- Ernest Independence Vawter was born in Beverly, Kansas on the 4th of July. His middle name was given because he was born on Independence Day. He was a tall slender dark headed man with a good sense of humor. He was always doing something.
His parents were James robert Vawter and Sara Ann Brace and they homesteaded from Indiana to Kansas. James was a farmer in an area south of Beverly, Kansas. James and Sarah lived in a two story limestone house that had a living room on one side of the stairs and a kitchen on the other side with two bedrooms upstairs. James was sick most of his later life with Bright's Disease and died in 1916.
Sarah Ann would take a fresh egg and break it over the head of her grandchildren and rub the egg into their hair. Every grandchild got the treatment which wasn't fun but they went through it because grandma said so. Sarah Ann had a stroke in her later years and died in 1930. Ernest had a younger brother named Ora (Orie) and an older brother named Fredrick. Ora married Alta Phillips and had four children named Theora, Georgia, Darlene, and James (Jimmie). Fredrick spent the rest of his life in Kansas on the family homestead and limestone house which is still standing today. Ernest also had an older sister named Daisy Elsie who had red hair and was never married.
Ernest married Nellie Anna Stout who was also born in Beverly, Kansas. Her parents were Nathan Agustus Stout and Caroline Shaffer. Nellie and Ernest were married in a dual wedding with Nellie's sister, Helen Stout and Jud Bloyd. Nellie and Ernest were both teachers. In 1909, Ernest taught 1st through 7th grades at Sunrise School District #30 in Madison Township, Lincoln County, Kansas. The school had a total of 20 pupils that year including Art Stout in 5th grade and Beulah and Roy Stout in 7th grade. (Art, Beulah, and Roy were Nellie Anna's sisters and brothers.) The same year, Alma Theora was born. After Alma, Nellie gave birth to four sons including one set of twins. They all died shortly after birth from RH negative blood problems.
Between 1915 and 1917, Nellie and Ernest packed up and moved to Flagler, Colorado along with Ernest's brother Ora and sister Daisy. They left Beverly, Kansas in a wagon loaded with belongings, one milk cow, a dog, and some chickens. Dan and Charlie, the two horses, pulled the wagon which had iron bows and a canvas cover. The United States government was offering homesteads of one square mile and they decided to settle in an area about 18 miles south of Flagler. Ernest, brother Ora, and sister Daisy were all issued homestead legal land patents for 320 acres each in September 1919. Ernest and Ora both used their land for farming. Ernest farmed corn and had a Wallace tractor to cultivate his fields. He build a chicken coop which they used to raise chickens for eggs and chickens, now and then. It held about a dozen chickens and had a slanted roof. Early on, they made two attempts to drill a well and both times the casing caved in due to quick sand. The drill was powered with a horse hitched and traveling in a circle. Without the well, they had to travel to Ora's every night to fetch water. After one year, they moved north about five miles closer to Flagler. They moved to a small house with two bedrooms, a kitchen, living room and a barn. The chicken coop was moved, too. They thought they were in heaven even though they had no electricity and used kerosene lamps for light. Dan and Charlie were hitched to the buggy every Sunday so they could go to church. The two room church was a Congregational church south of Flagler and used as a school during the week. The church was later moved to Flagler and is still standing today. Ernest drove school busses at South Central for a number of terms.
Nellie had a great big garden where she grew all kinds of vegetables. She was real good at growing things and also canned a lot of foods including ducks and chickens. She would cook the canning jars for several hours and then seal them with bees wax as they cooled. Corn was removed from the cob and spread out on a sheet, covered with cheesecloth. Once the corn was dry, Nellie would put it into bags and hand them inside from the peak of the roof. Corn was also hung out to dry evceryday so that later it could be boiled. In the fall, they would buy a bushel of apples and everyone would get 1/2 an apple every day.
When a cow was slaughtered, all the meat would be cooked, canned and covered with bees wax. Nellie would cook three loaves of bread at a time. One loaf would always have other stuff added to it and was used to make biscuits. She would cook them in a big iron stove which was fired with cow chips. Sometimes they would use coal but never wood because there weren't any trees in the area. In the winter, they would wash clothes and hand them outside to dry. They would freeze still qand flap around until dry and then brought into the house to defrost and be folded or ironed.
During the winter, Ernest hunted coyotes for the pelts.
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Our Family History
1884 - 1927 (42 years)