The Chronicles of an Exceptional Woman: And Her Family

By Duane Labane

About the Book
Phyllis was born into a large family, but at barely three years of age she was torn from her loved ones and given up for adoption. Taken in by foster parents into an unwanted family, she somehow survived and flourished. How could such a little child overcome obstacles that the ordinary person would not be able to handle? She accepted her life of change and uncertainty with faith and fortitude, even when disease and death threatened it. Phyllis was an exceptional woman, and this is her amazing story.

About the Author
Duane Labane is the middle child of fourteen children. He attended the University of Minnesota in Duluth and he is a retired certified nurse’s assistant. He enjoys music, plays guitar, writes poems and books, and loves nature and animals.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Company
• Release date: Sep 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9781685378745

Book preview

Chapter One

Siblings

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ou better watch out or the wolves will get you, chanted Phyllis’ brothers and sisters, as they played in the backyard of their isolated, frontier country home. Phyllis was not really scared because she had grown used to their teasing and after glancing around and not seeing any wolves in the tree-stumped terrain of her parents’ land, she continued to play hide-and-seek with her siblings.

When the early settlers arrived from Europe in the early 1600s at the main port of Jamestown, harvesting trees for warmth and lumber to build their homes was a necessity and because lumber was needed to build everything it became a profitable business to be in. In fact, it was estimated that by 1790 the New England area was exporting 36 million board feet of pine boards and around three hundred ship masts every year, and by 1830 Bangor, Maine was the largest shipping port in the United States.

As the trees were being cut down, new settlers had to head west to find more trees and land to settle on. The Homestead Act of 1862 by Franklin D Roosevelt was a great incentive for migrants because they were able to settle on 160-acre plots of land which were mostly covered with trees. Trees were plentiful in the area but open land was needed for farmers and their crops. Logging at that time was extremely dangerous and very hard work and men only had axes and hand saws to cut trees down that had grown for many years, some of them reaching  nearly six feet in diameter!

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Cutting those large trees involved special skills. Just to be able to cut the large trees down, they would first cut down a small tree and then cut about a six feet long stick, then they would proceed to chop off chunks of wood to make it flat like a board, then create a pointed end on the plank. After that, they would chop a groove in the tree to be cut down big enough to put the end of the plank into the groove, then wedge it into the tree.

Climbing up onto the plank, they would be able to start chopping into the tree to notch it, then they would start sawing the tree down by hand from the other side and proceed to pound wedges into the cut slot to force the tree to fall in a certain direction.

When the men worked at the early logging camps they were away from their family for long periods of time and had very poor living and sleeping conditions, thus sickness and lice were often an added suffering.

By the year 1920, the great northern forests were being cut down like they were never-ending because there were trees everywhere. The Labor Unions had stepped in and helped the lumberjacks by this time and their working and living conditions were much more accommodating.

John Daughtry was one of the men working with the other men in the community of northern Minnesota cutting down trees and removing stumps. Daughtry, a strong, stout man decided to claim land for a homestead with his family in northern Minnesota. He had married a woman by the name of Martha at the turn of the century and over the years they had nine children. Life was hard and unpredictable but they felt fortunate to have a big family to help with the work. Although they struggled with sickness at times, they managed to all stay together. However in 1914, after many years of marriage, Martha died. Possibly because of complications from having her last child.

Next door to them lived a family by the name of Dawn and James Jones who had six children. The two families were close neighbors and became friends and shared many things together over the years. After Martha’s death, Dawn was helpful with caring for John’s children and they became a close-knit family.

Sadly in 1916, Dawn’s husband, Jim Jones died, also from unknown causes and this brought the two families closer together. Because of the needs of the large family and the fact that John had developed feelings of love for Dawn, he asked her to marry him that same year that James Jones died.

When John Daughtry and Dawn were married, their first child born in 1917 was Phyllis whom this book is about. John Daughtry and Dawn had four additional children after that. Node, Andre, Nike and Merle. Of course, some of the older children had left but this made a grand total of twenty children in all!

