, Los Angeles, CA. with her
43 yr. old husband, Louis C. Lamb, a laborer on a citrus ranch, b. in CA.
18 yr. old son, Robert L. Lamb, b. in CA.
14 yr. old son, Howard L. Lamb, b. in CA.
The family was living on a farm in El Monte, Los Angeles, CA. in 1935.
The highest grade Louis had completed was 6th. Mamie had finished 8th grade, Robert had finished three years of high school and Howard had completed 7th grade.
In the week prior to the census, Louis had worked 54 hours.
In 1939, he had worked 52 hours. His income was $1,000.
Continued from the 2020 memoirs of Mamie's son, Jim E. Lamb:
On Sept. 2, 1945, Mamie celebrated her 43rd birthday - but it was also the day that the surrender of Imperial Japan was formally signed by Japanese Emperor Hirohito, bringing the hostilities of World War II to a close. She always said the end of WWII was the best birthday present she would ever have, getting her boys out of danger !!
In 1947, I recall Mom telling me about "George I. Day, Jr., my grand-uncle, who operated, for several years, the "gravity mule-drawn streetcar" that ran from Ontario up to San Antonio Heights. The streetcar was called "Ontario & San Antonio Heights RR Co., which operated (from 1887 to 1895), along Euclid Ave. It was unique in that it was pulled (up the 1,000 ft. in elevation rise) to the top of Euclid Ave. to San Antonio Heights, by two mules, Sanky and Moody. Sanky and Moody got to ride the pull-out platform, behind the streetcar, coming back down the hill. It took almost two hours to get to the top, but only about half an hour to come back down to Ontario station. The streetcar would seat about a dozen people. George said that when the streetcar was replaced with an electric streetcar, Sanky and Moody were sold to a farmer, but they didn't work out very well behind the plow. They kept wanting to ride! I remember hearing how it all worked. I didn't really understand at the time, but Mom drove over to Euclid Ave and we started at the top of Euclid, where the streetcar turned around and followed it all the way down. The rails were still in place down to almost Foothill Blvd."
*Note from Wikipedia: The obituary for the mule Sanky on the front page of the Ontario Daily Report from Feb. 6, 1914 was under the headline, "Mule, Figure in Early History of Ontario, is Dead." It mentioned that in 1895, Sanky and his partner Moody were sold to farmer C.B. Adams in San Antonio Heights after the inauguration of the electric tram had made them obsolete. Ranch work was apparently far below their dignity and when hitched to a harrow, they persistently refused to budge, and coaxing and force were equally without effect. The farmer had to motivate them by attaching a bell from the old rail car to his harrow. With the familiar signal, the mules started valiantly up the orchard, but at the head of the orchard, Moody and Sanky persisted in attempting to climb onto the harrow for the downward journey, said the obituary. It took weeks before the pair could be trained to plow in both directions.
"As I recall, we took Euclid all the way down to Mission Blvd., then west towards Pomona and finally ended up in Carbon Canyon (now near the Lambert exit off the 57 freeway), where our old '37 Plymouth broke down on a hill, and Mom rolled it backwards down to a pullout. Mom tried several times, but the car wouldn't start. This must have been about 5:00 in the evening, and 95 degrees. I stayed in the car and Mom hiked to the top of the hill, to someone's house and made a call to the Bryant Ranch office phone. Probably the superintendent or foreman contacted my brother, Bob, and Dad. After dark, Bob came riding to our location on his motorcycle. Mom said, "Now I wonder what he thinks he can do with that motorcycle." (He and Dad had decided, Bob should ride up to see if he could get it started, and if not, Dad would then bring a ranch vehicle up to tow us home.) Bob looked under the hood for a while, then told Mom to start it again, and the car started right up! Evidently, the problem was a fuel vapor-lock, due to the heat of the day. Bob told Mom he would follow her home, and asked if I wanted to ride with him. He sat me in front of him, on the fuel tank, and we followed Mom all the way to the "cookhouse", about 35 miles. It must have been after ten, that night, when we got home. -Just another adventurous day with my mother!!"
Jim Lamb continues:
"In 1950, we had planned to go deer hunting over the weekend. I was really excited about going camping and was telling all on the school bus who would listen. It was Friday and we were leaving that afternoon. On the school bus, we were heading home, and just about a half a mile from the ranch gate, we came across a vehicle accident. Bobby Friend and I, with a couple of the ranch's Mexican kids, were the only kids left on the bus, and we were all staring out the window to see what happened What we saw was: a blue colored car wrapped around a power pole with people trying to get the driver out. The driver's face was covered in blood, but she waved at us as we went by. Bobby said, "Was that your mother?" - which I already knew it was. I didn't recognize her or the car until I realized it was Dad yanking on the door, and Bob was on the hood getting ready to use a cutting torch that Carson Campos, our ranch mechanic, was handing up to him.
