Stories from Etta Kempton's Journal, Part 2 - Etta's day

When Mary Kunzler-Larmann first told me about Etta Kempton’s journal, I was not particularly interested. I had never heard of Etta even though I had already spent two years researching Beaver River history. Checking my notes, the only mention of Etta Kempton was on page 48 of Bill Donnelly’s Short History of Beaver River (1979) where he briefly noted that a “Mrs. Kempton” once ran the Beaver River Post Office.

Etta Kempton was overlooked because she did not do anything earlier historians considered particularly remarkable. They didn’t think it was remarkable that she lived in Beaver River for over thirty years. They didn’t consider that she was appointed postmaster in 1917 and held that job for twenty years, longer than anyone before or after her. They didn’t know she kept a daily journal detailing life in that remote place. 

 

Etta’s daily journal entries generally follow a pattern. During the winter months she recorded the temperature at 7 am. She made note of the weather and the amount of snow that fell. Without fail she recorded details of the specific work her husband Will did on that day. She briefly noted if she did anything out of the ordinary, but omitted her routine activities. Extrapolating from her entries, it seems that she typically spent the morning on food preparation and general housework. Women friends stopped by to visit on many afternoons. On the days that her husband did not work she usually went hunting or fishing with him. She commonly described what her daughter Gladys was up to. Her daily entries end with a record of the family’s evening entertainment.

 

Etta very rarely included mention of what she thought or how she felt about any of this. She was most decidedly not keeping a diary. Nonetheless, it’s possible to learn quite a bit about what kind of person she was from the journal. It’s clear to me that Etta was a vigorous, independent, no-nonsense person, friendly and helpful to her neighbors.

 

Etta spent a great deal of time acquiring and preparing food for the family. Acquiring food was complicated. There was no store in Beaver River, so all staple food came in by train from elsewhere. Most commonly Etta mail ordered groceries from stores in Tupper Lake and Malone. Sometimes she ordered canned goods from further away. For example, she mentions buying cans of Libby’s corned beef from a catalog. She purchased food in bulk. She got potatoes, sweet potatoes, and onions by the bushel and apples and flour by the barrel. Other items like salt, yeast, vinegar, sugar and butter were in smaller amounts, but still in larger quantities than we are accustomed to today. Etta occasionally made trips by train to Tupper Lake and Malone to shop for smaller grocery items on the same trips where she bought clothes and other necessities. Etta had no refrigerator or ice house, so she was limited to items that stored well. She had no cow, so she got fresh milk daily from the Bullock family, either at the Norridgewock Hotel or at Pop Bullock’s at Grassy Point a mile away. The Bullocks bought large quantities of food for their hotel guests and sometimes sold surplus items to Etta.

 

Fresh green vegetables were a rarity. There is no mention of them in the journal. Etta appears not to have kept a vegetable garden although she grew a few flowers like petunias and lilies. A vegetable garden at Beaver River would surely have been a disappointing challenge given the harsh climate, sandy soil and marauding deer.

 

Family members who were still farming back in her hometown would sometimes send her parcels of meat from their butchering, including beef, pork and sometimes lamb. Since Etta had no way at home to refrigerate this meat, she must have used a neighbor’s ice house, probably the one at the train station. One journal entry even notes that she was able to store meat in winter in a snow bank. 

 

Etta kept a small flock of chickens. Her journal records the number of eggs she gathered each day as well as the specific chicken she occasionally killed and dressed out for a family dinner. She had a sturdy chicken house, and a chicken “park” surrounded by a wire fence. She ordered live chicks from a farm store as well as fertilized eggs for her hens to hatch out. She had the chicks and 50-pound bags of chicken feed delivered by the railroad. When her hens were laying well, she sold the extra eggs to her neighbors.

 

A much of the family’s fresh food came from hunting and fishing. Etta, Will and Gladys all had hunting licenses. They hunted together and with friends. Rabbits were their most common target supplemented by the occasional woodchuck or duck. They were in the woods hunting deer with modest success every fall. Their friends often shared game with them. During the warmer months, they went fishing. Etta recorded their catch, mostly large trout or bullheads. The bass prized today would not arrive until after the reservoir was created in 1924.

