When not in school, Edna assisted her parents with their work in the home and the farm work outside as there were no boys in the family. As there was no electricity on the farm then so there were daily chores of preparing kerosene lamps for the coming evening, carrying out the ashes from the wood and coal burning stoves, carrying in the fuel and water for use in the kitchen, turning the barrel churn to change cream into butter, milking the cows, feeding the chickens and many other cored which had to be done by hand. Edna's main forms of amusement were reading, crocheting, piano lessons, going to country dances, and ice skating.
She joined the Four H club which then was a newly formed organization for country girls. Their two main projects were sewing and home furnishing. Later, these clubs came to include boys with farm projects and later came to include town boys and girls with many new projects being added.
During high school days Edna made all her own clothes, as did many of the girls at that time. When she graduated she had a Normal Training Teachers Certificate which allowed her to teach in rural schools with only a high school education. Because of this certification, teachers were beginning to be more plentiful and there seemed to be no school available so Edna made plans to go to business school in Des Moines, Iowa. However, shortly before the time to start school in the fall, the superintendent of schools placed her in a school seven miles southeast of Deep River in Deep River Township. {just east of Montezuma} There she started her teaching career at a salary of $80 a month. $20 of that was spent on room and board at the school director's home which was located 1/2 mile from school. She walked this distance to and from school always going early enough in the morning during the winter months to build a fire in the stove so that the school would be warm when the pupils arrived. The county teachers were their own janitors.
Her next three years of teaching were in Warren Township, School No. 10. Today, interstate 80 highway passes over where the schoolhouse used to stand, 3 1/2 miles east of the Brooklyn Interchange.
During high school, Lester and Edna were friends and neighbors and had occasional dates, but later, after graduation became engaged and were married on October 5, 1932. The wedding took place at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Brooklyn, Iowa at which time Edna became a member of the Catholic Church.
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| Married October 5, 1932 Father Barron and attendants Edward Reitzler and Lois Crider |
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| Edna's Wedding dress- Joyce has this |
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| Close up of the buckle |
After a short honeymoon, they returned to the paternal William King home where they lived until the following March when they moved to a farm 1/2 mile south. The Robert Morgan family live there now. They lived on this farm, which they rented from a land company, for three years. These first years of their marriage were years directly following the 1929 stock market crash and the beginning of the depression. Prices were very low. Hogs sold for 2 cents per pound and eggs 10 cents per dozen or less. Many farmers had lost their farms because of low prices for their products and high taxes. This included the parents of both Edna and Lester.
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| {A foreclosure sale in Iowa in the early 1930s when "the bottom fell out of everything." Military police were on hand to keep farmers from disrupting the auction. ca. 1935 Source} |
While living on this farm during the summer of 1930 they experienced the 'dust bowl' which extended from Oklahoma eastward as far as Iowa. The days were dusty and windy and rains were few and far apart. At the peak of these storms the day was as dark as the night and everyone was forced to stay inside. Needless to say, the corn harvest for that year was almost nothing. It was at this time that the government came to the rescue of farmers and others with new programs to help them. {I always heard the story Lester blamed Pres. Hoover for the depression which cemented his life-long affiliation with the democratic party}
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| {The New Deal gave the American people the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), which provided funding to farmers to curtail their production Source} |
While living on this farm, their first two children were born into the family.
Patricia Ann King was born on December 22, 1933
William Leo King was born January 29, 1936.
Late in the year of 1935, the farm where Lester and Edna had been living for so long was sold to the Robert Morgan family so they had to find another. For one year, they lived on a farm which joined Lester's father's farm at the back which was known as the Lytle farm. They then moved to a farm 2 1/2 miles east of Brooklyn on Old Highway 6 which was known as the Harvey Jones farm. At that time highway 6 was the only paved road leading to and from Brooklyn. They continued to live on this farm for three years and the last year of their being there, Lester also farmed his father's ground because of his father's failing health. It was also in this first year of larger family farming operation that Lester purchased his first tractor and started to do some of his farming with power machinery.
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{Four-row tractor corn planter. Jasper County, Iowa. May, 1940 Source } |
During their first years on this farm America became involved in World War II (1939-1945) and the prices on all farm products went to unbelievable heights. Due to this, the Kings were able to finish paying for their farm in a short time. Later due to the drought which brought great flocks of grasshoppers, which destroyed the crops, the Kings almost lost their farm but managed to hold on. Lester had to register for the draft to become a soldier, but was never called to serve because they were exempting farmers.
During these years, five more children were born into the family including twins:
Richard Eugene King - born October 27, 1944
Judith Marie King - born April 11, 1946
Joyce Ellen King - born April 11, 1946
Robert John King- September 25, 1951
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| A King favorite of the boys |
After the many ups and downs of farming and raising a large family, the Kings were able to educate their children and dress and feed them properly and although Lester had suffered a severe heart attack in 1957 during the harvest season, he was able to recover to farm again and the farm became solely theirs in 1966. In later years they continued to live there and rented out their farm land.
In 1976, due to Lester's failing health, they decided to sell the farm. Prices for farm land had sky rocketed to unbelievable heights at this time and the farm which the Kings had paid $75 per acre was sold to a neighbor for $1,250 per acre! They bought a lot in north Brooklyn on what is known as the Brooklyn Circle and on it erected a Wassau home.
They were only able to enjoy this home together for 2 years as during this time Lester's health, due to cancer, had worsened severely. On October 31, 1978 he passed away at the age of 68 and is buried in the Catholic Cemetery in Brooklyn, Iowa. At the time of this writing (1980) Edna lives in their home in Brooklyn.
Lester and Edna always thought that they were living in one of the most quickly changing worlds of all generations. A few of the big changes they saw in their lifetimes
- The change from horses power to motor power in travel and industry
- The greater use of electricity for light, heat, and refrigeration, especially in farm homes
- Three major world wars- World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War. The Korean War also occurred during these years
- The Great Depression
- Big strides forward in medicine and other education
- The Atomic Age and travels in space with landings on the moon.
I feel that in the writing of these memoirs there is something to be proud of and nothing to be ashamed of and that our children and children's children may enjoy and someday wish to add theirs
Edna King - 1980
