Keith Tillotson

Arthur & Edith

My mother was born in Kirkman, Iowa in 1892, I think. I'm not quite sure. My dad I think was born in '91. My mother's name was Edith Pearl Dent. She was the youngest of the family. My grandparents had ten children, but two of them died. It's all in that book in there. I don't remember the names of the ones that died. I remember all my uncles' names. I'm thinkin' Riley was the oldest. And I think Raymond was the next. Robert was the third, and then Leonard – and then Lester and then my mother. And then the sister Molly – I'd have to look that up. That's not her exact name – that's just what she went by. I'd have to look at the book. That's all in here – it's easy to read. It's only a couple of pages.

My mother grew up just on the farm. She wasn't educated. Kirkman is halfway between Harlan and Irwin. Kirkman now is just... they had a post office there, and they had a little bank. And a grocery store – and that was about it. The mailman came out from there and delivered to everybody. He knew everybody by their first name. During the war he held a letter there for me. 'Course he didn't know where to send it, you know. Probably could have given it to Uncle Leonard or somebody, but it was over there. So I went over to get it. I'll never forget – you had to ring a bell. He lived in behind – just a little room. And dust on the floor, had a boardwalk – just like an old western town almost, you know. Grass growin' up. He had that letter, and he still remembered who it was. You know, cause when he'd pick up the mail, you'd give him one cent a letter – you'd put three cents on or two cents – whatever it was. You'd put that in the mailbox, and he took care of the stamp. That's how you mailed.

Yeah, that was just a little town. That would have been my mother's address, too. The whole place – [to Neal] didn't you go there with us? That's where I think – Lynn took us over there. The old house – and we went up through the weeds. That's where my mother was born. In fact, all the kids were born there I think.

I think my dad and my mother got married about – she was about 25, I think. 'Cause Kenneth was born in 1915. So I imagine my mother was in her twenties – I don't know for sure. I don't know whether they have that on record or not. It's probably in there on that piece of paper.

When my mother met him, my dad [Arthur Tillotson] was in Iowa. I don't know why he was there. He was always runnin' thrashing machines – the old steam engines. You know, and he was always runnin' the steam engine. That's probably how they met – when they were doing some thrashing or something like that. Thrashing the grain. Remember that steam engine like we went out to see when we was back there? Remember they had that little antique show on a farmer's place? That was a steam engine like that Dad used to operate. And I think that's probably what they was doing. My mother put it on my birth certificate that he was a farmer, and she had one down there that was – he was a mechanic. Garage mechanic. 'Course I was born in Harlan – the town of Harlan.

Next: Harlan, Iowa (1918)