As time progressed, the oldest boys at home began working with their father at the mill and the other siblings were farming with horses. The family had dairy cows, multiplying pigs, and a Billy goat and nannies. The children enjoyed being near the goats as they would watch them play and jump up on the roof of their small shed. The family dog, a mixed German-Shepherd collie, was also a favorite pet which was given to them as a puppy by a neighbor.

Being born in a low-income family during the post-Depression Era and having many brothers and sisters, was the only way of life Phyllis knew and she accepted it. Living in a small house in tight quarters with so many brothers and sisters seemed normal to Phyllis as her family kept growing. She enjoyed all the attention she received from her family and when she learned to walk she enjoyed playing with her siblings outside.

Phyllis’ memory seemed exceptional because she remembered things for her early childhood, even at the young age of two and a half. She recalled the way her father would pick her up and carry her on his shoulders at very early age and the feeling of love and security that she felt with him.

The family didn’t have a tractor and used their horses for pulling power in order to work the land. After the lumberjacks had cleared the forest there were many stumps left behind. Stump removal was a hard, laborious job. Using a pick axe to break loose the ground around the stump, they would then dig out the dirt with a shovel and then proceed to pull the stump out of the ground using the horses.

Dynamite was helpful in removing stumps but was dangerous and expensive, plus hard to come by, so the family worked hard clearing stumps off the land without it usually from dawn to dusk. Of course, after they cleared the land they only had a primitive, horse-drawn plow to till the land and plant potatoes and other vegetables, plus corn which the white man had learned to grow from the Indians.

Chapter Two

The Orphanage

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s their family grew in size beyond their means of support, John and Dawn realized that they were unable to provide for so many children and they knew they needed to do something about it. Since they had no close relatives who could help them care for so many children they had to make the heart-breaking decision to send some of their children to an orphanage and they chose to send the six youngest children to an orphanage because they had their whole life ahead of them and hopefully could have a new family.

The children’s parents felt they couldn’t deal with the emotions of delivering their children to the orphanage themselves so, they asked a close neighbor friend to help. So early one fall morning, the neighbor pulled a horse-drawn hay-wagon up to the front of the house. The parents loaded the six youngest children onto the straw-covered wagon with a basket of food, blankets, and warm milk in a jug to help keep their bodies warm on the journey. Three-year-old Phyllis had heard from her older siblings that some of them might be put up for adoption, however she didn’t believe them since they often kidded her about various things but now she was faced with the reality.

Phyllis’ father, John came forward and held her for a short time then put her down and when she looked for him he was gone. Phyllis’ mother had nursed her year-and-half old brother, Noble for the last time and kissed him goodbye after gathering as much milk as she could into baby bottles. Then the neighbor who had volunteered to take the children to the train station, said, "gette-up" to the horses and they started off.

Thus, with only the clothes on their back and a few other necessities the children were sent off. Farewell was given to the children as their horse-drawn wagon, slowly, trudged away from their home with their mother and siblings holding back their tears as they left.

After several hours of riding down bumpy roads and sometimes through the fields, the neighbor realized the sun was setting and darkness was quickly approaching. Since they were only about half way to the orphanage and had no money for a place to stay, the driver decided to stop at a farmer’s house and the farmer was kind enough to let them pull their wagon into the barn and stay overnight because they had no extra beds or room in their house. However, the wife did take baby Noble into their bedroom and she took care of him overnight.

Early the next morning, the farmer and his family gave them some food and drink and they were on their way, again. It was getting dark when they finally arrived at the train depot. Phyllis was still confused as they boarded the train but sitting with her brothers and sisters helped her feel better.

As the steam-engine hissed and the train started moving, Phyllis’ twelve-year-old sister put her arm around her and comforted her. They waved goodbye to their neighbor and the long ride began as the train rocked back and forth down the tracks to the orphanage. Feeling the deep loss and sadness of separation from their parents, the older siblings covered their faces and wept, silently as not to let the younger siblings see their tears.

After many miles, they finally arrived at the depot and as they got off the train a woman from the orphanage met them and took them to the orphanage in a Model-A pickup with the older kids crowded in the back and younger children in the front. Arriving at the orphanage, Phyllis and her brothers and sisters were quickly separated. Noble was put in the nursery and Phyllis was put in a room full of little, white beds where all the girls slept.

