My Tenney Girls

I am very attached to my Tenney girls. The idea for THE TENNEY QUILT was hatched in 2001 as I was in graduate school pondering a paper topic in my “Visual Rhetoric” class. Yes, I know; what would possess a person to take a course called “Visual Rhetoric”? Short answer: It was required for my degree. When chatting about this assignment with my mother [for some unknown reason, I mean, why would this even be a topic of conversation?], she suggested that the Tenney Quilt would be a perfect topic for that particular writing assignment. I had not even heard of this quilt, and when my mother brought it out to show me, I knew I had seen a treasure.

I wrote that paper, and after a period of time, realized that the quilt’s story—and thus, the stories of Tenney’s pioneer women—could no longer stay wrapped up in the embroidered signatures of a quilt in my mother’s closet. I have been learning more about my Tenney women ever since. As I researched the names on the Tenney Quilt, I allowed life stories to emerge through newspaper accounts, census records, internet research, and oral history. It soon became apparent to me which women had stories I wanted to tell.

I became very attached to my Tenney girls to the point that, since I have been finished with the book, I miss them! After living their lives vicariously for a period of years, and quite intensely over the last year in particular, it is as though the publishing of the book represented a sort of fond farewell. These women have helped me learn where I came from, and I’ve done what I can to share and celebrate their lives and their legacies. Though I “miss” them, they are now free to go, because they have brought Tenney alive for me. These are my “Tenney girls,” as they were in 1928:

Octavia “Ocky” Askegaard – An 18-year-old recent graduate of the Moorhead Normal School who came to Tenney the very year the quilt was made (1928), as a primary grade teacher at the Tenney School. She worked as an air traffic controller later in her life, meeting and marrying a high-flying cattle trader from Iowa.

Linna Pithey Gordhamer – Linna was a Tenney girl, and after teaching for a few years, served as Deputy Superintendent of Schools for Wilkin County under her husband for many years until he died. At that time, Linna herself was named County Superintendent of Schools. School children were on their best behavior when Linna stopped by their school in her role as Superintendent. She was a well-respected mentor of young teachers throughout her professional life.

Violet Gillaspey – In 1928, Violet, raised in rural Tenney, was on the cusp of adulthood, having just graduated from high school in Elbow Lake. During the summer months of 1928, she was preparing to take off for the Ancker Hospital School of Nursing in St. Paul. She eventually landed as a student nurse at the “Fergus Falls State Hospital for the Insane,” where she received further training. A traveling salesman for Texaco Oil Company caught her eye and changed her life forever…..

Bertha Berry – Bertha’s connection to Tenney is through her daughter, Mary Belle, who was married to Frank Pithey, a Tenney boy (Linna’s brother). Bertha lived in Ekalaka, Montana at the time of the quilt. Once her children were raised, she made the decision to formalize her education, and took a year-long correspondence course from the Chatauqua School of Nursing New York, then purchased a large home and opened the Berry Maternity Hospital.

Nellie Dalgarno – In 1928, Nellie was working as a sales clerk in the Klugman Store in Tenney. She tried city life for a brief period of time, working in a factory in Minneapolis, but soon came back to the comfort of Tenney and married the manager of the local shipping association. She knew where her roots were, and they were planted too deeply to uproot.

Isabelle Dalgarno – Isabelle, Nellie’s younger sister, was born and raised on a farm in rural Tenney, and was blessed with an adventurous spirit. At the age of 19, Isabelle set out for Minneapolis to work as an assembler in the factory that would one day become Honeywell. She then made her way to New York City for a visit to extended family, and ended up working as a domestic in one of New York City’s finest homes. Something went very wrong, and Isabelle developed a condition that cut short a vibrant, adventurous spirit at the age of 34, far away from the village of Tenney.

LaVanche Polifka – A professional, independent woman of 29 in 1928, LaVanche had been born and raised in Tenney. She first worked at the Tenney Bank, and was the first woman to serve on the Campbell Township Board. She then went on to work in other banks in Sisseton, SD and Wheaton, MN, then it was on to a long career as a county welfare worker. Her life came full circle at age 74 when she and her high school sweetheart found each other and married after having lost their first spouses. LaVanche is my great aunt, was the original owner of the Tenney Quilt, and is the person whose photo is on the cover of THE TENNEY QUILT (see previous post).

