The Parents of H. W. "Bill" Hargiss

    Thomas Fonville Hargiss (1855-1937) and Nancy Elizabeth Clark (1858-1945), married in 1882, had 5 sons and 1 daughter: Leonard (1883-1920), Charles (1885-1923), Homer "Bill" (1887-1978), Floyd "Bob" (1890-1972, Meade (1895-1988), and Vetra (1903-1990). 

The following story was written by their daughter Vetra Hargiss Beringer, the sister of Bill Hargiss, ca. 1984.

Nancy's family:

     Nancy was the daughter of Malinda Huddleston Clark and Joseph F. Clark. She was born April 24, 1862, at the Clark home which was half­way between Carlinville and Gillespie, Illinois. She was the fifth of nine children; two brothers and two sisters were older, and three sisters and one brother were younger. The Clark home had 15 rooms, a basement, and five fireplaces. The structure was brick, and the walls were 17 inches thick; therefore the home was cool in the summer and warm in the winter. There was a hand-carved walnut circular staircase.
     Each person in the home had assigned chores to do. The livelihood was almost self-sustaining, and the combined efforts of each person left very few supplies to be purchased. The lye to make soap was obtained by putting sifted ashes from the fireplaces into a barrel and adding water. In the 1850’s and 1860's, wool was carded, spun and woven at home for winter clothes. Joseph was a horticulturist, farmer and broker. The Illinois Traction System Electric Railway cut through the farm, and the interurban cars stopped about 100 yards from the house. It was known as Clark's Crossing. A rail spur was built in the orchard, and several hundred acres of Jonathan apples were packed in barrels in the cars. The apples were of such high quality they were sold to the Fred Harvey System before they blossomed. Joseph Clark was an innovator of spraying trees to check insects.
     Joseph Clark was a stern parent, but he had warmth and kindness in loving his family. The four-poster bed that was his and Malinda's is now (1984) in the possession of a granddaughter, Ora Hoehn Lewis, in Gillespie. The bed was laced with ropes to support the straw-tick mattress and feather bed. It was high off the floor for warmth, and a trundle bed was underneath. A "three-step" ladder was used to get in and out of the bed.
     A large group of people from southern Illinois put on a campaign to move the state capitol from Springfield to Carlinville. A huge edifice with a massive dome was built to be the capitol. The moving was never realized, so the edifice served as the county courthouse of Macoupin County. Joseph Clark, being a heavy taxpayer, paid on the project for thirty years ... not by choice, but by law.
     The community social life centered around the school: spelling bees; box socials; evenings of singing. In the Clark home, the children played together, popped corn, told stories and played cards. If an argument over playing Whist ensued, Joseph would walk over to the game, pick up the cards and toss them in the fireplace; and a moratorium was declared, maybe two weeks or a month. As a young girl, Nancy did her share of the household chores. Mary Jane and Emma Elnora were the seamstresses while Nancy divided her time with sewing and cooking as well as helping some with the smaller children. Harriet Mournin and Anna May did most of the laundry and cooking. The mother, Malinda, tended the younger children and did the planning. Minnie Olive, the youngest, became an excellent seamstress and modiste.    

Thomas' family:

     Daniel (1832-1912) and Delphia 1834-1899) Hargiss were married April 26, 1853, in Sumner County, Tennessee. Their first child, Thomas Fonville, was born born on 3 Jan 1855. Daniel served in the Confederate army until he and his family were burned out of their Tennessee home. They moved to Kentucky, then to Illinois, and finally to Kansas in 1880. Two other families came to Kansas with them--in a covered wagon train. The youngest of the seven Hargiss children, Anna, was three years of age; the oldest, Thomas, was 25. When the Hargiss family migrated from Tennessee through Kentucky to Illinois they settled temporarily in Brushy Mound near the Clark estate. Daniel and Delphia settled in Weir City, Kansas, where the two of them managed the Kentuckee Hotel. Daniel also did blacksmithing.  Thomas rented a nearby farm and became independent.

