What These Trees Mean to Me

Pictuers: top: Daisy on the road in the land; middle: junk on the land; bottom: where the gate once was on the land

Daisy and I spent the day driving around Reynolds County, Missouri. In addition to visiting the 160 acres of trees I inherited, we went to the county seat --Centerville (pop. 202)-- and the town closest to the land--Ellington (pop. 1045). A bit of family history is required to understand how I got the land and why I have kept it and registered it w/ Missouri Land ConDepartment of Conservation.

I have a letter my great-grandmother, Mom Sudie, wrote to her son, my maternal grandfather--Reams--in February 1944. At that time, Mom Sudie was living in Evansville, Indiana (I think), and my grandfather was in Hammond, Indiana, or Lansing, Illinois, and working in the steel mills. It is before D-Day in 1944. Our country is coming out of the Depression (which hit my mom's family hard--as it did most families) and in the middle of a horrible war; it was not at all certain that the US and our allies would win this war.

Somehow my great-grandmother heard about some woodland for sale in Reynolds County, MO, and bought 160 acres. The letter to my grandfather details some of her reasons for buying the land:

"I want to give each of of you [3 sons and 3 grandchildren] something you can't get rid of that will provide you a place to stay if need be so you will never be a homeless and utterly helpless outcast as I once was. That is a horror I will never forget. The poorest home in the world is vastly better than none."

I assume the "homeless and utterly helpless outcast" she is referring to is after her divorce, sometime in the 1920s--I think; but I can NEVER imagine Mom Sudie as "utterly helpless" (more on that later).

She goes on to say: "If hard times ever drive you all out of city jobs the whole three of you could go there and put up houses on your own land and get an existence from it. If Bryan and Tot [my grandfather's brothers] have to go to the war and are sent overseas they may never be well again."

This so exquisitely highlights the utter precarious situation the US and our allies were in during early 1944 in World War II. Most of us read the history books, watch the movies, and KNOW we WON. It is infrequent that we are reminded that the outcome was NOT certain and millions of men and women from the US and our allies marched off to both certainty--ferocious fighting, death and dismemberment--and uncertainty--would their sacrifice make a difference, perhaps the difference, and win the war?

In the 55 years since the land was purchased, it passed from Mom Sudie to her sons (in parcels), to their children (each had one), and in my case, to me, after my mom and dad died. This part of Southeast Missouri was, in part, founded on the timber industry in the early to mid 1880s. My land has been timbered every 20-30 years, and I worry about tree poachers taking trees before the land is ready. For this reason I've put the land in trust with Missouri Dept. of Conservation. They help me watch the land, and advise when it is ready to timber (and will help solicit and vet bids for timbering). They do not have the resources to keep campers and poachers off so long as their activities are hidden from view. I walked the short road into the land today (the gate across the road I had put in a number of years ago is gone) and saw junk and litter everywhere. It is so depressing. Why do people have to toss their crap on other people's proprty? There doesn't appear to be any illicit timbering, but there's a lot of land I can't see from the road. I checked in with the Conservation people and they will keep checking on it.

I have put the land into conservancy to protect it from developers and help preserve America's woodland. I will leave the land to my niece and nephew, to do what they will with. I will tell them this story--and many others--of their great-great grandmother and great-grandfather when they are old enough. I hope that I can timber the land before they go to college and that money can help with their college expenses--starting the financial inheritance early--and when it's needed! But their true inheritance, the families from whom they are descended, are stories to be told for years, to be savored, embellished, questioned....

Coming to this land today, the third time since I inherited in 1999, and the fourth time ever, reminds of of that first time: I was about 12 and my grandparents, parents, and brother and I all traveled down here. I remember laughing about the "Mickey Mouse" roller coaster roads for years afterward. We actually camped one night on the land, I think, and stayed nearby--at Clearwater Lake--at least a couple of other nights. While I cannot imagine camping on the land today (I am still checking for ticks etc. after walking on a semi-cleared road), that trip was one of the stories that wove my childhood into the strong cloth that supports me today. There are so many stories lost to me now because I didn't pay enough attention while people were alive. Events like family reunions and tools like facebook can help revive some memeories and relationships. So can diaries and blogs. So later in this trip, I'll write down some more memories of Mom Sudie--she was truly an impressive and incredible person, and I truly cannot imagine her ever "utterly helpless". This woman taught school and worked in other capacities in remote places in the 1920s-1950s such as South Texas, Cuba, and Florida!

Much of this big adventure with Daisy includes seeing old friends and family--remembering good times and bad. But we are also planning for the future--reunion next year in LeMars, Iowa, for example--and seeing new places and meeting new people. I met some great people today in the city and county governments in Missouri. So some blogs will be reports, including some "new memories," and others will be reminiscences. Today was both, but mainly memory--saluting the great-grandmother who bought the land I now treasure. I hope you understand a little better now what those trees mean to me.