Schoolhouse, the Seiberling Mansion or "Stan Hywet" is quite the place. I enjoyed touring the house and the beautiful gardens many times. Sorry that your friend has lost something that she treasured.

My Grandmother was born in Holland in 1890 and in 1904 a well to do family in Salem, Ohio paid her passage to America as an indentured servant. In exchange for her passage to America and sponsorship as an imigrant she in turn was bound to serve as a livein cook & housekeeper for a period of 7 years. She worked 7 days a week, but on Sundays once she had the midday meal served on a buffet in the dining room she was free to go out into the community on the condition she would be back by 5:pm to serve the evening meal.

My Grandfather was also born in 1890 on a small farm in Millville, Ohio, which was about 5 miles from Salem. Every morning as soon as they were done milking the cows Grandad had to hitch a team of horses and haul the milk from the morning and the night before to a creamery in Salem. He had a small sideline of delivering fresh milk and seasonal produce to some of the homes in town, one of which was where my Grandmother was working.

He and Grandmother hit it off from their first meeting and before long Grandad would pick her up at noon on Sunday and they would go to the city park for a picnic. They did that for nearly two years until Grandad finally asked her to marry him, but she couldn't because she still had 3 more years to serve on her contract.

Finally Grandad went to the ppl Grandmother was working for and asked them if he could buy out the remaining portion of her contract so they would be free to get married. The family agreed and 6 months later Grandad finally had enough money saved to buy off her contract and rent a small farm where they set up housekeeping.

They were married for over 30 years until Grandmother passed away and throughout that time I don't think I have ever witnessed any two ppl who had a stronger loving relationship....After Grandmother passed away it seemed like Grandad just lost all interest in the world, just getting by day to day doing what had to be done, but anyone could see that he had lost his incentives.

This is off topic, but....gazania, if you were me, would you take a chance and ask the son (whom I've known since junior high school) about the whereabouts of the photo? Would that be considered terribly forward? I love Stan Hywet and everything to do about it, I wonder if I expressed my desire to have a token like the photo he would at least consider it? I know he and his brother have no interest in her things, but there is also one elderly sister of hers living; so she may have rescued the photos.

lazypup, I must have posted at the same time and missed yours. Great story, thanks for sharing. She was only 17yrs. old, isn't it incredible how strong she must have been - or had to be at that young age to come all those miles to a strange country and a strange household. Very interesting, I didn't realize how long indentured servants could be required to work. Being both cook and housekeeper would be a hard day's (and night's) work. Lovely story.

I know where Salem is and have heard of Millville, but I will look it up on the map to be sure.

You might be interested in this PBS series. Even though the project was only for 3 months, it was very hard on the "servants".

Here is a link that might be useful: Manor House

coffeemom, I watched that series when it first aired and then watched it online again a couple years ago. I remember the poor scullery maid, much like Ruby on Upstairs/Downstairs in regard to all the work that is.

Schoolhouse,,,I doubt if you will find Millville on a map..It is located on state Rt 14 about 6 or 7 miles east of Salem, about half way to Washingtonville.

In the early 1900's Salem had the first electric trolley line west of Appalacian Mountains, which ran from Salem to Columbiana but it was put out of business in the 1920's by the invention of automobiles and hard surfacing of rt 14.

lazypup - I love that story. It's amazing how hard immigrants of that generation were willing to work to make a better life for themselves. I think there are quite a few born in America since that time who would not be willing to work that hard today to make a better life for themselves.

My grandmother came to our area from a potato farm "out west" in Canada for a better life. She came with her sister and they were to go to secretary school then get jobs. It did not work out. Her sister ended up marrying an american boy and they moved to California and built their fortune in oil/mining out there.

Grandma became a cook and housekeeper for a local doctor. While she was there, she met my grandfather (who was also working for the doctor) and became pregnant. The doctor insisted they marry so as not to ruin his name (????).

There are grumblings of rape, that it was the doctors child, and so on but my grandfather has passed away and had dementia for several years before that, and my grandmother isn't saying. I do know my grandmother spoke mostly polish and my grandfather only french, and she does say they "barely knew each other".

They got married and the doctor helped them find a house in what was then our cities prestigious west end. He gave them bonds as a wedding present. On their first anniversary they cashed in those bonds and bought a car, bolova(sp) watches, and my grandmother got a fur coat. She laughs now about how she would hang laundry in that coat! They died old cloth diapers a blue colour and used that to upholster the seats and ceiling of the car. It was a model A ford, and it was old even then!

My grandfather started as a butcher then started working in the Foundry at Ford's. My grandmother took in laundry, then once they built their house in Tecumseh (a nearby town) - they built that house with their own hands, right down to digging the foundation with shovels - she started working at a local cannery. She worked there until she retired. He had a heart attack in 1969 while at work on the line of the foundry, and was retired on full penion even though he was way under retirement age. I think it was the rule at the time there.

My grandmother is an awesome cook. She can whip up a gourmet meal from scraps and dust. But she HATES cooking and rarely does so now that she is by herself. Funny that is how she started out.

Dances.

Dances, this is a familiar story, one right out of the chapters of the book I just read. Seems this type of thing happened more than people realize. Either way, I'm happy that your grandparents were able to have strength and build their lives like they did. Does she ever share stories of her duties while a cook and housekeeper? perhaps they aren't exactly happy ones though. Thanks for posting!

She talks once in a while about how mean the Doctor's wife was to her. My grandmother only really knew how to cook peasant food (boiled potatoes with a thin sour cream, perogies, cabbage rolls, breads, lots and lots of soup meals). It was hard to learn how to make the foods they wanted. Plus the Doctor's wife was cheap and watched every penny. "She wanted to eat steak but pay for chicken wings".

None of her time was her own, she had to ask permission to visit with her sister or go for a walk. Plus she was very homesick for her sisters and brothers back in Winnipeg.

Dances.

Dances is no mean cook, either - she can whip up a great feast, also.

ole joyful

I remember my Grandmother relating to us a rather funny incident while she was working as cook & housekeeper for the rich folks.

One year the family had invited about 20 friends & relatives over for Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone was seated in the formal dining room and the butler was carrying in a huge turkey from the kitchen. As he entered the dining room he tripped and dropped the platter, turkey and all sprawling out across the floor. Instantly the lady of the house sprang up and went to see if the butler was okay, then she helped him pick up the turkey and they went to the kitchen. As they entered the kitchen the lady was furious,,,"OMG, what are we going to do for dinner now?"

Grandmother says, "Not to worry, just go back in and tell your guests it will take me a couple minutes to get the other turkey ready to serve."

As the lady left to return to the dining room Grandmother grabbed the turkey and took it to the sink sideboard where she cleaned it off, rubbed the skin with a cloth moistened in turkey fat to restore the luster where the turkey had hit the floor, then placed it on a different platter and took it back into the dining room...To this day, no one is the wiser....LOL