Thomas and Nancy together:

    At a spelling bee at the Spanish Needle school (south side of the Clark farm), Thomas met Nancy. Nancy, being a very private person, said little of the courtship. She had an autograph book. It was full of verses, penmanship scrolls and drawings by her classmates and friends. The page on which Thomas wrote was sealed to another page. Even with much per­suasion, she would not let anyone read it until she finally let Vetra read it. It was a love note from the heart, but in those days was considered mushy. The Hargiss family moved by covered wagon to Kansas in early 1880  Thomas established himself as a farmer, renting an 80-acre farm at the southeast edge of Cherokee.
     At Christmas time in 1881, Thomas went back to Illinois and married Nancy in the Clark home on January 4, 1882. Nancy's wedding dress was iridescent gold and blue twill silk, fashioned with billowy leg-o-mutton sleeves. They stayed at the Clark home until March when they came to Kansas. By this time the railroad was completed west to Kansas.
     What mettle could a person develop that would warrant a 19-year old young woman's dare to leave a comfortable secure home and family to go to an unknown, then remote, place to start a new life? The people in the new area would be strangers and with so little of worldly goods, Nancy made her choice; so she could truly be classified as a pioneer.
     Thomas had a lease on eighty acres of land, owned a team of horses and a plow. With these few necessities plus one-half of a six-room house, a home was started. Thomas had found a three-quarter sized bed in a neighbor's hay mow. It was a spool bed and later was used by each of the children. Meade took the bed to Seattle in 1929, and each of his children used it. When their home was sold in 1970, the bed was sent back to Vetra in Kansas. It is now in the possession of Genevieve Hargiss in Lawrence. Nancy brought with her from Illinois some silver, dishes and yardages of cloth. With this meager beginning, the home was established and a family started.
     Nancy accepted life -- its pleasures, duties of the home, raising her family with love and care plus the concerns of friends. Two other families had come to Kansas with the Hargisses. They were the Esters and Daurons. They quickly accepted Nancy, and for many years the three families shared farm work, chores, social life, sewing and cooking.
     Nancy and Thomas moved to a larger home north of Cherokee. Leonard was born in the first home, Charles in the second home, and Bill and Bob were born in the third home which was west of Cherokee and known as the Claussen place. They moved to the Hudgen place, close to the Esters and Daurons, about 1893. Meade was born there.
     When Meade was six years old in 1901, Thomas and Nancy bought the DeGarmo place nine miles west of Pittsburg on the 20th Street Road. The place was well improved. The house had nine rooms, and a breezeway con­nected it to a summer house that had two large rooms -- one above the other. There was a basement under this section. The upper floor was used for storage: books, clothes, dried vegetables, etc. The first floor had storage places for foods, meats, canned foods and simple tools for household use. There was a monkey stove for heating water for laundry and for cooking in the summer- The laundry was done in this room. Water was readily available, as there was a large cistern between the houses in the breezeway. A cream separator was in this room -- very good for separating the cream from the milk, but very tedious to wash and put back together. Butter was churned in this room, and eggs were kept there that were to be taken to town. Nancy took pride in each chore, such as carefully molding the butter in a maplewood mold with an acorn design. The main house was comfortable. It consisted of a living room, a parlor, a dining room, a kitchen, and a bedroom downstairs; and four bedrooms on the second floor. A velvet Axminster rug was on the parlor floor, but the other floors except the kitchen had wool ingrain carpeting. There was no electricity and no indoor plumbing at this time, but in 1915 a Delco electric lighting system was installed with generators in the basement. In 1917 the electric system was extended to the barns and sheds. There was a large chicken house, a brooder, smoke house, outdoor toilet, machine shed, cattle barn, and the large main barn. This consisted of stalls for the horses, two large pens where the mares had their colts, granaries, carriage room, and a huge haymow in which 60 tons of hay could be stored. Indoor plumbing was installed and with it, a bathroom. Water was piped to the barns and chicken pens. A windmill pumped the water to a holding or standing tank in the haymow of the large barn.
    In 1901 Leonard left to attend the Emporia Normal School and was soon followed by Bill, Bob, and Meade. Charles attended the LaSalle Insti­tute in Chicago. By 1912 all of the boys were away from the farm, and only Vetra was at home. She attended high school in Pittsburg from 1917 to 1921.
