Memories

In my last article about Frank and Clara Nies, readers learned of Clara’s early life, her education, and moving to Montana. The article also gave information about her teaching experiences in Calumet, Jordan, and the Mackenzie school, which at the time was near the Fulton Ranch.

In the fall of 1917 Clara came to teach the Spring Valley school and boarded at the Charles Nies home where she met Frank, her future husband. At the end of the school year she returned to Superior, Wisconsin and while there, Frank’s mother who was a school clerk, wrote and asked her to come back and teach another term at Spring Valley. She did.

Now I will share some information about Frank Nies. He was born in Wayne, Nebraska on November 18, 1893, the seventh child of a family of thirteen. Frank arrived in Ekalaka in 1913, having traveled from Java, South Dakota overland with his mother, sisters, nieces, and a nephew. The trip took 14 days. Frank worked various places, lived on his claim, and helped his folks. He also spent some time working for Judson Hiscock.

So who was Judson “Judd” Hiscock? Let’s go down a short rabbit trail to an article in Shifting Scenes Vol. 1, page 341, by his daughter Frances. Hiscock was born in Andover, New Brunswick, Canada in 1868 and came to Montana in 1891. In 1901 he bought a ranch and a band of sheep from Hunter and Bennett, fifteen miles east of Ekalaka.

He was a very interesting man and two pieces of information about his life really stick out to me.

He built dams and dikes (with horses) to irrigate alfalfa land. He also raised good horses. One was a race horse by the name of Society Bill. Society Bill didn’t lose a horse race until the age of 20. The name Society Bill may register with a few of us.

Now, I will turn back to the story of Frank and Clara Nies. The following was written by Clara for Shifting Scenes. In it, she describes their marriage and first year or so together.

“Frank and I were married in September, 1918 at Plevna. We started out with Charles Carroll, got about to town when his car broke down, so Frank walked to town to see if he could get someone else. He finally got Jack Thompson to take us on our way. We got to Plevna about four o’clock, found the priest and were married. That night there was a dance in Plevna. Word got around about a newly married couple at the hotel. They planned on having a shivaree, but the hotel manager wouldn’t let them in. We arrived home on Sunday and that night the neighbors shivered us at Frank’s parent’s place as Frank ran the ranch because his bother Mark had gone to the service. The next year his brother, Ted, took over so we moved to Frank’s claim east of Ekalaka. That was the year of 1919.”

As I read Clara’s article the word “shivaree” caught my attention. What was that? During my grade school days, newly married couples were surprised with this event. As I remember, people brought items that the couple could use, brought food for a lunch and sometimes had a dance. It was a get-together time. As time passed on, this event sometimes got out of hand, and it was discontinued.

Clara also states that when the couple first lived on Frank’s claim, Frank broke horses for several ranches. That fall they moved to his brothers place, a short distance away, and lived there during the hard year of 1919. They didn’t raise any crops or garden, so “pickens” were slim and they ate a lot of mush that winter. Many of you readers have probably never eaten mush. I can assure you that it wasn’t the most delicious food.

The winter of 1919, Clara was still a teacher and taught at the Prairie Dale School. She stayed with neighbors, Mr. & Mrs. Strain, and went home on weekends. In November, the snow got so deep it was hard for the horses to get through, so she resigned.

Because of the drought they sent a few head of cattle back to South Dakota. “Something happened to our cattle,” Clara wrote, “so we had none except one cow which we kept.”

Carter County may have had a dry summer in 2017 and lots of snow and cold in the winter, but the year of 1919 was probably worse.

Still more to go on this interesting neighbor and family next time.