George Syvester WELCOME

                   REFN: 7427
In 1918, after her mother died, she went to live with aunt Ruth.(Lynda
Martinez)
                  

                   REFN: 11609
                  

                   GLADYS (RAMSEY), (HILDERBRAND) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My Mom was born in a tent by the Maridazine River, because her Mom and Dad were so poor they couldn't aford a house. The tent had a floor in it and she was born on 8-17-1910, at PappinsVille, Bates County, MO. When she was six years old it rained real hard and everything was flooding so some people came and got their stuff and put it in a boat. They thought their house was going to be washed away with the flood. They were gone over a week while they waited for the water to go down. They stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Fahnestock, which was my Moms Mother Julias Mother. When Momma was seven years old, her dad needed work so he took a train to Parr Indiana, and got a job working on drainage ditches. He was there about one month and he sent for his family. Grandma Julia, Momma, Clifford, Willie, and Fern, got on a train at Richhill. They changed trains at Chicago and spent the night there. Grandma Mandy fixed them a big basket of food for the train. She made fried chicken, cookies, bread and butter, peanut butter,  apples, and bananas. It was so hot that Grandma Julia wet the boys bandanas in water and they put it around their neck and their forehead to cool off. They kept a big old bucket of water on the train and it had a dipper in it and everyone on the train drank out of the same dipper. They were sure glad when they got to Indiana. Grandpa George met them at the train station and took them to where he was living. He lived in a little trailer, it had one bedroom, and a dinning room and living room together. The kids slept in the front room. My mom and her brothers and Fern collected some beautiful rocks  and washed them and put them in a big jar. They lived in Indiana about 5 or 6 months, then they moved to Kansas City, Mo.. They moved in with Grandpa George's Mother, Nancy Welcome. She owned an apartment-boarding house. Grandma Nancy was very mean and she use to lock my Mom and her brothers in closets to get t hem out of her hair. This would make my Mom very scared cause it was dark and small, she has never forgotten this. Grandma Julia gave the kids a bath one night and put them to bed and the next morning Grandma Julia died. She was pregnant with Richard, My Mom always believed that her Dad and Grandma Nancy shoved Grandma Julia down a flight of stairs and she was unconsious and never regained consiousness. They took her to a hospital at Kansas City and Grandma Julia gave birth to Richard. She died with in an hour after having him. She was taken to Booth and Baughn Funeral home, he told Grandma Mandy, "all of her bones had been broken, and if they wanted to press charges against anyone he could help them". Grandma Mandy said no its already done you can't bring her back, so just let it go. Her obiturary says completely different, it said that she died of disentary. Her death certificate says something about her bones, so my Mom was probably right. My Mom kept asking Grandma Nancy, "where's my Mommie", finally after about two weeks, Aunt Maude told them, "Honey your Mommies gone to Heaven". Aunt Maude was a whore, one time my Mom went over to her house when she was small and went in her bedroom and seen this wash basin, a towel and a bunch of medicine bottles by the bed side. Momma asked Aunt Maude, whats this for? Aunt Maude said you just get away from there and don't come in here again. My Momma as she got older she realized that Aunt Maude had the men dip their peckers in the basin to sterilize it before having sex. She used to sit out on the porch and she would motion for men to come in, and she would be inside the house looking out and knock on the windows motioning for them to come in. Once they came in they would go straight to her bedroom and the kids would stay in the living room. After Grandma Julia died, Momma, Clifford, and Willie, went to live with Grandma Mandy. Fern, Mommas sister went to live with Aunt Ruth. Richard the one that Grandma died having went to  live with Aunt Maude. A few years later Grandpa married a woman named Ruth McGehee, she trea
ted Momma like her own daughter. Grandpa used to try to get Momma to run off from Grandma Mandy and come live with them, but she wouldn't. After they started having children, when Aunt Irene was about 3 years old, Grandpa got mad at Ruth and broke her collar bone. Grandpa Fahnestock used to rock my Mom in an old rocking chair and he would sing "Buelah Land" over and over. He would chew his tobacco as he rocked and spit it in an old bucket. He would also read his bible as he rocked in the rocking chair. Whenever my Mom was troubled or anything she would crawl up on Grandpas lap and rock with him. My Mom and Grandma and Grandpa would go to Aunt Sue and Uncle Lawrences, who lived on top of a big hill at Pappinsville. All the men would bale hay and Momma and the women would take them cold milk, potatoes, corn bread, fried chicken, and bake beans. They would be there two or three days. But in those days neighbors helped each other, they would have barn raisings, and all the women would bring a covered dish. The men would all put the barn up. They would then eat all the good food the women had prepared. Grandma Mandy Fahnestock, loved to quilt, crochet, embroidery, cook and can, work in the garden, raise chickens, and she would kill them her self. My Mom used to like to watch her kill the chickens and she was fascinated  