Mom had swerved to miss old Mr. Crown, the water company man who pulled out in front of her. She had hit the pole on the car's left side, which trapped the car door - and her leg - around the pole. Mom's left leg was broken in 15 places between her knee and hip. A surgeon who had just returned from Korean battlefield service, installed a diamond-shaped stainless steel rod in her leg, which was threaded through the broken bone sections and extended from her knee to the hip ball. She spent 6 weeks in the hospital, then in bed at home for two months before she was able to use a wheelchair and eventually a walker. Wanda (her daughter-in-law) took care of her, bathing, bed pans and such, until she was able to get into the wheelchair. The rod was removed 11 months later. Mom said, all along, she would walk again without a walker, drive and dance on the one-year anniversary of the accident. We went to a party exactly on year later, at my uncle Joe's home, and she danced! She was crippled all the rest of her life, and limited as to what she could do as a result."
Jim Lamb continues: "My mother worked all the time, it seemed to me, anyway. She said she worked to relax?? The only time I can remember when she wasn't working was for a period of 3 1/2 months after her car wreck, and only until she was able to get into her walker.
She had 11 siblings, and she loved to be around family. Anytime she had extra time, she and I would go visit one or two of the relatives.
"Mom, also, is one of those who did the research on the family's lineage, which resulted in the first publication of the Hoskinson genealogy. Mom worked with her cousins, Alice Wooldridge, Lulu and Harmon 'Bud' Day, and Mrs. Harry Hoskinson, interviewing relatives and gathering data for the publication, 'One Branch of the Hoskinson Family,' which Alice Wooldridge had published in 1963.
"Mom was born in 1902 in Etiwanda, CA. (formerly Grapeland, founded by the Perdews in 1860/'61) in the old rock house. She went to the one-room Perdew School, built in 1885 by her grandfather, Alexander Glenn Perdew; then later, she attended the original Etiwanda Schoolhouse. She only went as far as the 7th grade, however that was the norm back then, for girls. She said they didn't have paper to write, or figure on, rather they each had a slate to write on. Mom could take a 5-digit number and multiply it by another 5-digit number, and come up with the answer using only one line of numbers. In other words, she did all the figuring and carrying of numbers in her head, rather than writing out the full problem! She taught my brother, Howard, and me how to do it, and Howard could work up to 4-digit numbers, but I could only easily work out 3-digit numbers.
"Mom loved to cook, and even after the Bryant Ranch cookhouse was shut down, she still cooked three meals a day, and baked her breads, as long as she lived. Whenever she went to visit someone, she always took food of some kind. She once told (my wife) Nan, that cooking relaxed her. Ironically, our daughter, Molly, has told Nan the same, 'Cooking is how I relax.' Mom was 40 years old when I was born. I guess I was Mom and Dad's 25th wedding anniversary gift!!
Back then, 40 years old was considered pretty old for a woman to give birth. I remember frequently, as a child, being out with Mom, someone would ask her if I was her grandson.
My mother always seemed to have enough time to teach me things, right along with all the other work she may have been involved with. Before I started school, she had taught me to add, subtract, and some of the multiplication table, and to print my name and address. As a result, I was placed in first grade, rather than kindergarten.
"Before the folks started working for the Bryant Ranch, they had worked at many different jobs. During the 1920's, they owned a small dairy of 56 Jersey cows. The dairy was located in El Monte, CA. on Peck Road and named 'Champion Dairy,' and only Mom and Dad worked it. They had to milk the cows twice a day, in the morning and evening. Mom hand-milked 26 head of cows (that's before milking machines) and Dad would milk the rest of the herd. The bulk milk was placed in 10-gallon milk cans that Mom would lift up to Dad (80 lbs. each) and he stacked them on a flatbed truck which would be used to haul in for processing. They also had a milk route, where the milk was bottled in glass and delivered to individual homes. Mom drove the milk delivery van, and ran the bottles up top the customers' door steps, and picked up their empty bottles. While Mom delivered the milk to customers, Dad would clean up the milk house, pile up the manure, feed the stock and deliver the bulk milk in to Los Angeles. During the day, they would sterilize the milk bottles and milk cans with steam and get ready for the evening milking, then do it all over again tomorrow! Also, during those times, Mom had two small boys, Bob and Howard, to care for. (Maybe cooking for 52 Bryant Ranch hands was easier!?) During 'the Depression', they lost their dairy and both worked for wages from then on.
