A daughter, Florence May(Calderwood), writes: "I never tired of hearing Dad tell of his boyhood, how Grandma Keller made the cloth for his trousers, raised the flax, then would weave the material and spin the yard, and then -- pants. The girls all knit their own hose by the light of the tallow candles that were also handmade. He told of how they sometimes, in his real young days, borrowed a little fire when theirs happened to go out, which was very seldom; or else used flint. Grandpa tanned the hides of animals and made all their shoe laces, harness straps for the oxen. And about the wonderful bread his mother would make, on hickory slab in front of the coals in the fireplace. My Dad was a great one to joke, and did say one loaf was as large as the hind wheel of a wagon. I have a picture of them when Grandpa ran a mill and Grandma took his lunch to him. Someone snapped their pictures, and I think they were the only ones ever taken. My Father was a farmer and a great worker, He was never idle, and was very comfortable in his old days. He had never been ill a day in his life until he got cancer on his face, and that took him in less than a year. He had a host of friends and was always helping people. We had his funeral from one of the largest undertaking parlors in St. Paul and more than 300 people had to stand in line on the outside. He had very little education, yet he could do any problem. He was a self-made man; came to Langdon, Minn. at the age of 21 and bought a threshing machine after he was there a while. He ran away from home at the age of 14 and joined the Army as a bugler, but when they learned his age, he was sent home."
From Ben Keller's Descendants of Conrad Keller
From Ben Keller's Descendants of Conrad Keller
A daughter, Florence May(Calderwood), writes: "I never tired of hearing Dad tell of his boyhood, how Grandma Keller made the cloth for his trousers, raised the flax, then would weave the material and spin the yard, and then -- pants. The girls all knit their own hose by the light of the tallow candles that were also handmade. He told of how they sometimes, in his real young days, borrowed a little fire when theirs happened to go out, which was very seldom; or else used flint. Grandpa tanned the hides of animals and made all their shoe laces, harness straps for the oxen. And about the wonderful bread his mother would make, on hickory slab in front of the coals in the fireplace. My Dad was a great one to joke, and did say one loaf was as large as the hind wheel of a wagon. I have a picture of them when Grandpa ran a mill and Grandma took his lunch to him. Someone snapped their pictures, and I think they were the only ones ever taken. My Father was a farmer and a great worker, He was never idle, and was very comfortable in his old days. He had never been ill a day in his life until he got cancer on his face, and that took him in less than a year. He had a host of friends and was always helping people. We had his funeral from one of the largest undertaking parlors in St. Paul and more than 300 people had to stand in line on the outside. He had very little education, yet he could do any problem. He was a self-made man; came to Langdon, Minn. at the age of 21 and bought a threshing machine after he was there a while. He ran away from home at the age of 14 and joined the Army as a bugler, but when they learned his age, he was sent home."
From Ben Keller's Descendants of Conrad Keller
From Ben Keller's Descendants of Conrad Keller
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