Maud was wife of James G. Hastings of Ord, and mother of Jane (Mrs. James B.) Ollis and of Eleanor (Mrs. Will) Ollis. She and her husband Jim lived at 119 N 21st St in Ord.
Maud moved, with her parents and family, from Pittsburgh, PA to Mira Valley, 8 miles south of Ord, Nebraska in 1884. Jim Hastings, later to be her husband, and his brother Will made the same move at the same time, hired to help Maud's father build a home for his family in Mira Valley. It was a grand three-story home, built in 1884, later owned and occupied for many years (beginning in 1942) by Henry Lange. The home burned to the ground in the early-mid 1990s.
Maud and her sister Stella had a double wedding. The wedding took place in that home of the parents of the brides, in Mira Valley, south of Ord, Nebraska, at 8:30 PM, Thursday, June 15, 1893. Two ministers were involved. Stella and Lloyd were married by Lloyd's father, Rev. E. A. Russell of Ord; and Maud and Jim were married by their Mira Valley family minister, Rev. G. A. Ray.
After the marriages the Russells lived in Ord briefly, then moved to Greeley, NE. The Hastingses began their life together in Aspinwall, PA and later, in the Spring of 1908, moved back to Mira Valley, and later, in 1925, moved into the town of Ord. Maud's groom lived in Aspinwall...he'd been hired to build the Gray home in Mira Valley, but afterwards had gone back to Pittsburgh.
Stella died, childless, of heart difficulties not long after marriage. Maud and her sister Alice Bell were both ill some years later and it was thought Maud would die before her sister Alice, but Alice died in February and then Maud died in July of the same year. Alice's daughter Jane Bell tells of the sisters Maud Hastings, Helen White and Alice Bell gathering for a visit in the Bell house in Hastings, Nebraska in late 1932 or early 1933, thinking that this might be their last visit with Maud, since Maud was ill and not expected to live long, but that the family was surprised when Alice died first.
Maud was, in fact, quite ill. She had cancer in a breast and the breast was removed. Later cancer showed up in her cervex and she died of that cancer. Her physician was an Ord Osteopath.
In 1925 Maud and her husband Jim purchased and moved from Mira Valley into the house in Ord (at 119 N 21 St) that had been built and previous occupied by Maud's mother's brother Samuel Jennings Wilson Brown (who had owned and operated a hardware store on the north side of the town square in Ord). Maud and Jim were living there when she died. Her funeral service was in the living room of that house. Her body was lifted out of the casket and laid on her couch there in the living room -- for the 2:30 PM service. (In 1970 -- and still in 2013 -- that same couch is owned by Maud's grand daughter, Ruth L. (Ollis) Cook and is in her living room at 9816 Sprague St, Omaha, NE for 34 years, then moved with Ruth and J. Keith Cook to their new residence at 17334 Jackson Plaza, Omaha.)
On May 1, 1896, when Maud and her husband Jim (and 1st daughter Eleanor) were living in Aspinwall, PA, Maud wrote the following letter from Mira Valley near Ord, Nebraska to her husband back in Aspinwall. Maud and Eleanor were visiting the home of her parents during her father's terminal illness. Her father, William Moore Gray, Sr. died seven weeks after the letter was written.
The letter: "Mr. Jas. G. Hastings, Aspinwall, Allegheny Co., Penna. -- Home, May 1, 1896. My Very Dear Jim: Your very welcome letter written a week ago today was received on Wednesday. It was, as your letters all have been, so good and interesting. I am always glad to know what is going on at home. Your letters are so full of comfort too, Jim. So many scripture quotations and you know just where to use them. On Wednesday evening after I had read your letter to Papa, I asked if it made him more discouraged to have them read to him, but he said "Oh, no, not at all," and said he wished I would read him the quotations in your letters again some time. Said that a good while ago he had given himself unto the hands of the Lord; that even in health he had never had any dread of death, and that he felt he was now ready and perfectly willing to die if it is the Lord's will. Said that in the long hours in which he has lain awake at night he has in, thought, seen Christ many, many times in his ministry on earth and says he KNOWS that his Redeemer liveth. Oh, that all men did. He slept better last night than for several nights but they were very poor. Mr. Munn was down yesterday to take the acknowledgements of the south quarter deed. He was pretty tired yesterday evening, but a little easier today. Mamma & Willmore are ready to go to Ord so must stop for this time. Very lovingly, Maud."
This next item is a letter written by Maud to her daughter Eleanor and family, living in Colorado. Maud was at her home in Ord, Nebraska. In it she describes the Armistice (end of WW One) celebration in Ord. The items in square brackets [ ] are my [J. Keith Cook] additions for questions or clarifications.
The letter: "Home, Nov. 12, 1918, 12:30 M [does M mean mid-day, morning or what?]. Dear Will, Eleanor & Catherine: Your good letter and Jane's came yesterday. Poor girl is having a serious time with that boil. I think and hope she won't have any more. Papa's all right; no more in sight. So much worse on a bony place than on a fleshy part. Glad you and Jane and all of us have been spared the "flu." [The infamous flu of 1918 swiftly killed thousands and thousands of people in the USA and thousands more throughout the world!] Think it is dying out here and in Ord, too. None here. Just heard Lou & Myrtle talking. They say Grace is fine this morning -- went down town to celebration yesterday afternoon in Sterling's Ford. Dr. thinks she's all right for this time. Seems as if indigestion may bring on convulsions -- had headache several days before she took sick and sick at stomach night before. That was quite a snow you had last week. Beautiful here too for several days and roads are drying fast.
"Suppose you had Real Peace Celebration yesterday or did last week's suffice? Helen called here about seven yesterday, telling us to listen to Ord bells and whistles that official message had come from Washington saying Peace had really been declared. We heard same thing from many over 'phone. Many people in town celebrated all day and evening, whistles blowing, bells ringing, band playing and big bonfires at each corner of square. [Ord's business area is built around a one-block town square.] Thought we'd go up in evening but Papa could not get the car to work, so gave it up. Mrs. P. [the Petty family were friends] asked us to go with them so Papa and I did. Grandma did not for it was cold standing around. We did not get near the crowd gathered around bandstand at S. W. corner of square.
"They had parade, many people and cars draped with bunting or flags, carrying torches or flags. Whistles blew, bells rang, guns were fired, band played. A sham battle in which Kaiser was captured, then hung on a pole near band stand, shot at and finally took fire and burned very slowly, characteristic of the real one. We were home about nine, re-read your letters while getting warm. Late getting up and Petersons said they were going to haul hogs (Papa was to help them yesterday but could not get car) so we had to hustle. He was to have gone out in interest of War Work, campaigning today so will do that later in week.
"Albert P. [Albert Peterson was a young boy from Mira Valley, later would be my sister Elaine Cook's father-in-law] has been very anxious to go to the Navy but hated to leave before husking was done. However, decided to go yesterday (to Omaha) and did even though Peace had been declared. They surely won't take him. County Clerk got a message from Gov. Neville yesterday afternoon telling him to send no more recruits and stop drilling. So it seems it must be genuine.
"Have you heard anything more from James? [James B. Ollis was in the US Army and ready to be shipped overseas, and would still be shipped for military ambulance duty in France, and would still marry Maud's daughter Jane.] Sadie [JBO's oldest sister] got letter Saturday, written Wed., Nov. 6, saying their overseas orders were being cancelled for twenty-four hours at a time. Latest word we know of, so if they are holding them to see if Peace was declared, he won't be likely to go across. On other hand he may have gone Thursday or Friday. Said he hoped to at least see New York, but were just waiting, not allowed to go anywhere.
"Lots of boys will be disappointed not to get over, but Oh, what rejoicing! Sadie has not been very well. Had Dr. Showes come out and give her a treatment yesterday and is quite a little better today. Her limb (varicose veins) making the trouble, I think. Has advertised for a girl. Very scarce and hard to get. You have been doing quite a lot of shopping by mail lately. Hope things will be satisfactory. Since you want it that way. Glad Miss Albus can come to you, also (Mary Farmer -- may be not by that time) but we were still hoping matters would so shape themselves that we'd have you home. Do be careful and not overdo. Yes, it must be pretty hard for Catherine to have to stay in when she loves so to be out in the 'bootiful snow.'
"Tell her we wish she could be here and play with our kittens. One yellow with a little white -- other white with some yellow -- more than half grown but playful and cute as can be. Just got our stove polished yesterday and would have been glad to do yours too. Thought about it. Want to clean attics today (briefly) and go all over house in same way soon -- before it's cold again. Before Jane comes home. My right thumb I suppose got jagged and I did not notice it till later. Put turpentine on it but it got hard and hand and arm ached a good deal. I poulticed it at night for about half time and opened it enough to make it bleed a couple of weeks or more ago. Last Sat. morning I got Papa to open it again and we squeezed out some blood, soaked it with turpentine and poulticed; rubbed my hand and arm thoroughly with C-Balsam so it is getting all right. Thumb itself not so very sore or I would have paid better attention to it. Had a little cold in lungs about same time -- painted well with iodine front and back, cured and also made me itchy. But I'm all-right now. Hogs did not have cholera. Corrals so muddy though Papa is glad to be rid of that many.
"Must get to work now. A letter from Aunt Lizzie said they had a letter from Wm. Also his mate's mother. Had some fever after Will left him and they had to stop even egg + toast -- just liquid diet. May not be home till after Thanksgiving. Love to all. Mamma."
This next item is the full text of the local (Ord) newspaper article regarding the death of Maud. Items in square brackets [ ] are my additions for correction and clarification (JKC). The article: "MUCH-LOVED ORD MOTHER PASSES AWAY TUESDAY "Mrs. James G. Hastings Dies At Family Home; Funeral To Be Held Today. [The family home was at 119 N 21st St. in Ord.] "Maud Petty Gray was born March 7, 1873 at Pittsburgh, Pa., coming to Nebraska with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Moore Gray in 1884.
"She lived with her parents on the farm in Mira Valley until June 15, 1893 when she was married to James G. Hastings and returned to Pittsburgh [actually it was to Aspinwall, a suburb of Pittsburgh] where they made their home for a number of years.
"In the spring of 1908 Mr. and Mrs. Hastings with their two daughters returned to Nebraska, taking up their residence on the old Gray farm in Mira Valley [in a small home they built for themselves about 1/4 miles north of her parents' larger home]. This was their home until seven years ago when they moved to Ord. Mrs. Hastings was taken to her heavenly home on the afternoon of July 11, 1933.
"She leaves to mourn her going her husband, two daughters, Mrs. Wm. M. Ollis and Mrs. James B. Ollis, both of Ord, one daughter, Alice B. having died in infancy; one sister, Mrs. Scott L. White of Kimball; two brothers, Robert R. Gray of Lincoln and Wilmore Gray of Kimball; six grandchildren and many other relatives and friends.
"She has been a Christian since early childhood and her faith was a sustaining strength throughout her life to which she gave witness clear to the end.
"Funeral services will be held at the home in Ord at 2:30 today, Thursday, July 13, with her pastor, Rev. Real in charge of the services at the house and a private burial will be had later in the day."
Right after Maud died her husband Jim wrote this poem: Oh life thou art sweet, Even though full of pain, We love: yea cling to thee, Struggle, labor, sorrow, Disappointment; Oh life. We would not give Thee up; we love thee, But thou hast thy day, The message: the Call is here. We bow oh death to thee. July 1933 JGH
This next item is a letter from Maud (Gray) Hastings in Ord, 16 Sep 1918, 9 AM. To her daughter Jane at 2003 Warren Ave, University Place, NE (in college) (Parentheticals are explanations and clarifications added by J. Keith Cook in 2002.) "Our Dear Jane: We wonder how you are this beautiful morning. Quite cool here but no frost. Wondered yesterday if you had a lonesome day since Ethel was going to Omaha too. Maybe Miss James was there and you would have her to go to church and S.S. with or maybe some of the Boyd's. Well, how did you get along shopping alone and did you get your picture taken. Have been afraid your hair would have looked better if it had been washed after putting that ointment on it. Sorry I didn't think of that Sat. morning. If the proofs look that way better try again.
"Thought too it was not wise to carry so much money in your pocket book. Will enclose this musliri envelope that I have used and maybe I'll make one of humors and send in the trunk. Sadie may go to Lincoln Thursday or Friday; if so will send the trunk with her. Likely sooner if she decides differently. They are thrashing this morning-- OPB's this afternoon with another machine.
"Papa will help them. Expects to go to Ord this morning to get Mr. Mead to plow. (Ethel and Sadie are Ethel Ollis and Sadie Ollis, sisters of James B. Ollis, who later would become Jane's husband. OPB is Oliver P. Bell, married to Maud's sister Alice.) Got along nicely Saturday but sandy road between Grand Island and St. Paul very poor twisty and sandy C much like road east of N. Platte, so we could not make very good time. Had stopped about noon to eat dinner and were in Grand Island about 3/4 hour. Went round by Petty's before coming home. Evert & car were gone but Myrtle and children stayed of course. Evert was here waiting for them just about eight. Got quite cool and windy after we left St. Paul.
"Quite cloudy and rained some here yesterday morning. Usual word at Sabbath school. Boys got along very well and I believe made a very good impression. As we got nearer home Sat. asked many questions about the farm, stock, their bedroom and so on, and busied themselves seeing things till dark. As twas raining yesterday morning they could not be out much and they were restless to look around. Wanted overalls so they could work. Papa told them he'd hunt them some this morning. They were talking about it last night when getting ready to go to bed and I said something about overalls to play in. Leo said 'Not to play but to work'.
"Papa cut off some of his old ones after breakfast and they've been helping him cut and carry corn-fodder to cows and various jobs. Have been happy as larks all this time C not a bit timid about sleeping upstairs alone. Talk about "our farm" and have said several times "You won't take us back to the home, will you?" We decided "Mr. & Mrs. Hastings" sounded pretty stiff and told them they could call us Uncle Jim & Aunt Maud. They said they liked it better. Lots of love Mamma."
(JKC notes: 1. The above letter was written on a Monday. 2. Jim and Maud had adopted two boys but it didn't work out so the boys were returned to their orphanage. 3. Maud was age 45½ years when she wrote this letter. 4. Jane was very close to 21 years at the time. 5. Paved roads to Grand Island did not come until 1940s.)
Catherine were living and farming in Colorado at the time. Maud and her sister Stella had a double wedding. Maud is visiting her parents near Ord, Nebraska and writes to her husband Jim who is at their home in Aspinwall, PA. Maud's father was very ill, and nearing death. Jim was at their home in Aspinwall, PA. Maud was at her parents home in Mira Valley, south of Ord, and west of North Loup, Nebraska. Her father was very ill and nearing death. Notes in margins are by J. Keith Cook in 1995, meant to clarify. Maud adds "Elinor sends love and kisses to Papa. Lovingly, Maud." but that was written upside down at the top of page 5. Maud died of cancer seven months after she wrote this letter.
The following was written by Jane G. Ollis in 1980, telling about her mother Maud P. Hastings:
“These are stories of Maud Hastings as I knew her. Such a wonderful person lives much and for many; as the life opens up it reveals its graciousness. As with all of God’s followers, her life included ‘the rough, the smooth; the bright, the drear;’ her experiences were varied. I would say Maud ‘stood the tests and shared the joys.’