 

Etta was an inveterate baker. She made bread nearly every day. She baked not only for her own family but for the members of the section gang, charging ten cents a loaf. Most of the year she baked about two dozen loaves a week. Bread was a crucial part of everyone’s diet in those years, the essential fuel that kept the section gang going. Etta also liked to make fried doughnuts as a treat as well as cake for special occasions. During the summer berry picking season, Etta often baked fruit pies and shortbreads. She canned or made preserves from any leftover berries.

 

Etta prepared three meals a day for her family. Breakfast was a simple meal probably just bread with butter and jam, maybe including an egg. She hardly ever mentioned this meal in the journal unless a visitor, usually a railroad official, stopped by. 

 

Dinner, the main meal of the day, was eaten during the noon hour. This meal often included whatever meat or fish was available as well as bread, potatoes and a dessert such as pie or even ice cream. Etta must have been a pretty good cook. Her meals were simple but plentiful. Her journal records a surprising number of times when a guest would arrive at the section house just in time to join the family for dinner. If her husband Will was working at a distant location, Etta would prepare and pack his dinner early in the morning before he went to work so he could carry it with him.

 

Supper was the evening meal. Etta’s journal does not often record the supper menu. From the few entries that mention it, it appears to have been leftovers from dinner, and sometimes a fish caught that same afternoon, followed by a fruit dessert. During the summer, supper could end with homemade ice cream made with a hand-cranked machine with ice from an icehouse. In winter the treat would often be “sugar on snow,” a dish of clean snow topped with maple syrup.

 

Even on special occasions like birthdays or Christmas, the dinner menu was about the same. After a simple Christmas dinner in 1912, Etta noted in her journal, “I made ice cream, gave the boys [the section gang] pie, fried cakes, ice cream & cake. Mr. and Mrs. Dowd [station agent and wife] came over & spent evening, [we] played cards, had wine, soda, ice cream, cake & nuts of all kinds, spent enjoyable evening.”

 

All the meals were prepared in a very basic kitchen. She had a cook stove that could be fired with either coal or wood. The stove had a large oven where she did her baking. Kitchen stoves of that time sometimes also had an attached water tank that provided hot water for washing. There was a kitchen sink that had cold running water and a drain pipe. The water was piped from a small impoundment on the West Branch of the Beaver River referred to as the gravity dam. Etta complains in the journal that the drain pipe would sometimes clog in the winter requiring her to apply water pressure from the railroad water tank to clear it. On two occasions Etta with Will’s help had to dig up the drain pipe to clear it.

 

Etta spent parts of every morning and afternoon doing basic housework. Gladys helped her with most tasks. They had to regularly tend the stoves in kitchen and sitting room, fill, trim and clean the lamps and do general house cleaning. The house had no electricity, so they had no labor-saving appliances. Floors were swept and mopped by hand. Rugs were occasionally hauled outside and beaten. 

 

Etta did laundry about once a week. She never mentions having a washing machine, so she probably scrubbed all the clothing by hand in the kitchen sink then hung the clean clothes on a line in the yard. She ironed the clothes with a flat iron heated on the stove. She purchased some of the family’s clothes by mail order, but Etta had a treadle sewing machine where she made some of it herself. The journal mentions her making shirts, dresses and aprons for herself and Gladys as well as small items like curtains. On two occasions she mentioned buying ticking and cotton balls to make a new mattress. 

 

She did simple home repairs like periodically replacing the oilcloth covering the kitchen floor. Every spring she removed the storm windows and put up the screens. With Gladys’ help, she hung the screen door. In the fall that process was reversed. On one occasion she mentions replacing the wallpaper in the kitchen. In 1916, when the railroad built them a new section house, she and Gladys wallpapered all the rooms.

