My Grandpa Leonard said his ancestors came to America and settled in Pennsylvania. The people there asked them where they were from. They said "Deutschland", meaning Germany. The people thought they were saying "Dutch Land", so they called them the "Pennsylvania Dutch", and that's what Grandpa always said he was. Actually, they were all German.

My records only go back to Calvin De Witt Leonard, born April 15, 1818. In 1847, he married Margaret Widrig. They had four children: Ella Adora, Harriet Arminie, Emily Ardella and a son, my grandfather, Charles De Witt. Calvin De Witt was the Principal of a High School in Green County, Wisconsin, and he was an Assemblyman for the Dayton district of the County, where they lived. When he was seventy-four years old, he stepped on a nail, got lockjaw (tetanus), and sat in a chair until he died. He was a stubborn German, and he said he didn't have to go to the doctor. He couldn't possibly get lockjaw!

When my grandfather, Charley, was three years old, his mother died. In 1866, Calvin married a second time. He married a widow with two sons, Merritt and Danny Wood. Her name was Mary Ann (Smith) Wood. They had one child, a girl named Mary Malverne Leonard and we called her Aunt Verne. She married Ed Greenwood. They had three children: Myrtle, Stella, who married Earl Morris, and Glenville. Aunt Verne became very active in the White Shrine. She was a Supreme Worthy High Priestess of the White Shrine from 1916 to 1917. There is a program in my Photo Book that tells of that session in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

One of Grandpa's sisters, Emily Ardella Leonard, married Merritt Wood, who was Mary Ann (Smith) Wood's son! Emily was always called Aunt Dell. They had four children; Newton, Inez, Margie and Wayne Wood. Newton married Madge (I don't know her maiden name), and they never had any children. I don't know about Inez. Margie married a Westbrook and had two children: Wayne and Clare Westbrook. Wayne married Phyllis Richards and they had three children: Newton, Ardella and Lois Wood. They lived in South Beloit and they came out to our farm in Southern Wisconsin often, to visit us.

Newton (Neutie) married Connie Truitt. They had one daughter, named Phyllis. She married Gary Lee Schultz. Neutie died of a heart attack in 1974. He had been a truck driver. Ardella married Ed Walters.

Lois married Tom Seay. I remember when these city cousins used to come out to our farm. My brother, Calvin, and I were mean kids sometimes. We went barefoot all summer and our feet were as tough as shoes, and the city kids had tender feet.

We would make them play "Follow The Leader", so they had to take their shoes off and follow us. We led them all over the gravel road, (which of course, hurt their feet), and then through the barnyard, and we made them step in all the juicy cow pies. Oh, how their mother would scold them for getting so dirty! Dad always had horses we could ride, and of course, when the cousins got on, we'd give the horse a slap on the rump, hoping they would fall off. Those were fun days.

Calvin was five and a half years younger than I, so of course, I always thought I was the Boss. We fought like cats and dogs; one of us winning one time and the other the next. We did have some fun times, too. Cal taught me how to shoot a gun, and we used to go squirrel hunting in the woods on our farm. I usually had to keep track of the squirrel, while Cal went home for more bullets. We were always riding horses, and that was fun.

After Cal graduated from High School, he worked for a farmer for awhile. Then, he joined the Air Force and served four years. On October 26, 1954, he married Catherine Agnes Mehok, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They came to Evansville to live. They have five children: Warren Keith, Beverly Jean, Teresa Rae, Charles De Witt and Rachel Lee.

He owned Anderson TV Sales & Service in Evansville for many years. Now he raises and races Pacer Horses for fun and profit, and we have had many hours of fun watching him drive his horses at the races.

J

Charles De Witt Leonard married Helena Rivers Yagla on March 2, 1899. They had two children; my mother, Bernice Ione, and her sister, Margaret Geneva, both born in Beloit, Wisconsin. Then, Grandma got sick with some kind of lung disease. The doctor told them they should move to a dryer climate, like North Dakota. So, Grandpa went up there, bought some land, planted 640 acres of wheat, and built a house (and it was a nice one). Then he came back to Beloit and moved Grandma and the two girls up to North Dakota. They were lonesome for their families and times were hard: the grasshoppers would come and eat all the wheat, or they would have a drought. Some years were good. They were there from about 1906 to 1940. The girls had fun growing up -- Margaret played the piano by ear and she also took lessons, and Bernice could sing.