how they would jerk and flop around with their head cut off. She figured if they were dead they shouldn't be moving. Grandma didn't belive in going to the doctor. When she was sixty five, she developed cancer of the liver and she said "no i'm not going to be operated on, I came here in one piece and i'm going back that way" she died at age 65, at Richhill, Mo.. Her favorite hymn was "The Old Rugged Cross". She taught my Mom how to cook biscuits, bread, doughnuts, cookies, cakes, from scratch, no cake mixes, and dressing for chicken. She taught her how to make jell y, can foods from the garden, work in the garden, and how to clean house and to wash clothes. My Mom used to get agrivated because if she didn't get the dishes completely dry when she dried them Grandma would make her take them all out of the cabinet and make her do them all over again. She taught her how to make beds and if she didn't do them right she would make her rip them all off the bed and start over. Grandma Mandy sang hymns as she worked. they attended the Pentacostol Church, sometime they would have all day services and the women would take food for lunch, My Mom liked all that. Grandma Mandy was 5 foot 3 and weighed 118 pounds and wore her dark blonde hair in a bun on the back of her head, and she had blue eyes. Grandpa worked in the coal mines and did black smith work, they used to call him the smithey and he would horse shoe horses. My Mom had two brothers Clifford and Willie, Uncle Floyd was around the same age as my Mom. They would go swimming at an old rock quarry, which is where they dug rock out of the ground, leaving a big hole 40 or 50 feet deep. One time they were there and Momma was scared to go in the water, the boys were all in the middle and they said come on in it's not deep. She went in and sank to the bottom, it was real deep. They taught her how to swim that day. Everyday in the summer months, Momma and the boys would go 2 or 3 times a day swimming. Sometimes they would swim in the river by Pappinsville. Grandma told them one time not to stay very long, they were gone a long time. Grandma Mandy snuck down to the river and saw them swimming, and she switched them all the way home. They didn't have very many clothes, when they came back from church, Grandma told them to change their clothes and get out of their good ones. Grandma would tell them, "if you don't take care of your everyday clothes, how are you going to take care of your sunday ones". Momma knew this women named Nola Hart and she was an Aunt to a guy named Wes Keener. Wes Kenn er's Dad John, was a preacher and he was holding a revival over at Richhill. My Momma went to the revival with Nola and Nola introduced her to Wes. Wes got where he would come and take h
er to church, they dated form July till the 10th of October, 1927, then they got married at Butler MO., by a Methodist Preacher. My Mom was under age so Grandma Mandy had to sign papers for her to get married. They didn't have any money for a honeymoon so they went to live with John and Ruth Keener while they were having a house built. John and Ruth, Wes, my Mom, Myrtle, Tom, David, Paul, and Charles all lived there. A little more than a year after they were married, George Wilburn keener,  was born On 10-31-1928, at Cross Timbers, MO., He was named "George" after Moms dad George Sylvester and His dad George Wesley Keener. And named "Wilburn" After Moms Brother Wilburn, But they called him Willie. George Wilburn later changed his name to Martin Jackson and we now call him Jack. An old country doctor named Dr. Edwards. Momma had such a hard time having Jack that the doctor had to deliver him with instruments and they broke her pelvis. She had to stay in bed for several weeks till she could get around on her own. Ruth Keener, her mother-in-law took care of her and was really nice to her. Jack had long curly hair up till he was Two years old and Momma dressed him up like a little girl. Finally his Grandpa Keener and his Dad took hom to town and got his hair cut like a little boys hair should be. After they got his hair cut they bought him some coveralls that he came home in and they told Momma that he's a boy not a girl, and you can't make a girl out of him. They bought Jack some more boys clothes and burned all of the girls clothes that Momma had for him so she couldn't dress him like a girl any more. Momma and Wes had moved to Crosstimbers MO. to live with Mr. and Mrs. Keener. The Keeners didn't have any electric in their house and they had to use Kerosene lamps and they used wood bur ning stove to cook on, it had a resevor to keep water in so you'd have hot water to cook with. They would dip the water out. On top of the stove they had a warming tray to keep stuff warm, like pancakes, biscuits, ETC. The Keener's raised turkeys and chickens and they had way over a 100 of them and raised them to sell. They sold cream and eggs also. After Momma and Wes got their own house, Wes would bring home a half gallon of heavy cream every morning and night and he would drink it by it self. My Moms Grandpa Fahnestock came and dug the Kenners a cellar made of concrete. It had big bins in it to hold potatoes, apples, onions. They kept the stuff they had canned from the garden in there to. They would make home made jelly and put in there. Mr. and Mrs. Keener would make 2 big barrels of sauerkrout, they kept one and sold the other. They made vinegar out of apple juice that they made on a press, they would make two 50 gallon barrels and sold one and kept one. They would make two 50 gallon barrels of wine out of grapes, they kept one and sold one. They would make pickle lilly out of green tomatoes, onions, sugar and