My
great grandmother, Lelah Beryl Stone, was born 22 September 1908 in Marcellon
Township, Columbia, Wisconsin to Frank Ethan Stone and Frances Leila Mason
(Lawson) Stone. She was the fourth of
eight children.
Lelah
graduated from Randolph High School in 1926.
She attended Columbia County (Wisconsin) Normal School and graduated in
1927. At the time a person attended
Normal School for one year and received a degree to teach in a rural
school. Lelah graduated with a class of
29 – including her future sister-in-law.
After graduation, she taught at Pinewood School, which was in a joint
district of Randolph and Fox Lake townships.
She taught students from first through eighth grade. In 1928, she taught 21 students. One story I always remember that great
grandma told us about her teaching days was this: she arrived at the school to get it ready for
the students to arrive. While she was
getting prepared she happened to look up and out the window and a Native
American was outside her window in full regalia, on horseback, looking at
her! They looked at each other for a
moment, and he continued on his way. I
remember asking her if she was afraid and she said “oh no”.
In
1930, Lelah married Erwin Julius Farnsworth at her parents’ home in Randolph,
Columbia, Wisconsin. Her sister Maysel
and her brother Vernon were the attendants.
Lelah wore a white soft silk dress.
After the ceremony, there was a dinner held for the immediate family. After their honeymoon, a reception was held in
their honor for over two hundred people.
After the wedding, they moved to Erwin’s farm in Fremont, Clark, Wisconsin. Lelah only taught for two years, but she
remained involved with education through her involvement with school boards.
Lelah
and Erwin had two sons: Darryl Erwin (my
grandfather) was born in 1935 and Darwyn Lee was born in 1940. The family lived on 168 acres in the township
of Fremont. The farm is where the boys grew up and the grandchildren
came to visit often. My mom, aunt, and
uncles would always tell stories of going to Grandma and Grandpa’s farm. They would swing from ropes in the barn and
land in the hay. They would help Grandma
by going to get the eggs, helping her wash and weigh each one so Grandma could
sell them. My mom would say it was a job
that would take her grandma twenty minutes to do, but with the “help” of the
grandkids it lasted at least an hour (and sometimes involved a few broken
eggs!). Grandma never minded how long it
took or if a few eggs got broken along the way.
My
mom and her grandma would get the fair books every year and decide on which
categories they would enter. Then they
would use the same recipe and the same ingredients and make their entries. They would both enter the same things, but
sometimes Mom would get first place and her grandma would get second or vice
versa. But they always enjoyed doing
that together. My grandma – Darryl’s
wife – credits Lelah for teaching her much about being a wife and a mother.
Lelah
was an amazing cook and baker. Whenever
you went to her house, you could smell fresh baked breads or cookies. She literally won thousands of ribbons over
the course of all the county fairs she entered.
But it wasn’t just baking she excelled at – she also entered canned
goods, sewing, and various forms of needlework.
One undated newspaper article noted that in one year she won 127 ribbons
at one fair and 130 ribbons at another!
She was featured in various local newspaper articles talking about her
skills. Often times those articles
contained her tried and true recipes.
In
1970, Lelah and Erwin decided to sell the farm and move into town. The list price on the 168 acres was
$30,000.
In
1980, Lelah and Erwin celebrated their golden wedding anniversary with a dinner
and open house. Over 100 friends and
family attended (including a five year old me!) and enjoyed a program of
singing, poetry, story-telling, and of course, food.
Lelah
was a member of the Fremont Grange, the local homemakers club, and the United
Methodist Church. She loved to garden
and had beautiful flowers. She seemingly
could grow anything including a rare yellow peonia.
Lelah
stayed in the house after Erwin passed away in 1983. However, it became too much for her alone, so
she moved into a nursing home. She
passed away 5 February 1998. She is
buried next to Erwin at the Windfall Cemetery in Granton, Clark,
Wisconsin. She is missed by everyone,
but every time we get together we tell stories of our time with great grandma
and grandpa and of course still enjoy the recipes she shared with us.
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