They used to take the horse and buggy and go to dances all over the area. The winters were very cold in North Dakota, and when they got snowed in, the two girls would stay in McHenry, a town five miles from their farm, all winter so they could go to school. They had room and board with a family there.

When the weather permitted, Grandma and Grandpa would come to visit them. Grandma was an expert seamstress, and she made all their clothes. She also sewed for other people. And she made quilts -- lots of them.

When I was four years old, we moved to Wisconsin, and she made a quilt for me, she said, because she missed me so much. She gave it to me in 1949, when I got married. I still have it, a "Grandmother's Flower Garden" pattern. Of course, I treasure it!

When Model T Fords came out, Grandpa bought one. He had driven to town with a horse and buggy, so he told the salesman he would be back another day to drive the car home. Bernice and Margaret talked Grandpa into letting them drive it home. The salesman showed Mother how to drive it, and away they went! They didn't teach Grandpa for quite awhile, as they wanted to be the only ones to drive it. Now they could go to dances, stay later, and get home quicker!

My mother, Bernice, graduated from High School and then started teaching in a one-room schoolhouse. She had to ride a horse five miles to school. If they saw a rattle snake on the way, the horse would stop. Mother would shoot the snake, and then they would go on. When she got to school, she had to start the fire, carry in water, clean the room and then start teaching. Many of her students were bigger and older than she was, because they only went to school in the winter. Spring and fall they had to help with the farm work. I guess she used to have quite a time keeping them in line. After two years, she decided to move back to Beloit and find an easier job.

Aunt Margaret stayed in North Dakota for awhile and went to the Conservatory of Music in Fargo. Eventually, she moved back to Beloit too, and rented Grandma's house at 1008 Portland Avenue, where she lived for many years. She married R.E. Nix. He was a retired pharmacist who was then selling Fuller Brushes, just for something to do. After he died of bladder cancer, she married Bob Platt. They both worked at Beloit Iron works. He worked in the plant and she worked in the Laboratory, testing metals. Bob died in 1974. Margaret lived at 915 W. Grand Avenue in Beloit, until she went to Sun Valley West to live.

Grandpa and Grandma Leonard finally moved back to Wisconsin. They lived with us for one year, and then they moved to the house that Grandma owned in Beloit. After that they moved to a little house in Fulton, Wisconsin. There, Grandpa planted a big garden and went fishing almost every day.

They were wonderful grandparents! Grandpa was always ready to play Checkers or Rummy with us. Grandma taught me how to knit, crochet, sew and cook. They didn't have much money, but they showed us a lot of love. On my birthday, Grandma would make me a new dress or give me a dollar. That was a lot of money in those days. One time Grandpa made me a little desk with drawers in it, and it had pigeonholes. I really loved having my own desk, and I still have it.

Mother lived with Aunt Tope when she first came back to Wisconsin. I must tell you how Sarah got the nickname of Tope. Before she was married, she had a boyfriend who liked to drink. The family called him "The Toper." Before long, they were calling Sarah Tope, and the name stuck until the day she died. Mother got a job at Yates American Company, in the office. She addressed and stuffed envelopes. She made ten dollars a week for a salary and Aunt Tope charged her seven dollars a week for her board and room! Mother's cousin, Stella Greenwood Morris, said mother could come and live with them and she only charged her three dollars a week.

Before long, mutual friends introduced my parents to each other. They were married at the Lutheran parsonage with the Rev. H.M. Bannon officiating. Mother made her wedding dress. It was navy blue silk, short length, and it was covered with navy blue beads sewn on by hand in a design. It was a gorgeous dress! They went on a wedding trip by auto to Chicago, Lincoln Nebraska, Chinook, Montana and North Dakota. I would guess they went to visit relatives -- Phoebe in Chicago, Uncle Oscar in Lincoln, Uncle Bill in Montana, and Grandpa and Grandma Leonard in North Dakota. Grandpa had a 640- acre wheat farm out there and he persuaded my folks to move out to North Dakota. When they got there, my father worked for Grandpa. I think Grandpa kind of took advantage of my father, as he worked long, hard hours, and not much pay came out of the venture.

