My parents were married on Febuary 5th, 1889(1), at the home of my mother's parents at Green River Vermont. My mother, who had been a teacher and High School Principal at Utica Nebraska, had gone back to the home of her parents at the close of school in 1838, and spent the intervening months in getting ready to be married and to take leave of her parents. It was also considered that this marriage bond was essentially strengthened by having the wedding in her parents home and that my father was taken into the Richmond family, fully as much as my mother was taken into the Whitnah family.
They preceded at once to Utica where they escaped the would-be Charevari at the railway station, by running down the track to a vehicle which was waiting for them. They lived to regret this, since their friends were there to make them welcome. They set up housekeeping on a farm north of Utica where they lived for a year, when they purchased a farm south-east of Utica, and about five or six miles equidistant from Gohner, Tamora and Beaver Crossing. At the suggestion of my father, my mother's parents purchased a quarter section, across the road from this farm. This proved to be a mutually profitable arrangement, for this farm was a substantial part of the estate of my Richmond grandparents, and was a valuable means of support for my mother's sister, who was the traditional "Weak Member of that family."
My parents continued to live on the farm until 1902. My brother, Carrell Henry was born May 25th 1892, Mark Evans, January 4th, 1894, and I, Charles Scott on March 2nd 1899. It was shortly after my birth that my Grandmother Richmond passed away, having suffered some eight years from Diabetes. The land near Utica which the Richmonds owned was inherited, one, "Eighty" by my uncle Scott Richmond and my aunt Edith Richmond Merrifield; and the other half by my mother and Edith. By this process my Uncle Scott and my mother were commissioned to see that Edith Merrifield was cared for. My father was the administrator of this Richmond estate, and was likewise commissioned to see that Edith Merrifield was cared for. She was!
The history of Nebraska in the, "Gay Nineties", was everything but that. It was a period of drowth and of poor prices for farm products. My parents worked hard and paid for their farm. They were called upon to assist my father's brothers in difficulties which they had with a store in Utica. This store failed and father's brothers, Robert and R. moved to Illinois, where they each became successful in the, "Mercantile Business".
It would be an injustice to the ideals of my parents to account their business affairs to be the sum and substance of their lives. Their home was based on high ideals of family life, religion and warm, friendly relations with their neighbors and many friends. They were idealists in the training of their children and in their relations with their neighbors. They attended the Methodist Church in Utica most of that time, where my father was a member of the choir, and my Mother took an active part, having an acquaintance with the people of Utica from her experience as a teacher.
Notes: