Grandfather Matthews
Grandfather Matthews
Our grandfather, Mr. Joseph Matthews, was in the Civil War four years. He joined up when he was only sixteen years old and stayed in until peace was declared. He was only a private but was offered a captainship later on condition he would consent to lead a company of blacks. This he refused, but continued enthusiastically as a private.
When Grandfather Matthews returned to his childhood home, Garden Grove, Ill., he met my little grandmother from Chicago. She was a school teacher at the time and I believe her subject was mathematics. I know that she had a talent along that line. It followed that the two were married soon after their meeting and they must have lived in Garden Grove for a few years after that for our father, William Henry, was born in this town and I believe spent three years there before moving to Chicago where they lived in a two family apartment on the South Side until my grandfather retired from his position there at the age of 60 yrs. The last time I visited these grandparents was when I was on vacation from Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Ia., where I was teaching Home Economics. They had owned the property for many years and they always rented the apartment under them.
Both of our grandfathers were six feet tall and fine looking gentlemen. Grandmother Matthews was short and slight. She loved Chicago, enjoyed spending her time shopping and visiting friends in the "loop" the "Bon Town" part of Chicago and in gatherings near her home. I can remember her care in dressing to go out, her jewelry, her hair-do--all very important to her. She had brown hair with curly bangs. She had a quick little step and a nice sense of humor. She felt herself to be a city girl. For some reason she wasn't able to have more children after our father was born but she was quite sure she had an unusual child.
We children had occasion to spend quite a bit of time with those two grandparents when we were little and during our teens when we lived in North, Dakota. William and Edward--near the same age--visited them. I visited them when I was 21 yrs. old and teaching in Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Most of us spent a good part of the summer with them the year that they were on a farm in South Dakota. That was shortly after Grandfather retired from his position of long standing in Chicago. His nephew, wife and two young boys rented the one on the ground floor and our Grandfather lived above. It was a very spacious and pleasant place. The lot was adequate for a large garden and a nice lawn. Grandfather loved the country and I believe that was why he carried out a desire to be a farmer for a while after he retired. We children loved riding on his three Indian ponies, etc. etc., coping with angry rattle snakes, watching the goffers and listening to the prairie dogs at night. Our mother, of course, was there too. She told me later that what she enjoyed was reading Charles Dickens. There was a set in the house there. What a good sport she was!
When I was about three years old and my brother, Paul was nearing five we were, for a period of time, in our grandparents home. I believe that mother was just about to give birth to her fourth child, Edward Talbott. Paul was with me all the time and constantly cared for me. When he was offered two apples, bananas or a plate of goodies to share with me he would often say, "Raffia, there isn't any biggest! He always wanted me to have biggest, My grandmother M. told me years after.
My grandmother always dressed me in clean and dainty clothes and she expected me to keep them clean no matter what. On one occasion I sat on the dirt when playing outside the house. Grandma told me that I had to wash my panties but Paul defended me--told Grandma I was too little for that. He offered to do it for me and that he did.
Father told the following story of Paul's devotion to me. His second charge was a church in Marengo, Ill. One Sunday morning Paul came running into the Sunday School room where Father was giving a talk to the classes. He ran up to Father, grabbed him around the leg and shouted gleefully, "Ruffie’s coming to Sunday School".
I can remember the time when Paul was in first grade at a Chicago school. Paul took me to school with him with permission from home. I sat on the teacher's lap there-after, for all the days that followed.
Paul wanted a front seat, they said, so he could see me. The teacher visited me or my parents often over a period of time that I was sick. Of course, that sort of thing couldn’t happen these days.
One of the exciting things that happened to Paul and me when we were about five and seven years old was the visit of Grandma's Aunt Francis. She lived in another part of Chicago near the Chicago University. She was an ardent Christian Scientist, a personal friend of the founder of the religion, Mrs. Eddy. I can remember watching for her from Grandma’s porch and the excitement that followed when we saw her fine carriage with a team of beautiful black horses and the driver in uniform approach. When they arrived in front of our place Aunt .Francis stepped regally down-from the glassed-in interior and entered her neice's home. Aunt Francis was dressed in the most beautiful conservative clothes of the time (this was confirmed by our grandma in later years.) She was really beautiful and didn't look much older than our grandma. We saw her again on another visit and this time she brought some clothes for me. I can only remember one item, a navy blue taffeta coat lined in white satin. I thought it was lovely but realized that a year from that time it would fit me better and I could wear it when I went to my father's church on the West Side of Chicago and sat with my mother. I did just that and I did look well. When the service was nearly over I nudged my mother and whispered "I can’t go out with my coat on". My coat had ripped down the front. (So much for the "heavily loaded" taffeta of those times.)
After returning from the first world war my brother, Paul, studied law in Chicago University for a year, afterward transferring to Columbia University in New York. He became friendly with Grandma's relatives in Chicago and they often invited him to their homes. He spoke of them as distant cousins. Like Grandma, they were descendants of Lord Talbot of England.
When I was in my early twenties and was teaching in Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Ia., I spent some vacations in Chicago. My father wished me to keep in touch with his favorite cousin, Olive Pierce. She took me out to lunch twice at Marshall Fields, Chicago. She taught and later became an administrator in The Blood School of Gymnastics for Women. People told me afterward it was a fine school.