“Maud Petty Gray was born March 7, 1873 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her early life was spent with her parents, William Moore and Mary Louisa Gray, and their family in Pittsburgh. At that time her father was in the wholesale pickle business, selling pickles by the barrel. He and several of his friends were studying the possibility of ‘going west’ in response to the government’s offer of ‘Quit Claims.’ Under this arrangement, settlers could be assigned a plot of land to live on for a specified length of time. When the time was up they were given the land to claim for themselves. Other people were going west. It sounded like a great place to build and bring up growing families. Moore Gray and his friends decided to inspect places in Nebraska.
“They went by train to Kearney, Nebraska. From there they scouted the land south, then north. When they reached Mira Valley, all agreed that that lovely, rolling country was the choice of all of them. Each man was free to choose parcels of land in 80-acre pieces – as many parcels as he could take care of. They made their applications and returned to Pittsburgh to make their plans.
“Maud’s father, my Grandpa Gray, had signed up for several 80s. There were six children in his family: Stella, Maud, Robert, Alice, Wilmore, and Helen. From the time the men returned home from Nebraska the excitement grew. Grandpa Gray had chosen what became a nice timber claim. On other acres, rich grass had grown tall -- good winter hay!
“At moving time, Grandpa Gray took to Nebraska tools for building a house, a barn, and other smaller buildings. Besides his family, he took along two acquaintances, Will and James Hastings, who were builders. Lumber was hauled (by horse-drawn wagons) from Grand Island, Nebraska (about 60 miles), so the building took a long time. Because of this, the builders, Will and Jim Hastings, had quite a long stay in Mira Valley. They built for others in the area, also. (In 1880 they built a church for the settlers. These families had been active church members back in Pittsburgh. Some had been singers in the Sixth Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh. After they got settled in Mira Valley, they organized a Presbyterian Church, meeting at first in homes or schools. When they were able to afford to build a church, Jim and Will built it. The Mira Valley Wilson Memorial Presbyterian Church was named for a beloved pastor back in Pittsburgh. The church community was a close-knit group (making up its own games for recreation.) When winter weather was not conducive to building, Will and Jim did blacksmithing; they worked near the settlement of Vinton. That was about 4 miles from Gray’s – close enough to allow visits! Jim would have come to know Moore and Louisa’s young daughter, Maud.
“Eventually Jim Hastings went back to Pittsburgh with Will, but he must have had a secret hope that, after he had worked there for a period of years, he would return to Mira Valley. This was not to be for some time, however -- the two brothers would find plenty to do in the Pittsburgh area before Jim would return to Nebraska.
“When Jim was about 30 years old, he wanted to establish a home of his own. Maud Gray, who was then 20 years of age, was willing to join him in Pennsylvania. Jim went to Nebraska to marry Maud. Preparation was made for a double wedding, for Maud’s sister, Stella, and Lloyd Russell were to be married, too. Stella and Lloyd would life in Greeley, Nebraska after the wedding. (Before their marriages Maud and Stella had gone to Hastings College for a year during the early days of that college.)
“Jim and Maud (were married in Mira Valley, Valley County, Nebraska then) went to live in Aspinwall, Pennsylvania, which was in the Pittsburgh area. Aspinwall had 3 avenues and 5 streets. Center Avenue went past 5th St. and led straight on up a hill to the top where houses were being built and more town was being established. Jim and Maud moved into a 5th St. house, not far from the grade school where two daughters would go later to school.
“Maud graciously settled in to be part of a big Hastings tribe. They were scattered around Pittsburgh, most of them in and near Aspinwall. Maud’s uncle, William Brown, married Jim’s sister, Lizzie Hastings, and they lived in Chicago. Will Brown was an Illinois state senator. Their home in Chicago made a good stopping place for Jim and Maud whenever they traveled to Nebraska to visit.
“While Jim and Maud were living at the 5th St. home, their three girls were born – Eleanor Louise, Jane Gray, and Alice Belle. Belle was not a strong child, and she lived only about a year-and-a-half.
“Hope W. Hastings, Jim’s father, was living in a large house on 3rd St. where part of his grown family helped make a home for him. But then his daughter, Mary (Hastings) Copeland, who was a nurse, remarried and went with her new husband, Andy Clements, to a farm. Louise Copeland, Mary’s daughter by her first husband, went to live with them. Arch Copeland, Mary’s son by her first husband, worked in a bank downtown and lived with his Uncle Jim (Hastings) and his Aunt Maud. Then Kate Hastings, who was a telephone girl, was to be married to Jess Fulton. So Jim, Maud, their girls, and Arch Copeland moved to 3rd St. to keep house for Grandpa Hope Hastings. I remember that Grandpa had a bedroom with a fireplace. After he retired his friends would visit him there; they would chat and play checkers. There were times when ‘beating Grandpa’ at checkers kept me occupied, too. Happy days!
“Mama (Maud) needed help when summer company came to visit Grandpa, so she hunted for a hired girl. She found a girl just over from Yugoslavia who wanted work. Her name was Elizabeth, and she was a real worker. She would be up in time to get the clothes for a dozen people washed and on the line by 9:00 in the morning. She baked such good bread and pies; and she didn’t mind my watching her work. On Thursdays she would go to visit her aunt, with whom she had lived before coming to our house. I remember Elizabeth fondly.
“That summer of 1901, when I was four, I remember Grandpa Hastings, our family of four, Arch Copeland, Aunt Kate Fulton, 2 or 3 Browns from Chicago, and others being at our house. Mama was head manager, and what a big time we had that summer!
“One joy experienced by our menfolk around Aspinwall was hunting. A group of church friends would go on a hunting trip when the rabbits were fat and good for eating. The wives would spend that day at one of the homes ‘cooking up,’ and a big day was had together. One man, a dentist named Dr. Lake, had a home out away from the city. That was a good rabbit area. One year all the fellows had good catches but Papa. Not one rabbit all day for Jim Hastings! They kidded him about that. A little later a picture of two rabbits (which Dr. Lake’s sister, Lois, had painted) was presented to Jim as a remembrance of fun if not rabbits. That picture is in our home in Hastings, Nebraska yet. (Note—in 2017 it is now in the home of Jane’s daughter Ruth L. (Ollis) Cook in Omaha.)
“Times were good then, and the Hastings brothers – Will, Jim, John, and Alec (all but Dave) – were occupied by the building trade. So Papa made plans to build a 3-story house on 1st St. for our next home. In time, Grandpa went to live with Aunt Kate Fulton and her husband Jess, in Sheridan, which was a suburb of Pittsburgh; Elizabeth, our hired girl, married and went to live in Pittsburgh. Arch Copeland moved closer to the bank where he worked; and Papa and Mama and we girls moved to the 1st St. house. That house was something special, I thought, with a stairway from the front hall and also a 4-step cut into the kitchen. It had four fireplaces and a chimney-closet in the kitchen where Mama could put the bread to rise. Mama was noted for her wonderful bread, always just right and crusty. Eleanor learned quickly, and by the time she was 10 or 11 she was learning the bread business, too.
“In 1904, when I was 7, I contracted diphtheria at school, and so Mama, Eleanor, and I were quarantined with a sign saying ‘DIPHTHERIA’ on the front of the house. Mama turned nurse, and Papa had to stay at some other home so he could keep working. Eleanor turned cook; also, she read to me, the patient, while sitting on a stepladder in front of my bedroom transom. She could see me lying in bed. It was a good set-up. After what seemed like a long time, that spell was over and we were free of our quarantine sign.
“I remember a red and white striped dress that Mama and Aunt Mary (Clements) made for me. It had short ruffles over the shoulders, full skirt. They thought it was just the thing to make me spiffy, but I did NOT like it. They stood me on the dresser with the big mirror to show me; but I was a hard case! Now I realize it really was pretty!
“Mama played the piano, and she wanted Eleanor and me to take piano lessons. So a good teacher came to the house to instruct us. We had a Chauncey piano. Eleanor had a good touch and learned readily, as usual. But she seemed to be more interested in baking and sewing. (Our Hastings aunts were all seamstresses.) Anyway, I seemed to have more time to practice, so I did more piano playing.
“During our years in Aspinwall, church work claimed much of Mama and Papa’s time – Sunday School teaching for Mama, choir and different offices for Papa. Mama had a nice alto voice, too. (Among Mama’s things were some notes and newspaper clippings. One was a newspaper clipping from the 1893 United Presbyterian General Assembly Report. It reported the discussion over the churches’ admitting of organs for use in worship services. Instruments of any kind had never been allowed in the U.P. churches before that time. Another article was a sermon. There was a church bulletin from 1903. In my Hastings, Nebraska home I have the tuning fork that Papa used for special singing in his younger days.)
“Aunt Annie (Hastings) White and her husband Lew lived in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Aunt Annie was a seamstress. She had several assistants to use the several sewing machines in her busy room. When Mama would go from Aspinwall to shop in Pittsburgh, Eleanor and I would ride along on the street car as far as Aunt Annie’s. There we would stay, observing the dressmakers, until Mama’s return. That was fun.
“About this time, Mama’s father, Moore Gray, became ill out in Nebraska. (He had been a senator for a term or two, so when the Legislature was in session he would go to Lincoln, Nebraska.) He did not live to a great age, and was ill for some time. Mama, in Pennsylvania, would pack up what it took to get herself and two girls to Nebraska; and we would go by train to see her father. The farm was a great place to visit! Papa would come out to Nebraska later for a shorter visit during his vacation.
“The time was coming, for several reasons, when Jim and Maud Hastings would move their young family back to Nebraska to make their home on the farm. In Aspinwall, Papa had gotten into the plumbing business. He had a partner and several workmen. They decided to build a flat (apartment) on 1st Street. It would have a plumbing office and display facing north and a drugstore facing south. There would be a basement under each part, two apartments on the 2nd floor, and two apartments on the 3rd floor. The plans looked good! They borrowed the money to build. Unfortunately, the financial world took a turn. The lady who lent the money had to have it back. The business project went down the drain. So Papa Jim Hastings and his family packed up and moved to Nebraska. The year was 1908.
“Back in Mira Valley Alice, Helen, and Wilmore Gray had all married. It was decided that Mama would assume the care of her mother, Louisa Gray, who had had a stroke. The big square house, the one Will and Jim (Hastings) had built earlier, was divided in two. Wilmore and Addie Gray lived on the west side; and the Hastings family and Grandma Gray lived on the east side. Some renovating was done – the first being the building of a bathroom in the middle, at the end of the hall. Papa Jim had brought the fixtures, along with our furniture, in the rail-car. (We were many years ahead of other homes in having indoor plumbing. That was a benefit of having a father who had been in the plumbing business!) Aunt Addie Gray took the first bath in the new tub. No more running up the path past the clothesline! (On Memorial Day 1977, Keith and Ruth Cook and sons of Omaha took me back to Mira Valley to visit the former Gray/Hastings home. It was then occupied by the Henry Lange family. It was a treat to be able to go back and see my old home. The hallway that had seemed so wide in my childhood days looked small now. The Langes had made many improvements, which included a bathroom on the second floor. New electric washers and refrigerators had by this time become modern necessities. But the 3rd floor with its summer heat was where the extra hired hands used to sleep. I loved the visit to my old home.)
“Mama kept quite busy during those years while her sisters and others were having their babies. She was needed for mid-wifery. New mothers stayed in bed many days back then. Everyone helped where needed. In addition, canning, churning, gardening, raising chickens were all on the list of farm chores for women and youth.
“Mama continued to take care of her mother, Grandma Gray, until she died in 1920.
“In 1926 Dad Jim (Papa) decided to join the business that was to be C. A. Hager and Co., so he and Mama bought the house at 119 N 21st St. in nearby Ord, Nebraska and moved into town.
“For about a half-dozen years Maud and Jim were active and enjoyed acquaintances in the Ord Presbyterian Church and their neighborhood. Then, in 1932, Mama became ill and needed surgery. After that, she failed all during the winter. Dad Jim asked James and me, with our 2 children, to move into their home and help with Mama’s care. That was a precious experience, for Mama lived until July 1933, showing her faith and witness clear to the end. Eleanor and I would take turns being the nurse for our sick mother while the other went to Eleanor and Will’s farm to manage farm chores, take care of the 6 children (our two plus Eleanor and Will’s four), and cook for the two farmers, Will and his brother Elmer Ollis. The older children helped out, too.
“One of Mama’s prayers, as we would gather at her bedside, was a sincere petition what we would manage whatever was the best way for the good of all concerned who would be left for further service in Christ’s name.
“How our hearts wept to give Maud up when she died on July 11, 1933. Our local paper, The Ord Quiz, headed the obituary with these words: ‘Much Loved Mother passes away Tuesday.’
“Mama had beautiful brown hair and eyes. She was a patient person even when others were frustrated. She was a neat housekeeper. She was generous in entertaining. Sometimes, in Aspinwall, she kept roomers to provide a little extra cash for helping the man of the home to provide for his family.
“I remember once in Aspinwall when she made an evening call on an elderly couple and took me along for company. Her kind words impressed me, a 10-year-old girl. Another time, in our Ord home, a woman with troubles and problems came, wanting to talk to Mama. That was the winter of 1927, when the Roses, an evangelistic team, came to town for special meetings and a number of denominations joined in activities. It was a wonderful six weeks of learning to understand fellow Christians. Church members were urged to be more active than usual, so I remember Mama as ‘doing all she could.’
“That’s how I remember my mother, Maud Gray Hastings.”
The following is written (in 1980) by Maud’s granddaughter Wilma (Ollis) Winsor.
“Grandma was serene and poised – quite serious, really, but in a loving way. Her eyes shone with deep love and kindness; I cannot, however, remember her as laughing, except at times sitting on the little back porch sewing with Aunt Annie White and Aunt Kate Fulton, where they were chatting together. Well, actually, ‘they’ would have been ‘chatting’ while Grandma would have been talking – ‘chatting’ would have been too frivolous a word to use of Maud Hastings. I have vague memories of her in our home in Mira Valley, or of her and Granddaddy going somewhere in the car, and of being with us in the Old Presbyterian Church in Mira Valley. There were brief memories of seeing her in bed those last weeks, but in those days, at age 10 or so, I was ‘too young’ to be told any of what was happening. My mother stayed in town to help Aunt Jane Ollis care for Grandma Maud at the last and Aunt Sadie Ollis Armstrong came to the farm to help our family. I believe Marilyn and Jim Ollis stayed out on the farm, too. The funeral was held in Grandma’s home in Ord. Because of whooping cough, Catherine, Jean Armstrong, Marilyn (I think), and I could not be with the family, so we stayed upstairs or on the stairs.”
The following is written (in 1980) by Maud’s granddaughter Evelyn “Lynne” (Ollis) Ramquist.
“Grandma would sit at the pump-organ and taught me the song, ‘Angry Words, Oh, Let Them Never ….’ I often sing it.
And the following is written (in 1980) by Maud’s granddaughter Catherine (Ollis) McPheeters.
“Granddaddy Jim Hastings worked for Grandma’s father on Great Granddad Moore Gray’s farm in Mira Valley one summer when Grandma Maud was only 9 or 10 and fell in love with her then. But he went back to Pittsburgh and waited for her to grow up. When Grandma was in the hospital for surgery near the end of her life I remember visiting her. Granddaddy was there holding her hand and they were looking at each other with as much love in their eyes as any newlyweds.”
