In October 1940, Dad, Mom and I drove to Kansas to visit Dad’s Grandmother Rosa Huckstadt, as well as his Huckstadt relatives. These relatives lived in and around Garden City, which is located in the Southwestern portion of the state. While visiting Great-Grandmother Huckstadt we stayed on a farm about eight miles northwest of Garden City. In fact, when Dad left Kansas for Colorado, he was attending Holcomb High School. Holcomb is a small town seven miles due west of Garden City. It could have been that the farm where we stayed was closer to Holcomb than Garden City. It is my conjecture that Dad wanted to see Grandma Huckstadt, since she was 80 years old and he wanted Grandma Huckstadt to meet Mom and me. Our Kansas trip was taken in our 1936 Chevrolet Sedan.
After leaving Santa Ana, our first stop was at Boulder Dam; today known as Hoover Dam. This dam on the Colorado River began construction in 1931 and was finished in 1936. It was first dedicated as Hoover Dam, but public criticism resulted in it being referred to as Boulder Dam, since the original intent was to build the dam in Boulder Canyon. However, design considerations resulted in the dam being built about 20 miles south in Black Canyon. In any event, I knew it as Boulder Dam, probably because Dad and Mom referred to it with that name. Since in 1940 Dad was working on the Prado Dam, I rather suspect that was the primary reason for visiting the dam. Although I have no visual images of the dam from that visit, there is one image that I do remember. We must have taken a tour, because I remember being somewhere within the dam itself walking on some damp dirt. Since the ground was damp it was slippery and Dad’s foot slipped and he lost his balance but did not fall. Photos taken at the dam show a commemoration plaque (I believe); a view of the river at the dam’s outlet; a view of Lake Mead with a water intake tower; and an observation house hanging out over the canyon’s edge and river, with the dam in the background.
Commemoration Plaque
River at the Dam Outlet
Lake Mead Intake Tower
Observation House
After visiting the dam, we continued onto Kansas. I am not sure which highway we used on our journey, but after a little research I would believe that Route US 50 would provide the best route to our destination. I am also positive we had to stop at night and stay in a motel, but nothing comes to mind about stopping. My only image of the trip to Kansas is that somewhere we encountered some cattle on the highway that blocked the road. No idea where this incident occurred, nor how long we were delayed. I suspect we arrived in Kansas after a two or three day drive.
Upon arrival in Kansas we stayed on Dad’s Uncle Mearle and Aunt Florence Wolfkill’s farm. This farm was located about eight miles northwest of Garden City. Great-Grandmother Rosa Huckstadt lived on this farm with her daughter Florence and son-in-law Mearle. She had moved there from Westmoreland sometime in 1928. To be honest, I do not remember Great-Uncle Mearle and Great-Aunt Florence being present while visiting Great-Grandmother Huckstadt. Although there are several photos taken at the farm, none show the complete farm. The closest photo to showing more of the place than the others is one with me running towards our car, and it does not show too much. But hen again, it is Kansas!
One View of the Wolfkill’s Farm
Dad took Mom and my photo with Great-Grandmother Huckstadt, probably just after we first arrived at the farm.
Mom, Great-Grandmother and Royal
Another photo of Great-Grandmother Huckstadt, Dad, Mom and me was taken at a Huckstadt reunion, I suspect in Garden City. There is not any way to know whose home was used for the reunion.
Great-Grandmother Dad, Mom and Royal
Memories of this Kansas trip are very sparse. While the photos bring back some of the memories, there are only about three or four events that are direct recollections. Perhaps one reason for not recollecting more is that everything and everybody was so new ti was difficult to absorb everything. I remember there was no running water on the farm. No running water meant two things: water was obtained by pumping it from a well and the toilet was an outhouse! Here is a photo of Mom using the pump to fill a pot while I look at a large barrel of water. There may have been a pump at the kitchen sink, but there is no photo of the kitchen. I also learned the Sears & Roebuck Catalog in the outhouse was not necessarily reading material, but emergency toilet paper!
Mom Pumping Water to Fill Pot
Every farm has to have a dog and there was one on Great-Uncle’s farm. His name was Jack and we made great friends. There is one photo of Jack and me posing for our picture. If a boy and a dog cannot bond, something is wrong with the world.
