Please read in sequence. Earlier posts are
Part I: Thunder Hawk
Part II: Come to Zion
Part III: Travels
In the 1920′s and 30′s, my grandfather was a preacher of some renown in the Pentecostal movement. His name comes up repeatedly in the book Northern Harvest: Pentecostalism in North Dakota by Darrin J. Rodgers, published in 2003 by North Dakota District Council, Assemblies of God.
Ironically, some of Grandpa’s key teachings helped to prevent any lasting memory of him in the many communities he served, and also precluded any prosperity or even financial stability for him and his family. According to Rodgers, “Myers … taught the Pentecostals that they should not organize a church, erect a building, or affiliate with a denomination.” Consequently, what little conceptual structure came along with the preacher, his words, and his tent, vanished as soon as they moved on. Combined with his practice of never collecting an offering, this added up to a life of perpetual poverty for the Myers family. Here is a typical snapshot of the five girls outside one of their winter dwellings.
My mother related that during the long periods on the road in their “Gospel truck” (see previous post), each child was allowed to possess, including her clothing, only as many items as would fit into an apple crate. Another anecdote dealt with suppers of macaroni with salt and a little butter, and nothing else. If a follower would gift them a dozen eggs or a bunch of turnips, it was cause for rejoicing.
It is no exaggeration to say that the Great Depression began years earlier for the Myers family than for the rest of the world. Perhaps the upside was that they were already accustomed to the poverty that gripped the entire Midwest during the following decade.
But the stresses that nearly broke the family apart came less from Grandpa’s poverty, than from his extremely restrictive attitudes toward most forms of social interaction.
I haven’t learned to use feeds myself, but software instructions say http://olelarsonsfolks.net/Blog/feed/ should work.
Who is Inankwounny?
Don’t know. A visitor who didn’t leave any spam or urls. Would you like to identify yourself, Inankwounny?
When I look at Mom in this picture (second from right) I feel like I’m looking at a picture of myself at that age.
Just re-reading some of the Myers history gave me a little insight about Auntie Reatha. She LOVED collecting a LARGE variety of this ‘n that–I especially remember her salt and pepper shaker collection and she loved her many clocks (88 of them I think she said!!), and I don’t what all else she collected but she did like to have lots of stuff around her. Don’t you suppose the reason is rooted somehow in what was truly deprivation in their family when she was growing up. It’s hard to imagine life on the road, living in a “gospel truck,” being allowed to possess only what would fit in an apple crate. I’d dream about growing up and have lots of “stuff” too.
Yes, when we moved Mom from Pacific way, her clock count was over 200. Several closets stuffed with handmade clothing, three freezers filled with food, etc. etc. No doubt her poor childhood was a big factor.
[...] then settled in a different rented house for a late start to each school year. As I told you in Dan’s story, they were extremely poor. Even so, meetings were sometimes held at their home, and Reatha played [...]
[...] nowhere on the tapes does Mother ever mention “The Depression.” As I pointed out in Dan’s story, poverty was the lifestyle of the Myers family long before the crash of 1929. Even the crop [...]