I have been doing some ancestor tracing during all of my “at home” time and have found out some things I have never known.
I have discovered that if we search the lives of our family trees, there are so many fascinating details that we have never known that come to light.
For instance, my great-grandfather on my daddy’s side married a woman whose family came to America from Ireland. She was of small stature with beautiful red hair and very fair complexion. She died from some mysterious illness in her 40s after giving birth to 10 children.
Several of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren were also blessed with the beautiful red hair.
Her husband, my granddaddy, was very poor and lived in an old pre-Civil War house out from Carmack close to Zilpher Creek, the old Dick Strain house. He raised cotton on the old place that once grew cotton and had share-cropper homes dotted here and there on the many acres of land during the early years before and during the war.
At that time, he barely pulled a living out of the poor soil.
During my childhood, we would visit this old place on Sundays, and it was the most fascinating place for my young imagination.
I had a cousin that was my age and we explored the dilapidated old house from top to bottom many times.
When the house was built, like all built in this time period, the kitchen was detached from the main house and was located behind the big house in a smaller building. They were concerned with fires inside the main house. The little building was still somewhat standing, though barely and we surely rambled through all the rubbish.
The kitchen had been moved inside by the time my family lived there, taking one of the downstairs bedrooms for the sake of cooking.
We dug up all kinds of “treasures” from the grounds, such as broken glass and bottles, iron pieces, and just any and everything was so fascinating to me.
The old house has long since fallen and it cannot be seen from the road now, but if we trudge through the tall brush and trees from the road west of Carmack, we will find a heap of stones, bricks, and all my memories of the Old Strain House.
Fresh Strawberry Pie
You can make your own pie crust, or you can cheat like me and buy it already made.
1 Pie crust
¾ cup of sugar
2 T. cornstarch
1 cup of water
1 3oz. package of strawberry Jell-O
4 cups sliced strawberries
whipped cream
Bake pie crust and cool. In a pan combine sugar, cornstarch, and water until smooth. Bring to a boil and cook until thick. Remove from heat and stir in Jell-O until dissolved.
Refrigerate until cool.
Arrange strawberries in the crust. Pour gelatin mix over berries and refrigerate until set.
Add whipped cream to the top.
