Agnes Milton letters

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This page consists of the writings of Agnes Sim Mitchell Milton

Agnes Mitchell Milton was my mother's mother's mother and was married to Henry H. Milton. She wrote out an account of the life of her mother in Scotland, the Mitchell family's immigration to this country, and their life in Mitchell County, Iowa, concluding with her marriage to Henry and the birth of their children. This account is displayed below in eight parts.

A second letter, or possibly parts of two letters, was was written to my mother, Betty Condon, around 1960. Some of the early Mitchell history is again written down, along with some notes on things then current. This document consists of four parts, below.

A third letter, or really just a written account, is entitled "My Vision". This document recounts a vision that Agnes had in 1943, shortly after Henry died. A copy of this account was given to Alma Milton (wife of Les Milton, Agnes' son), and was later typed by Gloria Milton (wife of Russell Milton, who was a son of Les). Because the document was typed out I have just provided a scan of it, and have not transcribed it as I did the other two letters.

This first letter is undated, but Betty Condon thinks that it must have been written in the late 50s or early 60s. A little puzzling because at the end of the letter it seems as though Henry was still alive (the phrase "we lived until we retired & have lived ever since" is used). However, Betty would only have been 12 years old when Henry died, and is unlikely to have requested this type of information at that time.

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Page 5	Page 6	Page 7	Page 8

For Betty (at her request)

My mother was born in Scotland, the second youngest of ten children. When two years old her mother died at the birth of a younger sister. Her father was a very good kind man, and a sister of his took her to their home & were so good to her. after about 2 years her father married again to a woman who mistreated & whipped them so much. An Aunt of mother's tried to keep her, & have her in their home, but no, the step mother would not let them. Then they got her away & were ready to board a large vessel, going to America (or Africa) and take her with them to keep, but the step mother got there in time to stop it & took her back to her family where she was misused more than ever. until she ran away & worked out where ever she got work. She was a good worker, full of fun, pretty & a nice dresser & made so very many friends, and very popular with the young men.

Dad worked with farmers, very quiet and bashfull, but she chose him to marry, and they both worked hard & were happy & had 4 children, John, Tina Agnes Jule Alexander, who died in infancy, Mary and Alick. They worked hard and saved all they could, and when John was about 15 & through school (1890) they had enough money and bought tickets for us all to go on the boat to take us from Glasgow, Scotland to New York City and on to Osage, where mother's sister, Aunt Lizzie Robertson a widow with one son lived near Mitchell.

It was a large steam ship 1st 2nd & 3rd class. Our tickets were for 3rd class, but one of the 2nd class booths was empty, and mother's brother-in-law, who worked with the ships at the Docks, got them to let us have it. one side was the door, on the 3 sides was two bunks, one on top of the other, no mattresses nor springs, just a blanket under us, and we slept there. The open space was about 5 ft. square. on the out side wall was a little round window about a foot in diameter & when it was windy or stormy, the rain & waves came in. one night the water on the floor was so deep the pot (chamber) floated all around inside and nobody couldsit on the chamber, (which was the only toilet we had), some of us had the diahreeah and I can still hear my mother laughing at my dad, having such a hard time.

Just outside the door was a long hall. The stationary table was all along it and planks nailed on each side to make it stationary & to sit on. When the ship swayed, which was most of the time, we had to hold on to our tin dishes to keep them. Once on Deck it was wet, & I was sliding on it from the center of the boat to the outside, where there was a railing around it, & a sailor came & stopped me. I could easily have slipped & fell overboard into the ocean. We had bread pudding a lot with big raisins in it made Jule sick, & she never would eat them after that. were 9 days on it, I think.

When we got to the New York Harbor we saw the "Statue of Liberty". Dad took us to a big Hotel right near, for dinner & it cost so much, practically all we had to eat the 3 days on the train, was bread alone, nothing on it, & when we got to Osage Dad had 25 cents left in his pockets - & 8 of us in the family.

Will Robertson was at the Osage Depot to meet us with a wagon. his Mother (my mother's sister) was visiting in Cedar Rapids, so he took us to his Aunt "Eckfords" - on a farm about 1/2 way, for dinner. They & her daughter had a long table set and we surely ate a lot. They had dough nuts, and we couldn't see how they could cook them with a hole in them.

We then went to Robertson's, Will's mother & he lived on their farm near Mitchell, but she (who is Mother's sister) was in Cedar Rapids visiting. People were very good and gave father & Mother work to do, chopping wood, & mother was good at nursing & soon Dad got work & a house to live in at McKinleys, near St. Ansgar. Aunt Lizzie kept me for about 1 1/2 to 2 years. I went to school & took organ lessons. Then later went to Carpenter on a farm they rented and we all worked hard, John helping other, as he could earnmore wages than a girl could.

