Things I Remember
		       by Regina Shannon Smith

My parents, John and Teresa Farrell were born in Clinton county, Iowa
and lived there many years.  They were married at Villa Nova country
church and began housekeeping in a home just south of the Villa Nova
church.  Their seven children were born here and there in Clinton
county.  The oldest, Loretta, was probably born near Villa Nova
although her obituary says De Witt, which was probably not too far
away. I found Joe's record in Clinton County court house which states,
born in Welton township July 5, 1896. I was born in Orange Twp. near
Grand Mound.

On March 1, 1910, we moved to Elma, Iowa in Howard county.  Uncle Pat
and Aunt Bridget Farrell were living in Elma at the time The oldest 5
were in school. I was told in later years that I wandered off and was
found down by a creek on the day we moved in.  I would have been a
little over a year old.  On March 1, 1911 we moved to a farm. 8 miles
north of New Hampton.  The country school was only a half mile away,
so the older ones went to school there and Teresa and I went as soon
as we were old enough. It was Jacksonville # 5 .We went to mass at a
little place called Jerico, a few miles away.  In the winter we went
by horse and sleigh.  The sleigh had a thick layer of straw on the
bottom and we used wrapped hot bricks to keep warm.  We used a cutter
and a fast team of horses when the snow was deep. When you hit a big
drift the sleigh usually upset and you got dumped but the horses
always stopped.  Mother occasionally helped with the milking but was
kept busy with the cooking, washing and a big garden.  She would bake
10 or 12 loaves of bread every couple of days, We milked a lot of cows
all by hand, sometimes as many as 40. Our parents and the older boys
went to weddings and visits as far as Elma but the rest of us got to
go very seldom. We did get to go once when a tornado struck outside of
New Hampton.  There was a lot of destruction and I remember chickens
running around without any feathers.  Mother had a large 20 gallon
churn on a stand that we sat and turned over and over until we got
lots of butter. much of which was put into various sizes of crocks,
and they took it into New Hampton where they had lots of customers,
they used a team and a 2 seated buggy.  they also took their cream and
eggs into New Hampton to sell.  I remember one time mother was
churning, she removed the top to see if it was ready to take out, and
replaced it without fastening it.  It was hooked to the frame when you
wanted it to stay upright.  Our cousin, Edwin Showalter came in and
thought he would like to try it.  He unhooked it and gave it a turn.
The lid flew off and many pounds of butter flew on the floor.  He
never forgot it.  But the floor was clean so mother got most of it
picked up and then washed off Loretta was going to college in New
Hampton. In 1918 Joe was down at Parnell working for uncle Will Torpey
when he received notice that he was being drafted,.  Mother just sat
and cried and cried, The armistice was signed shortly before he had to
go, the war was over.  We moved to Parnell March 1st, 1919.  I
remember the snow at New Hampton that day.  All the fences were covered
and you had to guess where the road was by looking ahead to see where
houses were.  The horses never sank into the snow as it was packed so
hard.  A neighbor took mother, Bill, Teresa and I to the train.  Bill
could not go with dad and the boys because he had asthma so bad.  They
were on a freight train with the livestock, machinery and all that we
owned.  When we got to Belle Plain they told us we could not go to
Parnell until Monday so we had to stay on the train all weekend.  We
were not prepared for a weekend but we met a woman who had taught
Loretta at Upper Iowa University and she helped us out with food.  Dad
and the boys had to unload all the livestock to a stockyard so they
could feed and water them When we got to Parnell on Monday, Uncle Will
and his neighbors helped us move out to the farm we had rented.

The farm at Parnell was located 1 mile east and 2 miles south of town.
When we got settled, Teresa and I attended a nearby country school to
finish out the year.  Then in the fall we went to Parnell Consolidated
School which was taught by Catholic nuns.  We made a lot of friends.
There was an old man who had a blacksmith shop just south of us and we
used to visit him a lot. Nine years later he was murdered in his shop.
We just lived at Parnell one year and on March 1st, 1920 we moved to
the Vincent farm southeast of Keota.  Teresa and I drove a horse and
buggy to St. Mary's Catholic school in Keota for the 4 years we lived
there.  Loretta taught school the first year we lived there and was
married in April, 1921. LaVera was born in our home in 1922.  In
March, 1924 we moved to the Boland farm, 1 mile west and 2 miles north
of Webster.  I stayed in Keota at the John Bermels and finished the
school year out, In the fall I started Keswick high school.  Allie was
married while we lived there and lived in a tenant house nearby.  Cleo
was born there, Bill was married in 1925.  In March of 1927 we moved
north of there to the Doyle farm.  I went to Penn College in the
summer and got my teachers certificate.  In the fall I contracted to
teach at White Oak school in Plank township.  I taught there
Sept. 1927 to May 1930.  Allie lived nearby and I stayed with them for
2 years.  In March, 1929 the folks moved down to that neighborhood to
the Felix Fixmer farm.  In 1931 my folks moved to a farm on the east
edge of Sigourney on Highway 92.  In Nov. 1934 dad passed away and in
March, 1935, mother and Urban moved to a farm at the end of East
Ringgold street in Sigourney. where they lived a year and then sold
out.  Mother then lived in a small apartment at the front of Joe and
Clara's house on N. Shuffleton St. Later moved to a 2 family house 2
blocks south of there.  She lived there until she went to the nursing
home.

			   Notes By Regina

My dad was clean shaven but had a mustache as long as I remember, he
had red hair.  Mother had long black hair which was never cut and she
always wore in a bun.  She had very little gray in her hair when she
died. We got our first car in 1917, a Model T Touring Car.  It had
side curtains snapped around it and in summer we could draw the top
back and fold it back at the rear.  My dad never learned to drive.