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HISTORY OF ASRHEL CYPRIAN YOUNG FAMILY
BY ROZELLA MAE (YOUNG) MCPHERSON
Hattie Elnora Bills was born February 7, 1872 at Vermillion, So. Dak.and came to Viewfleld Territory with her parents, William Bills and Sarah (Judson) Bills when she was a little girl. They settled on their homestead, which is now known as the G Bills place. It is located 12 miles north and one and a half miles west of New Underwood, So. Dak.
Asrhel Cyprain Young came to the territory in 1886 at the age of 21. He was born July 20,1865 in Albert Lea, Minn. He married Hate Elenora on July 21, 1890 at Rapid City, So. Dak.They settled on his homestead miles north and 1 1/2 miles west of New Underwood, S. D. They lived in a two-room log cabin, which he built from logs, that he cut and hauled from the Black Hills with a four-horse team and logging wagon.
All twelve of the children were born on that place without the aid of doctor, eight of us in the two-room log cabin. In those days the neighbors helped one another in work and sickness.
Mother got her first washing machine when I was 12 years old. Pushing a lever back and forth ran it. Turning a wheel ran the next one. After I was married she got a twin tub "Easy"
Washer and spin dryer which were a dream come true for her. Getting back to the earlier days the country was thinly settled and if a neighbor came when no one was home, they just went in and cooked themselves a meal or stayed over night as the need be. It was O.K. as long as they washed their dishes and tidied up the house. No one thought of locking his or her doors.
They had lots of hardships to he sure but lots of good times also. They traveled many miles to visit the neighbors or for recreation. Dad told of riding on horse back to a place, now Vale, S.D., to a dance before he was married, a distance of thirty miles, in zero weather without any socks. Of course he wore boots which covered his legs because they wouldn1t be caught dead without boots in those days.
Team and wagon was our only way of traveling for years. When we older children were small they would put straw and blankets in the wagon box tuck us in and away we would go. We would bounce around like frozen potatoes and enjoyed every minute of it.
Speaking of storms, the spring of 1905 it started to rain May 3rd and turned to snow and was a raging blizzard May 5th. Martin and Ashton Bowen1s horses were in the pasture north of our place and the blizzard got bad so quick that it was impossible to get to them and they drifted into the southeast corner of the fence and all 36 perished, some froze standing up.
The winter of 1905 was bad too, and along with it came an epidemic of diphtheria, which took a lot of children. Two of my sisters, Edna age9 and Anna age 2 died with it and were buried in the same casket. My brother was stillborn August 21, 1906 and mother nearly died but with the aid of old neighbor ladies, Grandma and Gods help she pulled through. Her father died in November 1905, which added to her trouble. She and Grandma sat with him night and day through his sickness.
Mother was a wonderful woman, always willing to help others. Dad had a thrashing rig for years and was gone all through the thrashing season. Mother and we kids took care of the farm, milked twelve cows. Mother set the milk in pans in the cellar, skimmed the cream off, churned the butter with a dash churn and took it to Cottles store at Elm Springs, a distance of approximately fifteen miles with a team and buggy and brought groceries back. She would leave home at daybreak so the butter would not get too warm on the way.
They remodeled their house in 1908 and it is still there. I recall one night when Charles was a baby. We were separating the milk and mother wanted us to eat supper before we fed the calves so we left the milk setting by the separator in the kitchen. Mother fed Charles his supper and sat him on the floor and proceeded to eat her supper. Dad wanted a second cup of tea and as Sarah went into the kitchen for the teapot she saw Charles` feet sticking out of a 14-quart bucket of milk kicking to beat the band. He had craweled up to the bucket, pulled himself up and toppled over in to it. He had another narrow escape when he drank kerosene. He passed out Mother ran outside with him and began blowing steadily in his mouth which revived him.
I remember a hailstorm while we were still living in the old log house when it rained and the wind blew so hard that we thought it might take the house. It blew a chinking out from between the logs and the rain came in as if somebody was throwing it in with a bucket. Dad stuck the chinking back in but did not get it straight. The next day he tried to straighten it with a sledge hammer but could not move it. He tried several times later but never could move it so they decided the house must have been lifted a little when he put it back.
When 1 was a teen-ager more families had come to the community and it was not uncommon to have 20 or 25 people drop in for Sunday dinner. They thought nothing of it. The women prepared for it on Saturday. They never thought of having to be invited.
They had dances on Friday night so they could dance till daylight. Dancing and card parties were our main amusement.
They had a few Indian scares but no attacks. Mother had anemia and was sick for several years. Dad died in October 1931 from a stroke. He only lived a few hours after he was stricken. Mother stayed on the place with the four youngest children, Cyprian, Merle, Edith and Charles until a short time before her death, which came April 29th, 1933. Clyde, my oldest brother, lived on the place a short time then sold it to Henry Hudson and to my knowledge his widow still owns it.
|  | Descendants of Asaph Young |
