Sunday, August 19, 2012

The Bank of Copemish building around 1910.

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  1. Here is another entry of Blaho family history - compiled by Ben Blaho. You will see many neighbors named in this document.
    JOHN REMEMBERS

    The first time he seen false teeth, he was at the old farm watching the neighbor Mr. Lake
    working the field next door and about 10 AM his wife brought him a sandwich for his break and
    after he was finished with the sandwich, He took out his teeth to clean them and to this day John
    has never forgotten how this man took out his teeth.
    Another time at the old farm, he was quite small when during lunch break Mon dad went
    somewhere, John stayed to watch Queenie the horse and he decided to unhook the harness and as
    it was too heavy he just let it drop off. He took the horse by a wagon so he could get on the
    horse and take a ride and as the horse started to trot John fell off. Queenie stopped and just
    looked at him. And when Dad came back John got a talking to but no whipping.
    John talked of the time him, Mom and Brother Lou went to Manistee and went to the A
    & P store telling John to stay in the car but after a while John decides to get out and as he is
    crossing the street a policeman grabs him at about that time Mom is coming back and rescues
    him... And from that time Brother Lou reminds him to be good and listen or that policeman will
    get him.
    Frank the horse which was burned in a fire and dad cured him by putting milk foam over
    the burns. The horse turned out to be a good worker. Uncle John sent this horse by train to
    Manistee where dad picked him up and had to walk him back to the farm. He could not ride him
    because of all the burns.
    Nellie was another horse, John talked about. She was black in color, very tame and on
    the way to visit the Drobena family Nellie slipped on the ice and hurt her leg and then could no
    longer do heavy farm work but Dad kept her anyway and one area of the granary had a hole in it
    where the grain would fall on the ground where Nellie would like to eat it. And one morning
    Nellie was making a racket stomping by the back door of the house and when dad went to check
    Nellie turn around and stared toward the barn dropped down and died. John thinks she died of
    bloat or may be Arsenic poison. Anyway it seemed like she came to the back door to say good
    bye.
    Dad was out in back hitching up three horses together, Nellie on one side, Mable on the
    other and Bill in the middle when Bill knock his bridle off and all three start to run toward the
    barn when John grabs the lines of Nellie. Bill breaks loose and runs into the barn. In the back
    ground Ma is screaming and dad tells john never ever try to stop a runaway horse.
    John loved to take water out to dad when he was cultivating because most of the time dad
    would put him on the horse and let him ride for a long time. Telling him he is to steer the horse
    and this made him feel important. He remembers Jim another horse. He is big red in color would
    not pull just stands there so pa hires Mr. Milliron to train him but found out he was to stubborn to
    train. And later the horse was trained by Mr. Leatherman and finally Jim would work alongside
    of Bill the smaller horse. Bill was a very good riding horse very smooth rider but Jim just
    bounced along not good for riding
    John is 7 years old and is pestering Sister Marge to let him milk a cow, so she puts him
    on the stool under the cow and has him try and from that time on he was milking. He also talks
    of being very small and remembers dad at the end of the day would set on the porch of the house
    and peel apples and eat them. In Slovak asking John if he would like an apple so he peeled one
    and gave him slices of apple and they smelled and tasted like cigarettes from the nicotine on dads
    fingers from smoking so much.

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  2. They would go to church at the Suchy house as the custom at that time was the Minister
    would leave the organ at a home for about a month and conduct service there and then the next
    month at another home. Any way John is playing with the strings of his stocking cap and
    making little fuzz balls when Mom twisted Johns ear and give the look don’t do that and he got
    the message.
    John tells me about me doing something and he is running after me and as I go out the door Dad
    is coming in and as John flies out the door. Dad gives him a flat handed slap that turns him
    around
    He tells me whenever we would go to Manistee to visit sister Millie and she lived across the
    street of a shoe factory and how I would always say that is my shoe factory and to think that for
    years I Managed a shoe department store
    John tells how he thought Grandma Kapusta (momka) her little black rimmed glasses were funny
    and when she would watch the cattle she would pick up stones and put them by the fence
    Talking about what he remembers about the big barn fire, he is in school when they see big black
    smoke coming from the farm.( The farm is less that 1/8 mile from the school ) And the older
    boys and John about ten or eleven at the time. Chuck Melchek gets into the burning barn and
    unties the big bull and lets some of the other animals out but many perished in the fire. Mom
    who came from the woods area. Screaming as she wants to go into the barn because she thought
    Ben may be inside, Joe Suchy is holding her back as by now the fire is in full blaze and other
    men are throwing water on other buildings trying to save what they can. When Ted or Ray
    Rudman comes from the woods carrying Ben on his shoulders
    After the fire they want to put some cows into the garage shed so he and Mom were going to put
    a floor down. So he put part of a horse harness on one of the cows to pull the railroad ties up to
    the garage then fill the spaces between the ties and it made a good floor. Today he marvels that
    the cow would pull so well. (He was all ways thinking how to do the job easier
    Dad was moving the old page car with horses to be put behind old tool shed, Bruce Currie was in
    the car when pa stopped the horses then the car hit Bill the horse when he kicked his leg got
    caught in the bumper of the care and when he turned he knocked pa down while pa hung on to
    the horse both horses broke loose and dragged pa as they ran away. Pa was bruised up very bad
    before he got out of the way and the horses ran about a mile away before they stopped and were
    caught.
    John was raking hay, as he was going down the lane the wheel of the rake scraped the fence and
    the noise spooked Bill the house and he start running John jump off the rake as bill broke loose
    from the rake and was later caught by John Napora two miles from home
    After the tractor was bought gas was rationed and dad had to get R STAMPS to buy gas for the
    tractor.
    After the garage was built dad bought a windmill and John made the garage door with help form
    Ben

    After Dad buys the tractor. We had no Jack so he gets a long pole to lift the tractor wheel while
    Ben would put blocks under the frame. Then Ben would hold a 2X4 while John pounded with
    the sledge hammer to adjust the wheels on the tractor

    Brother Lou had a car magneto that he would wire to an iron day bed then would gave anyone
    who touched it a shock
    Recalls Ben going to doctor Quinn with a very swollen ear and he wanted to operate but Mom
    said no. And remembers Ben crying in the living room as they put peroxide into the ear.
    When he was 17 and Sister Marge would come home to visit he would take her to the dance with
    him and how his girl friends would not believe she was his sister.
    When he was 14 he recalls doing a cattle drive to the Springdale farm about eight miles away to
    be pastured there for the summer.

    Last change 6-16-2014

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