Maud moved, with her parents and family, from Pittsburgh, PA to Mira Valley, 8 miles south of Ord, Nebraska in 1884. Jim Hastings, later to be her husband, and his brother Will made the same move at the same time, hired to help Maud's father build a home for his family in Mira Valley. It was a grand three-story home, built in 1884, later owned and occupied for many years (beginning in 1942) by Henry Lange. The home burned to the ground in the early-mid 1990s.
Maud and her sister Stella had a double wedding. The wedding took place in that home of the parents of the brides, in Mira Valley, south of Ord, Nebraska, at 8:30 PM, Thursday, June 15, 1893. Two ministers were involved. Stella and Lloyd were married by Lloyd's father, Rev. E. A. Russell of Ord; and Maud and Jim were married by their Mira Valley family minister, Rev. G. A. Ray.
After the marriages the Russells lived in Ord briefly, then moved to Greeley, NE. The Hastingses began their life together in Aspinwall, PA and later, in the Spring of 1908, moved back to Mira Valley, and later, in 1925, moved into the town of Ord. Maud's groom lived in Aspinwall...he'd been hired to build the Gray home in Mira Valley, but afterwards had gone back to Pittsburgh.
Stella died, childless, of heart difficulties not long after marriage. Maud and her sister Alice Bell were both ill some years later and it was thought Maud would die before her sister Alice, but Alice died in February and then Maud died in July of the same year. Alice's daughter Jane Bell tells of the sisters Maud Hastings, Helen White and Alice Bell gathering for a visit in the Bell house in Hastings, Nebraska in late 1932 or early 1933, thinking that this might be their last visit with Maud, since Maud was ill and not expected to live long, but that the family was surprised when Alice died first.
Maud was, in fact, quite ill. She had cancer in a breast and the breast was removed. Later cancer showed up in her cervex and she died of that cancer. Her physician was an Ord Osteopath.
In 1925 Maud and her husband Jim purchased and moved from Mira Valley into the house in Ord (at 119 N 21 St) that had been built and previous occupied by Maud's mother's brother Samuel Jennings Wilson Brown (who had owned and operated a hardware store on the north side of the town square in Ord). Maud and Jim were living there when she died. Her funeral service was in the living room of that house. Her body was lifted out of the casket and laid on her couch there in the living room -- for the 2:30 PM service. (In 1970 -- and still in 2013 -- that same couch is owned by Maud's grand daughter, Ruth L. (Ollis) Cook and is in her living room at 9816 Sprague St, Omaha, NE for 34 years, then moved with Ruth and J. Keith Cook to their new residence at 17334 Jackson Plaza, Omaha.)
On May 1, 1896, when Maud and her husband Jim (and 1st daughter Eleanor) were living in Aspinwall, PA, Maud wrote the following letter from Mira Valley near Ord, Nebraska to her husband back in Aspinwall. Maud and Eleanor were visiting the home of her parents during her father's terminal illness. Her father, William Moore Gray, Sr. died seven weeks after the letter was written.
The letter: "Mr. Jas. G. Hastings, Aspinwall, Allegheny Co., Penna. -- Home, May 1, 1896. My Very Dear Jim: Your very welcome letter written a week ago today was received on Wednesday. It was, as your letters all have been, so good and interesting. I am always glad to know what is going on at home. Your letters are so full of comfort too, Jim. So many scripture quotations and you know just where to use them. On Wednesday evening after I had read your letter to Papa, I asked if it made him more discouraged to have them read to him, but he said "Oh, no, not at all," and said he wished I would read him the quotations in your letters again some time. Said that a good while ago he had given himself unto the hands of the Lord; that even in health he had never had any dread of death, and that he felt he was now ready and perfectly willing to die if it is the Lord's will. Said that in the long hours in which he has lain awake at night he has in, thought, seen Christ many, many times in his ministry on earth and says he KNOWS that his Redeemer liveth. Oh, that all men did. He slept better last night than for several nights but they were very poor. Mr. Munn was down yesterday to take the acknowledgements of the south quarter deed. He was pretty tired yesterday evening, but a little easier today. Mamma & Willmore are ready to go to Ord so must stop for this time. Very lovingly, Maud."
This next item is a letter written by Maud to her daughter Eleanor and family, living in Colorado. Maud was at her home in Ord, Nebraska. In it she describes the Armistice (end of WW One) celebration in Ord. The items in square brackets [ ] are my [J. Keith Cook] additions for questions or clarifications.
The letter: "Home, Nov. 12, 1918, 12:30 M [does M mean mid-day, morning or what?]. Dear Will, Eleanor & Catherine: Your good letter and Jane's came yesterday. Poor girl is having a serious time with that boil. I think and hope she won't have any more. Papa's all right; no more in sight. So much worse on a bony place than on a fleshy part. Glad you and Jane and all of us have been spared the "flu." [The infamous flu of 1918 swiftly killed thousands and thousands of people in the USA and thousands more throughout the world!] Think it is dying out here and in Ord, too. None here. Just heard Lou & Myrtle talking. They say Grace is fine this morning -- went down town to celebration yesterday afternoon in Sterling's Ford. Dr. thinks she's all right for this time. Seems as if indigestion may bring on convulsions -- had headache several days before she took sick and sick at stomach night before. That was quite a snow you had last week. Beautiful here too for several days and roads are drying fast.
"Suppose you had Real Peace Celebration yesterday or did last week's suffice? Helen called here about seven yesterday, telling us to listen to Ord bells and whistles that official message had come from Washington saying Peace had really been declared. We heard same thing from many over 'phone. Many people in town celebrated all day and evening, whistles blowing, bells ringing, band playing and big bonfires at each corner of square. [Ord's business area is built around a one-block town square.] Thought we'd go up in evening but Papa could not get the car to work, so gave it up. Mrs. P. [the Petty family were friends] asked us to go with them so Papa and I did. Grandma did not for it was cold standing around. We did not get near the crowd gathered around bandstand at S. W. corner of square.
"They had parade, many people and cars draped with bunting or flags, carrying torches or flags. Whistles blew, bells rang, guns were fired, band played. A sham battle in which Kaiser was captured, then hung on a pole near band stand, shot at and finally took fire and burned very slowly, characteristic of the real one. We were home about nine, re-read your letters while getting warm. Late getting up and Petersons said they were going to haul hogs (Papa was to help them yesterday but could not get car) so we had to hustle. He was to have gone out in interest of War Work, campaigning today so will do that later in week.
"Albert P. [Albert Peterson was a young boy from Mira Valley, later would be my sister Elaine Cook's father-in-law] has been very anxious to go to the Navy but hated to leave before husking was done. However, decided to go yesterday (to Omaha) and did even though Peace had been declared. They surely won't take him. County Clerk got a message from Gov. Neville yesterday afternoon telling him to send no more recruits and stop drilling. So it seems it must be genuine.
"Have you heard anything more from James? [James B. Ollis was in the US Army and ready to be shipped overseas, and would still be shipped for military ambulance duty in France, and would still marry Maud's daughter Jane.] Sadie [JBO's oldest sister] got letter Saturday, written Wed., Nov. 6, saying their overseas orders were being cancelled for twenty-four hours at a time. Latest word we know of, so if they are holding them to see if Peace was declared, he won't be likely to go across. On other hand he may have gone Thursday or Friday. Said he hoped to at least see New York, but were just waiting, not allowed to go anywhere.
"Lots of boys will be disappointed not to get over, but Oh, what rejoicing! Sadie has not been very well. Had Dr. Showes come out and give her a treatment yesterday and is quite a little better today. Her limb (varicose veins) making the trouble, I think. Has advertised for a girl. Very scarce and hard to get. You have been doing quite a lot of shopping by mail lately. Hope things will be satisfactory. Since you want it that way. Glad Miss Albus can come to you, also (Mary Farmer -- may be not by that time) but we were still hoping matters would so shape themselves that we'd have you home. Do be careful and not overdo. Yes, it must be pretty hard for Catherine to have to stay in when she loves so to be out in the 'bootiful snow.'
"Tell her we wish she could be here and play with our kittens. One yellow with a little white -- other white with some yellow -- more than half grown but playful and cute as can be. Just got our stove polished yesterday and would have been glad to do yours too. Thought about it. Want to clean attics today (briefly) and go all over house in same way soon -- before it's cold again. Before Jane comes home. My right thumb I suppose got jagged and I did not notice it till later. Put turpentine on it but it got hard and hand and arm ached a good deal. I poulticed it at night for about half time and opened it enough to make it bleed a couple of weeks or more ago. Last Sat. morning I got Papa to open it again and we squeezed out some blood, soaked it with turpentine and poulticed; rubbed my hand and arm thoroughly with C-Balsam so it is getting all right. Thumb itself not so very sore or I would have paid better attention to it. Had a little cold in lungs about same time -- painted well with iodine front and back, cured and also made me itchy. But I'm all-right now. Hogs did not have cholera. Corrals so muddy though Papa is glad to be rid of that many.
"Must get to work now. A letter from Aunt Lizzie said they had a letter from Wm. Also his mate's mother. Had some fever after Will left him and they had to stop even egg + toast -- just liquid diet. May not be home till after Thanksgiving. Love to all. Mamma."
This next item is the full text of the local (Ord) newspaper article regarding the death of Maud. Items in square brackets [ ] are my additions for correction and clarification (JKC). The article: "MUCH-LOVED ORD MOTHER PASSES AWAY TUESDAY "Mrs. James G. Hastings Dies At Family Home; Funeral To Be Held Today. [The family home was at 119 N 21st St. in Ord.] "Maud Petty Gray was born March 7, 1873 at Pittsburgh, Pa., coming to Nebraska with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Moore Gray in 1884.
"She lived with her parents on the farm in Mira Valley until June 15, 1893 when she was married to James G. Hastings and returned to Pittsburgh [actually it was to Aspinwall, a suburb of Pittsburgh] where they made their home for a number of years.
"In the spring of 1908 Mr. and Mrs. Hastings with their two daughters returned to Nebraska, taking up their residence on the old Gray farm in Mira Valley [in a small home they built for themselves about 1/4 miles north of her parents' larger home]. This was their home until seven years ago when they moved to Ord. Mrs. Hastings was taken to her heavenly home on the afternoon of July 11, 1933.
"She leaves to mourn her going her husband, two daughters, Mrs. Wm. M. Ollis and Mrs. James B. Ollis, both of Ord, one daughter, Alice B. having died in infancy; one sister, Mrs. Scott L. White of Kimball; two brothers, Robert R. Gray of Lincoln and Wilmore Gray of Kimball; six grandchildren and many other relatives and friends.
"She has been a Christian since early childhood and her faith was a sustaining strength throughout her life to which she gave witness clear to the end.
"Funeral services will be held at the home in Ord at 2:30 today, Thursday, July 13, with her pastor, Rev. Real in charge of the services at the house and a private burial will be had later in the day."
Right after Maud died her husband Jim wrote this poem: Oh life thou art sweet, Even though full of pain, We love: yea cling to thee, Struggle, labor, sorrow, Disappointment; Oh life. We would not give Thee up; we love thee, But thou hast thy day, The message: the Call is here. We bow oh death to thee. July 1933 JGH
This next item is a letter from Maud (Gray) Hastings in Ord, 16 Sep 1918, 9 AM. To her daughter Jane at 2003 Warren Ave, University Place, NE (in college) (Parentheticals are explanations and clarifications added by J. Keith Cook in 2002.) "Our Dear Jane: We wonder how you are this beautiful morning. Quite cool here but no frost. Wondered yesterday if you had a lonesome day since Ethel was going to Omaha too. Maybe Miss James was there and you would have her to go to church and S.S. with or maybe some of the Boyd's. Well, how did you get along shopping alone and did you get your picture taken. Have been afraid your hair would have looked better if it had been washed after putting that ointment on it. Sorry I didn't think of that Sat. morning. If the proofs look that way better try again.
"Thought too it was not wise to carry so much money in your pocket book. Will enclose this musliri envelope that I have used and maybe I'll make one of humors and send in the trunk. Sadie may go to Lincoln Thursday or Friday; if so will send the trunk with her. Likely sooner if she decides differently. They are thrashing this morning-- OPB's this afternoon with another machine.
"Papa will help them. Expects to go to Ord this morning to get Mr. Mead to plow. (Ethel and Sadie are Ethel Ollis and Sadie Ollis, sisters of James B. Ollis, who later would become Jane's husband. OPB is Oliver P. Bell, married to Maud's sister Alice.) Got along nicely Saturday but sandy road between Grand Island and St. Paul very poor twisty and sandy C much like road east of N. Platte, so we could not make very good time. Had stopped about noon to eat dinner and were in Grand Island about 3/4 hour. Went round by Petty's before coming home. Evert & car were gone but Myrtle and children stayed of course. Evert was here waiting for them just about eight. Got quite cool and windy after we left St. Paul.
"Quite cloudy and rained some here yesterday morning. Usual word at Sabbath school. Boys got along very well and I believe made a very good impression. As we got nearer home Sat. asked many questions about the farm, stock, their bedroom and so on, and busied themselves seeing things till dark. As twas raining yesterday morning they could not be out much and they were restless to look around. Wanted overalls so they could work. Papa told them he'd hunt them some this morning. They were talking about it last night when getting ready to go to bed and I said something about overalls to play in. Leo said 'Not to play but to work'.
"Papa cut off some of his old ones after breakfast and they've been helping him cut and carry corn-fodder to cows and various jobs. Have been happy as larks all this time C not a bit timid about sleeping upstairs alone. Talk about "our farm" and have said several times "You won't take us back to the home, will you?" We decided "Mr. & Mrs. Hastings" sounded pretty stiff and told them they could call us Uncle Jim & Aunt Maud. They said they liked it better. Lots of love Mamma."
(JKC notes: 1. The above letter was written on a Monday. 2. Jim and Maud had adopted two boys but it didn't work out so the boys were returned to their orphanage. 3. Maud was age 45½ years when she wrote this letter. 4. Jane was very close to 21 years at the time. 5. Paved roads to Grand Island did not come until 1940s.)
Catherine were living and farming in Colorado at the time. Maud and her sister Stella had a double wedding. Maud is visiting her parents near Ord, Nebraska and writes to her husband Jim who is at their home in Aspinwall, PA. Maud's father was very ill, and nearing death. Jim was at their home in Aspinwall, PA. Maud was at her parents home in Mira Valley, south of Ord, and west of North Loup, Nebraska. Her father was very ill and nearing death. Notes in margins are by J. Keith Cook in 1995, meant to clarify. Maud adds "Elinor sends love and kisses to Papa. Lovingly, Maud." but that was written upside down at the top of page 5. Maud died of cancer seven months after she wrote this letter.
The following was written by Jane G. Ollis in 1980, telling about her mother Maud P. Hastings:
“These are stories of Maud Hastings as I knew her. Such a wonderful person lives much and for many; as the life opens up it reveals its graciousness. As with all of God’s followers, her life included ‘the rough, the smooth; the bright, the drear;’ her experiences were varied. I would say Maud ‘stood the tests and shared the joys.’