"After the 'cookhouse' was shut down and we moved to the 'gate house' on the Bryant Ranch, Mom worked in town. She had about five families she did house cleaning for, and one of the families would pay her extra to cook up to seven casserole dishes the family could eat during the next week. She made the casseroles while doing their housecleaning! During summers, I would go with her, and she paid me to help her vacuum and dust. Two of the families paid her extra to do their laundry. She would bring the laundry home and wash it on Saturday and Sunday, using our old Maytag wringer washing machine, doing the rinsing in stationary tubs. Mom would also iron their laundry. She taught me how to iron clothes, and would give me 10 cents for each garment I ironed. She wouldn't let me iron the frilly blouses though! She was afraid I'd scorch one and she would have to replace it.
"If you haven't guessed already, Mom was one tough cookie! If pushed, she would 'fight at the drop of a hat,' - and I mean, fist fight! Dad used to say, 'she could kick the s**t out of a fire plug!' During the 'Depression' years, after they had lost their dairy, she and Dad worked at any work they could get. One job they worked together was for a collection agency. Most of the time, Dad would wait in the car, or otherwise close by, while Mom went and knocked on the doors to make the collections. Dad said he didn't have to give her a hand more than just a couple times!
"One time when I was about 14 years old, a salesman knocked on our door at the 'gate house'. Mom answered the door and the salesman started rattling off his sales pitch. Mom finally got tired of not being able to get in a word. I heard her yell loudly, 'Listen now, I've told you I am not interested, now get the hell off the property!' I jumped up off the couch and ran to the door; I stepped in front of Mom and told the salesman, 'You've heard my Mom, now get going!'
He said, 'Oh, a real tough kid, huh? Talking like that will get you hurt, Sonny," at which time Mom, from behind me, threw a punch over my shoulder at his face. He started backing up and cussing her, so she grabbed my .410 shotgun from behind our door, and stepped outside. He headed for his car, got inside and rolled the window down and cussed her again. Some were words I heard for the first time. She pointed the shotgun at him and he spun the wheels and hollered one last thing, 'You m**r f**er." Well, that did it. She yelled, "Jim, get in the car; here, take this gun," and off we went, chasing him about 12 miles before she turned off and headed for the Placentia police station. We had got close enough to get his license plate, so she filed a report with them. Now, you need to realize, at that time, Mom was crippled, and that salesman was about 6'3", 240 pounds, with red hair. Of course, I didn't know that when I ran to the door to help her, but, oh well, I couldn't back down. I had to say something. (I guess I take after Mom in that way.) As tough as Mom was, she was one of the most caring people I have ever met. She was always there to help anyone in need, or if only for their reassurance.... but don't give her any crap!!"
Mamie died Fri., May 02, 1975 in Upland, San Bernardino, CA.
The San Bernardino County Sun (San Bernardino, CA.), P.15
Sunday, May 4, 1975
Mamie Lamb, Lytle Creek
Mamie Perdew Lamb, 72, of 13934 Hazel Dr., Lytle Creek, died Friday in Upland. She was born in Etiwanda and was a ten year resident of Lytle Creek.
Survivors include her husband, Louis C.; three sons, Howard L. of Duarte, Robert L. of Alta Loma and James E. of Upland; two sisters, Birdie Bryden of Corona and Hazel Lamb of Yucaipa; a brother, Benjamin Perdew of Missouri; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Stone Funeral Home, Upland. Burial will be in the Bellevue Cemetery, Ontario. Friends may call from 5 to 9 p.m. tomorrow at the funeral home.
In the preface to Alice H. Wooldridge's book, 'Genealogy of One Branch of the Hoskinson Family; Some Descendants of George Washington Hoskinson' (which is an invaluable source of information on the Perdew family and other related lines), Mrs. Woolridge states: 'I would particularly like to express my appreciation to Mr. Harmon Day, Mrs. Louis C. Lamb and Mrs. Harry Hoskinson without whose help this book would not be as complete or even possible.'
Rufus Putnam 'Putt' Perdew Sr., b. Aug. 14, 1854 in Sioux City, Woodbury County, IA. and d. Sep. 7, 1939 in Upland, San Bernardino County, CA. &
(2nd wife), Georgianna (Day) Perdew, b. May 16, 1873 in Etiwanda, San Bernardino County, CA. and d. Jan. 11, 1932 in San Bernardino County, CA.
'Putt' and 'Anna' Perdew's children were:
1. Daisy May Perdew, b. Feb. 3, 1890 in San Bernardino, S.B. Co., CA. and d. Jul. 16, 1938 in Chino, S. B. Co., CA. Daisy marr. Christian William Niederman.
2) Birdie Leone Perdew, b. Nov. 2, 1892 in Etiwanda, S. B. Co., CA. and d. 1978 in Upland, S. B. Co., CA. Birdie married Adam Bryden.
3) Josie Perdew, b. Nov. 11, 1894 and d. Nov. 13, 1905 at the age of 11.
