Grandmother Atta Murray – Things I remember Part II

Grandmother would always say, “Eat this or that so that it will stick to your ribs.” Grandfather would always say, “Now make out a meal”. Then after breakfast as soon as what grandmother would need for her day was retrieved, like wood for the cook stove and anything she might need from the potato pit that day, the work in the field started. Depending on the time of the year it could either be planting, weeding, mowing hay, hauling hay, shocking grain or herding the cows. By the time noon came it was easy to see why grandmother admonished us to eat enough to last us until noon. Because by the time noon came around there was not much left sticking to our ribs. We were pretty gaunt. The noon meal was always the big meal of the day. It seemed like grandmother always had a feast. On the farm this meal was always referred to dinner. The evening meal was always referred to as supper. The evening meal was generally the lightest meal of the day. Anyhow when we finished dinner it was always customary to rest our dinner. This generally took about an hour and then it was back to the fields. You always stopped the work in the fields when it was time to take care of the milking and evening chores. Then you would go through similar steps in the evening as we had done that morning and then as soon as the evening chores were done it was time for supper.




When I think of my Grandmother Atta Murray, I see her in a print dress and she always wore an apron. She wore her hair in a bob on the back of her head. I have seen her with her hair down and can remember her combing it in the evening. It seems as though there was always some time in the evening after supper and the dishes and all chores were done when I guess there was what one would call leisure time. These were the times when I always saw grandmother quilting or sewing. Grandfather would be at the table with his reading glasses on and under the coal oil lamp reading the scriptures or paper. The children were probably involved in reading a book, paper or playing a game like Monopoly. It seems like the game of Monopoly has been around forever. My mother told us that when the girls were home and it was time to clear the dishes from the table and wash them Grandfather would say to the girls “Come Sarah! Come Margaret!”



I remember grandmother always cooking and cleaning. She was always busy. Sunday, of course was the Sabbath and this is the day we took care of the necessary chores and then went to church. At that time there was a church building in Altonah. At this chapel I can remember helping pass the sacrament and being with the folks. Probably the last time I was in this chapel was at Gary’s funeral. This would have been in the fifties when our Deward was a baby. That was a very hard day. Gary was Uncle Claude and Nada’s first child. He was drowned in the canal that ran through grandfather’s farm.