“Maud Petty Gray was born March 7, 1873 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her early life was spent with her parents, William Moore and Mary Louisa Gray, and their family in Pittsburgh. At that time her father was in the wholesale pickle business, selling pickles by the barrel. He and several of his friends were studying the possibility of ‘going west’ in response to the government’s offer of ‘Quit Claims.’ Under this arrangement, settlers could be assigned a plot of land to live on for a specified length of time. When the time was up they were given the land to claim for themselves. Other people were going west. It sounded like a great place to build and bring up growing families. Moore Gray and his friends decided to inspect places in Nebraska.
“They went by train to Kearney, Nebraska. From there they scouted the land south, then north. When they reached Mira Valley, all agreed that that lovely, rolling country was the choice of all of them. Each man was free to choose parcels of land in 80-acre pieces – as many parcels as he could take care of. They made their applications and returned to Pittsburgh to make their plans.
“Maud’s father, my Grandpa Gray, had signed up for several 80s. There were six children in his family: Stella, Maud, Robert, Alice, Wilmore, and Helen. From the time the men returned home from Nebraska the excitement grew. Grandpa Gray had chosen what became a nice timber claim. On other acres, rich grass had grown tall -- good winter hay!
“At moving time, Grandpa Gray took to Nebraska tools for building a house, a barn, and other smaller buildings. Besides his family, he took along two acquaintances, Will and James Hastings, who were builders. Lumber was hauled (by horse-drawn wagons) from Grand Island, Nebraska (about 60 miles), so the building took a long time. Because of this, the builders, Will and Jim Hastings, had quite a long stay in Mira Valley. They built for others in the area, also. (In 1880 they built a church for the settlers. These families had been active church members back in Pittsburgh. Some had been singers in the Sixth Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh. After they got settled in Mira Valley, they organized a Presbyterian Church, meeting at first in homes or schools. When they were able to afford to build a church, Jim and Will built it. The Mira Valley Wilson Memorial Presbyterian Church was named for a beloved pastor back in Pittsburgh. The church community was a close-knit group (making up its own games for recreation.) When winter weather was not conducive to building, Will and Jim did blacksmithing; they worked near the settlement of Vinton. That was about 4 miles from Gray’s – close enough to allow visits! Jim would have come to know Moore and Louisa’s young daughter, Maud.
“Eventually Jim Hastings went back to Pittsburgh with Will, but he must have had a secret hope that, after he had worked there for a period of years, he would return to Mira Valley. This was not to be for some time, however -- the two brothers would find plenty to do in the Pittsburgh area before Jim would return to Nebraska.
“When Jim was about 30 years old, he wanted to establish a home of his own. Maud Gray, who was then 20 years of age, was willing to join him in Pennsylvania. Jim went to Nebraska to marry Maud. Preparation was made for a double wedding, for Maud’s sister, Stella, and Lloyd Russell were to be married, too. Stella and Lloyd would life in Greeley, Nebraska after the wedding. (Before their marriages Maud and Stella had gone to Hastings College for a year during the early days of that college.)
“Jim and Maud (were married in Mira Valley, Valley County, Nebraska then) went to live in Aspinwall, Pennsylvania, which was in the Pittsburgh area. Aspinwall had 3 avenues and 5 streets. Center Avenue went past 5th St. and led straight on up a hill to the top where houses were being built and more town was being established. Jim and Maud moved into a 5th St. house, not far from the grade school where two daughters would go later to school.
“Maud graciously settled in to be part of a big Hastings tribe. They were scattered around Pittsburgh, most of them in and near Aspinwall. Maud’s uncle, William Brown, married Jim’s sister, Lizzie Hastings, and they lived in Chicago. Will Brown was an Illinois state senator. Their home in Chicago made a good stopping place for Jim and Maud whenever they traveled to Nebraska to visit.
“While Jim and Maud were living at the 5th St. home, their three girls were born – Eleanor Louise, Jane Gray, and Alice Belle. Belle was not a strong child, and she lived only about a year-and-a-half.
“Hope W. Hastings, Jim’s father, was living in a large house on 3rd St. where part of his grown family helped make a home for him. But then his daughter, Mary (Hastings) Copeland, who was a nurse, remarried and went with her new husband, Andy Clements, to a farm. Louise Copeland, Mary’s daughter by her first husband, went to live with them. Arch Copeland, Mary’s son by her first husband, worked in a bank downtown and lived with his Uncle Jim (Hastings) and his Aunt Maud. Then Kate Hastings, who was a telephone girl, was to be married to Jess Fulton. So Jim, Maud, their girls, and Arch Copeland moved to 3rd St. to keep house for Grandpa Hope Hastings. I remember that Grandpa had a bedroom with a fireplace. After he retired his friends would visit him there; they would chat and play checkers. There were times when ‘beating Grandpa’ at checkers kept me occupied, too. Happy days!
“Mama (Maud) needed help when summer company came to visit Grandpa, so she hunted for a hired girl. She found a girl just over from Yugoslavia who wanted work. Her name was Elizabeth, and she was a real worker. She would be up in time to get the clothes for a dozen people washed and on the line by 9:00 in the morning. She baked such good bread and pies; and she didn’t mind my watching her work. On Thursdays she would go to visit her aunt, with whom she had lived before coming to our house. I remember Elizabeth fondly.
“That summer of 1901, when I was four, I remember Grandpa Hastings, our family of four, Arch Copeland, Aunt Kate Fulton, 2 or 3 Browns from Chicago, and others being at our house. Mama was head manager, and what a big time we had that summer!
“One joy experienced by our menfolk around Aspinwall was hunting. A group of church friends would go on a hunting trip when the rabbits were fat and good for eating. The wives would spend that day at one of the homes ‘cooking up,’ and a big day was had together. One man, a dentist named Dr. Lake, had a home out away from the city. That was a good rabbit area. One year all the fellows had good catches but Papa. Not one rabbit all day for Jim Hastings! They kidded him about that. A little later a picture of two rabbits (which Dr. Lake’s sister, Lois, had painted) was presented to Jim as a remembrance of fun if not rabbits. That picture is in our home in Hastings, Nebraska yet. (Note—in 2017 it is now in the home of Jane’s daughter Ruth L. (Ollis) Cook in Omaha.)
“Times were good then, and the Hastings brothers – Will, Jim, John, and Alec (all but Dave) – were occupied by the building trade. So Papa made plans to build a 3-story house on 1st St. for our next home. In time, Grandpa went to live with Aunt Kate Fulton and her husband Jess, in Sheridan, which was a suburb of Pittsburgh; Elizabeth, our hired girl, married and went to live in Pittsburgh. Arch Copeland moved closer to the bank where he worked; and Papa and Mama and we girls moved to the 1st St. house. That house was something special, I thought, with a stairway from the front hall and also a 4-step cut into the kitchen. It had four fireplaces and a chimney-closet in the kitchen where Mama could put the bread to rise. Mama was noted for her wonderful bread, always just right and crusty. Eleanor learned quickly, and by the time she was 10 or 11 she was learning the bread business, too.
“In 1904, when I was 7, I contracted diphtheria at school, and so Mama, Eleanor, and I were quarantined with a sign saying ‘DIPHTHERIA’ on the front of the house. Mama turned nurse, and Papa had to stay at some other home so he could keep working. Eleanor turned cook; also, she read to me, the patient, while sitting on a stepladder in front of my bedroom transom. She could see me lying in bed. It was a good set-up. After what seemed like a long time, that spell was over and we were free of our quarantine sign.
“I remember a red and white striped dress that Mama and Aunt Mary (Clements) made for me. It had short ruffles over the shoulders, full skirt. They thought it was just the thing to make me spiffy, but I did NOT like it. They stood me on the dresser with the big mirror to show me; but I was a hard case! Now I realize it really was pretty!
“Mama played the piano, and she wanted Eleanor and me to take piano lessons. So a good teacher came to the house to instruct us. We had a Chauncey piano. Eleanor had a good touch and learned readily, as usual. But she seemed to be more interested in baking and sewing. (Our Hastings aunts were all seamstresses.) Anyway, I seemed to have more time to practice, so I did more piano playing.
“During our years in Aspinwall, church work claimed much of Mama and Papa’s time – Sunday School teaching for Mama, choir and different offices for Papa. Mama had a nice alto voice, too. (Among Mama’s things were some notes and newspaper clippings. One was a newspaper clipping from the 1893 United Presbyterian General Assembly Report. It reported the discussion over the churches’ admitting of organs for use in worship services. Instruments of any kind had never been allowed in the U.P. churches before that time. Another article was a sermon. There was a church bulletin from 1903. In my Hastings, Nebraska home I have the tuning fork that Papa used for special singing in his younger days.)
“Aunt Annie (Hastings) White and her husband Lew lived in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Aunt Annie was a seamstress. She had several assistants to use the several sewing machines in her busy room. When Mama would go from Aspinwall to shop in Pittsburgh, Eleanor and I would ride along on the street car as far as Aunt Annie’s. There we would stay, observing the dressmakers, until Mama’s return. That was fun.
“About this time, Mama’s father, Moore Gray, became ill out in Nebraska. (He had been a senator for a term or two, so when the Legislature was in session he would go to Lincoln, Nebraska.) He did not live to a great age, and was ill for some time. Mama, in Pennsylvania, would pack up what it took to get herself and two girls to Nebraska; and we would go by train to see her father. The farm was a great place to visit! Papa would come out to Nebraska later for a shorter visit during his vacation.
“The time was coming, for several reasons, when Jim and Maud Hastings would move their young family back to Nebraska to make their home on the farm. In Aspinwall, Papa had gotten into the plumbing business. He had a partner and several workmen. They decided to build a flat (apartment) on 1st Street. It would have a plumbing office and display facing north and a drugstore facing south. There would be a basement under each part, two apartments on the 2nd floor, and two apartments on the 3rd floor. The plans looked good! They borrowed the money to build. Unfortunately, the financial world took a turn. The lady who lent the money had to have it back. The business project went down the drain. So Papa Jim Hastings and his family packed up and moved to Nebraska. The year was 1908.
“Back in Mira Valley Alice, Helen, and Wilmore Gray had all married. It was decided that Mama would assume the care of her mother, Louisa Gray, who had had a stroke. The big square house, the one Will and Jim (Hastings) had built earlier, was divided in two. Wilmore and Addie Gray lived on the west side; and the Hastings family and Grandma Gray lived on the east side. Some renovating was done – the first being the building of a bathroom in the middle, at the end of the hall. Papa Jim had brought the fixtures, along with our furniture, in the rail-car. (We were many years ahead of other homes in having indoor plumbing. That was a benefit of having a father who had been in the plumbing business!) Aunt Addie Gray took the first bath in the new tub. No more running up the path past the clothesline! (On Memorial Day 1977, Keith and Ruth Cook and sons of Omaha took me back to Mira Valley to visit the former Gray/Hastings home. It was then occupied by the Henry Lange family. It was a treat to be able to go back and see my old home. The hallway that had seemed so wide in my childhood days looked small now. The Langes had made many improvements, which included a bathroom on the second floor. New electric washers and refrigerators had by this time become modern necessities. But the 3rd floor with its summer heat was where the extra hired hands used to sleep. I loved the visit to my old home.)
“Mama kept quite busy during those years while her sisters and others were having their babies. She was needed for mid-wifery. New mothers stayed in bed many days back then. Everyone helped where needed. In addition, canning, churning, gardening, raising chickens were all on the list of farm chores for women and youth.
“Mama continued to take care of her mother, Grandma Gray, until she died in 1920.
“In 1926 Dad Jim (Papa) decided to join the business that was to be C. A. Hager and Co., so he and Mama bought the house at 119 N 21st St. in nearby Ord, Nebraska and moved into town.
“For about a half-dozen years Maud and Jim were active and enjoyed acquaintances in the Ord Presbyterian Church and their neighborhood. Then, in 1932, Mama became ill and needed surgery. After that, she failed all during the winter. Dad Jim asked James and me, with our 2 children, to move into their home and help with Mama’s care. That was a precious experience, for Mama lived until July 1933, showing her faith and witness clear to the end. Eleanor and I would take turns being the nurse for our sick mother while the other went to Eleanor and Will’s farm to manage farm chores, take care of the 6 children (our two plus Eleanor and Will’s four), and cook for the two farmers, Will and his brother Elmer Ollis. The older children helped out, too.
“One of Mama’s prayers, as we would gather at her bedside, was a sincere petition what we would manage whatever was the best way for the good of all concerned who would be left for further service in Christ’s name.
“How our hearts wept to give Maud up when she died on July 11, 1933. Our local paper, The Ord Quiz, headed the obituary with these words: ‘Much Loved Mother passes away Tuesday.’
“Mama had beautiful brown hair and eyes. She was a patient person even when others were frustrated. She was a neat housekeeper. She was generous in entertaining. Sometimes, in Aspinwall, she kept roomers to provide a little extra cash for helping the man of the home to provide for his family.
“I remember once in Aspinwall when she made an evening call on an elderly couple and took me along for company. Her kind words impressed me, a 10-year-old girl. Another time, in our Ord home, a woman with troubles and problems came, wanting to talk to Mama. That was the winter of 1927, when the Roses, an evangelistic team, came to town for special meetings and a number of denominations joined in activities. It was a wonderful six weeks of learning to understand fellow Christians. Church members were urged to be more active than usual, so I remember Mama as ‘doing all she could.’
“That’s how I remember my mother, Maud Gray Hastings.”
The following is written (in 1980) by Maud’s granddaughter Wilma (Ollis) Winsor.
“Grandma was serene and poised – quite serious, really, but in a loving way. Her eyes shone with deep love and kindness; I cannot, however, remember her as laughing, except at times sitting on the little back porch sewing with Aunt Annie White and Aunt Kate Fulton, where they were chatting together. Well, actually, ‘they’ would have been ‘chatting’ while Grandma would have been talking – ‘chatting’ would have been too frivolous a word to use of Maud Hastings. I have vague memories of her in our home in Mira Valley, or of her and Granddaddy going somewhere in the car, and of being with us in the Old Presbyterian Church in Mira Valley. There were brief memories of seeing her in bed those last weeks, but in those days, at age 10 or so, I was ‘too young’ to be told any of what was happening. My mother stayed in town to help Aunt Jane Ollis care for Grandma Maud at the last and Aunt Sadie Ollis Armstrong came to the farm to help our family. I believe Marilyn and Jim Ollis stayed out on the farm, too. The funeral was held in Grandma’s home in Ord. Because of whooping cough, Catherine, Jean Armstrong, Marilyn (I think), and I could not be with the family, so we stayed upstairs or on the stairs.”
The following is written (in 1980) by Maud’s granddaughter Evelyn “Lynne” (Ollis) Ramquist.
“Grandma would sit at the pump-organ and taught me the song, ‘Angry Words, Oh, Let Them Never ….’ I often sing it.
And the following is written (in 1980) by Maud’s granddaughter Catherine (Ollis) McPheeters.
“Granddaddy Jim Hastings worked for Grandma’s father on Great Granddad Moore Gray’s farm in Mira Valley one summer when Grandma Maud was only 9 or 10 and fell in love with her then. But he went back to Pittsburgh and waited for her to grow up. When Grandma was in the hospital for surgery near the end of her life I remember visiting her. Granddaddy was there holding her hand and they were looking at each other with as much love in their eyes as any newlyweds.”