Phyllis’ bed was by a window and when she saw a marsh out back that she didn’t recognize, the reality of her losing her parents and family became real to her and she started to cry, loudly. It wasn’t long before a stern caretaker arrived shaking her finger at Phyllis and scolded her for crying, saying,

"Hush up now—we’ll have none of that here!"

After the caretaker left, Phyllis cried into her pillow all alone and afraid of the cold, insensitive nurse. From that time on, she learned to cry quietly, to herself.

Fortunately, a couple of hours later, they allowed her twelve-year-old sister to come and see her. She combed Phyllis’ hair and bathed her and told her what would be happening when she got adopted. She told her that; "even though her real mother and father wouldn’t be there, she would have a new mother and father and they would take care of her and she would have a new home to live in." This helped Phyllis feel better and she began to think about what being adopted would be like.

So, willingly accepting the reality of what was to happen to her, she waited day after day. But no one came to adopt her. She would see other adults come and take children with them but not her.

One fall morning while she was standing in line with the other children, Phyllis gathered up all her courage and walked up to the main desk and stood there waiting until one of them asked; What do you want Phyllis? With her hands on her hips she boldly said;

"When am I going to be adopted?"

Smiling at her, the nurse responded,

"We will let you know, Phyllis."

Fall turned into winter, then summer came and Phyllis lost track of time as she went through her daily routines of being woke up at seven am, getting dressed and cleaning up, then going to the lunch room meeting with the other children and having her breakfast. After breakfast, they would go to the activity room to play, then after lunch they could either go outside, weather permitting, or stay inside and read and occasionally an attendant would read a story to the children.

After supper she had a couple hours before bedtime which was when she missed her family the most. Many times she would hear other children crying in the room after the lights were turned off but she decided to stay strong as time slowly passed.

Early one spring morning, a nurse came into her room and said; "Phyllis, we have a new family that wants to adopt you!"

Happily, Phyllis began to gather what little she had and was helped into a pretty dress that had a low waistline and a hat with a big blue ribbon that hung down her back. Phyllis looked in the mirror admiring herself with her new shoes which had buttons on the side and she felt very special.

Then, the attendant took her over to the nursery where her brother, Noble was. Her new adopting-mother was there looking down at him and smiling, absorbed with Noble. She lifted him out of his little crib giving him all her attention as she held him in her arms until Phyllis was introduced to her.

Phyllis was shy and said nothing when she was introduced to her new step-mother who glanced quickly at her and said, "Hello, then continued rocking baby brother Noble in her arms. There was another woman with her adopting-mother" but she didn’t say anything to Phyllis.

Phyllis overheard the adults’ conversation and realized her supposed-to-be new step-mother only wanted Noble but they were told she had to take his sister, Phyllis also because they wanted to keep the family together as much as possible.

Reluctantly, Loraine, her new stepmother, accepted Phyllis but only because she didn’t have another choice and she came with the package. These facts didn’t seem to matter much to little Phyllis because she was happy to go with her baby brother. Later, Phyllis learned that Loraine and her husband couldn’t have children themselves and had waited years to adopt a child.

The trip to Phyllis’ new home was a long and rough journey, however Phyllis was enjoying the view after being in the confinement of the orphanage as the borrowed Model-T chugged along, mile after mile on the primitive, bumpy, dirt roads. Her new step-mother held Noble and cared for him lovingly and showed very little interest to Phyllis as they traveled.

Just the same, Phyllis was happy to be going to a new home and she sat quietly through the long trip enjoying the countryside and happy to have a new family and to just be free of the orphanage.

Chapter Three

Her New Home

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inally arriving at her new home, Phyllis could see a rustic log-home next to a lake with lots of stumps in the fields around it which reminded her of her home. But unlike her home which was flat land with only stumps around, this land had a big, long hill to the south and a lake on the north side of the hill just west of the house which covered about forty acres. It was named Lake Loraine after her step-mother who was very active in the community.

