I'm Gail, the 8th daughter of Elmer and Gertrude. I remember so many happy things about growing up in Austerlitz that I don't know where to begin, so I guess I'll start from the beginning.

When I was four years old I remember my mother lying bed, my cousin Curtis was in the room also. My mother asked me if I would like a baby sister or brother and I said yes. I don't remember how long it was after that but it was only a day or two and Mother was gone. The next thing I remember is Daddy being all excited, saying we had a baby brother. Dad took care of us while mother was in the hospital. One morning he seemed to be in a hurry to get us all breakfast and get going. He heated milk for hot milk and shredded wheat so he poured the hot milk over corn flakes. Ugh! It was awful, but we ate it anyway. We always ate whatever was on the table. Well anyway soon after that Mother came home with a baby. This turned out to be my brother Jimmy. I don't remember a lot about him as a baby. I kind of remember his crib being in the living room with the fire place, on the wall by the stairs. I do remember when he was old enough to sit up and mother would put him out sided on a blanket and I would sit with him. He was probably about one and half years old because I was not in school yet. I do remember i was to start that fall. anyway, while we were sitting on the lawn I used to tell him stories that mother had told me. I also used to tell him all about the things I would do for him and buy him when I grew up. I felt like a big shot watching my baby brother and teaching him things.

That fall I started school in the one room school house in Austerlitz and became to busy to worry or think about a baby brother anymore. I had new friends an other things to do now.

Before I started school I remember how I used to walk the older girls' lunch up to the school sometimes. Once during the winter I was doing this and I cut across Mrs. Wilson's lawn. I got stuck in the snow and my boot came off. I stood there for the longest time and then pretty soon I saw the girls coming home. They were so mad at me. Then Vernon Stone, who lived with our family, came home for lunch and got me out of the snow. I remember those days as being bleak with Isabel in school and no one to play with. I used to talk to mother about school and what I would learn. I wanted to know if I would learn to do dishes and sweep floors etc. She told me what I would learn and that she would teach me to sweep the floor and do dishes. Then she let me sweep the floor. I thought it was great!

We always did things as a family. Everyone was always at the table for breakfast and dinner. We all pitched in to help set the table, pour water, make toast etc. while mother did the main cooking. Then we would all sit down to eat together. I won't go on about Christmas and how great it was with our family but I do want to say that the last doll given to each of us was a big fancy doll; some got a  bride doll, I got a doll dressed in a pink fancy gown. She had blond hair and blue eyes. I still have her tucked away in a trunk. When I was a teenager, she was on display in my room. She always sat in her little pink wooden chair.

Mother and Dad's home was always open to people. I hardly remember a time that someone wasn't either visiting or living with us. There was the old lady we called Grandma Waldren, who used to come to spend time with us each summer. We loved to have her come because she would sing and tell us stories. The special thing she did was make rag dolls for us. I don't really know how she made them but they were great fun. Then there was Auntie and Uncle Jim. They were like grandparents to me. I never knew my real grandparents. Auntie was my Grandmother Lillian Hammon's sister. When Auntie & Uncle Jim lived across the street from us, we would go over there a lot. She was always in the kitchen making bread or cookies. Uncle Jim made us a play house out of our old chicken coop. When they moved in with us the ply house cam alos and another room was added on to it. We spent a lot of time in the play house. Every morning Auntie would be whistling in the kitchen as she set about making bread and cookies. Once her bread was ready and rising she would go out to the hen house an feed the chickens (biddies she called them) and gather eggs. Sometimes we would help her. Uncle Jim was always busy out side doing different things but was never too busy for us. He was interesting to listen to. We would help him sharpen knives, axes and the like on a big water stone.  He did the sharpening while we turned the crank. He also introduced us to spruce gum. It was bitter at first but after chewing it for a while it wasn't too bad! It was really the sap from the spruce trees in the yard.

Life was fun back then. It was kind of like growing up on Walton's mountain. Mother never turned anyone away from her door. I remember her feeding the hobos that used to walk the highways. They would sit on the stoop outside and she would bring them something to eat and drink.

