The pioneers had their troubles, too
September 20, 2008 (Saturday)
My great grandfather, Charles Prentice Fake, married Melissa (Lizzie) Stone in 1872 near Utica, New York, then promptly moved west to Minnesota via the new railroad. When they arrived in Southwestern Minnesota, all they had was a plot of land and the belongings they took with them. Charles then set about the work of building a “little house on the prairie.” The couple had four sons, and raised them up in the town of Worthington.
Leo and Clare Nelson were “Winter Texans” who worshiped with the First Baptist Church of Rockport many years. As I talked with them, I learned they lived in the county where my Minnesota ancestors lived. Leo volunteered to visit the County Clerk’s office there and see if he could find out where they lived. As he opened the book of records, the very first name in the book of deeds was Charles P. Fake. As he turned the pages, he found out that Charles bought quite a few pieces of property in that area. I suspect that his investments sustained him and his family, because the few letters I have seen show that he fell upon hard times as a farmer. A notorious plague of grasshoppers one year is a matter of record in the American history books. He had no crop at all that year.
As I see the current financial crisis we are in and the problems associated with mortgages, I think about “Charlie” and “Lizzie” and the house he put together with his own hands. As far as I know, he had no mortgage at all on that little house. Of course, it had no electricity, no running water, no bathroom, probably not much of a kitchen, no wall-to-wall carpet, etc. About all they had when it was first built was a place to get inside when it was raining or snowing, and a place to sleep.
The country, however, did have recessions from time to time. Back then, they called them “panics.” Pretty good name, I would say, judging from the news I’ve heard this week from Wall Street and Washington. Periodic troubled times seem to be the nature of financial systems.