Maud was wife of James G. Hastings of Ord, and mother of Jane (Mrs. James B.) Ollis and of Eleanor (Mrs. Will) Ollis. She and her husband Jim lived at 119 N 21st St in Ord.
Maud moved, with her parents and family, from Pittsburgh, PA to Mira Valley, 8 miles south of Ord, Nebraska in 1884. Jim Hastings, later to be her husband, and his brother Will made the same move at the same time, hired to help Maud's father build a home for his family in Mira Valley. It was a grand three-story home, built in 1884, later owned and occupied for many years (beginning in 1942) by Henry Lange. The home burned to the ground in the early-mid 1990s.
Maud and her sister Stella had a double wedding. The wedding took place in that home of the parents of the brides, in Mira Valley, south of Ord, Nebraska, at 8:30 PM, Thursday, June 15, 1893. Two ministers were involved. Stella and Lloyd were married by Lloyd's father, Rev. E. A. Russell of Ord; and Maud and Jim were married by their Mira Valley family minister, Rev. G. A. Ray.
After the marriages the Russells lived in Ord briefly, then moved to Greeley, NE. The Hastingses began their life together in Aspinwall, PA and later, in the Spring of 1908, moved back to Mira Valley, and later, in 1925, moved into the town of Ord. Maud's groom lived in Aspinwall...he'd been hired to build the Gray home in Mira Valley, but afterwards had gone back to Pittsburgh.
Stella died, childless, of heart difficulties not long after marriage. Maud and her sister Alice Bell were both ill some years later and it was thought Maud would die before her sister Alice, but Alice died in February and then Maud died in July of the same year. Alice's daughter Jane Bell tells of the sisters Maud Hastings, Helen White and Alice Bell gathering for a visit in the Bell house in Hastings, Nebraska in late 1932 or early 1933, thinking that this might be their last visit with Maud, since Maud was ill and not expected to live long, but that the family was surprised when Alice died first.
Maud was, in fact, quite ill. She had cancer in a breast and the breast was removed. Later cancer showed up in her cervex and she died of that cancer. Her physician was an Ord Osteopath.
In 1925 Maud and her husband Jim purchased and moved from Mira Valley into the house in Ord (at 119 N 21 St) that had been built and previous occupied by Maud's mother's brother Samuel Jennings Wilson Brown (who had owned and operated a hardware store on the north side of the town square in Ord). Maud and Jim were living there when she died. Her funeral service was in the living room of that house. Her body was lifted out of the casket and laid on her couch there in the living room -- for the 2:30 PM service. (In 1970 -- and still in 2013 -- that same couch is owned by Maud's grand daughter, Ruth L. (Ollis) Cook and is in her living room at 9816 Sprague St, Omaha, NE for 34 years, then moved with Ruth and J. Keith Cook to their new residence at 17334 Jackson Plaza, Omaha.)
On May 1, 1896, when Maud and her husband Jim (and 1st daughter Eleanor) were living in Aspinwall, PA, Maud wrote the following letter from Mira Valley near Ord, Nebraska to her husband back in Aspinwall. Maud and Eleanor were visiting the home of her parents during her father's terminal illness. Her father, William Moore Gray, Sr. died seven weeks after the letter was written.
The letter: "Mr. Jas. G. Hastings, Aspinwall, Allegheny Co., Penna. -- Home, May 1, 1896. My Very Dear Jim: Your very welcome letter written a week ago today was received on Wednesday. It was, as your letters all have been, so good and interesting. I am always glad to know what is going on at home. Your letters are so full of comfort too, Jim. So many scripture quotations and you know just where to use them. On Wednesday evening after I had read your letter to Papa, I asked if it made him more discouraged to have them read to him, but he said "Oh, no, not at all," and said he wished I would read him the quotations in your letters again some time. Said that a good while ago he had given himself unto the hands of the Lord; that even in health he had never had any dread of death, and that he felt he was now ready and perfectly willing to die if it is the Lord's will. Said that in the long hours in which he has lain awake at night he has in, thought, seen Christ many, many times in his ministry on earth and says he KNOWS that his Redeemer liveth. Oh, that all men did. He slept better last night than for several nights but they were very poor. Mr. Munn was down yesterday to take the acknowledgements of the south quarter deed. He was pretty tired yesterday evening, but a little easier today. Mamma & Willmore are ready to go to Ord so must stop for this time. Very lovingly, Maud."
This next item is a letter written by Maud to her daughter Eleanor and family, living in Colorado. Maud was at her home in Ord, Nebraska. In it she describes the Armistice (end of WW One) celebration in Ord. The items in square brackets [ ] are my [J. Keith Cook] additions for questions or clarifications.
The letter: "Home, Nov. 12, 1918, 12:30 M [does M mean mid-day, morning or what?]. Dear Will, Eleanor & Catherine: Your good letter and Jane's came yesterday. Poor girl is having a serious time with that boil. I think and hope she won't have any more. Papa's all right; no more in sight. So much worse on a bony place than on a fleshy part. Glad you and Jane and all of us have been spared the "flu." [The infamous flu of 1918 swiftly killed thousands and thousands of people in the USA and thousands more throughout the world!] Think it is dying out here and in Ord, too. None here. Just heard Lou & Myrtle talking. They say Grace is fine this morning -- went down town to celebration yesterday afternoon in Sterling's Ford. Dr. thinks she's all right for this time. Seems as if indigestion may bring on convulsions -- had headache several days before she took sick and sick at stomach night before. That was quite a snow you had last week. Beautiful here too for several days and roads are drying fast.
"Suppose you had Real Peace Celebration yesterday or did last week's suffice? Helen called here about seven yesterday, telling us to listen to Ord bells and whistles that official message had come from Washington saying Peace had really been declared. We heard same thing from many over 'phone. Many people in town celebrated all day and evening, whistles blowing, bells ringing, band playing and big bonfires at each corner of square. [Ord's business area is built around a one-block town square.] Thought we'd go up in evening but Papa could not get the car to work, so gave it up. Mrs. P. [the Petty family were friends] asked us to go with them so Papa and I did. Grandma did not for it was cold standing around. We did not get near the crowd gathered around bandstand at S. W. corner of square.
"They had parade, many people and cars draped with bunting or flags, carrying torches or flags. Whistles blew, bells rang, guns were fired, band played. A sham battle in which Kaiser was captured, then hung on a pole near band stand, shot at and finally took fire and burned very slowly, characteristic of the real one. We were home about nine, re-read your letters while getting warm. Late getting up and Petersons said they were going to haul hogs (Papa was to help them yesterday but could not get car) so we had to hustle. He was to have gone out in interest of War Work, campaigning today so will do that later in week.
"Albert P. [Albert Peterson was a young boy from Mira Valley, later would be my sister Elaine Cook's father-in-law] has been very anxious to go to the Navy but hated to leave before husking was done. However, decided to go yesterday (to Omaha) and did even though Peace had been declared. They surely won't take him. County Clerk got a message from Gov. Neville yesterday afternoon telling him to send no more recruits and stop drilling. So it seems it must be genuine.
"Have you heard anything more from James? [James B. Ollis was in the US Army and ready to be shipped overseas, and would still be shipped for military ambulance duty in France, and would still marry Maud's daughter Jane.] Sadie [JBO's oldest sister] got letter Saturday, written Wed., Nov. 6, saying their overseas orders were being cancelled for twenty-four hours at a time. Latest word we know of, so if they are holding them to see if Peace was declared, he won't be likely to go across. On other hand he may have gone Thursday or Friday. Said he hoped to at least see New York, but were just waiting, not allowed to go anywhere.
"Lots of boys will be disappointed not to get over, but Oh, what rejoicing! Sadie has not been very well. Had Dr. Showes come out and give her a treatment yesterday and is quite a little better today. Her limb (varicose veins) making the trouble, I think. Has advertised for a girl. Very scarce and hard to get. You have been doing quite a lot of shopping by mail lately. Hope things will be satisfactory. Since you want it that way. Glad Miss Albus can come to you, also (Mary Farmer -- may be not by that time) but we were still hoping matters would so shape themselves that we'd have you home. Do be careful and not overdo. Yes, it must be pretty hard for Catherine to have to stay in when she loves so to be out in the 'bootiful snow.'
"Tell her we wish she could be here and play with our kittens. One yellow with a little white -- other white with some yellow -- more than half grown but playful and cute as can be. Just got our stove polished yesterday and would have been glad to do yours too. Thought about it. Want to clean attics today (briefly) and go all over house in same way soon -- before it's cold again. Before Jane comes home. My right thumb I suppose got jagged and I did not notice it till later. Put turpentine on it but it got hard and hand and arm ached a good deal. I poulticed it at night for about half time and opened it enough to make it bleed a couple of weeks or more ago. Last Sat. morning I got Papa to open it again and we squeezed out some blood, soaked it with turpentine and poulticed; rubbed my hand and arm thoroughly with C-Balsam so it is getting all right. Thumb itself not so very sore or I would have paid better attention to it. Had a little cold in lungs about same time -- painted well with iodine front and back, cured and also made me itchy. But I'm all-right now. Hogs did not have cholera. Corrals so muddy though Papa is glad to be rid of that many.
"Must get to work now. A letter from Aunt Lizzie said they had a letter from Wm. Also his mate's mother. Had some fever after Will left him and they had to stop even egg + toast -- just liquid diet. May not be home till after Thanksgiving. Love to all. Mamma."
This next item is the full text of the local (Ord) newspaper article regarding the death of Maud. Items in square brackets [ ] are my additions for correction and clarification (JKC). The article: "MUCH-LOVED ORD MOTHER PASSES AWAY TUESDAY "Mrs. James G. Hastings Dies At Family Home; Funeral To Be Held Today. [The family home was at 119 N 21st St. in Ord.] "Maud Petty Gray was born March 7, 1873 at Pittsburgh, Pa., coming to Nebraska with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Moore Gray in 1884.
"She lived with her parents on the farm in Mira Valley until June 15, 1893 when she was married to James G. Hastings and returned to Pittsburgh [actually it was to Aspinwall, a suburb of Pittsburgh] where they made their home for a number of years.
"In the spring of 1908 Mr. and Mrs. Hastings with their two daughters returned to Nebraska, taking up their residence on the old Gray farm in Mira Valley [in a small home they built for themselves about 1/4 miles north of her parents' larger home]. This was their home until seven years ago when they moved to Ord. Mrs. Hastings was taken to her heavenly home on the afternoon of July 11, 1933.
"She leaves to mourn her going her husband, two daughters, Mrs. Wm. M. Ollis and Mrs. James B. Ollis, both of Ord, one daughter, Alice B. having died in infancy; one sister, Mrs. Scott L. White of Kimball; two brothers, Robert R. Gray of Lincoln and Wilmore Gray of Kimball; six grandchildren and many other relatives and friends.
"She has been a Christian since early childhood and her faith was a sustaining strength throughout her life to which she gave witness clear to the end.
"Funeral services will be held at the home in Ord at 2:30 today, Thursday, July 13, with her pastor, Rev. Real in charge of the services at the house and a private burial will be had later in the day."
Right after Maud died her husband Jim wrote this poem: Oh life thou art sweet, Even though full of pain, We love: yea cling to thee, Struggle, labor, sorrow, Disappointment; Oh life. We would not give Thee up; we love thee, But thou hast thy day, The message: the Call is here. We bow oh death to thee. July 1933 JGH
This next item is a letter from Maud (Gray) Hastings in Ord, 16 Sep 1918, 9 AM. To her daughter Jane at 2003 Warren Ave, University Place, NE (in college) (Parentheticals are explanations and clarifications added by J. Keith Cook in 2002.) "Our Dear Jane: We wonder how you are this beautiful morning. Quite cool here but no frost. Wondered yesterday if you had a lonesome day since Ethel was going to Omaha too. Maybe Miss James was there and you would have her to go to church and S.S. with or maybe some of the Boyd's. Well, how did you get along shopping alone and did you get your picture taken. Have been afraid your hair would have looked better if it had been washed after putting that ointment on it. Sorry I didn't think of that Sat. morning. If the proofs look that way better try again.
"Thought too it was not wise to carry so much money in your pocket book. Will enclose this musliri envelope that I have used and maybe I'll make one of humors and send in the trunk. Sadie may go to Lincoln Thursday or Friday; if so will send the trunk with her. Likely sooner if she decides differently. They are thrashing this morning-- OPB's this afternoon with another machine.
"Papa will help them. Expects to go to Ord this morning to get Mr. Mead to plow. (Ethel and Sadie are Ethel Ollis and Sadie Ollis, sisters of James B. Ollis, who later would become Jane's husband. OPB is Oliver P. Bell, married to Maud's sister Alice.) Got along nicely Saturday but sandy road between Grand Island and St. Paul very poor twisty and sandy C much like road east of N. Platte, so we could not make very good time. Had stopped about noon to eat dinner and were in Grand Island about 3/4 hour. Went round by Petty's before coming home. Evert & car were gone but Myrtle and children stayed of course. Evert was here waiting for them just about eight. Got quite cool and windy after we left St. Paul.
"Quite cloudy and rained some here yesterday morning. Usual word at Sabbath school. Boys got along very well and I believe made a very good impression. As we got nearer home Sat. asked many questions about the farm, stock, their bedroom and so on, and busied themselves seeing things till dark. As twas raining yesterday morning they could not be out much and they were restless to look around. Wanted overalls so they could work. Papa told them he'd hunt them some this morning. They were talking about it last night when getting ready to go to bed and I said something about overalls to play in. Leo said 'Not to play but to work'.
"Papa cut off some of his old ones after breakfast and they've been helping him cut and carry corn-fodder to cows and various jobs. Have been happy as larks all this time C not a bit timid about sleeping upstairs alone. Talk about "our farm" and have said several times "You won't take us back to the home, will you?" We decided "Mr. & Mrs. Hastings" sounded pretty stiff and told them they could call us Uncle Jim & Aunt Maud. They said they liked it better. Lots of love Mamma."
(JKC notes: 1. The above letter was written on a Monday. 2. Jim and Maud had adopted two boys but it didn't work out so the boys were returned to their orphanage. 3. Maud was age 45½ years when she wrote this letter. 4. Jane was very close to 21 years at the time. 5. Paved roads to Grand Island did not come until 1940s.)
Catherine were living and farming in Colorado at the time. Maud and her sister Stella had a double wedding. Maud is visiting her parents near Ord, Nebraska and writes to her husband Jim who is at their home in Aspinwall, PA. Maud's father was very ill, and nearing death. Jim was at their home in Aspinwall, PA. Maud was at her parents home in Mira Valley, south of Ord, and west of North Loup, Nebraska. Her father was very ill and nearing death. Notes in margins are by J. Keith Cook in 1995, meant to clarify. Maud adds "Elinor sends love and kisses to Papa. Lovingly, Maud." but that was written upside down at the top of page 5. Maud died of cancer seven months after she wrote this letter.
The following was written by Jane G. Ollis in 1980, telling about her mother Maud P. Hastings:
“These are stories of Maud Hastings as I knew her. Such a wonderful person lives much and for many; as the life opens up it reveals its graciousness. As with all of God’s followers, her life included ‘the rough, the smooth; the bright, the drear;’ her experiences were varied. I would say Maud ‘stood the tests and shared the joys.’
