Elam and Katherine Daniels

There are times since we have moved into our current house that I wonder if I have done a disservice to my daughters by them having to live in small bedrooms. One of the bedrooms is about 8x9 and the other one is 10x11 or 11x12 (probably the smaller). But when I look at what some of my ancestors lived in during their lifetimes, I am hushed to silence. A friend commented recently about how we live better today than most kings in history. What a true statement.

This first house that Elam and Katherine are standing by, is most likely in Springbrook Twp., Williams County, North Dakota. I believe I mentioned in a previous post that they may have lived in McHenry County, but the Census record for 1910 finds them in Springbrook. There is a Louella Anderson living with them, who, through other research, happens to not just be their adopted daughter as stated in the Census, but is actually Katherine's niece, daughter of her brother John. But that's a whole different research project....

I am truly impressed with the adventurous spirit these people had. They were not very young when they set out from Ohio to begin homesteading. Katherine was 53 yrs old in the 1910 Census and I believe she had to be close to that age in this picture.

This next picture states on the back "Grandma and Grandpa Daniels in Saskatchewan, Canada" but also has a caption below that says "Believe it is Springbrook, N. Dakota". So whether it is one or the other, both places are quite out in the prairie and continue to point to the determined spirit they had. I love how this lower one is a sod house. Over the years I've seen other photos of people who lived in such (including my beloved Laura Ingalls Wilder), but to see my own relatives standing in the picture is heart warming.



This last picture is of Elam and Katherine in Roseville, California. In Katherine's obituary dated May 11, 1923, it states that she "passed from this life at the family home on D street Sunday, May 6, 1923 at the age of 66 years, 7 months and 5 days after but a six weeks illness." Maybe at another date I will post the obituary along with a letter that May, her daughter, wrote my own Grandmother when May had left her own home to go tend to Katherine in her last days.


I will post here a portion of the obituary that points to a life that served others and loved the Lord:

"All her life was spent in the east until 5 years ago, when she accompanied her family to California and had since made her home in Roseville, where her kindness and helpfulness to those in distress and her sweet and cheerful disposition endeared her to all who came in contact with her. She was a devoted Christian and an earnest worker in the Baptist church, of which she was a member, and her many acts of kindness will ever be remembered."