(From a geologist’s point of view, the formation of the large hill and lake would appear to be proof that a glacier had created the hill by pushing the earth ahead of itself then it must have stopped right in that spot and the ice melted forming the lake, some tens-of-thousands of years in the past.)

The early frontier residence had a large well-built red barn with a small herd of cows, a bull and pigs, chickens and a variety of other animals, including some sheep. Loraine’s husband had put two full sized, telephone poles that crossed at the top right next to the barn which were used for lifting and stacking hay.

One set of poles was on the east side near the barn and the other about a hundred feet, further east. On top of the crossed-poles where they were tied together was a cable stretching from the top of one pole to top of the other, then tied off into the ground on each end.

On the cable was a hay-lifting device that rolled on the cable back and forth by a rope attached to it through a pulley that was used to lift the loose hay. The rope then went to the ground pulley where a team of horses were used to lift the hay with a fork-like device to the height of the cable, then it would be pulled over to a chosen spot where the hay would be dropped off. This of course was a time before there were any kind of hay bales.

Phyllis was interested in her new home and waited to learn more. The log house was a good-sized home measuring about twenty-five by forty feet. The main entrance faced the south. The walls were made from large logs which measured about a foot and a half to two feet thick. The roof, which was sheet metal, had a steep pitch leading down to a less-inclined pitch on both sides of the house.

The kitchen area on the east of the house only had a small narrow attic above it and the west side of the house was a full length porch. The outside of the house was about twenty-five feet high in the center with three bedrooms upstairs.

Phyllis was led into the home on the southeast corner where there was a small porch on ground level with a cement floor used for storing wood. Passing through the porch to the kitchen doorway they entered the kitchen. Phyllis saw a full-sized, wood-burning kitchen stove on her left side right by the entrance in front of her.

The stove was the only way of cooking food that they had. On the top of the stove above the hot surface were two enclosed warming ovens. On the left side of the stove was the wood burning area and next to it was the main oven and then on the right side of the oven was a separate container which held water which was heated by the fire as the hot-air circulated around it.

A small kitchen table was across the room from the stove which sat in front of two large, kitchen windows. On the north end of the kitchen were cabinets that were built all the way across the wall. Below the cabinets was a counter-top that went from wall to wall, also. Under the counter were many draws for storing food and utensils and on the far right end of the counter was tip-out flour-drawer where big flour bags were stored.

The tip-out flour door which was to the left of the refrigerator was well used and years later Phyllis’ children would play in it and crawl through it after the door broke loose, creating an opening into the main bedroom closet and out the other side as they played hide-n-seek. Her Seventh child remembers the fun times he had playing there as a child.

Then, Phyllis was shown the dining-living room area which was just past the kitchen stove to the left of the long counter. Entering the dining area, Phyllis noticed a large arch between the dining room and the living room on her right. The arch which was made of logs and framed with wide boards nearly two feet wide. Looking straight ahead, she saw the door leading to the porch and to the left of the door a couple windows which looked out toward the lake plus a couple windows in the living room to the left of her facing the south.

As she left the kitchen, entering the open area of the dining room, she saw an old-barrel stove to her left with an old water kettle on top of it. The barrel stove was the only way the main area of the house was heated. The dining area had a table and chairs with various pieces of furniture around the room, including an old sewing machine and an upright piano in the corner.

In the middle of the west wall was the door leading out to the porch that overlooked the lake. On her right side of the dining room was the Living room with a couch, furniture and a couple big, easy chairs, one window on the north wall and the doorway into the parents’ bedroom on the east wall.

In the dining room on the far south-east corner of the room was the door to the stairwell leading upstairs. Opening the door a person would have to make a ninety-degree turn to the left heading north up the stairwell. On the top of the stairs- straight ahead- was the chimney pipe coming out of the floor with no insulation only a metal ring around it. Then the bare, metal chimney pipe had a ninety-degree turn into the brick chimney built into the wall. The exposed pipe plus a small floor vent in the floor was the only means of heat upstairs.

On the top stairway to the left was a separate bedroom where Phyllis slept. There was a big, open space in the middle of the upstairs where two or more beds were placed in the room for company without any dividers in the room. On the far north-end of the big room there was another separate bedroom with a wall and door. Just past the chimney pipe was an opening on the right into an attic over the kitchen which was used for storing odds-n-ends where one could see small, bare pine logs supporting the metal roof without insulation.

