Memoir of Julia Ann Lattin (1880-1960) circa 1960.
I was born on Long Island on January 7th, 1880, and I have lived here all the later part of my life. My father was born in Farmingdale on May 29th, 1853. As a young man of 20 years he worked for a short time on the Long Island Railroad selling foodstuffs on the train. He was the youngest of eleven children and had a roaming disposition and left home to see the world. He got as far as Lake City, Iowa and a short time later met his future wife to be, a Mary Jane Puckett, who was a young school teacher at the time. After about six months, [on October 15, 1874] they were married and lived in Iowa for about one year when my oldest sister was born. Then they came back to Long Island for about three or four years where my next older sister and I were born. But my dad still had that longing for the Old West where things were rugged, so he left again and settled in Nebraska near the Niobrori River, which was 20 miles from the nearest town called Atkinson. This was a very lonely place. Dad had bought quite a number of farm implements on time, but things were bad, so he could not pay for them, and they were taken from him. My mother had a cow and a feather bed given to her from her parents, so they could not take them for payment, and dad decided to try his luck in mining gold in the Black Hills of Dakota. That left my mother alone with the children right across the river from the Indians, but they were friendly and traded many things, which were allowed them from the government. I remember especially some blankets from them. They were rather dark blue with a black border. My mother used to leave the baby [in] bed [in the] morning when she had to cross a stream on a foot-log to milk her cow. One day starting back with her milk, she saw the child starting to creep across the foot-log to meet her, and just in the middle of the stream the child fell overboard in the water. Mother sat her milk pail down and ran and jumped in after her, catching hold of her nightdress. It was a puzzle to know how she got herself and the child on the foot log again, as the water was deep in places. Finally she managed to get her skirt off in the water and fastened the child with that until she climbed up herself. We only had a cook stove for heat, and when I was a little more than a year old, I was sitting in a high chair near the stove to keep warm and my mother was combing her hair with her head bent over when she heard a terrible scream. I had fallen on the stove. My sister [Catherine Lavinia Lattin], 1 1/2 years older had pushed the chair. My left eye had hit one of the galvanized balls on the stove leaving the skin on it, causing me to lose sight in that eye. The eye was almost closed. The doctor operated on it three times, but it did not improve the sight. I was seven years old the last operation, and they laid me right on the floor. We used to sleep in the trundle beds. When not in use the one is pushed under the other. I can remember the sand cherries, which grew on little trees about three feet high. Also [I remember] the covered wagons and the tumbleweeds rolling across the plains. I have two baby brothers buried out there. When my oldest sister, [Mary Esther Lattin], was seven years old [in 1882], she was bitten by a rattlesnake. It had thirteen rattles. She had a little dog with her and it killed the snake. They could not wait so long for a Dr. to come from town and my dad cut the fang out and sucked the poison till the Dr. arrived. Mother had her on a pillow for weeks with bread and milk poultices, but she carried the mark to her grave. It was a hollow spot about the size of a quarter just below the knee. When I was 8 years old we moved back to Long Island. This was just about 10 days before the blizzard in 1888 [which started March 11, 1888 and ended March 14, 1888]. I can remember my father carrying bags of coal home on his back as no trucks could get through. During the blizzard, we children were in a dark room in bed with the measles we had caught on the train coming east. We attended school in Farmingdale, Long Island until I graduated from the 9th grade. For a few years I did dressmaking in Brooklyn, but spent my summers at home. I did not care for city life. I was rooming at the Young Woman's Christian Association (YWCA), and it was during this time that I met the man that was to be my future husband. On Sundays we usually took a trip to the Aquarium or the Statue of Liberty or the Eden Museum, which was then on 23rd Street, New York, but has long been removed. In 1903 we attended a reception [for] Theodore Roosevelt at Sagamore Hill, and I still have the souvenir glasses from that affair. We were married in 1905, and paid $8 a month for rent. My husband was working as a carpenter for $15 a week, which was fair, wages at that time. He used to drive 8 miles on Sunday mornings to bring the Sunday papers and he received $2 for the trip. We had a horse and a little farm, raising most of our own vegetables. My first baby daughter, [Ruth Lattin Poole], was born in the summer of 1906. Then we moved back to my old hometown. We lived in a house that was real old and when it was windy the carpet on the floor would raise a little from the air beneath. My second daughter, [Eva Gertrude Poole] was born there. A little later we managed to save a little money and bought a little five room house for $1,300, paying off $100 a year. The house had no improvements, only a pump in the kitchen, and on washdays we brought in a tub, setting it on two kitchen chairs. We always had home made bread, by baking twice a week, 5 loaves each time. It never had a chance to get stale. We bought flour by the barrel those days. Butter was 25 cents a pound and sugar was 5 cents a pound. In that year [1909,] my parents moved to the Isle of Pines, just south of Cuba, which was populated at that time by 90% Americans. They had expected that