4) Rufus Putnam Jr. ('Doc') Perdew, b. Jun. 11, 1897 in Grapeland, S.B. Co., CA. (according to San Bernardino Birth records) and d. Jul. 4, 1948 in Ontario, S.B. Co., CA. 'Doc' married Ernestina Carpena.
5) Florence Perdew, b. Jul. 10, 1900 in San Bernardino, S.B. Co., CA. and d. abt. 1970 in Upland, S.B. Co., CA. Florence marr. Carl Stewart Graves.
6) Mary ('Mame') Perdew, b. Sep. 2, 1902 in Etiwanda, S. B. Co., CA. and d. May 2, 1975 in San Antonio Hospital, Upland, S.B. Co., CA. 'Mame' marr. Louis Clinton Lamb.
7) Etta Mae (changed from Henrietta Wanda) Perdew, b. Sep. 19, 1904 in San Bernardino, S. B. Co., CA. and d. Dec. 17, 1975, in Upland, S.B. Co., CA. 'Etta' marr. Peryman Hubbard Evans.
8) George Ralph Perdew, b. Jan. 11, 1907 in San Bernardino,S.B. Co., CA. and d. abt. 1971, in San Jacinto, Riverside Co., CA. Ralph marr. 1) Dorothy Kaufman, 2) Marcia __ and 3) Grace Zingler.
9) Victor Perdew, b. Jan. 5, 1909 in Etiwanda, S. B. Co., CA. (according to San Bernardino Birth records) and d. Sep. 8, 1962, Lake Arrowhead, S.B. Co., CA. Victor marr. 1) Odessa McLaughlin and 2) Mrs. Joyce L. (Russell) Sather.
10) Hazel Elizabeth Perdew, b. Mar. 28, 1911 in Etiwanda, S.B. Co., CA. and d. May 8, 1977, San Bernardino, S. B. Co., CA. Hazel marr. Theodore Roosevelt Lamb.
11) Douglas Steven(s) Perdew, b. Jan. 5, 1914 in Upland, S.B. Co., CA. (according to San Bernardino Birth records, where he is listed as the 11th child) and d. Mar. 2, 1958 in Medford, Jackson Co., OR. Douglas marr. Sara Harrietta Mapstead.
12) Benjamin Greenberry Ferdinand Rubidoux Benton Perdew, b. Jan. 6, 1916 in Upland, San Bernardino, CA. (according to San Bernardino County Birth records) and d. Oct. 25, 1977 in Joplin, Jasper, MO. Benjamin marr. 10 Maudie Balding/Baldwin and 2) Mrs. Vada (Lewis) Campbell.
Rufus Putnam Sr. also had three other children by his first wife, who died in childbirth:
1) Grace Lillian Perdew, b. Nov. 12, 1882 in Grapeland, S.B. Co., CA. and died April 1939 in Richmond, Contra Costa Co., CA. She marr. __ Warner.
2) Belle Perdew, b. Dec. 28, 1884/1885 in Grapeland, San Bernardino Co., CA. and d. Feb. 11, 1964 in Los Angeles Co., CA. Belle marr. Johannes Anthony Van Koevering.
3) an infant who died at birth, Nov. 07, 1887, along with Sarah Elizabeth, having previously contracted the measles.
The San Bernardino Daily Sun (San Bernardino, CA.), P. 7, Col. 2
Fri., Aug. 24, 1917
Item from: ETIWANDA
At Henderson Home
Mr. and Mrs. W.S. Henderson entertained Monday night in honor of their daughter, Miss Matilda's eighteenth birthday. The guests present were Misses Anna Hoppe, Isabell Smith, May Orendorff, Mabel Marler, Amy Orchard, Mamie Perdew, and Cecil Jennings, Messrs. George Hoppe, Harold lemon, John Orchard, Clyde Westphal, Herman, Fred and LeMoyne Henderson. They played various games in the earlier part of the evening, dancing being enjoyed later. Ice cream and cake were served.
Riverside Daily Press (Riverside, CA.), P. 6, Mon., Dec. 9, 1918
Married in Los Angeles
Word was received last week of the marriage in Los Angeles of Louis C. Lamb of Upland. The bridegroom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. E.C. Lamb and is at present in the Navy, having enlisted early last summer.
Mamie married Louis Clinton Lamb in Los Angeles, CA. on Nov. 30, 1918. Louis was the son of Edgar Clifford Lamb and Mary Matilda (Ellison) Lamb. They lived on a large citrus farm near Anaheim, CA.