“Maud Petty Gray was born March 7, 1873 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her early life was spent with her parents, William Moore and Mary Louisa Gray, and their family in Pittsburgh. At that time her father was in the wholesale pickle business, selling pickles by the barrel. He and several of his friends were studying the possibility of ‘going west’ in response to the government’s offer of ‘Quit Claims.’ Under this arrangement, settlers could be assigned a plot of land to live on for a specified length of time. When the time was up they were given the land to claim for themselves. Other people were going west. It sounded like a great place to build and bring up growing families. Moore Gray and his friends decided to inspect places in Nebraska.
“They went by train to Kearney, Nebraska. From there they scouted the land south, then north. When they reached Mira Valley, all agreed that that lovely, rolling country was the choice of all of them. Each man was free to choose parcels of land in 80-acre pieces – as many parcels as he could take care of. They made their applications and returned to Pittsburgh to make their plans.
“Maud’s father, my Grandpa Gray, had signed up for several 80s. There were six children in his family: Stella, Maud, Robert, Alice, Wilmore, and Helen. From the time the men returned home from Nebraska the excitement grew. Grandpa Gray had chosen what became a nice timber claim. On other acres, rich grass had grown tall -- good winter hay!
“At moving time, Grandpa Gray took to Nebraska tools for building a house, a barn, and other smaller buildings. Besides his family, he took along two acquaintances, Will and James Hastings, who were builders. Lumber was hauled (by horse-drawn wagons) from Grand Island, Nebraska (about 60 miles), so the building took a long time. Because of this, the builders, Will and Jim Hastings, had quite a long stay in Mira Valley. They built for others in the area, also. (In 1880 they built a church for the settlers. These families had been active church members back in Pittsburgh. Some had been singers in the Sixth Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh. After they got settled in Mira Valley, they organized a Presbyterian Church, meeting at first in homes or schools. When they were able to afford to build a church, Jim and Will built it. The Mira Valley Wilson Memorial Presbyterian Church was named for a beloved pastor back in Pittsburgh. The church community was a close-knit group (making up its own games for recreation.) When winter weather was not conducive to building, Will and Jim did blacksmithing; they worked near the settlement of Vinton. That was about 4 miles from Gray’s – close enough to allow visits! Jim would have come to know Moore and Louisa’s young daughter, Maud.
“Eventually Jim Hastings went back to Pittsburgh with Will, but he must have had a secret hope that, after he had worked there for a period of years, he would return to Mira Valley. This was not to be for some time, however -- the two brothers would find plenty to do in the Pittsburgh area before Jim would return to Nebraska.
“When Jim was about 30 years old, he wanted to establish a home of his own. Maud Gray, who was then 20 years of age, was willing to join him in Pennsylvania. Jim went to Nebraska to marry Maud. Preparation was made for a double wedding, for Maud’s sister, Stella, and Lloyd Russell were to be married, too. Stella and Lloyd would life in Greeley, Nebraska after the wedding. (Before their marriages Maud and Stella had gone to Hastings College for a year during the early days of that college.)
“Jim and Maud (were married in Mira Valley, Valley County, Nebraska then) went to live in Aspinwall, Pennsylvania, which was in the Pittsburgh area. Aspinwall had 3 avenues and 5 streets. Center Avenue went past 5th St. and led straight on up a hill to the top where houses were being built and more town was being established. Jim and Maud moved into a 5th St. house, not far from the grade school where two daughters would go later to school.
“Maud graciously settled in to be part of a big Hastings tribe. They were scattered around Pittsburgh, most of them in and near Aspinwall. Maud’s uncle, William Brown, married Jim’s sister, Lizzie Hastings, and they lived in Chicago. Will Brown was an Illinois state senator. Their home in Chicago made a good stopping place for Jim and Maud whenever they traveled to Nebraska to visit.
“While Jim and Maud were living at the 5th St. home, their three girls were born – Eleanor Louise, Jane Gray, and Alice Belle. Belle was not a strong child, and she lived only about a year-and-a-half.
“Hope W. Hastings, Jim’s father, was living in a large house on 3rd St. where part of his grown family helped make a home for him. But then his daughter, Mary (Hastings) Copeland, who was a nurse, remarried and went with her new husband, Andy Clements, to a farm. Louise Copeland, Mary’s daughter by her first husband, went to live with them. Arch Copeland, Mary’s son by her first husband, worked in a bank downtown and lived with his Uncle Jim (Hastings) and his Aunt Maud. Then Kate Hastings, who was a telephone girl, was to be married to Jess Fulton. So Jim, Maud, their girls, and Arch Copeland moved to 3rd St. to keep house for Grandpa Hope Hastings. I remember that Grandpa had a bedroom with a fireplace. After he retired his friends would visit him there; they would chat and play checkers. There were times when ‘beating Grandpa’ at checkers kept me occupied, too. Happy days!
“Mama (Maud) needed help when summer company came to visit Grandpa, so she hunted for a hired girl. She found a girl just over from Yugoslavia who wanted work. Her name was Elizabeth, and she was a real worker. She would be up in time to get the clothes for a dozen people washed and on the line by 9:00 in the morning. She baked such good bread and pies; and she didn’t mind my watching her work. On Thursdays she would go to visit her aunt, with whom she had lived before coming to our house. I remember Elizabeth fondly.
“That summer of 1901, when I was four, I remember Grandpa Hastings, our family of four, Arch Copeland, Aunt Kate Fulton, 2 or 3 Browns from Chicago, and others being at our house. Mama was head manager, and what a big time we had that summer!
“One joy experienced by our menfolk around Aspinwall was hunting. A group of church friends would go on a hunting trip when the rabbits were fat and good for eating. The wives would spend that day at one of the homes ‘cooking up,’ and a big day was had together. One man, a dentist named Dr. Lake, had a home out away from the city. That was a good rabbit area. One year all the fellows had good catches but Papa. Not one rabbit all day for Jim Hastings! They kidded him about that. A little later a picture of two rabbits (which Dr. Lake’s sister, Lois, had painted) was presented to Jim as a remembrance of fun if not rabbits. That picture is in our home in Hastings, Nebraska yet. (Note—in 2017 it is now in the home of Jane’s daughter Ruth L. (Ollis) Cook in Omaha.)
“Times were good then, and the Hastings brothers – Will, Jim, John, and Alec (all but Dave) – were occupied by the building trade. So Papa made plans to build a 3-story house on 1st St. for our next home. In time, Grandpa went to live with Aunt Kate Fulton and her husband Jess, in Sheridan, which was a suburb of Pittsburgh; Elizabeth, our hired girl, married and went to live in Pittsburgh. Arch Copeland moved closer to the bank where he worked; and Papa and Mama and we girls moved to the 1st St. house. That house was something special, I thought, with a stairway from the front hall and also a 4-step cut into the kitchen. It had four fireplaces and a chimney-closet in the kitchen where Mama could put the bread to rise. Mama was noted for her wonderful bread, always just right and crusty. Eleanor learned quickly, and by the time she was 10 or 11 she was learning the bread business, too.
“In 1904, when I was 7, I contracted diphtheria at school, and so Mama, Eleanor, and I were quarantined with a sign saying ‘DIPHTHERIA’ on the front of the house. Mama turned nurse, and Papa had to stay at some other home so he could keep working. Eleanor turned cook; also, she read to me, the patient, while sitting on a stepladder in front of my bedroom transom. She could see me lying in bed. It was a good set-up. After what seemed like a long time, that spell was over and we were free of our quarantine sign.
“I remember a red and white striped dress that Mama and Aunt Mary (Clements) made for me. It had short ruffles over the shoulders, full skirt. They thought it was just the thing to make me spiffy, but I did NOT like it. They stood me on the dresser with the big mirror to show me; but I was a hard case! Now I realize it really was pretty!
“Mama played the piano, and she wanted Eleanor and me to take piano lessons. So a good teacher came to the house to instruct us. We had a Chauncey piano. Eleanor had a good touch and learned readily, as usual. But she seemed to be more interested in baking and sewing. (Our Hastings aunts were all seamstresses.) Anyway, I seemed to have more time to practice, so I did more piano playing.
“During our years in Aspinwall, church work claimed much of Mama and Papa’s time – Sunday School teaching for Mama, choir and different offices for Papa. Mama had a nice alto voice, too. (Among Mama’s things were some notes and newspaper clippings. One was a newspaper clipping from the 1893 United Presbyterian General Assembly Report. It reported the discussion over the churches’ admitting of organs for use in worship services. Instruments of any kind had never been allowed in the U.P. churches before that time. Another article was a sermon. There was a church bulletin from 1903. In my Hastings, Nebraska home I have the tuning fork that Papa used for special singing in his younger days.)
“Aunt Annie (Hastings) White and her husband Lew lived in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Aunt Annie was a seamstress. She had several assistants to use the several sewing machines in her busy room. When Mama would go from Aspinwall to shop in Pittsburgh, Eleanor and I would ride along on the street car as far as Aunt Annie’s. There we would stay, observing the dressmakers, until Mama’s return. That was fun.
“About this time, Mama’s father, Moore Gray, became ill out in Nebraska. (He had been a senator for a term or two, so when the Legislature was in session he would go to Lincoln, Nebraska.) He did not live to a great age, and was ill for some time. Mama, in Pennsylvania, would pack up what it took to get herself and two girls to Nebraska; and we would go by train to see her father. The farm was a great place to visit! Papa would come out to Nebraska later for a shorter visit during his vacation.
“The time was coming, for several reasons, when Jim and Maud Hastings would move their young family back to Nebraska to make their home on the farm. In Aspinwall, Papa had gotten into the plumbing business. He had a partner and several workmen. They decided to build a flat (apartment) on 1st Street. It would have a plumbing office and display facing north and a drugstore facing south. There would be a basement under each part, two apartments on the 2nd floor, and two apartments on the 3rd floor. The plans looked good! They borrowed the money to build. Unfortunately, the financial world took a turn. The lady who lent the money had to have it back. The business project went down the drain. So Papa Jim Hastings and his family packed up and moved to Nebraska. The year was 1908.
“Back in Mira Valley Alice, Helen, and Wilmore Gray had all married. It was decided that Mama would assume the care of her mother, Louisa Gray, who had had a stroke. The big square house, the one Will and Jim (Hastings) had built earlier, was divided in two. Wilmore and Addie Gray lived on the west side; and the Hastings family and Grandma Gray lived on the east side. Some renovating was done – the first being the building of a bathroom in the middle, at the end of the hall. Papa Jim had brought the fixtures, along with our furniture, in the rail-car. (We were many years ahead of other homes in having indoor plumbing. That was a benefit of having a father who had been in the plumbing business!) Aunt Addie Gray took the first bath in the new tub. No more running up the path past the clothesline! (On Memorial Day 1977, Keith and Ruth Cook and sons of Omaha took me back to Mira Valley to visit the former Gray/Hastings home. It was then occupied by the Henry Lange family. It was a treat to be able to go back and see my old home. The hallway that had seemed so wide in my childhood days looked small now. The Langes had made many improvements, which included a bathroom on the second floor. New electric washers and refrigerators had by this time become modern necessities. But the 3rd floor with its summer heat was where the extra hired hands used to sleep. I loved the visit to my old home.)
“Mama kept quite busy during those years while her sisters and others were having their babies. She was needed for mid-wifery. New mothers stayed in bed many days back then. Everyone helped where needed. In addition, canning, churning, gardening, raising chickens were all on the list of farm chores for women and youth.
“Mama continued to take care of her mother, Grandma Gray, until she died in 1920.
“In 1926 Dad Jim (Papa) decided to join the business that was to be C. A. Hager and Co., so he and Mama bought the house at 119 N 21st St. in nearby Ord, Nebraska and moved into town.
“For about a half-dozen years Maud and Jim were active and enjoyed acquaintances in the Ord Presbyterian Church and their neighborhood. Then, in 1932, Mama became ill and needed surgery. After that, she failed all during the winter. Dad Jim asked James and me, with our 2 children, to move into their home and help with Mama’s care. That was a precious experience, for Mama lived until July 1933, showing her faith and witness clear to the end. Eleanor and I would take turns being the nurse for our sick mother while the other went to Eleanor and Will’s farm to manage farm chores, take care of the 6 children (our two plus Eleanor and Will’s four), and cook for the two farmers, Will and his brother Elmer Ollis. The older children helped out, too.
“One of Mama’s prayers, as we would gather at her bedside, was a sincere petition what we would manage whatever was the best way for the good of all concerned who would be left for further service in Christ’s name.
“How our hearts wept to give Maud up when she died on July 11, 1933. Our local paper, The Ord Quiz, headed the obituary with these words: ‘Much Loved Mother passes away Tuesday.’
“Mama had beautiful brown hair and eyes. She was a patient person even when others were frustrated. She was a neat housekeeper. She was generous in entertaining. Sometimes, in Aspinwall, she kept roomers to provide a little extra cash for helping the man of the home to provide for his family.
“I remember once in Aspinwall when she made an evening call on an elderly couple and took me along for company. Her kind words impressed me, a 10-year-old girl. Another time, in our Ord home, a woman with troubles and problems came, wanting to talk to Mama. That was the winter of 1927, when the Roses, an evangelistic team, came to town for special meetings and a number of denominations joined in activities. It was a wonderful six weeks of learning to understand fellow Christians. Church members were urged to be more active than usual, so I remember Mama as ‘doing all she could.’
“That’s how I remember my mother, Maud Gray Hastings.”
The following is written (in 1980) by Maud’s granddaughter Wilma (Ollis) Winsor.
“Grandma was serene and poised – quite serious, really, but in a loving way. Her eyes shone with deep love and kindness; I cannot, however, remember her as laughing, except at times sitting on the little back porch sewing with Aunt Annie White and Aunt Kate Fulton, where they were chatting together. Well, actually, ‘they’ would have been ‘chatting’ while Grandma would have been talking – ‘chatting’ would have been too frivolous a word to use of Maud Hastings. I have vague memories of her in our home in Mira Valley, or of her and Granddaddy going somewhere in the car, and of being with us in the Old Presbyterian Church in Mira Valley. There were brief memories of seeing her in bed those last weeks, but in those days, at age 10 or so, I was ‘too young’ to be told any of what was happening. My mother stayed in town to help Aunt Jane Ollis care for Grandma Maud at the last and Aunt Sadie Ollis Armstrong came to the farm to help our family. I believe Marilyn and Jim Ollis stayed out on the farm, too. The funeral was held in Grandma’s home in Ord. Because of whooping cough, Catherine, Jean Armstrong, Marilyn (I think), and I could not be with the family, so we stayed upstairs or on the stairs.”
The following is written (in 1980) by Maud’s granddaughter Evelyn “Lynne” (Ollis) Ramquist.
“Grandma would sit at the pump-organ and taught me the song, ‘Angry Words, Oh, Let Them Never ….’ I often sing it.
And the following is written (in 1980) by Maud’s granddaughter Catherine (Ollis) McPheeters.
“Granddaddy Jim Hastings worked for Grandma’s father on Great Granddad Moore Gray’s farm in Mira Valley one summer when Grandma Maud was only 9 or 10 and fell in love with her then. But he went back to Pittsburgh and waited for her to grow up. When Grandma was in the hospital for surgery near the end of her life I remember visiting her. Granddaddy was there holding her hand and they were looking at each other with as much love in their eyes as any newlyweds.”
