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 Bessie Osborn
My Mom's Mom's Mom
My great-grandmother was born "Bessie Ferol Brooks" in the year 1900 in Texas, went to school only through the fourth grade, lived on a farm, and somehow wound up in Southern California. She lived an incredibly interesting life.
My Grandma Osborn died in 1975 when I was still a small child, so I don't remember her very well, but my mother was very close to her as a child, so I've grown up hearing lots of stories about her. My two favorite stories mom tells me are the one about how Grandma had a pet chicken named Ichabod who lived in the Knott's Berry Farm parking lot, but who came running when Grandma called his name; and the one about when my mom (as a kid) was too shy to do "The Twist" in the '50's, but Grandma Osborn said, "Come on! Even I can do it!" and got up and danced like Chubbie Checker in a housecoat.
All the Days of My Life, by Bessie Osborn
My grandmother -- Mae Elizabeth Flood -- is Bessie Osborn's daughter, and she sent me a Xerox of this memoir written by my great-grandmother. Since it is quite long (though it only covers the first 43 years of her life), I have divided it into a few separate sections. I am endeavoring to retain the original spellings and syntax, though I am occasionally inserting paragraph breaks to increase readability. [Currently, it is taking me a while to transcribe this manuscript, so I am putting segments up as I finish them.]
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Bessie's early childhood.
All the Days of My Life, by Bessie Osborn: Part Two: 1908 - 1920
Bessie grows up, marries the farmer next door (Willie Osborn), gets the flu in 1918, and gets a pet chicken. -
What was Bessie's tenuous connection to Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang? Read this to find out. Also, Mrs Reed tries to steal her chicken, and Bessie steals some of Mr Parker's pigeons for pigeon pie.
All the Days of My Life, by Bessie Osborn: Part Four: 1923 - 1929
All the Days of My Life, by Bessie Osborn: Part Five: 1929
All the Days of My Life, by Bessie Osborn: Part Six: 1930 - 1943
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