Upon the complete family’s arrival back in Jefferson County, New York they stayed with Cora’s father in Natural Bridge only three weeks or so before Will found a place to rent only a short distance away. The closest school to their home was about three miles away by the roads. Will walked through some woods marking trees with strips of cloth marking a path for the children which shortened their trip to about a mile each way.
It was only a short while until the family moved again, this time to a small dairy farm. Will took care of the dairy cattle and also worked off of the farm. Still yet in that busy year of 1919 they moved once again. This time it was to what was called the Corners Farm. It was while living there that during a heavy rain storm Cora went outside to turn an eaves drain spout from one barrel to another to catch washing water. As she grasped the drainpipe lightning surged through the sky. Cora felt the effects of this strike and fell headfirst into the full water barrel. Will pulled her out, laid her on the ground, and held his hat over her face for whatever reason. At any rate Cora regained consciousness and Will carried her back into the home.
About a year or so later, in 1920, they moved to the Pat Gleason farm in Antwerp. On that place Will worked the dairy farm on shares with the owner. During 1921 Will moved on, this time to the Hunt Farm between the villages of Theresa and Antwerp remaining there one year. Over the past couple of years Will was slowly purchasing his own farm machinery, piece by piece. He had also bought his first automobile, a Model T Ford. The first time he drove it he managed to get it into reverse instead of forward, backed it into a buzz saw, and left saw tooth holes in the back of his car.
In 1922 the family moved again, this time to the Arnold Farm in Philadelphia, Jefferson County, New York.
In 1923 they moved to the Bogart Farm near Alexandria Bay, New York. Will’s oldest son, Clarence, whom we’ve not heard of during this tale, lived next door with his wife Goldie. His brother Clinton, back from Saskatchewan, moved in with them. They remained there for two years, a long time in those lean years. It was at this time, in 1925, that my father, Lloyd Benjamin Lawton, married my mother, Alice Pearl Halladay, and they struck out on their own.
Photos are representative, not actual.
Our days here in northern New York are about two hours longer than back in that pre-Christmas period of the shortest days of the year. It’s only a week until February is gone for another year. Will March come in like a lamb or a lion, and leave in the opposite manner as the old adage goes? http://www.intellicast.com/ is showing some relative mild weather for the transition from month to month.
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