Age 88 in 1991 and still living.
Jennie Dell Musselman died 8/30/1941 and is buried in the family plot in Oscelo, NE. A small stone now marks her grave in April 2007.
425. Infant Musselman
Only had one son that died in infancy.
313. Leonard Leonidas Shelmadine
Powell Cemetery is located 1/2 mile West of Rt 63, 7 miles north of Macon. 1/2 mile north of Axtel (no longer shown on maps) and 1/2 mile west. Road is nearly impassable the last few 100'.
This is from the Osceola Record, Osceola, NE Thursday, April 8, 1897. Married at the home of Mr. and Mrs. J.E. Forsyth, in Wayeland Township, on the 24th inst., Mr. Leonard Shelmadine to Miss Ethel Bailey. Rev. A.L. Sarchet officiating. Both these young people aer comparative strangers to the people in this vicinity. Mr. Shelmadine came here a little over a year ago and by his close attention to the interests of his employers and his manly character he has made a friend of every acquaintance. The bride is a young lady of pleasing manner. She came here from Fulton, KS. Mr. and Mrs. Shelmadine are now "at home" on J.S. Jackson farm, seven miles west of Griswold (Iowa) America. Both these young people were residents of this county and have a large circle of friends at Osceola who will follow them with best wishes in their married life.
!When they came to Missouri, they purchased land 1/10th of a mile east from the rail road and highway. They lived in a log cabin several years until the two story home was built heated with oak burning wood stoves. The wood came from the timber about 1/2 miles west of the rail road and north of the road thru Axtel where there was also a hilly hay field which supplied the feed for the stock and horses. He raised sheep and a few cattle and milked 3 or 4 cows for the family and cream to sell. The old red "separator" was mounted on the cement floor just inside the rear entrance to the home.
!My grandfather took pride in his farm and his family. He only had one son and many daughters. He left the farm entirely to his son at his death trying to give Ted a better life as the daughters supposedly had all married and were doing better than Ted would be able to do unless he received the farm.This was Mom's version of why this was done.
Mom was not forced to leave home at 10 years of age, but she left home to work in peoples homes and the Howell dairy later in high school. She did not feel she would be welcome to live at home after that time. Leonard was a strong parent and grandfather who had a hard time providing for his children. When in high school, I remember he felt the government was forcing him to feed the nation without giving him a meaningful share in the nations success. Government programs were never right for his crops and he felt exploited. Later when Bea came to live with him before marrying a second time, he was making his living selling cream and eggs to the store at Axtel a little more than a mile south on the main highway.
I remember him as a distant grand father who would display his affection rarely by hugging. He loaded several of us in a wheel barrow and pushed it around for a few minutes before the load became too much. We wanted the ride to go on much longer. I was allowed to shoot the octagon shaped barrel, lever action rifle at a target that was a white headed nail in the middle of a disk plate of a cultivator. My cousin, Billy Don Roberts also got interested in this and when I was in high school a new single shot rifle was purchased probably just for us to enjoy.
Just about the time I started high school he built a pond expecting the families and grandchildren to come visit and swim and have big get togethers on his farm.
One of my worst memories was when my Aunt Lou Powers brought margarine home from Indiana where colored margarine could be sold in 1/4 lb. sticks like butter. She put it on the table during a big "family get together" and he bragged on her buying butter to help keep the price of cream up so he could make a living selling cream. After he smacked his lips many times about how good it was on the hot rolls she sprung the trap and told him it was margarine. She showed him the package and he went out to the barn and stayed until everyone left. I was so mad at my aunt Lou and all of his girls that let her do this to him. This had to be just as the war was getting over in 1945 when gasoline was availble again.
Grampa was a believer in water witching and told me about it when I was very young. So young that I could stand on his shoes while he showed me how well it worked. He saw me walking around north west of the house in the field where he said 2 water veins came together where they dug the well. I couldn't get the forked stick to drop down when I walked around. He put me on his shoes and I faced forward holding the stick. His strong hands closed so tightly on mine that when the stick turned I thought my skin would slip off. The bark on the sitck split when it went down. We walked back and foth across the viens showing me repeatedly how strong the "force" was. Later I got laughed out of my science class when I told them about it. Since then I've experimented and read many books on the subject and as an engineer I know there is more science yet to be discovered that will explain this phenomena.
430. Infant Shelmadine
Stillborn
316. Nettie Florence Shelmadine
We took my grandfather L.L. Shelmadine to visit his sister Net Timm that lived in Moline, Il on our way back to Chicago. They lived on a steep hill next to the John Deer estate where David Timm worked as the security guard. He took us over to show us the swimming pool that was fully enclosed and there were several tunnels from the house to the pool and utility plant. The car knocked badly and could hardly make it up the hill with the weight of the trailer. I remember very vividly the spark knock of the engine as it slowly made it up the steep hill in low gear with the trailer coming along behind.