Louis and 'Mamie' Lamb had three children;
1) Robert 'Bob' Leroy Lamb, b. Oct. 29, 1921 in Etiwanda, San Bernardino, CA., according to San Bernardino County Birth records and d. Feb. 15, 2005. Bob Lamb and Wanda Lou Russell were married on Sept. 26, 1942, while he was in the Navy, and he shipped out shortly after they were married. Their daughter, Sharon, was born in 1943.
2) Howard Loren Lamb, born July 26, 1925 in El Monte, L. A., CA. and d. Dec. 8, 1995 in Arcadia, L. A., CA. Howard joined the Navy in 1943, just before his 18th birthday, and on April 24, 1945, while still in the service, he marr. Betty Jane Friend.
3) James 'Jim' Eugene Lamb, born Dec. 2, 1942 in Anaheim, Orange, CA.
18 yr. old Jim marr. 17 yr. old Annette 'Nan' LeMay at the 'Old Rock (Methodist) Church' on Archibald Av. in Cucamonga, S. B., CA. on Jul. 1, 1961.
The San Bernardino Daily Sun (San Bernardino, CA.), P. 9, Col. 6
Fri., Jun. 6, 1919
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Lamb, of Upland, were guests of Etiwanda relatives Monday night. Mrs. Lamb was formerly Miss Mamie Perdew of Etiwanda. Mr. Lamb obtained his discharge from the service two weeks ago.
San Bernardino Daily Sun (San Bernardino, CA.), P. 7, Col. 2
Tue., Oct. 7, 1919
Item from: ETIWANDA NEWS
Mrs. Lewis Lamb, who was formerly Miss Mamie Perdew, of Etiwanda, is very ill with pneumonia at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. J.(R.)P. Perdew of Upland. Mrs. Lamb's home is in San Jacinto.
In the 1920 U. S. census, 18 yr. old Mamie Lamb, b. in CA., was living on South Central Ave. in San Jacinto, Riverside, CA. with her
23 yr. old husband, Louis C. Lamb, a farmer, b. in CA.
Mamie's father was b. in IA. and her mother in CA.
Louis' father was b. in NV. and his mother in NE.
In 1921, 25 yr. old yr. old L. C. Lamb, a rancher, b. in CA. and 19 yr. old Mamie Perdew, b. in CA., were residents of Etiwanda (according to their son, Robert Leroy Lamb's San Bernardino County Birth record.
According to the 1930 U.S. census, 28 yr. old Mamie Lamb, b. in CA., was living in Brawley, Imperial, CA. with her
33 yr. old husband, Louis C. Lamb, a dairyman living on a dairy farm, b. in CA.
8 yr. old son, Robert Lamb, b. in CA.
4 yr. 9 mth. old Howard Lamb, b. in CA.
Louis' father was b. in CA. and his mother in NE.
Mamie's father was b. in IA. and her mother in CA.
Lou was 22 yrs. old and Mamie was 16 when they married.
The following is from the 2020 memoirs of Mamie's son, Jim E. Lamb, and shared with his permission:
"My mother originally was hired by the Bryant Ranch, in 1938, as the ranch cook, cooking for up to 52 ranch hands. She took the job providing that they hire my dad to help her. She cooked two meals a day, breakfast and dinner (or supper, as we knew it), lunches were packed for their lunch time, and Dad would take them to the ranch hands in the field. We lived in what was known as "the cook house." It was a large house and I believe I counted 13 rooms. There was a separate bunk house for the ranch hands, as well as individual houses for married ranch hands. In the beginning, Mom would cook on three wood stoves, getting up at about 3:30 a.m. to begin breakfast. Dad got up at 3:00, and started the wood fires in the stoves, then helped her with breakfast, then they would both do the clean-up after the hands went to work at 6:00 a.m. During this same time, Dad did field work also, when done in the cook house, while Mom rested and got ready to prepare the supper meal eaten at 5:30 p.m. I remember when the ranch replaced one of the wood stoves with a new butane stove. She was scared of the gas stove, and rightly so, for one time, she turned the gas burner on, then went to the other side of the kitchen to fetch a wooden match. When she struck the wooden match, she ended up with singed hair and eyebrows!
After WWII started, there were only a few of the single ranch hands left to cook for, and she would, from time to time, work away from the ranch. She worked picking garlic, and for a while, she cooked at what is known as Orange Wood ranch. Once while working at a laundry in Santa Ana, she fainted and fell into a large vat of bed sheets; hence, she discovered she was pregnant with me! -This was 6 weeks before I was born.
I can't imagine her getting up at 3:30 a.m., cooking breakfast, then going to town working for 4 or 5 hours picking garlic, or working in a laundry, then coming home to cook supper for us and the 5 or 6 remaining ranch hands. She did take off working the last 2 weeks before my birth!