Audrey Polifka - Audrey was LaVanche’s sister and was to become my grandmother. She also grew up in Tenney and eventually married A.N. Larson, the proprietor of the local general store. She and Grandpa raised my mother in the upstairs apartment of the Larson Store. Audrey would help A.N. get through a series of tragedies in his life that would cause him to lose his entire first family including wife and two sons. Audrey and A.N. eventually moved to Glenwood, Minnesota, after they sold the Larson Store in Tenney.

Marie Hadwick – Marie came to Campbell as a young girl. She was trained and worked, until her brief marriage, as a school teacher in rural Campbell. A talented seamstress, Marie then relied on her sewing skills to support herself throughout the remainder of her life. She moved from Campbell to Breckenridge not long after 1928, but remained closely tied to her roots in the Campbell-Tenney area, and continued to sew for the people that she knew as a young woman.

Lizzie Strobusch – OK, so I admit it, my initial attraction to Lizzie was her name. How can you not love someone named Lizzie? And Strobusch was pronounced “Straw Bush.” Lizzie came to Tenney alone, and married into a family she had known in Wisconsin. Tragedy would befall their young family, as her husband died in his early 40s. She then dedicated her life to her son, and went with him as he followed his career to Minneapolis, then to California.

Gertie Kapitan – My Gertie, with whom I feel so close, was known and loved by many in Tenney and the surrounding area. Gertie was born on a farm in rural Tenney, and lived in Tenney her entire married life. Gertie was trained as a teacher, but taught only a few years until she met and married Matt Kapitan, Tenney’s Soo Line depot agent. Gertie went on to raise eight children in Tenney, served as organist in the Tenney Church for 40 years, and wrote the local news for several years. As so many have said, "she was a gem."

“Ordinary” women? I suppose. But my “Tenney girls” are your mothers and your grandmothers and great grandmothers, and their lives deserve to be celebrated.

Marketing A Book Ain't What It Used To Be

When I went about the process of writing a book about little Tenney, Minnesota, I certainly had no idea what would await me at the other end. Never having navigated the highways and byways of the publishing world, I realize now how clueless I really was. But I must say it’s been a wonderful experience, though I still feel, at times, like a fish out of water. My publisher, Mill City Press in Minneapolis, has been wonderful to work with. They are very author-centered, giving authors complete publishing control, yet providing the kind of support and advice that first-time authors, such as me, are looking for. Choosing to do my own sales and marketing of the book has been a decision I have both cursed and rejoiced in, mostly the latter. There is a certain pleasure in holding in my hands nearly every book that gets purchased….signing my name, packaging it up, and personally mailing each and every copy. Time consuming? Yes. Gratifying? Most definitely. It makes me feel more connected to the people who are reading the book.

Any modern author knows and understands that a presence on the Internet is by far the most important element in marketing a book in today’s world. Hence, the need to establish my book’s website: www.tenneyquilt.com , as well as a blog, where I write on an ongoing basis about the book, about Tenney and about its people, past and present (http://tenneyquilt.blogspot.com). It’s all about getting that book title out there for the world to see. The days of just selling one’s book to bookstores and relying on people to go to those bookstores to find your book, are long gone. It can be difficult sometimes for folks in today’s older generation to understand that.

It is interesting for me as the author to see where The Tenney Quilt is popping up on the web. Of course, the book appears in the two places where it needs to be: www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com, the websites where the average person goes to buy books online. I was happy to see that it came up as #14 on the list of books in Amazon’s “Quilt History” category list. The book is in www.hotbooksale.com in the “Social History” category. And it is interesting to see it on the Japanese and French versions of amazon.com, in those native languages, in Hong Kong’s paddyfield.com (in the “New and Recommended” books), on the Mexican www.book.com.mx site (in Spanish), on the Kinokuniya Bookweb in Japan, and multiple sites originating in the United Kingdom. Of course the chances of people actually purchasing The Tenney Quilt off these sites is quite slim, I suppose, but it is all very interesting to see where it will pop up next.

Meanwhile, I’ll continue to schedule book talks and signing events so that I can retain the personal connection that the Internet does not provide. I keep the book events updated on this web site (scroll down to the bottom of the page). If you have any suggestions (or connections!) for such events, please contact me.

