Person Page

     Amy Adell Weston was born on 16 August 1899 in Deerfield Twp., Isabella Co., Michigan.^3,1 She married George Arthur Drake, son of Aden Willard Drake and Cora Viola Burlingham, on 14 April 1917 in Lansing, Ingham Co., Michigan.^1,2 They were divorced on 4 May 1951 in Ingham Co., Michigan.⁴ She died on 11 October 1997 at age 98.³
     She and her husband Arthur lived in Ingham Co., Michigan.^5,6,7 In June 1917, when George registered for the World War I draft, they were in Lansing⁵, and in the censuses they are listed in Delhi Twp. in 1930, and back in Lansing in 1940.^6,7

     Mary E. Saylor was born about 1892 in Allen Co., Indiana.² She married first Ross A. Glover on 13 October 1910 in St. Johns, Clinton Co., Michigan.² She married second George Arthur Drake, son of Aden Willard Drake and Cora Viola Burlingham.^1,3 She died on 16 March 1961 in Lansing, Ingham Co., Michigan.^1,3 She was buried on 19 March 1961 at Eureka Cemetery in Eureka, Clinton Co., Michigan.^1,4

     John Bryce Mobley was born on 1 October 1879 in Givin, Mahaska Co., Iowa.¹ He was married by H. R. Hawley to Lelia May Burlingham, daughter of Charity Mabel Burlingham, on 6 March 1899 in Trowbridge Twp., Allegan Co., Michigan.² He died on 23 March 1962 in East Palo Alto, San Mateo Co., California, at age 82 of cancer.^3,4,5 He was buried on 26 March 1962 at Alta Mesa Memorial Park in Palo Alto, Santa Clara Co., California.⁴
     He and his future wife Lelia May Burlingham met as schoolmates in Michigan, in a class taught by John's brother Fred.⁶ After their marriage, they lived for a time in Spring Creek Twp., Mahaska Co., Iowa, and are listed there in the 1900 census, with John's occupation given as ice hauler.⁷ In 1902 they moved to Emmett, Canyon Co. (now Gem Co.), Idaho, where they stayed with Lelia's uncle Justin Burlingham.⁸ They started a homestead in Gross, Boise Co. (now Gem Co.), Idaho, where they grew wheat and corn, had their own grist mill, and planted fruit trees.⁸
     On 2 September 1909 their land was hit by a flash flood when Squaw Creek, which ran past their homestead, broke through upstream dams of trees and debris created by the recent heavy rains. The flood waters swept away their four-year-old son Chester, and caused extensive damage to their property and the loss of much of the fruit and vegetables they had stockpiled for the coming winter. The event was devastating to Lelia, and doctors told her husband John he should "get her out of the hills" to preserve her sanity.^8,9
     They did not move, however, at least not immediately, and are listed there in Upper Squaw Creek Prec. in the 1910 census, enumerated on 11 May.¹⁰ But that same summer, as noted by their granddaughter Eva Wingert, quoting her mother Ruth (Mobley) Smith, "The fruit trees and garden were up and doing good when we came home one day to find the cattlemen had cut our fences and herded their cattle all over the garden until it was a pile of dust."⁸
     They then moved to "the Bowman place" in Gross, where John worked half shares raising pigs and growing grain, but was never paid his share.⁸ He had also been working for a wheat farmer near Weiser, Washington Co., Idaho, and the family moved there about 1917 (when their son Herschel was "about 5"). He also found work there in the brickyards.^11,8 While in Weiser their daughters Ruby and Mourna became critically ill with typhoid fever. They were kept secluded in the house to prevent spreading the disease, and eventually recovered.¹²
     In the early summer of 1918 (when Herschel was "almost 6") they moved to Portland, Multnomah Co., Oregon, where they lived a few months in a second-floor apartment above a slaughterhouse/butcher shop. John worked two jobs in the shipyards, and their daughters Bessie and Ruth worked in a box factory.^13,8 They were living there when John registered for the World War I draft in September 1918. He was then working as a planer at St. John's Saw Mill Co. in Portland.¹⁴
     Very soon after that they moved to the "Baldwin Ranch," an 80-acre farm John purchased near Brush Prairie, Clark Co., Washington, just across the Columbia River from Portland. They moved in a covered wagon, and are listed there in the 1920 census. In addition to running the farm, John worked at the Hidden Brick Co. in nearby Vancouver, Washington, and continued to work in the shipyards.^15,8,16
     On the evening of 18 September 1920 he was involved in a serious accident. As recorded in Eva Wingert's notes, again quoting her mother Ruth (Mobley) Smith, "Pop was riding my brother Ray's [Bryce Raymond Mobley] motorcycle home from work one night after dark when passing a car, he collided head on with a car driving with very dim lights. The lights on the motorcycle had gone out and he was following another car in front. At Orchards, when he went to pass, he couldn't see the dim lights. The boy had just returned from World War I, and thinking he had killed Pop, went home and shot himself. The collision shattered Pop's body and legs, he was laid up for two years." A newspaper article indicates the accident occurred not long after 8:00 PM, and that the car's lights had also gone out. The driver, 28-year-old Jacob Molencamp, had been in poor health since returning home from the war, and had undergone two operations. He shot himself with a 12-gauge shotgun, about a mile from his home in Hockinson, Washington.^8,17,18
