Honoring our Immigrant Herritage Survey

Full Name

Bailey, Anna E. (as written in 1975)

What are your ties to Collyer?

(Anna lived here until the last years of her life.)

Where did you live?

My first rural home was about 3/4 of a mile south of Collyer, Kansas. Our home had three large rooms with an upstairs and was made of sod. For heat a large drum stove was used so that you could burn "cow chips" and any kind of wood. I was the oldest of four girls in our family. I remember we would take a wooden wagon and walk along the railroad tracks to pick up coal that had rolled off coal cars as the trains traveled through town. Sometimes, we happened to be there when the trains ran through, and the brakeman would roll off large lumps of coal, which always pleased us. We dug our wells and walled them with stone. Our kitchen always had a water bucket with a dipper. Kerosene lamps were used for lights. In 1905 we built a six-room house nearer to town. This house was built of adobe blocks that my father and neighbors made by mixing straw with gumbo (a type of soil) and water. This mixture was tramped together by horses and formed into blocks about 8x8x14 inches long, and left to dry. Then it was laid as you would bricks. Later, we faced it with lumber siding. This house still stands at the south end of Main Street in Collyer, Kansas.

Which School did you attend?

We had a one-room stone schoolhouse with one teacher and all eight grades. I don't remember just how many pupils - I think there were about 40. Some had to walk over 3-1/2 miles. Most of the social programs were literary. Sometimes we had debates and box suppers. After graduating from the 8th grade in 1906, I went to WaKeeney, Kansas (14 miles east) to attend High School. I lived with a family, I worked for them for my room and board. I took care of four boys, washed, ironed, scrubbed floors and other household chores. I was frequently left in charge of the four boys. I caught a bad cold and it settled on my lungs. The lady where I stayed suggested I use coal oil and lard (kerosene) on my chest - which was too strong and caused a big blister to develop on my chest. This was the first and last home remedy I ever used. Due to too much work in order to earn my room and board, I couldn't keep up with my studies. So, after one semester, I returned home to work. Jobs in those days were mostly helping your neighbors with housework and chores. I worked in a General Store for 50 cents a day. I was about 16 years old, I walked to work and also walked home for my dinner. We walked most places, as we were not far from the school, the general store, or post office. My parents got their first automobile in 1916.

What was your religious affiliation?

Do you have any stories to tell about family hardships resulting from building and oranizing a Collyer Church or Church Structure?

We would have church services about once a month in our homes when Clergy would come from larger towns. Sometimes local families would have religious services in school houses.

Were your friends and neighbors all of the same religious affiliation?

Your ethnic background/which country did your ancesters call home?

What language was spoken in the home?

Did you experience any problems or barriers caused by speaking a different language?

What ethnic and/or religiuos traditions do you specifically remember growing up with? Does your family still practice the same traditions?

When did you and/or your family move to Collyer?

(We moved 3/4 mile to the South end of Main St in an Adobe House my father and neighbors built in 1905.)

Do you know how "Collyer" was chosen as a home designation? (Why did your family move here?) Did they operate a farm on homesteaded property?

Did you/and or your family operate a business in Collyer?

(My husband, Scott Bailey, was the UPRR Station Agent in Collyer. Later, in 1920, my husband worked for the First National Bank of Collyer. He retired in 1962.)

Did you or your parents serve in the military?

Were there problems caused by your ethnic background?

Was your family name changed after you arrived in the United States?

What year were you born?

(Born 1890 - Died 1989)

Where was you place of birth?

(Collyer)

Why did your family leave their homeland?

What form of travel did your ancestors use to get to their destination?

What hardships did they encounter on their journey?

What Ports of Call did they travel through to get to America?

Which Port of Entry did they come through when they arrived in America?

What possessions did they bring along with them on their journey? Did they have to sell most of their possessions to be able to obtain money for the journey?

How long did their journey take them from their homeland?

What was the occupation of your ancestors?

Did they change occupations once they settled?