     The farm home was comfortable, although it meant much hard work to keep it going--house, lawns, barns, livestock, and field work. Nancy was very capable in handling her share of the load. Regardless of the work to prepare three hearty meals a day, the house was always neat and clean. Nancy made time to tend a large garden in the spring, and she canned hun­dreds of quarts of food from the garden and fruit trees. She sewed cloth­ing for the boys when they were young, and she made house dresses for her­self and Vetra. Nancy had two luxuries. She hired a woman to come for a week at a time, in the spring and in the fall, to help with house cleaning. Paperhangers were hired every two years to come in and paper the walls. All of the rugs were taken outdoors and beaten--there were no sweepers as we have now. Thomas cleaned the rugs and did the painting. The household chores were under Nancy's supervision, and everything had to be exact. Her other luxury was a dressmaker who made her better clothes twice a year.
     Probably the hardest period of work on the farm came at harvest time, Farmers traded work, and no less than 20 men helped. Nancy prepared all of the food, and the men were fed two noon meals and one evening meal. Then the threshing machine operators had to have the full round of meals plus sleeping quarters as they traveled from farm to farm with the thresh­ing machines. Combines had not been invented at this era.
     During the heaviest work season on the farm, Vetra made her appear­ance on July 19, 1903. After five sons, Thomas was so elated he drove to Girard', Kansas, to tell Mr. Raymond, a banker and good friend. It seems there must have been some sort of a wager or promise if the new arrival was a girl.
     On August 23, 1903, Nancy's father was gravely injured when thrown from a wagon by a run-away team. He died two days later. Though Vetra was only five weeks old, Nancy went back to Illinois for the services, taking Vetra with her and carrying the baby on a pillow. Nancy's father left her a sizeable inheritance, and this was used to complete the payments on the farm. Every second year after Joseph Clark's death, Nancy, Vetra and Thomas (when he could get away from the farm) went back to Illinois to visit. All of Nancy's brothers and sisters lived within five miles of their mother except Minnie Olive.
     Nancy, in her inimitable way, always let Thomas know that if he could afford a new piece of equipment to lighten his work load that she was to have equal consideration in having something new. The things she chose were: newer-type lamps, a new washing machine, new curtains, a piano, new chairs, new dishes, ironing equipment, an oil stove and a comfortable buggy to ride in to market. From her egg and chicken money, Nancy enjoyed buying good linens and items for the home to make it attractive. She nearly always had quilt materials to piece fancy patterned quilt blocks, usually working on these during the long winter evenings. Occasionally she would buy a piece of jewelry, and she doted on pretty hats. She enjoyed buying a very lovely dish or such ... as sets of berry dishes. The table at meal time was always attractive, and the food was tasty.
     Large family gatherings furnished much of the social life. Thomas' sister, Anna Veatch, came to the farm quite often in the summer and brought Harry and Lila. Later, while Meade was still home on the farm in the summer, Harry and Lila would come alone. This was always a fun time, as the young folks played games of evenings when the work was done. Nancy never minded company or setting extra places at the table, and sometimes they stayed two or three weeks. Thanksgiving was a very special time for Thomas and Nancy, as the boys were home from school; and the Veatch and Jim Hamilton families came for a big day at the farm. The men went hunting in the morning and brought in dozens of quail and rabbits. Nancy prepared for the dinner for days. She did all of the preparation, as pot luck suppers were not heard of. She roasted a turkey, baked a hickory cured ham, fried several chickens, prepared several desserts, jellies, spiced fruits, made six or eight pies, two or three cakes, homemade bread and fresh-churned butter. There were always twenty-eight to thirty-three persons for the meal. Ten were seated at a time in the dining room. The children had to wait until after the second or third seating to eat. The women helped Nancy in serving the food, clearing the table and washing the dishes. The women spent the afternoon visiting, the children played games and the men cleaned the rabbits and quail. These were divided among the families to take home. Nancy was proud of her food preparation. She never fretted about the work. She never gave a thought to using anything less than linen tablecloths and linen napkins. The food preparation was done with apparent ease, and she never apologized -- even if something was not as exact as she would have liked for it to be.