There were so many people in our lives. Vernon Stone was a big part of it. He would take us to a place in West Stockbridge called "The Old Shoemaker" and but us penny candy. If it was someone's birthday, he would let us buy a gift for them, even  himself. We would pretend it was for someone else!

Other things that were exciting to me while growing up were things like: going to the Chatham train station to pick up our sister Shirley, who came for a visit from Utica; going to special movies at the Crandell theater; Dad taking Mom  and some of us kids to Fiadelli's for ice cream; going on day trips to the Mohawk Trail or just riding around and having a picnic... just to mention a few. Sometimes we would go to Utica for the day to see my sister Shirley, My Aunt Margy or my step-grandmother, Lena Hammon. Our life was farm from boring. Week-long vacations were spent at Eloise and Tom's up north. We would go to Canada where my Grandmother Lillian Barnes Hammon was from and have a picnic. i remember going over the Thousand Island Bridge. What a thrill it was! All those little Islands out there; I wanted one of them for myself. When we got older, 12 or 13, we used to spend a week or two in Utica with my sister Shirley and her husband Eddie. I remember Eddie taking us to a special place called Cupies' to eat. We'd all have thick shakes and hamburgers with pickles on them. Every night while watching TV, we would have snacks of some kind - chips, soda, pizza - sometimes Eddie would just bring out a bowl of ice cubes for us all to crunch on. During the day we would go to the park or visit Aunt Margy. Sometimes we would go to a place called Tom Thumb's for ice cream.

All and all our live was pretty stress free. There were many good times, and some sad and scary times like Jimmy almost drowning and the next year being hit by a car. We were down by Jensen's store with Honey LaFave when that happened. That is a horrible memory, but, thank God he only broke his leg.

We had our share of sibling rivalry and we fought, but most of the time it was fun. As a teenager, I remember hanging out after school at the Morris Memorial or going to Alvord's drug store for goodies. The main hang out was a place called the Boston Candy Kitchen in Chatham. They had booths and a juke box. We would sit around and drink coke and listen to music. They also made all kinds of candy there and it always smelled so good. I remember that every Christmas Daddy would buy ribbon candy from Nick Demos' Boston Candy Kitchen. It was the best around.

I could go on and on about things, people... like the week of summer vacation bible school, run by Maryanne Mugler and Gloria Neal, for all the kids in Austerlitz. It was fun filled week topped off with a bonfire and picnic at Mugler's house in Austerlitz. There was singing, and stories and always Mr. Mugler's home made ice cream.

We grew up in a very loving home and always had something to do. As a mother I've tried to instill some of this in my own children and grandchildren. I hope that someday they can look back with good, warm feelings of family and friends in their lives.

Even today, although we don't see each other on a day to day basis, I know if the chips are down or I need someone to talk to, that my sisters and brother are there to get me though. I think God for the loving, caring environment I grew up in.

After thoughts..... Aunt Carrie smoking a pipe or eating fig newtons; Jensen's store; Dolly Eggert's store; Mary Herron and the Post Office; Ida Zumpstein; May Ferry and her cows; Abe chasing us with his cane; Aunty Daisy and Uncle Link and their dog, Cousin Trinkets; planting potatoes on Memorial Day; the garage and the snack bar; swimming in the junction down behind our house; skating on Jensen's pond; watching Mr. Jensen herd his cows (girls) across the street; Bread Man, Milk Man and Continental Salesmen; Louie Panzari's clothes truck; big dinners, full stockings at Christmas; Easter Sunday; TV at Anderson's; our first TV - Howdy Doody, Cactus Jim, The Gary Moore Show; playing store; our big swing that uncle Jim made; raking big plies of leaves and jumping in them; playing Killie-I-over and I Declare War; home movies, 4th of July picnics; birthdays; cousins visiting; Dad's orange truck; Isabel and I getting lost in Utica; Lake Ontario; sleigh-riding down West Hill Road; catching fish with my hands; Ruth and Irwin Ramsey; Charlie Lepp (Aint that a good one Gert?!; Betty McDonald (shine 'em up Betty); all night Canasta games with Mother; Mother telling fortunes with cards; Dad's suitcase and the surprises in them; and 3-3503... just to name a few. I could go on forever with 50 years worth of memories, some good, some bad, but the good far outweigh the bad.