vinegar, it was like a relish. Mrs. Keener took persimmons and cooked them, then put them through a colander. She would put it in a big crock. She would put a layer of persimmons, a layer of sugar and kept layering it till it reached the top of the crock. She would put a plate on top of it and then put a big cloth around it. She would put a brick on top of the cloth to hold it down. She kept all this in the cellar, the persimmon butter would be used on bisciuts and pancakes and toast. When he was 6 years old he walked to school alone and had to cross a big busy highway. Wes and Momma moved a lot between CrossTimbers and Richhill, Jack went to school at Richhill. Grandma Mandy loved Jack and wanted him near her. Jack learned to fish real early and was about 6 years old. When he was 7, him and a friend ran off to the drainage ditch and went fishing. He was  gone for about two hours and Momma didn't know where he was. She went to his friends house and his friends mom said, I think I know where they went, "fishing". Jack come home with a big string of fish, Grandma Mandy told Momma "don't spank him now, he's just a little boy", Grand
ma got him out of a whipping. Momma used to knock on Jacks head with her knuckles when she was mad at him. Jack was about four years old he told her, "When I get big and you get little things are going to be different". He reminds Momma of that to this day. From what I understand Momma and Wes divorced, Charles and Jack went to live with Aunt Leona. Jack was only there a short time and he basically went on his own at a young age. One Halloween, Momma dressed Jack up as a hobo, she put Grandpa's old hat on him and they tied a red hankerchief around his neck and they sewed patches on his clothes and he had a big long stick with his clothes tied up hanging on the end of the stick like he was running away from home. They had his pants rolled up and he was bare footed and he had his dog with him. The dog was yellow and Jack won first prize in the contest. They moved back to Crosstimbers and Momma had twin boys, Harold Lee, and Gerald Dee, they were born 4-7-1930, Dr. Edwards delivered them. Gerald got whopping cough July 18th or 19th, 1930, it turned into pneumonia. They were up at Mrs. Keeners house and Grandma Keener was holding him because he was having one convultion after another and he died in her arms. His mouth was blistered and bleeding from high fever, they kept cold clothes soaked in baking soda on his body till they buried him. this kept his body from turning black. Someone stayed up with him all night because they had lots of cats and they wanted to come in and eat his body. They buried him the next day, he was not embalmed. Two years after Gerald died, Momma had Ella Leona "Sissie", she was named after Ella For Grandma Mandy Ella, and Leona for Aunt Leona. She was born on 2-27-1932,  Grandma Mandy delivered her because the doctor didn't get there on time. Dr. Schaffer finally came after Sissie was born and he checked her and Momma out and said, "Grandma did a real good job", Dr. Schaffer's wife was a hair dresser and when Momma went for her six week checkup, the doctor said he told his wife, "I've got you another customer to cut their hair", cause Sissie had such long black hair. Aunt Leona walked four to six blocks to see Sissie who was born at Richhill, MO., at Grandma Mandys' house and she weighed six pounds. Grandma Mandy and Aunt Leona loved her a lot and Aunt Leona gave her a bath every day and took the dirty clothes home and washed them and brought them back. Three years later Momma gave birth to Charles Wesely Keener, he was born on 11-26-1934, at Richhill MO., Momma and Wes had a house by then and he was born there. Dr. Allen delivered him. Grandma Mandy and  Aunt Minnie, who was married to Grandma Mandys brother were there to. When Charles was four, almost five years old, Mom and Wes moved to Carbonado Wash. and Charles 5th birthday there. Grandma Ruth Welcome made them all dinner and a birthday cake. She put 5 candles on it, he liked it. Grandma Welcome was his step Grandma but she treated them just like their own. Wes was working in a logging camp at South Prairie, Wahsington, Sissie was 8, Harold 9, and Jack 10. This house they were living in caught on fire. They had a dog named shadow and he came to Mommas bed and got her by the hand and let her know that something was wrong. Momma went and checked and the house was all on fire. The firemen came and all the family was out side. They got to looking and Charles was gone. The firemen went and found him in the house asleep in his bed. They couldn't live there because of the fire so they went to my Moms Dads house. The next day they went to the red cross and they helped them get in another house. Three months later they moved to Puyallup, Wash.. They went to live in these little cabins  provided for the people that picked berrys for these people. They picked blackberry, Bosenberrys, and raspberrys. Momma and Wes had went to town and come back and the landlord met them and said you have to get your stuff and get out of here right now, cause all your kids have made a mess of these 
                  

                   REFN: 2549
Killed by a train trying to board it.
                  

                   Alias: /Willie/
REFN: 2578
[Broderbund Family Archive #110, Vol. 2 M-Z,Ed. 6, Social Security Death
Index: U.S., Date of Import: Nov 23, 2000, Internal Ref.
#1.112.6.114988.66]
Individual: Welcome, Willie
Social Security #: 539-01-5572
Issued in: Washington
Birth date: Feb 9, 1914
Death date: Jan26, 1994
ZIP Code of last known residence: 65079
Primary location associatedwith this ZIP Code:
Sunrise Beach, Missouri