     The Hamiltons entertained with a New Year's breakfast at their home in Weir nearly every year. The Veatches had the New Year's dinner at two o'clock. It was seventeen miles from the farm to Weir; so Nancy, Thomas and any who could go, drove to Weir the day before in the surrey and stayed overnight. The weather was cold, so Nancy would heat large rocks and wrap them. Thomas padded the floor of the carriage; and with the warm rocks, lap robes and side curtains, the trip was comfortable. Happiness and laughter prevailed at all of these gatherings.
     Every person who has raised a family has had experiences that are noteworthy. With five adventuresome boys and a girl who preferred the outdoor life to that of helping in the house, Nancy's life was certainly not boring or dull. As all the boys were athletes, the driveway was measured off in 50,100 and 400-yard dash marks. The haymow was almost a gym with trapeze swings, parallel bars and pads for turning handsprings (at which Bob was very proficient). Hammer throwing, shot put and discus throwing were practiced in the small pasture near the barn. Nancy loved to watch the boys practice, and she could match anyone in playing croquet. Vetra learned to ride a horse, George II, when she was four years old. Until she moved to Pittsburg, the horse and her collie dog, Barney, were her constant companions and playmates.
     When Bob (Floyd) was a tiny baby, a neighbor lady gave birth to twins with Nancy acting as a mid-wife. The mother's milk did not agree with the babies, and they were starving. In desperation, the babies were brought to Nancy's house to see if her milk could be tolerated. It was. After two or three days the babies were improved. So for six weeks, Nancy nursed three babies. The twins' mother helped Nancy with the housework, cooking, and did most of Nancy's chores so Nancy could maintain her strength. After six weeks, the babies were strong and could tolerate cow's milk. In appreciation, the twins' parents bought a beautiful silver and cut glass fruit bowl. The base was embossed silver and held silver wires supported by two large silver scarabs and two silver bows to support the bowl. The glass bowl was frosted and etched -- a truly beautiful piece.
     Nancy was not a person to sit and do fancywork, though she was an excellent seamstress. She enjoyed piecing intricate quilt patterns. Each afternoon as soon as the noon dishes were washed and put away, Nancy went to her bedroom to lie down to have a nap. Almost instantly she fell asleep signaled by a Hummmmmmm. She slept fifteen to twenty minutes. When she awakened, she went to the small kitchen, washed her face, and with a wet towel wiped her body. Then she put on fresh clothes, combed her hair and was refreshed for the rest of the day. This was a daily routine; and the only exception was every other Wednesday when she went to the all-day quilting bee. Nancy was systematic about all of her routines. She never put things back to do another day. This, to be sure, is why she could accomplish so much and be so efficient.
     When any member of the family was ill, Nancy was the nurse. She did not indulge or pamper the affected one, but administered with the best care she could give. Two things happened that tested her ever-present quiet demeanor. Thomas and the boys were setting fence posts. Just as Charles put his hand on top of a post to check for solidness, Thomas, standing in a wagon (for height), plied down with the twenty-pound maul. Charles' hand was smashed... Thomas and Nancy drove to Girard, seven miles, as quickly as possible. The Doctor's common sense and skill repaired the hand. The surgery was successful, and the hand healed perfectly. Meade had a carbuncle on his face. This bothered Nancy terribly, as it was badly infected. Repeated poultices of "Denver Mud" did no good, so he too was taken to Dr. Boaz. His careful handling of the problem and surgery cleared the infection; and his face healed without a scar.
    Nancy was a natural musician. She studied piano for one term at Blackburn College in Carlinville, Illinois. In the 1890's she bought an organ, reed Estey pump type. In 1909 she bought a Steger piano. She could read music accurately and fast and could transpose music. One never heard discordant tones or combinations and it seemed therapy for her to sit and play. But with all the work she did for her family, Sunday morning found her playing the organ at church as well as for the evening services. Thomas led the singing and directed the choir. Sunday was truly the day of rest -- not from religious services, but no work was ever done on the farm except to prepare Sunday dinner and care for the needs of the livestock. Every Sunday afternoon after naps, Thomas and Nancy played and sang hymns. Thomas was proud of his home. He kept everything in good repair. There was a fancy white picket fence that enclosed a well-tended blue grass lawn. At each corner of the fence and on either side of the gates, there were newel posts topped with ornate wooden balls that were kept painted white. Flowers were planted along the fence and two large planters adorned the yard. In the summertime, the family spent evenings resting and visiting in the yard. Quite often a pitcher of lemonade was enjoyed or a watermelon fresh from cooling in a deep well or ice house.