(*Lou & Mamie's son, Bob, marr. Wanda and middle son, Howard marr. Betty._
Wanda lived with us in the cook house after (their daughter) Sharon was born in 1943; and Betty lived with us after she and Howard were married in 1945. They would help Mom with the cook house chores, while Dad took over more of the ranch field work, operating heavy equipment and such."
In the Apr. 29, 1940 U.S. census, 37 yr. old Mamie P. Lamb, a housekeeper in a private house, b. in CA., was living on a farm at 1157 W. Juanita Av. in San Jose, Los Angeles, CA. with her
43 yr. old husband, Louis C. Lamb, a laborer on a citrus ranch, b. in CA.
18 yr. old son, Robert L. Lamb, b. in CA.
14 yr. old son, Howard L. Lamb, b. in CA.
The family was living on a farm in El Monte, Los Angeles, CA. in 1935.
The highest grade Louis had completed was 6th. Mamie had finished 8th grade, Robert had finished three years of high school and Howard had completed 7th grade.
In the week prior to the census, Louis had worked 54 hours.
In 1939, he had worked 52 hours. His income was $1,000.
Continued from the 2020 memoirs of Mamie's son, Jim E. Lamb:
On Sept. 2, 1945, Mamie celebrated her 43rd birthday - but it was also the day that the surrender of Imperial Japan was formally signed by Japanese Emperor Hirohito, bringing the hostilities of World War II to a close. She always said the end of WWII was the best birthday present she would ever have, getting her boys out of danger !!
In 1947, I recall Mom telling me about "George I. Day, Jr., my grand-uncle, who operated, for several years, the "gravity mule-drawn streetcar" that ran from Ontario up to San Antonio Heights. The streetcar was called "Ontario & San Antonio Heights RR Co., which operated (from 1887 to 1895), along Euclid Ave. It was unique in that it was pulled (up the 1,000 ft. in elevation rise) to the top of Euclid Ave. to San Antonio Heights, by two mules, Sanky and Moody. Sanky and Moody got to ride the pull-out platform, behind the streetcar, coming back down the hill. It took almost two hours to get to the top, but only about half an hour to come back down to Ontario station. The streetcar would seat about a dozen people. George said that when the streetcar was replaced with an electric streetcar, Sanky and Moody were sold to a farmer, but they didn't work out very well behind the plow. They kept wanting to ride! I remember hearing how it all worked. I didn't really understand at the time, but Mom drove over to Euclid Ave and we started at the top of Euclid, where the streetcar turned around and followed it all the way down. The rails were still in place down to almost Foothill Blvd."
*Note from Wikipedia: The obituary for the mule Sanky on the front page of the Ontario Daily Report from Feb. 6, 1914 was under the headline, "Mule, Figure in Early History of Ontario, is Dead." It mentioned that in 1895, Sanky and his partner Moody were sold to farmer C.B. Adams in San Antonio Heights after the inauguration of the electric tram had made them obsolete. Ranch work was apparently far below their dignity and when hitched to a harrow, they persistently refused to budge, and coaxing and force were equally without effect. The farmer had to motivate them by attaching a bell from the old rail car to his harrow. With the familiar signal, the mules started valiantly up the orchard, but at the head of the orchard, Moody and Sanky persisted in attempting to climb onto the harrow for the downward journey, said the obituary. It took weeks before the pair could be trained to plow in both directions.
"As I recall, we took Euclid all the way down to Mission Blvd., then west towards Pomona and finally ended up in Carbon Canyon (now near the Lambert exit off the 57 freeway), where our old '37 Plymouth broke down on a hill, and Mom rolled it backwards down to a pullout. Mom tried several times, but the car wouldn't start. This must have been about 5:00 in the evening, and 95 degrees. I stayed in the car and Mom hiked to the top of the hill, to someone's house and made a call to the Bryant Ranch office phone. Probably the superintendent or foreman contacted my brother, Bob, and Dad. After dark, Bob came riding to our location on his motorcycle. Mom said, "Now I wonder what he thinks he can do with that motorcycle." (He and Dad had decided, Bob should ride up to see if he could get it started, and if not, Dad would then bring a ranch vehicle up to tow us home.) Bob looked under the hood for a while, then told Mom to start it again, and the car started right up! Evidently, the problem was a fuel vapor-lock, due to the heat of the day. Bob told Mom he would follow her home, and asked if I wanted to ride with him. He sat me in front of him, on the fuel tank, and we followed Mom all the way to the "cookhouse", about 35 miles. It must have been after ten, that night, when we got home. -Just another adventurous day with my mother!!"