We drove over to just north of Mitchell to Aunt Lizzie's in a wagon with 2 spring seats on it, & for a big treat we looked forward to, one of us went into the Bakery in St. Ansgar, & got a sack with buns or cookies to eat on the way. I think so many knew something about us, & that we didn't have much money and were very good to us. Then we rented a farm 2 1/2 miles S.E. of Aunt Lizzie's, & walked mostly that distance to school.

A family named "Humes" & were from Scotland, & quite wealthy bought a farm 5 miles N.E. of us & 4 miles from L.C. [Little Cedar] & Dad rented & lived there, & later bought it. We all went to Pleasant Valley, 2 miles west of us, to church, & all (unless it might have been Dad) took a very active part in it & John was Supt. of Sunday School for 7 years. Aunt Lizzie had given me "organ lessons", from a neice of hers, & I got to be Church & S.S. Organist. Aunt Lizzie helped in choir. Tina got to be a Dress maker & sewed mot of the time. A High School hadjust started in Little Cedar, & when through the 8th grade then, I drove a little horse in a two wheeled cart there. (I had always got good marks on my studies.) I was in the first class there in High School, & went 3 years, milking a number of cows, I and mother,by hand of course, every morning, harnessed the horse, cleaned up & changed clothes, ate some breakfast, hitched up the horse & off to school & put the horse in a barn on west end of L.C. & walked up to school. down at noon to feed horse, & home at nite for chores & work outside & in the house. I went 3 years & was old enough to go to "Summer School" 8 weeks, passed my examination and got a Teacher's Certificate and taught in a country school 9 months, to marry Henry, who had come there 9 months before, to visit his sisterand two brothers who were our neighbors. he was looking for land to buy, (he was farming his father's farm in Wis. and had an elderly lady for his housekeeper) & a hired man.

He asked if he'd write me, if I would answer it, I said yes, thinking it would be a lot of fun, then after he had made several trips back by train, he bought my father's farm. we became engaged, & were married Feb. 28 - 1900, and went back to Wis. where Laura was born March 15 - 1902. When 6 months old, we loaded two box cars, with horses, stock, machinery & house hold good and moved to Little Cedar, to take care of & work his own farm. Here Bill & Leslie were born, and in Spring of 1906 we had sold it and moved to our own farm (now Lloyd's) where we lived until we retired & have lived ever since in Little Cedar Community.

Bill was born April 5 - 1904 Leslie Dec. 23 - 1905, and Lloyd, June 7 - 1910 and Maurice Oct. 11, 1913.

This second letter was written around 1960, judging by her speculating about Mark asking questions on p. 4. Pages 3 and 4 may actually be a fragment from a third letter, however, they are written on the same kind of paper and in the same handwriting as pages 1 and 2. The repetition makes it seem like they were from a different letter, but from about the same time. Note that the last 2 pages are on a sheet of paper that was cut off--the scans were not cropped to a smaller size.

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Monday A.M.

Dear Betty & All-

Your letter surely sounded so good, I'd have liked to of been there to that show, if for nothing else, than to hear the remarks of the children. Yes we did belong to the Stuart Clan & my mother's name was Agnes Stuart Liston till she married Alex Mitchell, my father. she was two yrs. old when her mother died, she was a wonderfull person, but two years later her father married again, to a woman who was so very cruel to the children. An Aunt tried to steal my mother from her, & were ready to get onto the big steam ship, to come to America, when her step-mother came & wouldn't let them go. Mother had a hard life at first, but was a lively, good natured, lots of funnice looking and hard worker. She had friends upon friends where ever she went.

When she married my father, they both worked on a farm as hired help. he was a plain, quiet good man. while she was so full of fun. They worked & saved looking towards the day, they'd have enough money to take them with their six children, to America, where there was so much more chance & possibility, to get ahead, and prosper which they did. Yes I have a poetry Book of her writings & I'll be so glad to have Carol have it. or any thing else. I'm sending your letter up to Mary, [undeciphered] these nice days, I'm sure they'd be real glad to have you. but I'd want them to be sure & be home. When we do go up.

and I surely have poetry Books & things for Carol, but you'll have to remind me when you come over, my memory is so very short, and I'd be so glad to give them to her.

Don't work too hard & I'd be very glad to go with you any day you can go, I can always leave.

Much love to all gram.
(over)

Those kilts were very dressed up attire, & worn a lot in Bands & Marching. some had a feather in their caps. I can just imagine Mark asking questions & the excitement. Remind me of the books & poetry

Love gram

This third document is "My Vision" as written by Agnes Milton