I was born in North Dakota on July 23, 1926, at my parents' house. I should have been born a couple of days earlier, but there was only one doctor out there for a large area, Doc La Bean. When he got so tired that he couldn't go anymore, he would take a couple of bottles of whiskey and hide, get drunk and sleep it off. When they finally found him and sobered him up, he delivered me. I used to ask my father where I came from and he would say, "Why, I found you behind a shock of wheat one day in North Dakota."

When I was four years old, our house burned to the ground and most of our stuff went up in smoke. My parents decided to move back to Wisconsin, so Dad went on the train with what little we had salvaged from the fire, including an upright piano that had belonged to Aunt Margaret. She had given the piano to my mother to pay her back for sending her to school in Fargo.

My mother, my grandma, my cat and I drove to Wisconsin together. That was quite a trip! The cat would run away when we stopped, and one day, she went to the bathroom on Grandma's suitcase. Once, we stopped for the night at a tourist's camp. They had cabins to rent, but Grandma found bedbugs in the bed, so we slept in the car.

We lived on several different farms in Southern Wisconsin. My brother, Calvin De Witt Anderson, was born on December 7, 1931, in a hospital in Beloit. I think we lived near Sharon, Wisconsin then. When I was in second grade, we moved to a farm North of Fulton, Wisconsin. Then a couple of years later, we moved to another farm, South of Fulton. Finally, we moved to another one, a little North of that one. I went to school and church in Fulton. There were three kids in my eighth-grade class. It was a two-room State Graded school, with grades one to four in one room and grades five to eight in the other one. When I was ready to go into fifth grade, I was so excited to be going into the other room, but because of the lack of students, that year they made it into a one-room school! My teacher in the first room was Miss Eleanor Spike, and in the second room, it was Mrs. Ruth Danielson.

I went to High School in Edgerton, Wisconsin. We lived seven miles from town, so I stayed with families in town and worked for my board and room. Then I babysat at night for extra money, and one year I worked at the local newspaper office. One summer after my junior year, I lived with my Grandpa and Grandma Leonard in Beloit and I worked as a proofreader for the Beloit Daily News. I liked that job. Then, after I graduated from High School, I worked at The Shoe Factory in Edgerton. It was a hard job. I worked a machine that pulled nails out of the soles. I made forty-cents an hour, and by the end of the summer, I was up to fifty-cents an hour. I only got twenty-five- cents an hour babysitting, so I thought that was a wonderful salary, but I hated the job.

That fall of 1944, I went to Chicago to begin Nurses Training at Michael Reese Hospital. It was a three-year course, and World War II was in full force. I was a Cadet Nurse. The Federal Government paid all of our expenses to go through Nurses Training, plus we got fifteen dollars each month for the first six months, twenty dollars a month for the next two years and thirty dollars a month for the last six months. After I graduated, I got three hundred and fifty dollars a month, plus room, board and laundry.

The War ended in 1945. If the war hadn't ended, we had agreed to serve in the Army or Navy for two years after graduation. We would have entered as 2nd Lieutenants. I tried to join the Navy, but they had their quota and refused my application. The Government cancelled our debt and we did not have to pay any of it back. Good deal!

But we were used, too. The classes were hard and we put in long hours, twelve hours a day for three years, but the RN's were all in Service and the students ran the hospital. We had fun times in Chicago, too. There were midshipmen from the Navy Pier to go out with. We loved the State Street Movie Theater and went there often. We went to shows and out to eat and to the local tavern to talk, dance and drink beer. . I finally graduated in the fall of 1947, and then I worked as a Night Supervisor at the hospital until 1949, when Leon and I were married. (I guess they say, the rest is history and you know the rest of the story, but I will write this down, anyway.)