Grandpa A.N.

“A.N.” (Adolph Nathaniel) Larson, my grandpa, had a dream as a young man to own a business, and he set about accomplishing that in a seemingly deliberate manner. A.N. set out as a young man and found work in a grocery and dry goods store in Vernon, South Dakota. From there he moved on to a department store in Cooperstown, North Dakota and in 1912, arrived in Tenney, Minnesota where he purchased the general store from two gentlemen I only know as Mr. Simonitch and Mr. Hanson. The business had been operated as a general store for presumably about 10 years when A.N. came on the scene.

A.N. went about improving the store and adding merchandise he felt was appropriate for the village of Tenney. Over time, people would say such things as, “That Larson store had EVERYTHING!” From work gloves to Home Brand canned goods to toothpaste to chicken feed to work boots to sewing notions and bananas, the Larson Store took care of providing most of the consumable goods for Tenney folks during the 35 years that he ran the place. On Saturday nights the Larson Store became the gathering place for women, as they gave their list to A.N. to fill, and visited with other women as the men gathered at the pool hall for a beer and perhaps some card playing. The picture above shows A.N. (in the suit, on the right) in his store in 1913, the year after he purchased it.

I have learned through my Tenney research that A.N. was a well-respected businessman in town. People have told me stories about how Grandpa A.N. never turned away a person who really needed food or supplies, and I know from my own family lore that A.N. sold the business and left with a cigar box full of unpaid customer bills that never did get collected. People tell me that he was very patient with his customers, and had a wise, fatherly manner of dealing with them. He was an honest, steady man from all accounts.

Only as an adult did I realize the magnitude of the burdens that Grandpa bore from the losses in his life. In 1929, A.N. lost his first wife, Linda, to Tuberculosis. In 1931, his 17-year-old son, Andrew, died tragically when a hunting companion’s gun discharged in the car in which they were both riding. Though A.N. remarried, and he and Audrey (Polifka) welcomed little Helen Jo the next year after Andrew died, the magnitude of the loss of Linda and Andrew was magnified several years later in 1956, when A.N.’s other son, Ralph, drowned while duck hunting. As I ponder this sequence of events now, I wonder how much loss one person could endure. Indeed, I’ve heard it said that Grandpa was so filled with grief after the loss of his second and remaining son that some in his family wondered whether or not he would be able to attend Ralph's funeral.

My own memories of my Grandpa A.N. are fleeting but sweet. I vividly remember sitting on his lap as a young child, and I remember him being very tender with me. I remember that the basement at Grandma and Grandpa’s house was Grandpa’s domain, and he had what I thought at the time was hundreds of cigar boxes down there, filled with nuts and bolts and ballpoint pens and string and doo dads of various sorts. As I mention in The Tenney Quilt, I very distinctly remember Grandpa keeping a supply of fudge stripe cookies and banana-flavored circus peanuts in jars in a certain kitchen cupboard. In my mind’s eye I can picture Grandpa standing in front of that cupboard in a gray cardigan sweater and baggie brown pants, unscrewing the lid on the jar, with a very satisfied, "Grandpa-has-something-special-for-you" look on his face. And out would come a fudge stripe cookie. Grandpa lived until I was 11 years old, but the last years of his life did not allow for much interaction, as he was hospitalized.

I am grateful for THE TENNEY QUILT project, which has shed light on Grandpa’s character and the amount of respect that Grandpa A.N. garnered in the little town of Tenney.

Voices of Tenney

Tenney voices are making themselves known to me on a daily basis and I am loving it. Those voices capture times, places, and experiences that now exist only as memories. Every time I open up an email or pick up the phone and hear a Tenney person on the other end, my heart is warmed by the fact that people seem to want to talk about Tenney! I am so gratified that The Tenney Quilt is generating discussion, reconnecting people, resurrecting memories, and making people smile.