Maud moved, with her parents and family, from Pittsburgh, PA to Mira Valley, 8 miles south of Ord, Nebraska in 1884. Jim Hastings, later to be her husband, and his brother Will made the same move at the same time, hired to help Maud's father build a home for his family in Mira Valley. It was a grand three-story home, built in 1884, later owned and occupied for many years (beginning in 1942) by Henry Lange. The home burned to the ground in the early-mid 1990s.
Maud and her sister Stella had a double wedding. The wedding took place in that home of the parents of the brides, in Mira Valley, south of Ord, Nebraska, at 8:30 PM, Thursday, June 15, 1893. Two ministers were involved. Stella and Lloyd were married by Lloyd's father, Rev. E. A. Russell of Ord; and Maud and Jim were married by their Mira Valley family minister, Rev. G. A. Ray.
After the marriages the Russells lived in Ord briefly, then moved to Greeley, NE. The Hastingses began their life together in Aspinwall, PA and later, in the Spring of 1908, moved back to Mira Valley, and later, in 1925, moved into the town of Ord. Maud's groom lived in Aspinwall...he'd been hired to build the Gray home in Mira Valley, but afterwards had gone back to Pittsburgh.
Stella died, childless, of heart difficulties not long after marriage. Maud and her sister Alice Bell were both ill some years later and it was thought Maud would die before her sister Alice, but Alice died in February and then Maud died in July of the same year. Alice's daughter Jane Bell tells of the sisters Maud Hastings, Helen White and Alice Bell gathering for a visit in the Bell house in Hastings, Nebraska in late 1932 or early 1933, thinking that this might be their last visit with Maud, since Maud was ill and not expected to live long, but that the family was surprised when Alice died first.
Maud was, in fact, quite ill. She had cancer in a breast and the breast was removed. Later cancer showed up in her cervex and she died of that cancer. Her physician was an Ord Osteopath.
In 1925 Maud and her husband Jim purchased and moved from Mira Valley into the house in Ord (at 119 N 21 St) that had been built and previous occupied by Maud's mother's brother Samuel Jennings Wilson Brown (who had owned and operated a hardware store on the north side of the town square in Ord). Maud and Jim were living there when she died. Her funeral service was in the living room of that house. Her body was lifted out of the casket and laid on her couch there in the living room -- for the 2:30 PM service. (In 1970 -- and still in 2013 -- that same couch is owned by Maud's grand daughter, Ruth L. (Ollis) Cook and is in her living room at 9816 Sprague St, Omaha, NE for 34 years, then moved with Ruth and J. Keith Cook to their new residence at 17334 Jackson Plaza, Omaha.)
On May 1, 1896, when Maud and her husband Jim (and 1st daughter Eleanor) were living in Aspinwall, PA, Maud wrote the following letter from Mira Valley near Ord, Nebraska to her husband back in Aspinwall. Maud and Eleanor were visiting the home of her parents during her father's terminal illness. Her father, William Moore Gray, Sr. died seven weeks after the letter was written.
The letter: "Mr. Jas. G. Hastings, Aspinwall, Allegheny Co., Penna. -- Home, May 1, 1896. My Very Dear Jim: Your very welcome letter written a week ago today was received on Wednesday. It was, as your letters all have been, so good and interesting. I am always glad to know what is going on at home. Your letters are so full of comfort too, Jim. So many scripture quotations and you know just where to use them. On Wednesday evening after I had read your letter to Papa, I asked if it made him more discouraged to have them read to him, but he said "Oh, no, not at all," and said he wished I would read him the quotations in your letters again some time. Said that a good while ago he had given himself unto the hands of the Lord; that even in health he had never had any dread of death, and that he felt he was now ready and perfectly willing to die if it is the Lord's will. Said that in the long hours in which he has lain awake at night he has in, thought, seen Christ many, many times in his ministry on earth and says he KNOWS that his Redeemer liveth. Oh, that all men did. He slept better last night than for several nights but they were very poor. Mr. Munn was down yesterday to take the acknowledgements of the south quarter deed. He was pretty tired yesterday evening, but a little easier today. Mamma & Willmore are ready to go to Ord so must stop for this time. Very lovingly, Maud."
This next item is a letter written by Maud to her daughter Eleanor and family, living in Colorado. Maud was at her home in Ord, Nebraska. In it she describes the Armistice (end of WW One) celebration in Ord. The items in square brackets [ ] are my [J. Keith Cook] additions for questions or clarifications.
The letter: "Home, Nov. 12, 1918, 12:30 M [does M mean mid-day, morning or what?]. Dear Will, Eleanor & Catherine: Your good letter and Jane's came yesterday. Poor girl is having a serious time with that boil. I think and hope she won't have any more. Papa's all right; no more in sight. So much worse on a bony place than on a fleshy part. Glad you and Jane and all of us have been spared the "flu." [The infamous flu of 1918 swiftly killed thousands and thousands of people in the USA and thousands more throughout the world!] Think it is dying out here and in Ord, too. None here. Just heard Lou & Myrtle talking. They say Grace is fine this morning -- went down town to celebration yesterday afternoon in Sterling's Ford. Dr. thinks she's all right for this time. Seems as if indigestion may bring on convulsions -- had headache several days before she took sick and sick at stomach night before. That was quite a snow you had last week. Beautiful here too for several days and roads are drying fast.
"Suppose you had Real Peace Celebration yesterday or did last week's suffice? Helen called here about seven yesterday, telling us to listen to Ord bells and whistles that official message had come from Washington saying Peace had really been declared. We heard same thing from many over 'phone. Many people in town celebrated all day and evening, whistles blowing, bells ringing, band playing and big bonfires at each corner of square. [Ord's business area is built around a one-block town square.] Thought we'd go up in evening but Papa could not get the car to work, so gave it up. Mrs. P. [the Petty family were friends] asked us to go with them so Papa and I did. Grandma did not for it was cold standing around. We did not get near the crowd gathered around bandstand at S. W. corner of square.
"They had parade, many people and cars draped with bunting or flags, carrying torches or flags. Whistles blew, bells rang, guns were fired, band played. A sham battle in which Kaiser was captured, then hung on a pole near band stand, shot at and finally took fire and burned very slowly, characteristic of the real one. We were home about nine, re-read your letters while getting warm. Late getting up and Petersons said they were going to haul hogs (Papa was to help them yesterday but could not get car) so we had to hustle. He was to have gone out in interest of War Work, campaigning today so will do that later in week.
"Albert P. [Albert Peterson was a young boy from Mira Valley, later would be my sister Elaine Cook's father-in-law] has been very anxious to go to the Navy but hated to leave before husking was done. However, decided to go yesterday (to Omaha) and did even though Peace had been declared. They surely won't take him. County Clerk got a message from Gov. Neville yesterday afternoon telling him to send no more recruits and stop drilling. So it seems it must be genuine.
"Have you heard anything more from James? [James B. Ollis was in the US Army and ready to be shipped overseas, and would still be shipped for military ambulance duty in France, and would still marry Maud's daughter Jane.] Sadie [JBO's oldest sister] got letter Saturday, written Wed., Nov. 6, saying their overseas orders were being cancelled for twenty-four hours at a time. Latest word we know of, so if they are holding them to see if Peace was declared, he won't be likely to go across. On other hand he may have gone Thursday or Friday. Said he hoped to at least see New York, but were just waiting, not allowed to go anywhere.
"Lots of boys will be disappointed not to get over, but Oh, what rejoicing! Sadie has not been very well. Had Dr. Showes come out and give her a treatment yesterday and is quite a little better today. Her limb (varicose veins) making the trouble, I think. Has advertised for a girl. Very scarce and hard to get. You have been doing quite a lot of shopping by mail lately. Hope things will be satisfactory. Since you want it that way. Glad Miss Albus can come to you, also (Mary Farmer -- may be not by that time) but we were still hoping matters would so shape themselves that we'd have you home. Do be careful and not overdo. Yes, it must be pretty hard for Catherine to have to stay in when she loves so to be out in the 'bootiful snow.'
"Tell her we wish she could be here and play with our kittens. One yellow with a little white -- other white with some yellow -- more than half grown but playful and cute as can be. Just got our stove polished yesterday and would have been glad to do yours too. Thought about it. Want to clean attics today (briefly) and go all over house in same way soon -- before it's cold again. Before Jane comes home. My right thumb I suppose got jagged and I did not notice it till later. Put turpentine on it but it got hard and hand and arm ached a good deal. I poulticed it at night for about half time and opened it enough to make it bleed a couple of weeks or more ago. Last Sat. morning I got Papa to open it again and we squeezed out some blood, soaked it with turpentine and poulticed; rubbed my hand and arm thoroughly with C-Balsam so it is getting all right. Thumb itself not so very sore or I would have paid better attention to it. Had a little cold in lungs about same time -- painted well with iodine front and back, cured and also made me itchy. But I'm all-right now. Hogs did not have cholera. Corrals so muddy though Papa is glad to be rid of that many.
"Must get to work now. A letter from Aunt Lizzie said they had a letter from Wm. Also his mate's mother. Had some fever after Will left him and they had to stop even egg + toast -- just liquid diet. May not be home till after Thanksgiving. Love to all. Mamma."
This next item is the full text of the local (Ord) newspaper article regarding the death of Maud. Items in square brackets [ ] are my additions for correction and clarification (JKC). The article: "MUCH-LOVED ORD MOTHER PASSES AWAY TUESDAY "Mrs. James G. Hastings Dies At Family Home; Funeral To Be Held Today. [The family home was at 119 N 21st St. in Ord.] "Maud Petty Gray was born March 7, 1873 at Pittsburgh, Pa., coming to Nebraska with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Moore Gray in 1884.
"She lived with her parents on the farm in Mira Valley until June 15, 1893 when she was married to James G. Hastings and returned to Pittsburgh [actually it was to Aspinwall, a suburb of Pittsburgh] where they made their home for a number of years.
"In the spring of 1908 Mr. and Mrs. Hastings with their two daughters returned to Nebraska, taking up their residence on the old Gray farm in Mira Valley [in a small home they built for themselves about 1/4 miles north of her parents' larger home]. This was their home until seven years ago when they moved to Ord. Mrs. Hastings was taken to her heavenly home on the afternoon of July 11, 1933.
"She leaves to mourn her going her husband, two daughters, Mrs. Wm. M. Ollis and Mrs. James B. Ollis, both of Ord, one daughter, Alice B. having died in infancy; one sister, Mrs. Scott L. White of Kimball; two brothers, Robert R. Gray of Lincoln and Wilmore Gray of Kimball; six grandchildren and many other relatives and friends.
"She has been a Christian since early childhood and her faith was a sustaining strength throughout her life to which she gave witness clear to the end.
"Funeral services will be held at the home in Ord at 2:30 today, Thursday, July 13, with her pastor, Rev. Real in charge of the services at the house and a private burial will be had later in the day."
Right after Maud died her husband Jim wrote this poem: Oh life thou art sweet, Even though full of pain, We love: yea cling to thee, Struggle, labor, sorrow, Disappointment; Oh life. We would not give Thee up; we love thee, But thou hast thy day, The message: the Call is here. We bow oh death to thee. July 1933 JGH
This next item is a letter from Maud (Gray) Hastings in Ord, 16 Sep 1918, 9 AM. To her daughter Jane at 2003 Warren Ave, University Place, NE (in college) (Parentheticals are explanations and clarifications added by J. Keith Cook in 2002.) "Our Dear Jane: We wonder how you are this beautiful morning. Quite cool here but no frost. Wondered yesterday if you had a lonesome day since Ethel was going to Omaha too. Maybe Miss James was there and you would have her to go to church and S.S. with or maybe some of the Boyd's. Well, how did you get along shopping alone and did you get your picture taken. Have been afraid your hair would have looked better if it had been washed after putting that ointment on it. Sorry I didn't think of that Sat. morning. If the proofs look that way better try again.
"Thought too it was not wise to carry so much money in your pocket book. Will enclose this musliri envelope that I have used and maybe I'll make one of humors and send in the trunk. Sadie may go to Lincoln Thursday or Friday; if so will send the trunk with her. Likely sooner if she decides differently. They are thrashing this morning-- OPB's this afternoon with another machine.
"Papa will help them. Expects to go to Ord this morning to get Mr. Mead to plow. (Ethel and Sadie are Ethel Ollis and Sadie Ollis, sisters of James B. Ollis, who later would become Jane's husband. OPB is Oliver P. Bell, married to Maud's sister Alice.) Got along nicely Saturday but sandy road between Grand Island and St. Paul very poor twisty and sandy C much like road east of N. Platte, so we could not make very good time. Had stopped about noon to eat dinner and were in Grand Island about 3/4 hour. Went round by Petty's before coming home. Evert & car were gone but Myrtle and children stayed of course. Evert was here waiting for them just about eight. Got quite cool and windy after we left St. Paul.
"Quite cloudy and rained some here yesterday morning. Usual word at Sabbath school. Boys got along very well and I believe made a very good impression. As we got nearer home Sat. asked many questions about the farm, stock, their bedroom and so on, and busied themselves seeing things till dark. As twas raining yesterday morning they could not be out much and they were restless to look around. Wanted overalls so they could work. Papa told them he'd hunt them some this morning. They were talking about it last night when getting ready to go to bed and I said something about overalls to play in. Leo said 'Not to play but to work'.
"Papa cut off some of his old ones after breakfast and they've been helping him cut and carry corn-fodder to cows and various jobs. Have been happy as larks all this time C not a bit timid about sleeping upstairs alone. Talk about "our farm" and have said several times "You won't take us back to the home, will you?" We decided "Mr. & Mrs. Hastings" sounded pretty stiff and told them they could call us Uncle Jim & Aunt Maud. They said they liked it better. Lots of love Mamma."
(JKC notes: 1. The above letter was written on a Monday. 2. Jim and Maud had adopted two boys but it didn't work out so the boys were returned to their orphanage. 3. Maud was age 45½ years when she wrote this letter. 4. Jane was very close to 21 years at the time. 5. Paved roads to Grand Island did not come until 1940s.)
Catherine were living and farming in Colorado at the time. Maud and her sister Stella had a double wedding. Maud is visiting her parents near Ord, Nebraska and writes to her husband Jim who is at their home in Aspinwall, PA. Maud's father was very ill, and nearing death. Jim was at their home in Aspinwall, PA. Maud was at her parents home in Mira Valley, south of Ord, and west of North Loup, Nebraska. Her father was very ill and nearing death. Notes in margins are by J. Keith Cook in 1995, meant to clarify. Maud adds "Elinor sends love and kisses to Papa. Lovingly, Maud." but that was written upside down at the top of page 5. Maud died of cancer seven months after she wrote this letter.
The following was written by Jane G. Ollis in 1980, telling about her mother Maud P. Hastings:
“These are stories of Maud Hastings as I knew her. Such a wonderful person lives much and for many; as the life opens up it reveals its graciousness. As with all of God’s followers, her life included ‘the rough, the smooth; the bright, the drear;’ her experiences were varied. I would say Maud ‘stood the tests and shared the joys.’