the United States would take it over, but several years later it was turned over to Cuba. My parents [Jarvis Andrew Lattin and Mary Jane Puckett] celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary [on October 15, 1924] there, and my sister Eva, and I made them a suprise visit. They were so happy to see us. The boat made only two trips a week between Cuba and the island. We had our luggage inspected in Havana and spent one night there. It took about two hours to cross Cuba by train, and the boat was waiting for us. It was just an overnight trip to the Isle of Pines, and it was so calm there was hardly a ripple on the water. But we did experience a very bad hurricane while there. Every one boards up their windows when they see the storm approaching. After Cuba took over the island, many of the Americans left and went back to the States as my parents did. They settled in a little town in Florida, and a few years later my mother passed away, and was brought back north to our hometown for burial. Father spent most of his remaining years in Florida, but things were not the same. He also passed away at 88 years of age and was laid beside my mother. She was such a wonderful, good, Christian mother to us, but she experienced many hardships in her life. She gave birth to thirteen children, nine of them lived to be grown and married. Six of us are still living and scattered far apart. My husband retired about ten years ago. We have lived on the same street, [Columbia Street] for the past 50 years. My youngest daughter, [Julia Marion Poole] was born in the house next door, and she is a grandmother now. My husband's health was not so good the past five years. Our three daughters gave us a grand celebration on our fiftieth wedding anniversary nearly four years ago, but the time seems to come too soon that we all must part from this world. I was taken sick very suddenly last November and rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. This was a great shock to my husband in his condition, and five days later he was brought into the hospital, it being the night before Thanksgiving. The nurses were so kind to us. They had a little table set up for us in the solarium with a nice little white tablecloth and a large chrysanthemum for our Thanksgiving dinner. That was a dinner long to be remembered as it was the last one we ever had together. My husband spent four weeks there, and then was taken away to a nursing home, where he passed away six weeks later. I remained in the hospital for six and a half weeks, spending Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's [Day] there. I started improving and was allowed to go with my daughter, Ruth, for a few weeks until I became stronger. I have a great deal to be thankful for, with three nice daughters, and so many good friends and neighbors. I am resolved now that God had a purpose in saving my life, and I sincerely hope I can carry out his plans.
Source: Julia Ann Lattin (1880-1960), circa 1960
I was born on Long Island on January 7th, 1880, and I have lived here all the later part of my life. My father was born in Farmingdale on May 29th, 1853. As a young man of 20 years he worked for a short time on the Long Island Railroad selling foodstuffs on the train. He was the youngest of eleven children and had a roaming disposition and left home to see the world. He got as far as Lake City, Iowa and a short time later met his future wife to be, a Mary Jane Puckett, who was a young school teacher at the time. After about six months, [on October 15, 1874] they were married and lived in Iowa for about one year when my oldest sister was born. Then they came back to Long Island for about three or four years where my next older sister and I were born. But my dad still had that longing for the Old West where things were rugged, so he left again and settled in Nebraska near the Niobrori River, which was 20 miles from the nearest town called Atkinson. This was a very lonely place. Dad had bought quite a number of farm implements on time, but things were bad, so he could not pay for them, and they were taken from him. My mother had a cow and a feather bed given to her from her parents, so they could not take them for payment, and dad decided to try his luck in mining gold in the Black Hills of Dakota. That left my mother alone with the children right across the river from the Indians, but they were friendly and traded many things, which were allowed them from the government. I remember especially some blankets from them. They were rather dark blue with a black border. My mother used to leave the baby [in] bed [in the] morning when she had to cross a stream on a foot-log to milk her cow. One day starting back with her milk, she saw the child starting to creep across the foot-log to meet her, and just in the middle of the stream the child fell overboard in the water. Mother sat her milk pail down and ran and jumped in after her, catching hold of her nightdress. It was a puzzle to know how she got herself and the child on the foot log again, as the water was deep in places. Finally she managed to get her skirt off in the water and fastened the child with that until she climbed up herself. We only had a cook stove for heat, and when I was a little more than a year old, I was sitting in a high chair near the stove to keep warm and my mother was combing her hair with her head bent over when she heard a terrible scream. I had fallen on the stove. My sister [Catherine Lavinia Lattin], 1 1/2 years older had pushed the chair. My left eye had hit one of the galvanized balls on the stove leaving the skin on it, causing me to lose sight in that eye. The eye was almost closed. The doctor operated on it three times, but it did not improve the sight. I was seven years old the last operation, and they laid me right on the floor. We used to sleep in the trundle beds. When not in use the one is pushed under the other. I