There's a pioneer family story originally told by George Arthur Ager, then by Great Granma Maggie passed down to her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. I have no idea of the origin or how it began. No one knows.
I recently discovered it written down, unsure by which daughter or grandchild. I've attached the story to this memorial so the extended family can download and keep it if they like.
Transcription:
The B'ar Story
A way out west in a pioneer cabin, so they say, tottered a great big grizzly bear one night.
He seated himself on the hearth, of milk and potatoes, an elegant meal, then he proceeded to empty the contents of a three gallon pail. (jug)
The lord of the mansion awoke from his slumber, and screamed in alarm to his slumbering frau. "There's a b'ar in the kitchen as big as one cow"
"What then?, Sean",
"We shall murder him then?" Yes, Betty, dear, if you will first venture in."
So the old woman seized the poker and into the kitchen she ventured. The old man he shut the door and against it he squeezed.
And he cried thru the keyhole, "now one to the head, now one to snout, now take the poker and poke his eyes out." So was rapping and poking poor Betty alone till Sir Bruin lay as dead as a stone, and When the old man saw the bear was no more, into the kitchen he ventured to peek,
And off to the neighbors he hasten to tell and he published the marvelous story a far of how he and his brave Betty slaughtered the B'ar."
"The Story was repeated (by) my Grandpa Ager (Arthur), many times to children (Lillian, Perl), handed down to grandma, his wife, Artie Ager, to the grandchildren,
Great Grandma (Artie Ager)
July 29th, 1971.
-------------------------------------------------------------
3 May 1924 on what my grandmother described as a "Trolley accident," Arthur suffered serious injuries to his back and hip. She summed it up later that 'he was broken'. Maggie was pregnant at the time. When she heard the news, she ran, intending to make it to town. Unfortunately, she took a very hard fall in a cornfield and injured herself. Went on mandated bedrest. Lillian and Perl nursed their parents as best they could.
The family's circumstances considerably altered after that since Arthur could no longer work in the mines at a good wage. The lawsuit he was awarded helped with the bills. But around 1931, he developed Tuberculosis and emphysema (likely from the mines) and was admitted to the Webb City TB Hospital where he remained until his death in 1936.
His house and property was completely paid for by that time. But the bankers and tax assessors demanded proof. When Maggie could not immediately produce the receipts and paperwork, she and her two youngest children were made homeless.
I recently discovered it written down, unsure by which daughter or grandchild. I've attached the story to this memorial so the extended family can download and keep it if they like.
Transcription:
The B'ar Story
A way out west in a pioneer cabin, so they say, tottered a great big grizzly bear one night.
He seated himself on the hearth, of milk and potatoes, an elegant meal, then he proceeded to empty the contents of a three gallon pail. (jug)
The lord of the mansion awoke from his slumber, and screamed in alarm to his slumbering frau. "There's a b'ar in the kitchen as big as one cow"
"What then?, Sean",
"We shall murder him then?" Yes, Betty, dear, if you will first venture in."
So the old woman seized the poker and into the kitchen she ventured. The old man he shut the door and against it he squeezed.
And he cried thru the keyhole, "now one to the head, now one to snout, now take the poker and poke his eyes out." So was rapping and poking poor Betty alone till Sir Bruin lay as dead as a stone, and When the old man saw the bear was no more, into the kitchen he ventured to peek,
And off to the neighbors he hasten to tell and he published the marvelous story a far of how he and his brave Betty slaughtered the B'ar."
"The Story was repeated (by) my Grandpa Ager (Arthur), many times to children (Lillian, Perl), handed down to grandma, his wife, Artie Ager, to the grandchildren,
Great Grandma (Artie Ager)
July 29th, 1971.
-------------------------------------------------------------
3 May 1924 on what my grandmother described as a "Trolley accident," Arthur suffered serious injuries to his back and hip. She summed it up later that 'he was broken'. Maggie was pregnant at the time. When she heard the news, she ran, intending to make it to town. Unfortunately, she took a very hard fall in a cornfield and injured herself. Went on mandated bedrest. Lillian and Perl nursed their parents as best they could.
The family's circumstances considerably altered after that since Arthur could no longer work in the mines at a good wage. The lawsuit he was awarded helped with the bills. But around 1931, he developed Tuberculosis and emphysema (likely from the mines) and was admitted to the Webb City TB Hospital where he remained until his death in 1936.
His house and property was completely paid for by that time. But the bankers and tax assessors demanded proof. When Maggie could not immediately produce the receipts and paperwork, she and her two youngest children were made homeless.