Royal and Jack
My first hunting experience occurred on our visit. Dad, Jack and I went out on Great-Uncle Mearle’s farm to hunt jackrabbits. Dad was using his Steven’s 22 rifle. I have the visual image of Dad shooting one of the rabbits that jumped out in front of us. Dad shot once at the running rabbit and we had the first rabbit. Dad shot another rabbit a while later, but I don’t remember if the second rabbit was running. As I was to confirm several years later on a deer hunt, Dad was an excellent rifle shot, both hunting and target shooting. Mom took our photo with the two jackrabbits with Jack licking his chops. I am not sure if we ate rabbit that night, since jackrabbits are usually not eaten.
Dad, Royal and Jack with jackrabbits
Did Great-Uncle Mearle have a tractor? Yes, he absolutely had a tractor. In fact, there were at least two of them. Although there is no recollection of sitting on the either tractor, I was able to sit on the two shown. One is an old one no longer in use, because there are no tires on it.
Royal Sitting on Old Tractor
The second tractor appears more “up-to-date” and even has tires. Was I able to ride a tractor?
Unfortunately no, at least I do not remember riding a tractor. Best I can discern from the photos is that these tractors were on Great-Uncle Mearle’s farm.
Royal Sitting on Newer Tractor
There are also some photos of Great-Grandmother Huckstadt, Mom, Great-Aunt Florence Huckstadt Wolfkill and me. The old tractor can be seen just behind Grandmother Huckstadt. The dog’s name is lost to history.
Great-Grandmother, Mom, Great-Aunt Florence and Royal
Great-Grandmother and Great-Aunt Florence
While we were at Dad’s Uncle Mearle Wolfkill’s farm, his grain crop was harvested. Although the crop was a grain, I have no idea which grain. As best as I can remember, the grain was small with a reddish color. Guessing it was some type of wheat, an internet search revealed there is a red wheat. Thus, my best guess is that red wheat was being harvested. A photo of the truck being loaded with the grain was taken while I stood in the bed with the harvested grain. I have a clear image of standing in the truck bed while grain was being poured in about my feet. You can barely see me above the sides of the truck bed. Great-Uncle Mearle is also visible above the truck cab, doing what I cannot discern from the photo. A third tractor can be seen in this photo. I do not know if belonged to Great-Uncle Mearle, or someone else.
Great-Uncle Mearle and Royal
After filling the truck with the grain, we drove to a silo next to a set of railroad tracks to off load the grain into the silo. A token of this harvest was discovered that night when taking my shoes off for bed—there was some grain in my shoes.
Animals on Great-Uncle Mearle’s farm were varied, to say the least. They included rabbits, hogs, a donkey and even some turkeys. Yes, there were chickens, but I did not include pictures of them. Dad took a number of photos of these common farm animals. (I am not sure about turkeys being common)
Finally, what is a farm without a horse. I believe these photos were taken on Great-Uncle Mearle’s farm, but I cannot be sure. So, not only was there a horse on the farm, I got a horseback ride! There is a faint memory of the ride but not a strong visual image. I actually did not remember the horseback ride, but the photos brought it into a fuzzy focus. I did not ride the horse by myself, but rode behind some relative that I cannot identify. This horse had to be very mild mannered for both of us to be on its back and just stand quietly while several photos were taken.
Unknown Relative and Royal
Notice how I am looking toward the ground. There is another photo with me looking down also. I am probably thinking, “Boy, it sure is a long ways down.” Dad took a shot of just me sitting on the horse, and the look on my face shows uncertainty, or I was scared to death.
Royal
Sometime during our visit, there was a Price/Huckstadt reunion at someone’s home in Garden City. What is a family reunion without a group photo? Although this group photo was in my folks photo collection, I had no idea who was who. Dad’s Cousin Bertha Louise Wolfkill Merrill sent me some of the photos above plus a list of who was who in the reunion photo. Since Dad is not in the group, it is assume he took the picture.
Standing Left to Right: Herman Huckstadt, Lee Ballinger, Gladys Ballinger, Bertha Ann Huckstadt Ballinger, Ben Ballinger, Grandmother Huckstadt, Ora Florence Huckstadt Wolfkill, Ver Nealia Huckstadt, Mom (Pauline Gwendolyn Graham Price), Oda Louise Huckstadt Scott, Bertha Louise Wolfkill Merrill, Alice Rose Huckstadt Meredith, Peter Merrill, Louis Huckstadt, Mearle Wolfkill, Robert Louis Huckstadt, Otto Ballinger
Sitting: Lyman Huckstadt, Royal
Now that everyone has a name, how do they fit into the family background? Before tackling that daunting task let’s consider another photo taken at the reunion of five specific Huckstadts. Who are these Huckstadts? They are the oldest Huckstadt family members at the reunion. Using family research data and the names above, I was able me to identify them.