In the main large open area were two dormer windows high up on the wall, reset into the wall that faced the west where you could view the lake. One on the left and one on the right side of the room. Climbing up into the dormer window, Phyllis would spend many hours enjoying the view from the windows as she looked out at the lake playing with her doll.

Many years later, her children would play there and enjoy the same view from the dormer windows. The Seventh child remembered the squeaky boards on the floor when you walked around in the open bedroom area.

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When Phyllis first met her new step-father Fergus, he had just come in from the field after digging and dynamiting stumps. His face was covered with dirt and Phyllis was sure he was a black man and it wasn’t until he cleaned up that she realized he was white! So, it took her some time to feel comfortable around him.

Fergus and his wife, Loraine were one of the first frontiers in the area. They had cleared the land and built the log home, themselves. The Ojibway Indian Reservation was only a couple miles away and being a teacher, Loraine had been very involved and instrumental in recording and helping the Tribe, so the Lake and Indian Reservation were eventually named after her.

Because Loraine hadn’t really wanted Phyllis when she adopted her brother, Noble, Phyllis spent a lot of time outside helping Fergus. So, whenever he went out to feed the stock or if he was going to cut wood, Phyllis would be with him. Almost everything Fergus did outside, Phyllis was with him and she was dressed up like a boy because she was working outside, thus Phyllis wasn’t treated or dressed like most little girls by her step-mother.

At first, Fergus had only a team of horses and no car. When they were in need of supplies he would hook the horses to the wagon, head out in the early morning traveling, sometimes as much as fifty-mile round-trip or more to town and back with the goods in the same day.

One summer night, Fergus heard loud, blatting coming from his sheep in their shed just after dark. Grabbing his musket and a lantern, he headed out to the sheep shed which was just east of the barn. After he came around the south side of the shed and his eyes adjusted to the low light, he saw a big, black bear had mauled and killed some sheep. Wool was scattered all round and he could see, at least two dead sheep as the black bear was busy with the third sheep, undisturbed by Fergus and the light.

Fergus hung the lantern on a nail on a post nearby and quickly leveled his musket on the bear as it boldly chewed on one of the sheep it had killed. With one accurate shot the bear was dead and he hung the bear, after he had cleaned it, on one of the cross-beams of the telephone poles that were used to lift the hay. He took a picture the next day with his early, Kodak camera which he had recently purchased.

Phyllis’ step-parents had built in the early 1900s or before, an extra building just about twenty-five feet south of their log home called the Storehouse. It was built from rough-cut lumber (not planed). It was built to be a Trading Post for furs and Goods and was, also a Post Office in the early frontier days.

The storehouse had a dirt basement for storage which the log house didn’t have. Rutabagas were stored down there, along with canned goods and anything that needed to be kept cool and dry. Fergus was very resourceful and even purchased one of the early gasoline engine generators.

He kept it in the cellar, under the storehouse using it for a variety of things, such as a telephone communication with his relatives across the lake, years before anyone else in the neighborhood had a telephone. However, Keith’s family never did get it running and use it.

Chapter Four

Growing Up and Losing Family

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s a small child, Noble was kept downstairs in a crib near the main bedroom that was off the dining room and Phyllis slept upstairs. As Noble grew he and Phyllis spent many hours playing together and enjoying each other’s company.

One day when Phyllis was about eight years old, the two of them were climbing up into the haymow while playing in the barn, Phyllis slipped, falling down and banged her head. Phyllis kept the accident to herself, not telling her step-parents.

Since, Loraine the step-mother, was very attentive to Noble, she always kept close tabs on him and didn’t seem to worry about Phyllis. Phyllis accepted that her brother was favored by her step-mother, and she was happy to have his sibling’s company. Her step-mother, Loraine’s attitude toward her was perfectly clear to any observer and Phyllis felt it too. But Phyllis didn’t allow envy to control her, even when Noble was given everything he wanted and he came to expect it from his step-parents.