     After several weeks in the hospital, a neighbor, Dell Smith (his daughter Ruth's future husband) brought John home to Brush Prairie, "through the deep spring mud" using a team and sled.¹⁸ After being laid up and unable to provide for his family for a few months, the stress caused a mental breakdown, and John was hospitalized at Steilacoom. During this period Lelia worked at times as a nurse's aide.^8,19
     After his release from the hospital in the fall of 1921, John's brother Fred and his wife Florence took him and Lelia, and their younger children, to San Bernardino, San Bernardino Co., California, where they owned a dairy farm. It was a five-day trip by car, towing a trailer, with four adults and six (or seven) children, plus a collie and John's pet rooster.^20,21
     Soon after arriving in San Bernardino the family split up for a time, probably because John's brother Fred couldn't afford to support all of John and Lelia's family in addition to his own. John and Lelia (and possibly their baby daughter Mildred, although she isn't mentioned) moved in with another of John's brothers, Mourna and Ruby lived with a neighbor, and Bob, Elden, and Herschel remained on the dairy farm. Herschel and Gertrude were later sent to live with John's sister May on a dairy farm near Dayton, Lyon Co., Nevada.^22,23,24
     Within a couple years the family was reunited in Oregon, where they made money by helping harvest farm crops. From about 1923 to 1925 they lived on a 40-acre farm near Scappoose, Columbia Co., Oregon, about 20 miles north of Portland, and later moved to another house closer to Scappoose.^25,26 They next moved to a ranch in Cedar Mills, near Beaverton, Washington Co., Oregon, where John worked as foreman for a Mr. Daniels, a "gentleman farmer" with about 100 acres. The cows there soon became infected with bovine tuberculosis and had to be destroyed, forcing Daniels to sell the ranch.^27,28 They then stayed in Gresham, Multnomah Co., Oregon, for a time, where they lived in tents while working on farms in the area.²⁹
     In the fall of 1927 they moved to a rented house about four miles from Alsea, Benton Co., Oregon. John soon left for Corvallis, presumably to find work, while Lelia and their youngest son Owen went to Bandon, Coos Co., Oregon. Their children Herschel, Elden, Robert, and Mildred were left in the care of their older sister Gertrude and her husband John Smith. Around this time John and Lelia rented a large boarding house in Corvallis and tried renting rooms to local college students, but were unsuccessful.²⁹
     The family then (about 1928) moved to Linn Co., Oregon, about four miles from Corvallis, where they rented a small farm from a widow named Millie Smith who John worked for, and built a house. They remained there for five years, and their son Herschel later wrote that this was "a record of sorts for our family."^29,30 They are listed there in the 1930 census, in Orleans Prec., with their children Raymond, Mourna, Herschel, Elden, Robert, Annabelle, and Owen.³¹
     About 1934, after the death of their daughter Mourna's husband William, John and Lelia, together with Mourna, bought a 165-acre farm about four miles east of Gates, Marion Co., Oregon, that had been repossessed by the government, for $2000, using part of William's death benefit for the $125 down payment. They referred to their farm as "The Ranch." Moving there, besides themselves and Mourna and her two children, were their children Robert, Elden, Annabelle, Owen, and at times Herschel, along with Lelia's mother Charity (Burlingham) Evans.³²
     He and Lelia are listed in Rock Creek, Linn Co., Oregon, in the 1940 census.³³ They moved to East Palo Alto, San Mateo Co., California, about October 1960.⁴
     In 1997 their son Herschel published a book, Herschel's Adventures - Growing Up in Hard Times, describing what life was like in a family of twelve children during the Great Depression. During Herschel's childhood his older sisters, especially Bessie, often acted as surrogate mothers since Lelia was "constantly pregnant," and his father John often worked two jobs to support his family. "Surely there were no two more honest and hard working people than my parents," he wrote. Because he was away from home so often, his father was "mostly a stranger to his younger children," and his "physical contribution consisted primarily of playing the accordion and whistling." But, "the music of the accordion and the firelight from the open door of the woodstove combined to create an atmosphere of close security."^34,35