Jim Lamb continues:
"In 1950, we had planned to go deer hunting over the weekend. I was really excited about going camping and was telling all on the school bus who would listen. It was Friday and we were leaving that afternoon. On the school bus, we were heading home, and just about a half a mile from the ranch gate, we came across a vehicle accident. Bobby Friend and I, with a couple of the ranch's Mexican kids, were the only kids left on the bus, and we were all staring out the window to see what happened What we saw was: a blue colored car wrapped around a power pole with people trying to get the driver out. The driver's face was covered in blood, but she waved at us as we went by. Bobby said, "Was that your mother?" - which I already knew it was. I didn't recognize her or the car until I realized it was Dad yanking on the door, and Bob was on the hood getting ready to use a cutting torch that Carson Campos, our ranch mechanic, was handing up to him.
Mom had swerved to miss old Mr. Crown, the water company man who pulled out in front of her. She had hit the pole on the car's left side, which trapped the car door - and her leg - around the pole. Mom's left leg was broken in 15 places between her knee and hip. A surgeon who had just returned from Korean battlefield service, installed a diamond-shaped stainless steel rod in her leg, which was threaded through the broken bone sections and extended from her knee to the hip ball. She spent 6 weeks in the hospital, then in bed at home for two months before she was able to use a wheelchair and eventually a walker. Wanda (her daughter-in-law) took care of her, bathing, bed pans and such, until she was able to get into the wheelchair. The rod was removed 11 months later. Mom said, all along, she would walk again without a walker, drive and dance on the one-year anniversary of the accident. We went to a party exactly on year later, at my uncle Joe's home, and she danced! She was crippled all the rest of her life, and limited as to what she could do as a result."
Jim Lamb continues: "My mother worked all the time, it seemed to me, anyway. She said she worked to relax?? The only time I can remember when she wasn't working was for a period of 3 1/2 months after her car wreck, and only until she was able to get into her walker.
She had 11 siblings, and she loved to be around family. Anytime she had extra time, she and I would go visit one or two of the relatives.
"Mom, also, is one of those who did the research on the family's lineage, which resulted in the first publication of the Hoskinson genealogy. Mom worked with her cousins, Alice Wooldridge, Lulu and Harmon 'Bud' Day, and Mrs. Harry Hoskinson, interviewing relatives and gathering data for the publication, 'One Branch of the Hoskinson Family,' which Alice Wooldridge had published in 1963.
"Mom was born in 1902 in Etiwanda, CA. (formerly Grapeland, founded by the Perdews in 1860/'61) in the old rock house. She went to the one-room Perdew School, built in 1885 by her grandfather, Alexander Glenn Perdew; then later, she attended the original Etiwanda Schoolhouse. She only went as far as the 7th grade, however that was the norm back then, for girls. She said they didn't have paper to write, or figure on, rather they each had a slate to write on. Mom could take a 5-digit number and multiply it by another 5-digit number, and come up with the answer using only one line of numbers. In other words, she did all the figuring and carrying of numbers in her head, rather than writing out the full problem! She taught my brother, Howard, and me how to do it, and Howard could work up to 4-digit numbers, but I could only easily work out 3-digit numbers.
"Mom loved to cook, and even after the Bryant Ranch cookhouse was shut down, she still cooked three meals a day, and baked her breads, as long as she lived. Whenever she went to visit someone, she always took food of some kind. She once told (my wife) Nan, that cooking relaxed her. Ironically, our daughter, Molly, has told Nan the same, 'Cooking is how I relax.' Mom was 40 years old when I was born. I guess I was Mom and Dad's 25th wedding anniversary gift!!
Back then, 40 years old was considered pretty old for a woman to give birth. I remember frequently, as a child, being out with Mom, someone would ask her if I was her grandson.
My mother always seemed to have enough time to teach me things, right along with all the other work she may have been involved with. Before I started school, she had taught me to add, subtract, and some of the multiplication table, and to print my name and address. As a result, I was placed in first grade, rather than kindergarten.
"Before the folks started working for the Bryant Ranch, they had worked at many different jobs. During the 1920's, they owned a small dairy of 56 Jersey cows. The dairy was located in El Monte, CA. on Peck Road and named 'Champion Dairy,' and only Mom and Dad worked it. They had to milk the cows twice a day, in the morning and evening. Mom hand-milked 26 head of cows (that's before milking machines) and Dad would milk the rest of the herd. The bulk milk was placed in 10-gallon milk cans that Mom would lift up to Dad (80 lbs. each) and he stacked them on a flatbed truck which would be used to haul in for processing. They also had a milk route, where the milk was bottled in glass and delivered to individual homes. Mom drove the milk delivery van, and ran the bottles up top the customers' door steps, and picked up their empty bottles. While Mom delivered the milk to customers, Dad would clean up the milk house, pile up the manure, feed the stock and deliver the bulk milk in to Los Angeles. During the day, they would sterilize the milk bottles and milk cans with steam and get ready for the evening milking, then do it all over again tomorrow! Also, during those times, Mom had two small boys, Bob and Howard, to care for. (Maybe cooking for 52 Bryant Ranch hands was easier!?) During 'the Depression', they lost their dairy and both worked for wages from then on.