It is Great-Grandmother Huckstadt and four of her five children. The missing child is my Grandmother Charlotte “Lottie” Estelle Huckstadt Price. Grandmother Price died about three weeks after giving birth to my Aunt Gladys Mae Price. Left to right the men are: Herman Huckstadt and Robert Louis Huckstadt. Left to right the women are: Bertha Ann Huckstadt Ballinger and Ora Florence Huckstadt Wolfkill. These are Dad’s, Walter’s and Gladys’ Aunts and Uncles from the Huckstadt family. They would be my Great-Aunts and Great-Uncles. This photo of Great-Grandmother Huckstadt and her children also enabled me to understand Dad’s, Walter’s and Gladys’ cousins, as well as their other Aunts and Uncles through marriage,
Cousins were: Lee Ballinger, Oda Louise Huckstadt Scott, Bertha Louise Wolfkill Merrill, Alice Rose Huckstadt Meredith, Louis Huckstadt, Otto Ballinger, and Lyman Huckstadt. Gladys Ballinger is the wife of Cousin Lee Ballinger.
Aunts by marriage: Nealia Caleson Huckstadt and Ina Florence Wilber Huckstadt. Aunt Nealia was married to Herman Huckstadt, while Aunt Florence was married to Robert Louis Huckstadt.
Uncles by marriage: Benjamin Franklin Ballinger and Mearle Oscar Wolfkill. Ben Ballinger was married to Bertha Huckstadt, while Mearle Wolfkill was married to Ora Florence Huckstadt.
Bertha Louise Wolfkill Merrill was Dad’s Cousin who provided several of the photos from our 1940 Kansas trip. She also supplied the names for the group picture. I phoned her about 12 to 14 years ago, and we had a great conversation. When I told her my name, she recognized me immediately, remembering me from the Kansas trip from so long ago. Bertha Louise also wrote the story of Great-Grandmother Huckstadt’s Haid family pioneering adventures in Kansas mentioned in a previous essay. Bertha Louse wrote this story after quizzing her Grandmother Rosa Huckstadt while attending Holcomb High School. This high school was the same one Dad attended when he left Kansas for Pagosa Springs, Colorado, and eventually California. Bertha Louise died last year and her obituary was discovered on Ancestry.com.
A Huckstadt Family Tree provides a snapshot of how most of the folks in the reunion photo are related. This tree does not show any cousin marriages, which has not been researched or completed yet.
It seems rather ironic that there were no Prices to visit during our 1940 Kansas trip. Reviewing the Price family history, it does not appear there were any Price family members remaining in Kansas after Great-Granddad Robert S. Price and Granddad Robert A. Price moved to California, followed by Walter, Dad (Robert) and Gladys. Grandmother Charlotte E. Huckstadt Price died in Westmoreland, Kansas in 1911. In addition, Great-Grandmother Mary A. Price and Great-Aunt Lulu Price had both died in 1908. These three Price ancestors are all buried in Pottawattamie County, Kansas. However, there was another Price family member who also “escaped” to California, I believe in the same time frame as when Great-Granddad Price and Granddad Price moved to California.
Granddad Robert A. Price had an older brother, Nicholas W. Price. In 1910 Nicholas W. Price with his wife Hellie A. Price lived in Blue Valley, Kansas, with their three daughters and widowed Great-Granddad Robert S. Price. Sometime between 1910 and 1930 Nicholas and Hellie moved to Sacramento, California. Between 1930 and 1940 Hellie died and Nicholas moved in with, Helen A. Price Hunton’s family (Nicholas’ youngest daughter), also in Sacramento. California Death Records lists that Nicholas died on 12 August 1941. At this time, there is no record of what happened to the two older daughters of Nicholas and Hellie. While all Price family members left Kansas, the Huckstadt family maintained their Kansas roots, which given the circumstances speaks volumes about their character.
