Archaeology Sucks: Reports From The Field

9 Jun 1881, The Maine Farmer, page 1, column 5:

17 Jan 1880, The Maine Farmer, page 1, column 8:

Woman's Department.

Nellie's Say.

I take great pleasure in reading the contributions of the sisters in "our column," and want to add my mite in favor of the "Widow's Say." I am a farmer's daughter: and "we girls" also can harness the horse, put him in the thills and drive to town without assistance; or, if need be, mount and go minus a carriage; we were rather proud of our ability to do so, until "Betty" dampened our ardor by telling us that our place was in the house. "If we conform to your ideas, Betty, how can we learn to do these things or compete with our big brother in riding the spirited pony? He will then surely 'carry the day' in horsemanship." You see the widow is more generous; she allows liberties in this direction and says we may still act our part in society as ladies. I am sure I should be sorry to forfeit either one of these privileges for the sake of the other. And does Betty really think I must? As for tying up and milking the cows, etc., I am not afraid of doing either, in case the men-folks happen to be away. Instead of walking a half mile to solicit aid from our obliging neighbor's chore-boy, I choose the least of two evils. I slip on my hood and wrapper, drive the cows in and milk them myself, and come in with my dignity unimpaired, and feeling quite independent as I would had I, under plea of inability, depended on the kindness of others to do my work for me. It requires but little time to acquire those accomplishments, and certainly they will do us no harm; and as I have shown, may, sometime, be the means of saving ourselves or others much inconvenience. Perhaps all farmers' girls do not think alike on this subject; if not, I await their censure or reproof, and am willing to be enlightened if my ideas of propriety are wrong. Will Clarissa please tell me where I can obtain Poinier's French dyes?

My grandmother Dorothy McKeehan would have been 100 years old today (30 Apr 2026).

Grandma was kind of a party girl in her youth, a trait she got from both per parents. After her parents divorced in 1931, she was raised by her grandmother in the tiny town of Prescott, Washington. She learned many family stories at Grandma Armstrong's knee.

She married my grandfather at 19, a few weeks after he returned from where he had been stationed in Alaska during the war. I don't think they knew each other all that well, and were caught up in the whirlwind romance of it. I don't think they were ever very happy together.

Grandpa was rarely home, between work and National Guard and bowling league and golf. Grandma had her hobbies, too, doing costumes and props for her local community theater in Walla Walla. She also had a long-running affair from at least the late 1950s until her death in 1983 from melanoma. Sometime in the early 1960s, she had an abortion, which was legal in Washington State at the time.

Grandma knew Adam West (Batman in the 1960s), and she once helped him disguise himself so he could go to the Walla Walla County Fair incognito. She had a wicked sense of humor and was always ready to make a joke.

In her later years, she got very into family history, and did a lot of work in the late 70s and early 80s on her family tree, writing down all the stories she remembered her own grandmother telling her in her youth. She was the president of her local genealogy society at the time of her death. When she died, I was not quite 5 years old, but I was the oldest grandchild, and I inherited the box of moldy documents she had carefully collected. I took up her hobby of genealogy when I was 14.

I wish I could have known her for longer. I think we would have gotten along very well and had a lot in common. It is a shame because I never felt very close to any of my other grandparents, aside from grandma's mother who lived until I was 16.