can remember the sand cherries, which grew on little trees about three feet high. Also [I remember] the covered wagons and the tumbleweeds rolling across the plains. I have two baby brothers buried out there. When my oldest sister, [Mary Esther Lattin], was seven years old [in 1882], she was bitten by a rattlesnake. It had thirteen rattles. She had a little dog with her and it killed the snake. They could not wait so long for a Dr. to come from town and my dad cut the fang out and sucked the poison till the Dr. arrived. Mother had her on a pillow for weeks with bread and milk poultices, but she carried the mark to her grave. It was a hollow spot about the size of a quarter just below the knee. When I was 8 years old we moved back to Long Island. This was just about 10 days before the blizzard in 1888 [which started March 11, 1888 and ended March 14, 1888]. I can remember my father carrying bags of coal home on his back as no trucks could get through. During the blizzard, we children were in a dark room in bed with the measles we had caught on the train coming east. We attended school in Farmingdale, Long Island until I graduated from the 9th grade. For a few years I did dressmaking in Brooklyn, but spent my summers at home. I did not care for city life. I was rooming at the Young Woman's Christian Association (YWCA), and it was during this time that I met the man that was to be my future husband. On Sundays we usually took a trip to the Aquarium or the Statue of Liberty or the Eden Museum, which was then on 23rd Street, New York, but has long been removed. In 1903 we attended a reception [for] Theodore Roosevelt at Sagamore Hill, and I still have the souvenir glasses from that affair. We were married in 1905, and paid $8 a month for rent. My husband was working as a carpenter for $15 a week, which was fair, wages at that time. He used to drive 8 miles on Sunday mornings to bring the Sunday papers and he received $2 for the trip. We had a horse and a little farm, raising most of our own vegetables. My first baby daughter, [Ruth Lattin Poole], was born in the summer of 1906. Then we moved back to my old hometown. We lived in a house that was real old and when it was windy the carpet on the floor would raise a little from the air beneath. My second daughter, [Eva Gertrude Poole] was born there. A little later we managed to save a little money and bought a little five room house for $1,300, paying off $100 a year. The house had no improvements, only a pump in the kitchen, and on washdays we brought in a tub, setting it on two kitchen chairs. We always had home made bread, by baking twice a week, 5 loaves each time. It never had a chance to get stale. We bought flour by the barrel those days. Butter was 25 cents a pound and sugar was 5 cents a pound. In that year [1909,] my parents moved to the Isle of Pines, just south of Cuba, which was populated at that time by 90% Americans. They had expected that the United States would take it over, but several years later it was turned over to Cuba. My parents [Jarvis Andrew Lattin and Mary Jane Puckett] celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary [on October 15, 1924] there, and my sister Eva, and I made them a suprise visit. They were so happy to see us. The boat made only two trips a week between Cuba and the island. We had our luggage inspected in Havana and spent one night there. It took about two hours to cross Cuba by train, and the boat was waiting for us. It was just an overnight trip to the Isle of Pines, and it was so calm there was hardly a ripple on the water. But we did experience a very bad hurricane while there. Every one boards up their windows when they see the storm approaching. After Cuba took over the island, many of the Americans left and went back to the States as my parents did. They settled in a little town in Florida, and a few years later my mother passed away, and was brought back north to our hometown for burial. Father spent most of his remaining years in Florida, but things were not the same. He also passed away at 88 years of age and was laid beside my mother. She was such a wonderful, good, Christian mother to us, but she experienced many hardships in her life. She gave birth to thirteen children, nine of them lived to be grown and married. Six of us are still living and scattered far apart. My husband retired about ten years ago. We have lived on the same street, [Columbia Street] for the past 50 years. My youngest daughter, [Julia Marion Poole] was born in the house next door, and she is a grandmother now. My husband's health was not so good the past five years. Our three daughters gave us a grand celebration on our fiftieth wedding anniversary nearly four years ago, but the time seems to come too soon that we all must part from this world. I was taken sick very suddenly last November and rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. This was a great shock to my husband in his condition, and five days later he was brought into the hospital, it being the night before Thanksgiving. The nurses were so kind to us. They had a little table set up for us in the solarium with a nice little white tablecloth and a large chrysanthemum for our Thanksgiving dinner. That was a dinner long to be remembered as it was the last one we ever had together. My husband spent four weeks there, and then was taken away to a nursing home, where he passed away six weeks later. I remained in the hospital for six and a half weeks, spending Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's [Day] there. I started improving and was allowed to go with my daughter, Ruth, for a few weeks until I became stronger. I have a great deal to be thankful for, with three nice daughters, and so many good friends and neighbors. I am resolved now that God had a purpose in saving my life, and I sincerely hope I can carry out his plans.
Source: Julia Ann Lattin (1880-1960), circa 1960