There's a pioneer family story originally told by George Arthur Ager, then by Great Granma Maggie passed down to her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. I have no idea of the origin or how it began. No one knows.
I recently discovered it written down, unsure by which daughter or grandchild. I've attached the story to this memorial so the extended family can download and keep it if they like.
Transcription:
The B'ar Story
A way out west in a pioneer cabin, so they say, tottered a great big grizzly bear one night.
He seated himself on the hearth, of milk and potatoes, an elegant meal, then he proceeded to empty the contents of a three gallon pail. (jug)
The lord of the mansion awoke from his slumber, and screamed in alarm to his slumbering frau. "There's a b'ar in the kitchen as big as one cow"
"What then?, Sean",
"We shall murder him then?" Yes, Betty, dear, if you will first venture in."
So the old woman seized the poker and into the kitchen she ventured. The old man he shut the door and against it he squeezed.
And he cried thru the keyhole, "now one to the head, now one to snout, now take the poker and poke his eyes out." So was rapping and poking poor Betty alone till Sir Bruin lay as dead as a stone, and When the old man saw the bear was no more, into the kitchen he ventured to peek,
And off to the neighbors he hasten to tell and he published the marvelous story a far of how he and his brave Betty slaughtered the B'ar."
"The Story was repeated (by) my Grandpa Ager (Arthur), many times to children (Lillian, Perl), handed down to grandma, his wife, Artie Ager, to the grandchildren,
Great Grandma (Artie Ager)
July 29th, 1971.
-------------------------------------------------------------
3 May 1924 on what my grandmother described as a "Trolley accident," Arthur suffered serious injuries to his back and hip. She summed it up later that 'he was broken'. Maggie was pregnant at the time. When she heard the news, she ran, intending to make it to town. Unfortunately, she took a very hard fall in a cornfield and injured herself. Went on mandated bedrest. Lillian and Perl nursed their parents as best they could.
The family's circumstances considerably altered after that since Arthur could no longer work in the mines at a good wage. The lawsuit he was awarded helped with the bills. But around 1931, he developed Tuberculosis and emphysema (likely from the mines) and was admitted to the Webb City TB Hospital where he remained until his death in 1936.
His house and property was completely paid for by that time. But the bankers and tax assessors demanded proof. When Maggie could not immediately produce the receipts and paperwork, she and her two youngest children were made homeless.
I recently discovered it written down, unsure by which daughter or grandchild. I've attached the story to this memorial so the extended family can download and keep it if they like.
Transcription:
The B'ar Story
A way out west in a pioneer cabin, so they say, tottered a great big grizzly bear one night.
He seated himself on the hearth, of milk and potatoes, an elegant meal, then he proceeded to empty the contents of a three gallon pail. (jug)
The lord of the mansion awoke from his slumber, and screamed in alarm to his slumbering frau. "There's a b'ar in the kitchen as big as one cow"
"What then?, Sean",
"We shall murder him then?" Yes, Betty, dear, if you will first venture in."
So the old woman seized the poker and into the kitchen she ventured. The old man he shut the door and against it he squeezed.
And he cried thru the keyhole, "now one to the head, now one to snout, now take the poker and poke his eyes out." So was rapping and poking poor Betty alone till Sir Bruin lay as dead as a stone, and When the old man saw the bear was no more, into the kitchen he ventured to peek,
And off to the neighbors he hasten to tell and he published the marvelous story a far of how he and his brave Betty slaughtered the B'ar."
"The Story was repeated (by) my Grandpa Ager (Arthur), many times to children (Lillian, Perl), handed down to grandma, his wife, Artie Ager, to the grandchildren,
Great Grandma (Artie Ager)
July 29th, 1971.
-------------------------------------------------------------
3 May 1924 on what my grandmother described as a "Trolley accident," Arthur suffered serious injuries to his back and hip. She summed it up later that 'he was broken'. Maggie was pregnant at the time. When she heard the news, she ran, intending to make it to town. Unfortunately, she took a very hard fall in a cornfield and injured herself. Went on mandated bedrest. Lillian and Perl nursed their parents as best they could.
The family's circumstances considerably altered after that since Arthur could no longer work in the mines at a good wage. The lawsuit he was awarded helped with the bills. But around 1931, he developed Tuberculosis and emphysema (likely from the mines) and was admitted to the Webb City TB Hospital where he remained until his death in 1936.
His house and property was completely paid for by that time. But the bankers and tax assessors demanded proof. When Maggie could not immediately produce the receipts and paperwork, she and her two youngest children were made homeless.
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