“Maud Petty Gray was born March 7, 1873 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her early life was spent with her parents, William Moore and Mary Louisa Gray, and their family in Pittsburgh. At that time her father was in the wholesale pickle business, selling pickles by the barrel. He and several of his friends were studying the possibility of ‘going west’ in response to the government’s offer of ‘Quit Claims.’ Under this arrangement, settlers could be assigned a plot of land to live on for a specified length of time. When the time was up they were given the land to claim for themselves. Other people were going west. It sounded like a great place to build and bring up growing families. Moore Gray and his friends decided to inspect places in Nebraska.
“They went by train to Kearney, Nebraska. From there they scouted the land south, then north. When they reached Mira Valley, all agreed that that lovely, rolling country was the choice of all of them. Each man was free to choose parcels of land in 80-acre pieces – as many parcels as he could take care of. They made their applications and returned to Pittsburgh to make their plans.
“Maud’s father, my Grandpa Gray, had signed up for several 80s. There were six children in his family: Stella, Maud, Robert, Alice, Wilmore, and Helen. From the time the men returned home from Nebraska the excitement grew. Grandpa Gray had chosen what became a nice timber claim. On other acres, rich grass had grown tall -- good winter hay!
“At moving time, Grandpa Gray took to Nebraska tools for building a house, a barn, and other smaller buildings. Besides his family, he took along two acquaintances, Will and James Hastings, who were builders. Lumber was hauled (by horse-drawn wagons) from Grand Island, Nebraska (about 60 miles), so the building took a long time. Because of this, the builders, Will and Jim Hastings, had quite a long stay in Mira Valley. They built for others in the area, also. (In 1880 they built a church for the settlers. These families had been active church members back in Pittsburgh. Some had been singers in the Sixth Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh. After they got settled in Mira Valley, they organized a Presbyterian Church, meeting at first in homes or schools. When they were able to afford to build a church, Jim and Will built it. The Mira Valley Wilson Memorial Presbyterian Church was named for a beloved pastor back in Pittsburgh. The church community was a close-knit group (making up its own games for recreation.) When winter weather was not conducive to building, Will and Jim did blacksmithing; they worked near the settlement of Vinton. That was about 4 miles from Gray’s – close enough to allow visits! Jim would have come to know Moore and Louisa’s young daughter, Maud.
“Eventually Jim Hastings went back to Pittsburgh with Will, but he must have had a secret hope that, after he had worked there for a period of years, he would return to Mira Valley. This was not to be for some time, however -- the two brothers would find plenty to do in the Pittsburgh area before Jim would return to Nebraska.
“When Jim was about 30 years old, he wanted to establish a home of his own. Maud Gray, who was then 20 years of age, was willing to join him in Pennsylvania. Jim went to Nebraska to marry Maud. Preparation was made for a double wedding, for Maud’s sister, Stella, and Lloyd Russell were to be married, too. Stella and Lloyd would life in Greeley, Nebraska after the wedding. (Before their marriages Maud and Stella had gone to Hastings College for a year during the early days of that college.)
“Jim and Maud (were married in Mira Valley, Valley County, Nebraska then) went to live in Aspinwall, Pennsylvania, which was in the Pittsburgh area. Aspinwall had 3 avenues and 5 streets. Center Avenue went past 5th St. and led straight on up a hill to the top where houses were being built and more town was being established. Jim and Maud moved into a 5th St. house, not far from the grade school where two daughters would go later to school.
“Maud graciously settled in to be part of a big Hastings tribe. They were scattered around Pittsburgh, most of them in and near Aspinwall. Maud’s uncle, William Brown, married Jim’s sister, Lizzie Hastings, and they lived in Chicago. Will Brown was an Illinois state senator. Their home in Chicago made a good stopping place for Jim and Maud whenever they traveled to Nebraska to visit.
“While Jim and Maud were living at the 5th St. home, their three girls were born – Eleanor Louise, Jane Gray, and Alice Belle. Belle was not a strong child, and she lived only about a year-and-a-half.
“Hope W. Hastings, Jim’s father, was living in a large house on 3rd St. where part of his grown family helped make a home for him. But then his daughter, Mary (Hastings) Copeland, who was a nurse, remarried and went with her new husband, Andy Clements, to a farm. Louise Copeland, Mary’s daughter by her first husband, went to live with them. Arch Copeland, Mary’s son by her first husband, worked in a bank downtown and lived with his Uncle Jim (Hastings) and his Aunt Maud. Then Kate Hastings, who was a telephone girl, was to be married to Jess Fulton. So Jim, Maud, their girls, and Arch Copeland moved to 3rd St. to keep house for Grandpa Hope Hastings. I remember that Grandpa had a bedroom with a fireplace. After he retired his friends would visit him there; they would chat and play checkers. There were times when ‘beating Grandpa’ at checkers kept me occupied, too. Happy days!
“Mama (Maud) needed help when summer company came to visit Grandpa, so she hunted for a hired girl. She found a girl just over from Yugoslavia who wanted work. Her name was Elizabeth, and she was a real worker. She would be up in time to get the clothes for a dozen people washed and on the line by 9:00 in the morning. She baked such good bread and pies; and she didn’t mind my watching her work. On Thursdays she would go to visit her aunt, with whom she had lived before coming to our house. I remember Elizabeth fondly.
“That summer of 1901, when I was four, I remember Grandpa Hastings, our family of four, Arch Copeland, Aunt Kate Fulton, 2 or 3 Browns from Chicago, and others being at our house. Mama was head manager, and what a big time we had that summer!
“One joy experienced by our menfolk around Aspinwall was hunting. A group of church friends would go on a hunting trip when the rabbits were fat and good for eating. The wives would spend that day at one of the homes ‘cooking up,’ and a big day was had together. One man, a dentist named Dr. Lake, had a home out away from the city. That was a good rabbit area. One year all the fellows had good catches but Papa. Not one rabbit all day for Jim Hastings! They kidded him about that. A little later a picture of two rabbits (which Dr. Lake’s sister, Lois, had painted) was presented to Jim as a remembrance of fun if not rabbits. That picture is in our home in Hastings, Nebraska yet. (Note—in 2017 it is now in the home of Jane’s daughter Ruth L. (Ollis) Cook in Omaha.)
“Times were good then, and the Hastings brothers – Will, Jim, John, and Alec (all but Dave) – were occupied by the building trade. So Papa made plans to build a 3-story house on 1st St. for our next home. In time, Grandpa went to live with Aunt Kate Fulton and her husband Jess, in Sheridan, which was a suburb of Pittsburgh; Elizabeth, our hired girl, married and went to live in Pittsburgh. Arch Copeland moved closer to the bank where he worked; and Papa and Mama and we girls moved to the 1st St. house. That house was something special, I thought, with a stairway from the front hall and also a 4-step cut into the kitchen. It had four fireplaces and a chimney-closet in the kitchen where Mama could put the bread to rise. Mama was noted for her wonderful bread, always just right and crusty. Eleanor learned quickly, and by the time she was 10 or 11 she was learning the bread business, too.
“In 1904, when I was 7, I contracted diphtheria at school, and so Mama, Eleanor, and I were quarantined with a sign saying ‘DIPHTHERIA’ on the front of the house. Mama turned nurse, and Papa had to stay at some other home so he could keep working. Eleanor turned cook; also, she read to me, the patient, while sitting on a stepladder in front of my bedroom transom. She could see me lying in bed. It was a good set-up. After what seemed like a long time, that spell was over and we were free of our quarantine sign.
“I remember a red and white striped dress that Mama and Aunt Mary (Clements) made for me. It had short ruffles over the shoulders, full skirt. They thought it was just the thing to make me spiffy, but I did NOT like it. They stood me on the dresser with the big mirror to show me; but I was a hard case! Now I realize it really was pretty!
“Mama played the piano, and she wanted Eleanor and me to take piano lessons. So a good teacher came to the house to instruct us. We had a Chauncey piano. Eleanor had a good touch and learned readily, as usual. But she seemed to be more interested in baking and sewing. (Our Hastings aunts were all seamstresses.) Anyway, I seemed to have more time to practice, so I did more piano playing.
“During our years in Aspinwall, church work claimed much of Mama and Papa’s time – Sunday School teaching for Mama, choir and different offices for Papa. Mama had a nice alto voice, too. (Among Mama’s things were some notes and newspaper clippings. One was a newspaper clipping from the 1893 United Presbyterian General Assembly Report. It reported the discussion over the churches’ admitting of organs for use in worship services. Instruments of any kind had never been allowed in the U.P. churches before that time. Another article was a sermon. There was a church bulletin from 1903. In my Hastings, Nebraska home I have the tuning fork that Papa used for special singing in his younger days.)
“Aunt Annie (Hastings) White and her husband Lew lived in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Aunt Annie was a seamstress. She had several assistants to use the several sewing machines in her busy room. When Mama would go from Aspinwall to shop in Pittsburgh, Eleanor and I would ride along on the street car as far as Aunt Annie’s. There we would stay, observing the dressmakers, until Mama’s return. That was fun.
“About this time, Mama’s father, Moore Gray, became ill out in Nebraska. (He had been a senator for a term or two, so when the Legislature was in session he would go to Lincoln, Nebraska.) He did not live to a great age, and was ill for some time. Mama, in Pennsylvania, would pack up what it took to get herself and two girls to Nebraska; and we would go by train to see her father. The farm was a great place to visit! Papa would come out to Nebraska later for a shorter visit during his vacation.
“The time was coming, for several reasons, when Jim and Maud Hastings would move their young family back to Nebraska to make their home on the farm. In Aspinwall, Papa had gotten into the plumbing business. He had a partner and several workmen. They decided to build a flat (apartment) on 1st Street. It would have a plumbing office and display facing north and a drugstore facing south. There would be a basement under each part, two apartments on the 2nd floor, and two apartments on the 3rd floor. The plans looked good! They borrowed the money to build. Unfortunately, the financial world took a turn. The lady who lent the money had to have it back. The business project went down the drain. So Papa Jim Hastings and his family packed up and moved to Nebraska. The year was 1908.
“Back in Mira Valley Alice, Helen, and Wilmore Gray had all married. It was decided that Mama would assume the care of her mother, Louisa Gray, who had had a stroke. The big square house, the one Will and Jim (Hastings) had built earlier, was divided in two. Wilmore and Addie Gray lived on the west side; and the Hastings family and Grandma Gray lived on the east side. Some renovating was done – the first being the building of a bathroom in the middle, at the end of the hall. Papa Jim had brought the fixtures, along with our furniture, in the rail-car. (We were many years ahead of other homes in having indoor plumbing. That was a benefit of having a father who had been in the plumbing business!) Aunt Addie Gray took the first bath in the new tub. No more running up the path past the clothesline! (On Memorial Day 1977, Keith and Ruth Cook and sons of Omaha took me back to Mira Valley to visit the former Gray/Hastings home. It was then occupied by the Henry Lange family. It was a treat to be able to go back and see my old home. The hallway that had seemed so wide in my childhood days looked small now. The Langes had made many improvements, which included a bathroom on the second floor. New electric washers and refrigerators had by this time become modern necessities. But the 3rd floor with its summer heat was where the extra hired hands used to sleep. I loved the visit to my old home.)
“Mama kept quite busy during those years while her sisters and others were having their babies. She was needed for mid-wifery. New mothers stayed in bed many days back then. Everyone helped where needed. In addition, canning, churning, gardening, raising chickens were all on the list of farm chores for women and youth.
“Mama continued to take care of her mother, Grandma Gray, until she died in 1920.
“In 1926 Dad Jim (Papa) decided to join the business that was to be C. A. Hager and Co., so he and Mama bought the house at 119 N 21st St. in nearby Ord, Nebraska and moved into town.
“For about a half-dozen years Maud and Jim were active and enjoyed acquaintances in the Ord Presbyterian Church and their neighborhood. Then, in 1932, Mama became ill and needed surgery. After that, she failed all during the winter. Dad Jim asked James and me, with our 2 children, to move into their home and help with Mama’s care. That was a precious experience, for Mama lived until July 1933, showing her faith and witness clear to the end. Eleanor and I would take turns being the nurse for our sick mother while the other went to Eleanor and Will’s farm to manage farm chores, take care of the 6 children (our two plus Eleanor and Will’s four), and cook for the two farmers, Will and his brother Elmer Ollis. The older children helped out, too.
“One of Mama’s prayers, as we would gather at her bedside, was a sincere petition what we would manage whatever was the best way for the good of all concerned who would be left for further service in Christ’s name.
“How our hearts wept to give Maud up when she died on July 11, 1933. Our local paper, The Ord Quiz, headed the obituary with these words: ‘Much Loved Mother passes away Tuesday.’
“Mama had beautiful brown hair and eyes. She was a patient person even when others were frustrated. She was a neat housekeeper. She was generous in entertaining. Sometimes, in Aspinwall, she kept roomers to provide a little extra cash for helping the man of the home to provide for his family.
“I remember once in Aspinwall when she made an evening call on an elderly couple and took me along for company. Her kind words impressed me, a 10-year-old girl. Another time, in our Ord home, a woman with troubles and problems came, wanting to talk to Mama. That was the winter of 1927, when the Roses, an evangelistic team, came to town for special meetings and a number of denominations joined in activities. It was a wonderful six weeks of learning to understand fellow Christians. Church members were urged to be more active than usual, so I remember Mama as ‘doing all she could.’
“That’s how I remember my mother, Maud Gray Hastings.”
The following is written (in 1980) by Maud’s granddaughter Wilma (Ollis) Winsor.
“Grandma was serene and poised – quite serious, really, but in a loving way. Her eyes shone with deep love and kindness; I cannot, however, remember her as laughing, except at times sitting on the little back porch sewing with Aunt Annie White and Aunt Kate Fulton, where they were chatting together. Well, actually, ‘they’ would have been ‘chatting’ while Grandma would have been talking – ‘chatting’ would have been too frivolous a word to use of Maud Hastings. I have vague memories of her in our home in Mira Valley, or of her and Granddaddy going somewhere in the car, and of being with us in the Old Presbyterian Church in Mira Valley. There were brief memories of seeing her in bed those last weeks, but in those days, at age 10 or so, I was ‘too young’ to be told any of what was happening. My mother stayed in town to help Aunt Jane Ollis care for Grandma Maud at the last and Aunt Sadie Ollis Armstrong came to the farm to help our family. I believe Marilyn and Jim Ollis stayed out on the farm, too. The funeral was held in Grandma’s home in Ord. Because of whooping cough, Catherine, Jean Armstrong, Marilyn (I think), and I could not be with the family, so we stayed upstairs or on the stairs.”
The following is written (in 1980) by Maud’s granddaughter Evelyn “Lynne” (Ollis) Ramquist.
“Grandma would sit at the pump-organ and taught me the song, ‘Angry Words, Oh, Let Them Never ….’ I often sing it.
And the following is written (in 1980) by Maud’s granddaughter Catherine (Ollis) McPheeters.
“Granddaddy Jim Hastings worked for Grandma’s father on Great Granddad Moore Gray’s farm in Mira Valley one summer when Grandma Maud was only 9 or 10 and fell in love with her then. But he went back to Pittsburgh and waited for her to grow up. When Grandma was in the hospital for surgery near the end of her life I remember visiting her. Granddaddy was there holding her hand and they were looking at each other with as much love in their eyes as any newlyweds.”
Family Members
Siblings