 

Etta was also responsible for handling the family’s finances. She recorded the amounts that she received by selling her bread and eggs on scraps of paper and on the last pages of the journal. She noted the days when the railroad pay car arrived to deliver Will’s, and later Gladys’, wages. All financial transactions were in cash, so the Kemptons had a safe in their house. This allowed Etta to serve as an informal banker for members of the section gang and a few neighbors. Etta not only safely stored their cash but also lent money out occasionally. She also collected rent for J.J. Flattery who owned a house in Beaver River, but lived in Old Forge. From time-to-time when her store of cash accumulated Etta sent it to a bank in Utica on the train with a trusted friend or a few times with Gladys.

 

Etta also provided simple medical care for Will and Gladys as well as herself. During the seven years covered by the journal none of them ever consulted a doctor. All three of the Kemptons annually got sick with “the gripper,” as Etta called it. The grippe was the common term for a host of symptoms that we now associate with influenza and the common cold. Fortunately, in most cases the flu resolves when treated with bed rest and lots of fluids. A few days in bed was usually all it took although Gladys was once sick for a month. Etta apparently believed that respiratory illnesses should be treated with a patent medicine called “Fellows Compound Syrup of Hypophospates.” This concoction was a commercial success even though it contained strychnine, a potent poison, and likely made its users sicker.

 

Given all of her chores, it’s easy to assume that Etta didn’t have much time for relaxation. Her journal, however, shows that Etta spent considerable time outdoors every day doing things she enjoyed. Just for fun on most afternoons, she took a long walk along the railroad tracks. She took pleasure in noting the first robin of spring, beavers building a dam and many other seasonal transitions in the natural world. She loved walking. She thought nothing of walking miles on an errand. One of her regular walks was the mile to Pop Bullock’s at Grassy Point where she could get milk and visit for a while with Delia Weaver, Pop’s housekeeper. Etta thought nothing of walking long distances in all kinds of weather. In winter she walked on snow shoes custom made for her by Dave Conkey, the local forest ranger.

 

Some of Etta’s walks combined relaxation with foraging. Etta went berry picking quite frequently during the summer usually with local women friends or her daughter Gladys. They picked strawberries, then raspberries and blackberries and finally blueberries. They were rewarded with extremely large quantities of each. Etta carefully recorded the number of buckets or quarts of berries she brought home. They ate berries fresh, on shortcake or in pies and turned the remainder into jam or syrup for use in the winter. She also tapped a few maple trees in the spring, made maple syrup and maple sugar candy. She also collected spruce gum in the fall and sold it to make a little extra cash. 

 

Etta also enjoyed fishing and hunting. She never went out alone but, on the days Will was not working, the two of them went out together sometimes accompanied by Gladys, Etta’s father when he visited, a member of the section gang or one of the station’s telegraph operators. Etta and Gladys appear to have been the only women at Beaver River who fished or hunted. Etta dutifully recorded the number and type of fish caught and the animals killed. She seemed to enjoy recording the number of rabbits or deer they saw but didn’t kill. All the fish and game they took ended up on their dinner table or was given to neighbors.

 

Etta also enjoyed taking care of pets. The journal notes many occasions on which Etta took care of neighbors’ pets while they were away, sometimes for weeks or an entire winter. This included goldfish, canaries and other unspecified birds, a cat, and a dog. Gladys had her own pet bird for a time. The journal suggests that Etta may have had a dog and possibly a cat some of the time. Etta named some of her chickens, probably her favorite laying hens. One year she fed a wild pheasant that stayed near their house. It's clear that she enjoyed interacting with domestic animals.

 

Aside from the occasional shopping trip to Malone or Tupper Lake, Etta rarely traveled outside of Beaver River. When she did it was usually to visit her family back in N. Bangor. Several of her relatives still lived there including her father, her brother Herman, her sister Agnes and her uncle Frank. Her journal records the steady stream of the letters and gifts they exchanged. She traveled back to her hometown by train only a few times: for Will’s mother’s funeral, when her father was ill, for her father’s funeral, and for Gladys’ primary school graduation. She never took a vacation trip. The journal records only one trip in seven years just for fun. In December 1910 Etta and Gladys made an overnight trip to Utica to see a Christmas vaudeville show.