I heard from Barbara Vaughan the other day. Barbara was the daughter of George and Grace Woodward and her name appears on the quilt, as Barbara Woodward of course. It is always a thrill to find someone else living whose name appears on the quilt. Barbara’s mother was Grace Pithey—one of the younger children of Austin and Allie Pithey, and the sister of one of my “Tenney ladies” featured in The Tenney Quilt, Linna Pithey Gordhamer, as well as Daisy Pithey Rose, Fred and Frank Pithey, and that crew. Barbara shared her memories of visiting her beloved Aunt Linna in Breckenridge each summer [whom Barbara’s granddaughter called “Aunt Lima Bean” when she was 2 years old] and watching Linna walk across the street from her home to the Court House where the County Superintendent’s Office was located. Barbara also recalled the deep sadness she and others felt when Linna’s husband, Clarence Gordhamer, died unexpectedly at a young age from a heart attack while out hunting.

I heard from Mary Jean McLaughlin, formerly Mary Jean Shaffer, the daughter of Gene and Hattie Richardson Shaffer. She shared memories of coming to Tenney to visit her cousin, Jackie Richardson (now Steffens), and how they would together come over to visit my mother, Helen Jo Larson, above the Larson Store. Mary also shared memories of living in Tenney as a very young child, and her family’s close relationship with Jack and Rose O’Laughlin, whom Mary referred to as “Grosfadder” and “Grosmudder.” She said that after her family moved to Detroit Lakes, Jack and Roseanna visited them often. Those Tenney connections are hard to sever!

I heard from Pamela Kath, who shared a memory of her Tenney childhood, living across the street from the Hardie Store. On warm summer evenings, they would haul their two cream cans in the wagon over to the town pump and fill them with nice, cold water and make kool-aid.

Cheryl Ahlsten, who now lives in Los Angeles, contacted me about buying a book. Cheryl is the daughter of Dorothy Klugman and the granddaughter of Gust and Ida Klugman, who owned the Klugman Store which was right next door to the Larson Store in the early years. In the late 40s, Leonard and Opal Hardie purchased the store from my grandfather, A.N. Larson. Cheryl reported that her uncle, Arnold Klugman, is the last remaining offspring of Gust and Ida Klugman.

I have heard from several Funkhousers, whose mother was Blanche Funkhouser and whose name appears on the Tenney Quilt. The Funkhousers grew up in Campbell—Don, Curt, Carol, Eileen and there may have been one other sibling whose name I can’t come up with at the moment.

I have had email or face-to-face conversations with a few of Gertie Kapitan’s granddaughters, including Angela Austin (daughter of Douglas), Barbara Holtan (daughter of Everett), and Claudia Kapitan (daughter of Lowell). I had some wonderful conversations with Gertie’s daughter, Adeline who, out of Matt and Gertie's eight children, was the only daughter in the bunch. Gertie was a gem, and I will be writing a post about her a bit later. I owe a debt of gratitude to Gertie for writing the “Tenney Locals” for many years, particularly the years surrounding the creation of the Tenney Quilt in 1928-1929. Reading those little local news tidbits gave me a deep understanding of the values, interactions, and daily events in the lives of the people who called Tenney home. It is truly how I came to love and appreciate Tenney and its people—particularly its pioneering women.

Many of you are Tenney voices. Keep those Tenney stories alive. Post them on this blog (Click on COMMENTS after any of my writings), or send them to me by email at tenneyquilt@yahoo.com or call me at 320-894-7073.

Mr. Tenney

Anyone connected to Tenney in any way over the years knew Al Manthie. I might go so far as to say he was a legend in his own time. A recent email from Al’s granddaughter (Elaine’s daughter), Sherry, sparked thoughts of Al’s significance to the little village of Tenney. I did not know Al personally, though I could very well have been introduced to him as a child or teenager at a Tenney reunion or a visit somewhere along the way. But I do know that Al was probably singularly responsible for keeping Tenney going as long as it did. Al spent his whole life in the little town that he loved, and took exceedingly good care of it. He served as the Village Clerk for decades, and long after most had left or given up on Tenney, Al lovingly served as its primary caretaker. Whether it was mowing lawns (the entire town in later years), preparing the Town Hall for the Friday night dance, keeping the town records, or sprucing up the Social Hall, Al's presence was constant and comforting.

In the early years, one of Al’s jobs was to take care of the Fire Hall. Once, when he was in the hospital, Al transferred this important responsibility to his son Duane, a young teenager at the time. To make a long story short, Duane managed to start the Fire Hall on fire. Al was apparently not a happy camper, but it certainly provides a good chuckle for us many decades later.