"After the 'cookhouse' was shut down and we moved to the 'gate house' on the Bryant Ranch, Mom worked in town. She had about five families she did house cleaning for, and one of the families would pay her extra to cook up to seven casserole dishes the family could eat during the next week. She made the casseroles while doing their housecleaning! During summers, I would go with her, and she paid me to help her vacuum and dust. Two of the families paid her extra to do their laundry. She would bring the laundry home and wash it on Saturday and Sunday, using our old Maytag wringer washing machine, doing the rinsing in stationary tubs. Mom would also iron their laundry. She taught me how to iron clothes, and would give me 10 cents for each garment I ironed. She wouldn't let me iron the frilly blouses though! She was afraid I'd scorch one and she would have to replace it.
"If you haven't guessed already, Mom was one tough cookie! If pushed, she would 'fight at the drop of a hat,' - and I mean, fist fight! Dad used to say, 'she could kick the s**t out of a fire plug!' During the 'Depression' years, after they had lost their dairy, she and Dad worked at any work they could get. One job they worked together was for a collection agency. Most of the time, Dad would wait in the car, or otherwise close by, while Mom went and knocked on the doors to make the collections. Dad said he didn't have to give her a hand more than just a couple times!
"One time when I was about 14 years old, a salesman knocked on our door at the 'gate house'. Mom answered the door and the salesman started rattling off his sales pitch. Mom finally got tired of not being able to get in a word. I heard her yell loudly, 'Listen now, I've told you I am not interested, now get the hell off the property!' I jumped up off the couch and ran to the door; I stepped in front of Mom and told the salesman, 'You've heard my Mom, now get going!'
He said, 'Oh, a real tough kid, huh? Talking like that will get you hurt, Sonny," at which time Mom, from behind me, threw a punch over my shoulder at his face. He started backing up and cussing her, so she grabbed my .410 shotgun from behind our door, and stepped outside. He headed for his car, got inside and rolled the window down and cussed her again. Some were words I heard for the first time. She pointed the shotgun at him and he spun the wheels and hollered one last thing, 'You m**r f**er." Well, that did it. She yelled, "Jim, get in the car; here, take this gun," and off we went, chasing him about 12 miles before she turned off and headed for the Placentia police station. We had got close enough to get his license plate, so she filed a report with them. Now, you need to realize, at that time, Mom was crippled, and that salesman was about 6'3", 240 pounds, with red hair. Of course, I didn't know that when I ran to the door to help her, but, oh well, I couldn't back down. I had to say something. (I guess I take after Mom in that way.) As tough as Mom was, she was one of the most caring people I have ever met. She was always there to help anyone in need, or if only for their reassurance.... but don't give her any crap!!"
Mamie died Fri., May 02, 1975 in Upland, San Bernardino, CA.
The San Bernardino County Sun (San Bernardino, CA.), P.15
Sunday, May 4, 1975
Mamie Lamb, Lytle Creek
Mamie Perdew Lamb, 72, of 13934 Hazel Dr., Lytle Creek, died Friday in Upland. She was born in Etiwanda and was a ten year resident of Lytle Creek.
Survivors include her husband, Louis C.; three sons, Howard L. of Duarte, Robert L. of Alta Loma and James E. of Upland; two sisters, Birdie Bryden of Corona and Hazel Lamb of Yucaipa; a brother, Benjamin Perdew of Missouri; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Stone Funeral Home, Upland. Burial will be in the Bellevue Cemetery, Ontario. Friends may call from 5 to 9 p.m. tomorrow at the funeral home.
In the preface to Alice H. Wooldridge's book, 'Genealogy of One Branch of the Hoskinson Family; Some Descendants of George Washington Hoskinson' (which is an invaluable source of information on the Perdew family and other related lines), Mrs. Woolridge states: 'I would particularly like to express my appreciation to Mr. Harmon Day, Mrs. Louis C. Lamb and Mrs. Harry Hoskinson without whose help this book would not be as complete or even possible.'
Family Members
Siblings
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Daisy Perdew Niederman
1890–1938
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Birdie Leone Perdew Bryden
1892–1978
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Josie Perdew
1894–1905
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Rufus Putnam "Doc" Perdew Jr
1897–1948
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Florence R. Perdew Graves
1900–1969
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Etta Mae Perdew Evans
1904–1975
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George Ralph Perdew
1907–1972
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Victor D. Perdew
1909–1962
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Hazel Elizabeth Perdew Lamb
1911–1977
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Douglas Stevens Perdew
1914–1958
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Benjamin Perdew
1916–1977
