“Little Farm on the Prairie”

Move aside Laura Ingalls Wilder! There’s another fabulous family of farmers (try saying that fast five times!) sharing the prairie spotlight these days! Mine!

(Albert Lee Roseborough and Ola Elizabeth Rogers Roseborough with their children.)

My maternal ancestors were wheat farmers in western Kansas. Albert and Ola Roseborough, my grandparents, farmed there until the great depression and the dust bowl years caused them to lose their homestead. In their later years they lived in eastern Colorado where my Grandpa continued to farm until his death in 1955. And let me tell you folks, western Kansas and eastern Colorado is nothing but prairie, prairie, prairie!

I remember going out to the farm right outside of Hugo, Colorado, 16 miles south of Limon, back in the early 1950’s when I was a little girl. My memories include taking baths in a wash tub in the old barn because the house did not have electricity or running water; having big family dinners around a table in the dining room illuminated by kerosene lamps, with everyone passing bowls of food back and forth; and my best memory ever of my Grandpa – riding on the back of his tractor across acres of wheat fields while I devoured a Hersey’s chocolate bar he’d given me.

Now fast forward to 2018. I was chatting on the phone in April with my cousin, Melody, who lived with our grandparents until she was eight, and she mentioned that someday she’d like for us to take a trip back to Hugo and I agreed it would be a fun thing to do. After we hung up, I got to thinking – why is it always “someday”? Why can’t we do it now? I looked at my calendar and then called her back and we set up June 23, 2018 as the day we were going back to our roots. I like to call it our “Little Farm on the Prairie Tour.”

My sister, Lila, and niece, Renee, joined us on that bright Saturday morning. We loaded up my SUV and we were on our way – Hugo or bust!

Hugo is the county seat of Franklin County, and its population has pretty much stayed the same since the 1920’s, around 800, even though Interstate 70 bypassed them in the early 1960’s. It’s still a big farming and ranching community and when we drove down main street on that June day it was obvious that not much had changed in the sixty years since I’d last seen it. It was like stepping out of the DeLorean with Marty McFly back to the 1950’s.

The first thing we did was drive out to the old farm. Or at least where it used to be because the house and out buildings were torn down years ago. Melody remarked about how hard it had to be to farm that land because it was a very rugged piece of prairie. What once were beautiful wheat fields in my memories of years gone by are now acres of nothing but clumps of wild grass and dead weeds.

 

Grandma in front of the old farmhouse, 1940’s – 1950’s

 

 

 

 

 

 

Farm in 2018

 

 

 

Then we went back to town and drove by Grandma and Grandpa’s house. It hasn’t been kept up, and it’s painted yellow now, but back in the day it was white, and we always referred to it as “the white house”. (I love that! I can brag that my grandparents lived in the white house!)

 

Melody in front of the “white house”, 1950’s. (This is the only picture of Melody she’ll let me post!)

 

 

 

 

2018 – the house is now yellow

 

 

 

Everything was closed in Hugo at two on a Saturday afternoon, except for one antique store, Maye Gene’s, so of course we had to stop there. Little did we know that Maye Gene Snodgrass, the owner and widow of Judge Snodgrass, age 92, would be in that day and of all things, she remembered our grandparents, and Melody too! It was rather an ethereal experience for us to be able to talk to her about Grandma and Grandpa, and their old home place in Hugo. “They bought the ol’ banker’s house on 2nd Street,” she told us, “when they moved from their farm into town.”

 

 

 

Maye Gene

 

 

 

Maye Gene is an energetic, salt of the earth, deep-in-the-sticks, sweet ol’ country woman, and I want to grow up to be just like her. Not only does she run her own business, she also has the only bed and breakfast in a fifty-mile radius, the Lincoln Manor. We didn’t know she was the owner until she asked where we were staying for the night and we told her that we’d called the Lincoln Manor several times and left messages, but no one ever called back. She looked a little sheepish and that’s when she told us she owned the place, but her brother had died a few weeks back and she just wasn’t up to any guests at the time. However, she did invite us to stay with her for free the next time we were in town if we didn’t mind making our own beds. I love that spunky little lady!

And, of course we found treasures at Maye Gene’s!

 

 

Love this T-shirt!  I know everyone wants one but you have to go to Hugo to get it!

 

 

 

 

 

Hand painted china plate with scene of prairie farmers bringing in the harvest entitled “Neighbors”.

 

 

 

We finally said good-bye to Hugo and Maye Gene and drove back to the interstate where we headed due east to Stratton, Colorado, and the Claremont Inn and Winery.

 

Hooray for Renee who found this place because it was a really nice surprise! Who knew Stratton, population 633 and deep in prairie country, would have a five-star Inn and Winery right off the Interstate? We checked into our room, the Secret Garden, which had two king-size beds so we could all stay together – cousin slumber party! Then we headed to the wine room and enjoyed a variety of their primo wines with some tasty hors d’oeuvres. Before we knew it, it was time for an extraordinary epicurean dinner of Colorado beef with all the trimmings, and then two amazing desserts – chocolate mousse and key lime pie, oh my! We went back to our delightful room and spent several hours reminiscing and sharing memories with laughter and tears, and after that we were ready for bed.

 

 

 

 

 

I think we were all awakened around two in the morning when a round of thunderstorms hit with lots of lightning, thunder and rain – which had to sound good to the farmers in eastern Colorado. We woke up fresh and ready for a new day and a trip back to Denver, but first we had one more gourmet meal to enjoy – a breakfast of fresh fruit, croissants, bacon and egg quiche, roasted potatoes, sausage, juice and hot coffee – yum!

 

We took a quick walk around the place so Lila could see their hay bale garden, and Renee and I could admire their scarecrows made out of wine bottles, and then a trip to their gift shop where we picked up one-of-a-kind items, like dish towels and coasters with messages like: “I am woman, hear me pour”, “Wine a bit, you’ll feel better”, “Well red”, and “Sip Happens” (I think this would be a good title for a book about some cousins who go on a road trip to an old prairie town and stay at a B&B that’s haunted, or something on that order). And, of course, I had to buy a black apron with “I don’t have a hangover – it’s the wine flu” printed out in sequins. Lila got one too. It’s a sister thing.

Our weekend ended too soon, and can I tell you that this “Little Farm on the Prairie Tour” really moved me because I came to realize how strong our ancestors were to go through all they did to be successful and survive. And now, here we are – all of us descendants who have stayed connected and endured as we spread the love wherever we go. It’s a tie that binds us through time, blood lines, good seasons, and bad seasons, but it always comes back to this – we are family!

 

Some descendants of Albert and Ola Roseborough

 

 

 

 

(Cue Sister Sledge and let’s all sing along to We are Family!)

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyGY2NfYpeE

PS – Hey cousins! Please comment below and tell us a favorite old saying or wise quote you heard from Grandma or your Mother. Mine is “What won’t kill will fatten”.  Heard it a million times and I’ve said it that many times to my own kids and grandkids!