Al was Postmaster of Tenney long ago, then had the rural mail route until he retired in 1972, a job done several years prior by my great grandfather, John Polifka. Sherry shared the story of how “the two Als” (Al Manthie and Al Hungerford) dismantled the Town Hall in the 80s when the building's roof had deterioriated beyond their ability to repair it. They used some of the lumber to put an entry addition onto the Social Hall, complete with two toilets. How proud they must have been to be able to provide this modern amenity to one of Tenney’s primary social gathering places! The photo above was taken at that very Social Hall on the occasion of Al’s 80th birthday celebration.

Many of you will undoubtedly remember that Al Manthie was the ever-present assistant at the funerals held in Tenney for many years. He assisted the funeral home in preparing the church, ushering people, and directing human and motorized traffic to make sure the occasion ran smoothly. Granddaughter Sherry added that, if the person could not afford the grave digger, Al would do it himself. Once, when Al and Lou Ida made a trip to South Sioux City, Nebraska, to visit daughter Elaine and family, word was received of the death of Leonard Hardie, Sr. They had hardly had a chance to visit, when Al immediately turned around and headed back to Tenney to take care of what he felt were his obligations to his friend and to his little town. Al himself is gone now. I have to believe that, at the time of his passing, more than a few people thought to themselves, "What do we do now?"

Al Manthie holds a special place in the hearts of so many folks who lived in or loved Tenney.

Keeping Tenney Memories Alive

Please accept my ongoing thanks to you for your support of The Tenney Quilt. The emails and phone calls continue, with many words of thanks for keeping Tenney’s memories alive, as well as the sharing of new Tenney stories and memories. I have begun efforts to spread the word across a wider swatch of Minnesota and the Midwest; I appeared on a Fargo radio show this week that was broadcast to NPR radio stations across North Dakota, northern Minnesota and Winnipeg. My book signings and events have moved eastward from the Tenney-Breckenridge-Fergus Falls-Wheaton area and are now increasing in my own area of central Minnesota. I am hoping to eventually schedule several events in the Twin Cities area. A listing of several of the currently-scheduled events is shown at the bottom of this blog page. I have now added a few quilt guilds to the list of audiences to which I am scheduled to give book talks. Keep checking back to this page as events are added.

I had a delightful email recently from Len Hardie, who now lives in Richfield, Minnesota, but grew up in our little Tenney. Len’s parents, Leonard and Opal Hardie, purchased the Larson Store from my grandfather, A.N. Larson, in 1948, and Len and his family moved into the home on the second floor of the store immediately after my grandmother and grandfather moved out. Len shared some of his memories of growing up in Tenney with sisters Marsha and Sherry, and also shared with me how gracious my grandfather was in smoothing the transition of the Larson Store to the Hardie family. I love to hear these stories. Thank you, Len!

The Photo on the Cover

Many have asked about the photograph on the cover of THE TENNEY QUILT. The young woman on the cover (and to the left) is LaVanche Polifka (married name Solvie, then Gill). LaVanche was the original owner of the Tenney Quilt, and is my great aunt. LaVanche was born in 1899 in Tenney, and spent her childhood and young adulthood there. LaVanche’s story appears in Chapter 3 of the book. I mention in the book that LaVanche was an instigator, a jokester; a persistent, stubborn, active girl, definitely a mover and shaker in the village of Tenney. She had her heart broken as a young woman, so put her energies into her professional career, which began at the Tenney State Bank until it closed in the late Twenties. She then went on to work at banks in Sisseton (South Dakota) and Wheaton, MN, then held the position of county welfare worker in the courthouses in Breckenridge and Glenwood, Minnesota. She was a woman ahead of her time.

I was very close to LaVanche. She married late in life and had no children of her own. Therefore, she “adopted” her sister’s grandchildren—that would be me and my brother and sister—as her own grandchildren. I grew up with her. She was at every family event during my childhood and young adulthood, and my family took care of her needs in her later life, which lasted until the age of 99. She spoke of Tenney often—Tenney was “the good ol’ days.” LaVanche passed along the Tenney Quilt to my mother, and my mother passed it along to me. I loved LaVanche dearly, and there could be no more appropriate person to grace the front cover of THE TENNEY QUILT.