Did they face discrimination once they settled in Collyer?

How did they acquire their homestead land or business?

Did there seem to be different social classes among the settlers?

How did the war affect you or your family?

Do you have ties or are you in communication with anyone in your ancestor's country?

Have you ever been back to your ancestor's country?

How did your ancestors integrate into a community? In other words, what was the common thread that brought them together?

Additional Notes:

Girls always learned to do some sewing. You did not have many dresses, they were usually made of calico print. Undergarments were made of flour sacks. Shopping was done about once a month. You gathered up some eggs and butter and took them to the general store for money or in exchange for something else. You bought flour and coffee. Our doctors were over 15 miles away, and they had to travel by horse and buggy. So, you had to use what home remedies you knew. The aged were generally taken care of by their families. A Midwife in the community helped with newborn babies and their mothers. I remember one night my mother became very ill and my father could not leave her. I was only about 11 years old, but since I was the oldest child in our family, I had to walk and run about 3/4 of a mile to town to get word to the nearest doctor - Dr. Jones in WaKeeney, Kansas. There were no telephones in rural areas. I was lucky the moon was shining.

Additional Notes:

I was married to Scott Bailey on April 17, 1912. He was a relief telegraph operator. You just boxed up a few things so you could "batch," as we were only in one place about 10 days. When my husband was the (UPRR) station agent in Collyer, Kansas, we got our first stove. It was a two-hole kerosene stove. In those days you did the washing on a washboard, and, if possible, you boiled the white clothes. I had ordinary irons with a handle. Later, I had what they called flat irons. The handles could be removed on the flat irons, and they were heated on stoves. I never used home-made soap, but many people did. Your furniture mostly consisted of a homemade table, a few chairs or benches, some sort of bed, and a cook stove. We had three children - Ethel Rose, Charles Abel, and Gladys Marie. The youngest child, Gladys Marie, died to an unknow illness when she was 16 months old. In 1920 my husband began working for the First National Bank in Collyer, Kansas. He retired from the bank in 1962.

Additional Notes:

Sugar, dried fruit, and beans were our staple foods. Around Christmas and holidays there were apples and oranges. In the summer gardens were planted. Beets, carrots, and turnips were stored in sand in caves (like cellars) which we dug for the winter. Sauerkraut was made of cabbage. Almost everyone had a few hogs that were butchered. We also had a smokehouse where some of the meat was smoked. Chickens were raised for eggs and meat. Wild life was also hunted - the rabbit, prairie chicken, other animals, and fish were used. You had a cow or so for milk. We had harvest and threshing crews for the wheat. Fresh beef was our biggest problem, as ice was hard to get. The floors of a house were of wood that had to be scrubbed with scrub brushes. At this time you used a cloth they called mosquito netting. Mosquito netting was also used to keep flies off the food and off children when they were asleep in the daytime.

Additional Notes:

Prairie fires were often started because the grass and stubbles (left from harvest) were so dry. In the fall the fires were very hard to fight, especially when windy. We had blizzards, but not too many tornados that I can remember. Some people had storm cellars, but mostly you just endured them. In the "Dirty Thirties" you usually visited until the wind subsided and then you would shovel out the dirt. I remember when my husband and other men would put handkerchiefs over their mouths, tie their hands together, and go out to find people that were caught in the storm. (Storms came up so suddenly.) Many times the men would follow a fence to know where they were. My only advice I would give youg people would be to learn to do the basic things of home life and believe in Our Saviour. All my 84-1/2 years of life have been in Collyer, Kansas. My health is good for my age. I am able to do my own housework. I don't miss a Sunday in church. My husband passed away in 1964, so I live alone. *** This was written by Anna in January, 1975. Thanks to her family for passing it on to us. We are including it here because it so truly shows us the life that was lived here. We wanted the reader to be able to picture the life that the immigrants moved into, as we study the ethnic backgrounds of our ancestors. ***

Web page designed by Collyer Enterprises