I met my life-long friend, Mary (Jensen) O'Rourke, the first day of Nurses Training and we were roommates for the next five years. We went to Denver, Colorado to work one year, and had much fun exploring the Rocky Mountains. We still keep in touch and are still best friends. She was the Maid of Honor at my wedding and I was Matron of Honor when she and John O'Rourke were married in Iowa, in 1949. After Leon and I were married, we lived in Evansville, Indiana for a month, or so. He was in the Army, stationed at Breckinridge, Kentucky. After that, he was sent to Japan with the Occupation Forces. Then Mary and I went to Denver, Colorado, and we worked at Children's Hospital there. Mary and John got married in October of 1949 and they went to Chicago to live. I rented an apartment in Madison, Wisconsin, and did Private Duty Nursing for awhile. After that I was in charge of the Premature Infant Nursery at St. Mary's Hospital in Madison.

Leon came home from Japan and we moved to Grandpa, W.G. Patterson's farm, located one mile North of Evansville, Wisconsin. Leon's brother, Harry, ran the farm and we kept house for him. Leon bought a Standard Oil Filling Station on the North edge of Evansville. Our first child, Alice Ione, was born on November 16, 1950. She was a darling baby, and we were so happy and so thrilled to have her. Then Leon was called back into the Army, because the Korean War was on. He was stationed at Camp Carson, Colorado, South of Colorado Springs. Alice and I went out there and we lived in three different apartments during the year we were there. Leon was discharged from the Army in the fall of 1951 and we came back to Evansville to live. We rented an upstairs apartment at 117 S. Almeron Street. Leon got a job repairing Ford tractors for Tom North in Edgerton. I worked part time as an Office Nurse for R.J. Gray, MD, in Evansville. We moved to a downstairs apartment at 16 N. 2nd Street in 1953, before our son, Larry Kent, was born. We were just as thrilled to have him as we had been with Alice. He was a good baby, after three months of colic, and always was a happy, cheerful little boy.

The people that owned the house we were living in were going to remodel it. So we moved to a house that Leon's father owned, at 416 Longfield Street, in Evansville. Leon got a job as a Salesman for State Farm Insurance. In the fall of 1955, we bought a house at 117 S. 3rd Street. We lived there until we moved to Appleton, Wisconsin in 1964. I worked part-time for Dr. Gray and I also worked for a year, or so, at Madison General Hospital on the G.U. & Gyne floor. After seven years with State Farm, Leon quit and worked a year for Priebe's Wholesale House, down by Orfordville.

Then he started with Baker Manufacturing Company. He used to go around and help set up new territories for the company in Southern Illinois and in Iowa. He was making $100.00 a week, and we thought we were in clover.

Finally, they needed a Salesman to develop a territory around Appleton and up into Door County. So, we moved to Appleton on March 21, 1964 and rented a house on East Washington Street. That fall, we bought a new house at 1507 E. Taft Avenue, and we have lived there ever since. When we first moved to Appleton, I worked at Appleton Memorial Hospital. Then on February 2, 1965, I started working as an Office Nurse for C.E. Fenlon, M.D. I worked there until 1980, when Dr. Fenlon founded the Residency Center, a program for teaching Family Practice to new doctors. I worked part-time there until September 24, 1988, when I retired. Leon retired from Baker's on January 1, 1989.

We bought our first trailer in Casa Grande, Arizona, at La Posada Park, in 1974. It was a small, 8 ft. x 32 ft. travel trailer, with a living room tip-out. It was parked in Space #43 -- right across the road from Leon's Aunt June and her husband, B.W. (Buzz) Dripps. We paid $3200.00 for it. We sold it in 1984 for $4500.00 and bought a mobile home from Joseph and Alvada Ober, at Space #21, for $9000.00. It was 12 ft x 55 ft. We did a lot of work on it, and Leon built a deck and a shed. Aunt June died in September of 1985. In the spring of 1993, Uncle Buzz bought a lot and a new, double-wide mobile home in Cottonwood Gardens, a Park located two miles West of Casa Grande. So, we sold #21 and bought his trailer at Space #62. Now we have lots of room and we have a bedroom and a bath on each end of the trailer, which is very nice when we have guests. When we first moved there, the park was owned by George and Jo Seales. They died about 1985 or 1986, and their daughter, Alice Carter and her husband Gene, took over. He is a Veterinarian. The Carters sold the park in 1998 to Lewis Halpren. We have always loved living in Arizona and look forward to going there every year. We miss not seeing our children and wish we could transplant them to Arizona.