     Small livestock, baby calves, colts and chickens were kept in a small pasture near the house. The gate to the house was never to be left open, as the small animals had a penchant for exploring new areas. Aunt Naomi Pace, Thomas' sister, and her daughter Lillian of Los Angeles, California, occasionally visited at the farm. Until 1916 there was no indoor plumbing in the house and a privy was the toilet facility. During one visit by Aunt Naomi and Lillian it happened! The gate was left open, and from the toilet came a curdling scream. A curious little calf wandered into the yard and pushed open the door of the toilet while Lillian was in-there. Aunt Naomi pulled on the little critter's tail to no avail until Nancy came to the rescue and quietly enticed the little calf out of the toilet and out of the yard. Terribly frightened, Lillian had to be helped down from the rafters where she was clinging.
     Nancy enjoyed Christmases and looked forward to the boys coming home from College. In the ensuing years they brought their wives; later their wives and children until the house almost overflowed. Three of the daughters-in-law were musicians; so with the boys' good singing voices, the home was full of music. Quite often the Hargisses furnished music for church and school programs. When the boys' families grew, they had their own Christmases in their own homes.
     Nancy accepted life -- its pleasures, duties of the home and concern for others. She encouraged her children to do their best. She enjoyed competition and she loved to play croquet. She was a challenger in the game and occasionally she would play in a ball game. She tried to be accurate in everything she did in her household chores, and this carried over in games and fun. Each child's welfare was her concern. She was firm in discipline, though lenient enough to let each have individual development. She could not discuss private and personal matters with anyone though. She seemed to want to, but very little help was to be given -- even when she was asked. When company came to the farm, she sat quietly while Thomas did the talking. It was not hard to persuade him to "spin” some old Tennessee yarns and events of his childhood.
     Through all of the ventures and incidents of work and play, Nancy's spirits were steadfast until one day when the postman brought a letter from Leonard postmarked "Somewhere in France." This was 1914, and Leonard had enlisted with the Canadian Armed Forces in World War I. For several days Nancy stood for hours at the kitchen window looking east and trying to solve the "why". It took a long time for her to overcome the shock. He was wounded once and gassed while he was in France most of five years. He passed away from the effects of the gas one year after the war was over.
     Thomas and Nancy left the farm in August of 1917 and moved to 707 West Eighth St., Pittsburg to retire and for Vetra to attend high school and college. They became involved in the activities of the First Methodist Church. Their hopes were tied to their religious faith. Nancy, still a very private person, found it difficult to express her religious feelings. But in conversation the quips she inserted were fresh, quick-witted and most often humorous. The death of Charles in a drowning accident on September 3, 1923, left a deep scar in Nancy's pattern of living.
     Neither Thomas nor Nancy could quite understand the impact of the 1930 depression: the lack of money due to bank failures, the dependency of family members, one to another. Meade gave them a radio in 1927 which they thoroughly enjoyed.
    Thomas passed away 17 May 1937 in Pittsburg, KS at the age of 82 years. Nancy was seventy-five years of age. Almost immediately her interests waned, and she withdrew from the present to live in the past. Most everything in her life until this time could be recalled even to recounting the names of all the Presidents in correct order. By 1939, she needed help, so Vetra took her to her home to live with occasional visits with Bill and Vera. She was pleasant to have in the home, but she was always asking to go home. Nancy passed away on November 6, 1946. Both Nancy and Thomas are buried in Highland Park Cemetery as are Leonard and Charles. Bob died August 27, 1972, Bill died October 15, 1978, Meade died on 6 Jun 1988, and Vetra died in 1990 . 
     And so ends another saga of birth, life and death. The first and last are natural, but what went on in between fills the records.