During the composition of this essay, I remembered that one day we took a trip into downtown Garden City. While visiting various stores I saw a picture postcard showing one of the dust storms that had struck the town. During the 1930s there was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the US and Canadian prairies. Extensive deep plowing of the prairie topsoil displaced the native, deep-rooted grasses that normally trapped soil and moisture, even during periods of drought and high winds. During the 1930s drought, this improperly plowed soil turned to dust that the prevailing winds blew away in clouds that sometimes blackened the sky. Drought and soil erosion affected100 million acres, with the worst area affected called the Dust Bowl. This area was centered on the panhandles of Texas, Oklahoma and touched adjacent sections of New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas. The following map shows the primary location of the Dust Bowl.
Farm land turned to dust and strong prairie winds produced unbelievable dust storms. In fact, April 14, 1935, was called Black Sunday due to a huge dust storms that hit primarily the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas, but affected other areas also. The resulting clouds are indescribable without seeing photos of the phenomenon, as these photos demonstrate. The first photo shows a dust cloud in Garden City, Kansas. I am not sure where the second dust storm photos was taken, but it clearly illustrates the dust cloud’s size relative to some farm buildings.
Can you imagine being engulfed by such a huge cloud of dust? Dust and dirt had to permeate your eyes, nose, ears and who knows what else. I wonder how you could breath or function at all. It does not seem that being outside during a dust storm was to desirable. To clean up after such a storm would have been a major chore.
Why am I describing the Dust Bowl and dust storms? Well, Garden City is situated in the Southwestern portion of Kansas, as shown by the Red pin in the map. It is obvious that Garden City was about in the center of the Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl forced tens of thousands of families to abandon their farms. Many of these families, who were often known as “Okies” because so many of them came from Oklahoma, migrated to California and other states. In fact, I remember a song title, or maybe just a joke, “Hey Arkie, if you see Okie, tell him Tex has a job for him in Californy.”
Garden City, Kansas
I think it is amazing the Huckstadts persevered and made it through not only the Great Depression, but also the Dust Bowl. They had to have been very hardy folks. I am sure there were times when things looked very bleak, but they stuck it out. Their hardiness reminds me of the pioneers that settled this part of the Great Prairie. Sticking it out says a lot about the basic character of the family. Once I realized what the Huckstadt family must have endured, I wished we would have maintained better contact with this side of our family. I am sure World War II and gas rationing impacted maintaing contact, and maybe Dad did keep up with them via letters that I did not know about. Why no further trips to Kansas, especially after the War? Although I don’t really know, not maintaining contact with them robbed us of learning more about our family history.
Following our visit with the Huckstadt side of the family we headed back to California. After all, I had to return to attend Kindergarten. I believe we drove back to California using the famous Route 66 because we stopped at the Grand Canyon. I remember only one thing at the Grand Canyon,a cylindrical stone tower that was a tourist shop. Dad took a photo of this tower and a one of the canyon in which you can see the Colorado River below.
Although I do not recall everything we did while in Kansas, However, I did have a chance to see and gain some understanding of where Dad grew up and those relatives that were so important to his early childhood. Most important, I remember meeting Great-Grandmother Huckstadt. She is the only Great-Grandparent I ever met. Meeting Great-Grandparents is difficult due to the number of years separating the generations. It may become harder in the future since marriage is being delayed for college and childbearing is also occurring later in life. These factors in a sense rob later generations of knowing how things were in the past. I believe missing this link to the past is to a culture’s disadvantage. Great-Grandmother Rosa Charlotte Haid Huckstadt died 4 May 1944, at the age of 84 years. A recently discovered obituary provided some new information, which required some re-writing of the 1940 Kansas trip.
Thus ends the saga of my 1940 Kansas trip. It must be admitted that writing about this trip was an eye opener for me, in many respects. Previously, the Huckstadt side of the family was somewhat of a mystery to me, except for Great-Grandmother Rosa Huckstadt. I would hear names mentioned by Dad, like Uncle Herman, or Aunt Florence, which were only names to me. Their names had no faces and I did not know how they fit into the family. Writing about this trip required that I research and identify who were the folks in the pictures. Now I have a better idea who is who, and where their branches fit in the family tree. Ruminating why the Huckstadts were such a mystery to me, I realized that never knowing Grandmother Charlotte Estelle Huckstadt Price was perhaps one of the reasons. This affect can also be applied to not knowing Granddad Robert A. Price. If you do not know one set of Grandparents there are profound impacts on knowledge and history of your family. After writing about this trip from over 70 years ago, I have a greater appreciation for the Huckstadts, especially after learning they survived the Great Depression and Dust Bowl, while so many others did not. It seems we should have greater appreciation for all branches in our tree. I did not until too late.