 

Perhaps Etta’s favorite pastime was having visitors. Her women friends kept her company on many afternoons. She welcomed them to the section house where they sat in the parlor visiting while they worked on a variety of handcrafts. They did needlework, embroidered initials on dishtowels, crocheted, made balsam pillows, slippers, and work baskets. Etta owned a treadle sewing machine so they often worked together making clothes or curtains.

 

Etta did not socialize with the flocks of tourists who got off the train every day. Although Etta was a generally friendly person, it’s clear from her journal that she didn’t socialize with all the resident families of the hamlet. Of course, she knew everyone who lived in and around Beaver River Station, but some of their names appear only rarely in the journal. Well known residents such as Lou Beach and hotelkeepers Burt and Ella Darrow as well as Chet and Addie Elliott were not close friends. Etta’s closest friend was probably Florence Dowd, wife of the first station agent John E. Dowd. She was about ten years older than Etta. Etta appears to have seen her nearly every day. Even after the Dowds moved four miles north to Brandreth Station in 1913, they continued to socialize regularly.

 

The Bullock family were also frequent visitors at the section house. Bert B. Bullock, owner of the Norridgewock Hotel would stop in with news or seeking information accompanied by his wife Julia and son Clyde. Etta seemed to like them even though she never called Mrs. Bullock by her first name. Etta was closer to Lottie Greenley, Julia Bullock’s step-sister, who worked seasonally at the hotel. Bert Bullock’s father, known to everyone as Pop, also stopped by on occasion. His housekeeper, Delia Weaver, became a close friend of Etta’s and a mentor to Gladys. The forest ranger’s wife, Mabel Conkey, also visited frequently and became a sort of aunt to Gladys.

 

In 1913, when John Dowd became station agent at Brandreth, he was replaced at Beaver River by William Partridge. His wife Ethel Wetmore Partridge was the daughter of a Beaver River guide, Ezra Wetmore. Although quite a bit younger than Etta, they soon became friends and frequently visited each other’s homes. 

 

In 1915 Tom and Gertrude Mallette moved to Beaver River from Tupper Lake to manage the hotel that was taking shape out of the former hotel stable. This young couple became friends with the Kemptons almost at once. Gertrude Mallette liked to accompany Etta and Gladys on walks and their berry picking expeditions. In addition, Etta’s afternoon visitors included members of the always changing cast of telegraph operators and the women who worked seasonally at the Norridgewock hotel.

 

After supper, the Kempton family got together in the section house parlor for a few hours of home-grown entertainment. They often invited some of their neighbors to join them. Until 1913 when the Dowds moved to Brandreth, on some evenings they went to the railroad station where the Dowds lived upstairs. Even after the Dowds moved, they kept meeting them in the evening when they could either at the Beaver River section house or at the depot at Brandreth.

 

They often played cards and board games. Etta mentions that pinochle was a favorite card game and recorded their scores. She also mentions that Gladys liked playing Parcheesi. Gladys and Mrs. Dowd both played the piano. On a few occasions Etta invited musicians and singers who worked at the hotel to join them. The Kemptons had a hand-cranked phonograph and they listened to popular music on some evenings. One of the men on the section gang also had a phonograph and traded records with the Kemptons.

 

Even though they all had to get up early in the morning, Etta recorded that their evening entertainment sometimes lasted until 11 pm. On special occasions like New Year’s Eve or the Fourth of July they could continue until after midnight. On July 4, 1913 the amateur fireworks went wrong when a spark hit the firecracker box and the whole thing blew up. It appears that no one was injured.

 

Although Etta’s journal ends in December 1916, it stands to reason that her daily activities remained fairly constant. There were some changes, of course. In 1917 Etta was appointed postmaster of Beaver River. Undoubtedly that altered her daily routine. Gladys married Walter Thompson in 1918. Grandchildren started to arrive soon thereafter. Surely Etta spent considerable time helping to care for them. About 1921 Gladys and Walter, who had been living with Etta and Will, moved to the Norridgewock II hotel. About that same time Etta and Will bought a lot in Beaver River and built their own camp. They lived there happily until 1937.