Page 1 - hb1903

, no l d n •
22 H111 0 i v
ngel C li f .
F bury 27 1 71

0 r Frl n

o .
dly qu 1 fy
n 1899 w n
ol d.

d i (Old Pal e as
n P F b y, I l no is
· nd four childr .n . (H h d em grated o
ome ten yea s e · 1 · e . ) 1 . as the
ug. 7 1893. One o e child - g rl ~as
hen y fol s i lied n P dale my
operated general e ch ndi se so re. He n' good
pe so he old his store to Fe i ad et of. e
ad a nice little farm jut 10 acr es . er sed so e lfalfa
and had n·ce orchard. At that tie e e ybody had plenty of
. a er bu . for so e reason or other a n ate co pany as
o ed and al l of hose first settl ers los hei at er rights
and they ere e lly out of luc . y f the dug by hand and
indlass a well 250 feet deep. One h ng I 1 lass re you
e wsn't at the botto doing the di ggi g - he s on top or ng
. e · .. indl ss. How he ever got anyone to go do n there and do
e digg ng was always a ystery. They got plenty of ·ater for
do,·es ic use and he put up a · indmi 1 and that p t o ed out
fine. ·e ll things went fro bad to worse - rying to fa m with-
out ·rrigating witer, but then the r ea l t r agedy h ppened . y
other passed away hen the last child my · ttle s ister otte
·as born. Then my father was in real trouble. ine children
to raise and no mother.

Something had to be done as there si ply as no chance to
a ea liv·ng in Palmdale. Somewhere along the 1·ne y father
got in ouch with a French slicker by the nae of Leon v·cett.
icett's nephew was supposed to have fi led on a 160 acre hoe-
s ead at Eli~abeth L e - 20 iles west of Pal dale. Vicett
made a deal with my father to trade his homestead r "ght ( which
he never had in the first place) for the 10 acres of land in
Palmdale ( which wasn't any good either. )

So in 1898 the family proceeded to . ove to Elizabeth Lake.
e had four boney but faithful horses and an old wagon, and how
we ever got the ov1ng job done is another ~stery. The hoe-
stead had no buildings of any kind, no water. The land was
solidly covered with brush and timber of all kind. Put yourself
1n that spot and try and see how it ust have felt. My father

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