Fond recollections of growing up on a family farm. Written by Harold Eddleman.
Claude Eddleman grew up on a Eddleman Bend, a farm lying in a loop of Blue River a couple miles north of Milltown, Indiana. He was the youngest of 11 childern and all his siblings had migrated westward or died in their youth. Claude cared for the farm, his daughter Dorthy, and his parents. Claude's first wife died three months after their only child, Dorothy was born. They traded the farm for a house on Blue River in Milltown. Soon the worst flood in history damaged the home and they moved to an old house on the hill.
After the parents died. Claude remarried and four childern were born in that house. One day he picked up a slip of paper blowing with the wind. It was a grocery bill for a family not larger than his, but having older kids. Noting the cost of the bill, he decided he should move to a farm to grow our own food. The Great Depression was still going strong, and there was little prospect of earning money to rear a family in town.
Dad's second family began with a neighbors suggestion that there was a fine girl on a farm about 12 miles east of Milltown. Dad arranged to meet her in September 1931 and they were married in December 1931. Dad had a brand-new 1931 four-door Chevrolet. Dad had been making payments on it, but Mom decided there was no point in paying that interest and insisted they use some of her savings to pay off the balance of the cost.
Dad had little cash when they were married but he had a house with no mortgage. Work was pretty scarce in those days. Wages were $1 per day or less. Dad firmly believed that labor should hold out for higher wages and made most of his income repairing radios and other odd jobs.
Dad was a Skillful Repairman
This page begun Februrary 1997 - Revision #2 - 1998 January 29
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Suggestions, corrections, and comments are appreciated: Contact Harold Eddleman indbio@disknet.com