Harvest Season

William Gamlin's wheat binding operation circa 1902

From what I’ve been hearing (and seeing on Facebook), it appears that the fall harvest season is well underway in Central Illinois.

My maternal grandfather, Joe Gamlin, made a living farming. He got started sometime around his 18th birthday which is interesting to note, since the doctors had always said he wouldn't live past the age of eighteen. Not only was his heart on the wrong side of his chest, but he suffered from severe asthma and allergies. He was small for his age, pale, and considered to be “sickly” throughout his childhood and teenage years.

In 1902 my great uncle, William Gamlin, visited Raymond and offered Joe a job. Uncle Bill made a living operating a wheat binding business and he personally oversaw a crew that traveled from southeastern Missouri across many western states, harvesting hundreds of miles of wheat fields along the way. Bill owned a wheat binding machine, and that enabled the men on his crew to harvest huge wheat fields quickly and efficiently. Over the years, Bill Gamlin made a name for himself in the wheat binding business, and his company was booked solid during the harvest season with regular customers in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana.

Even with the help of the machine, wheat binding was hard work that continued non-stop, eighteen hours a day, seven days a week. It took a team of four horses to pull the contraption through the field, cutting the wheat as they went along, and forming it into bundles that were about two feet wide. One man would sit on the back and tie the heavy bundles with binder twine that was fed through the machine from a large spool. The bundles were then dropped on the ground, and two or three men would follow along behind, stacking the bundles heads up, and tying them together to form a shock that was eight feet high. After the shocks sat in the field and dried for a day or so, the men loaded them in wagons and delivered them to the customers. A covered wagon loaded with supplies trailed behind them and each night the men camped, only occasionally stopping in a town for a meal, a warm bath, and a quick poker game at a local saloon. The men worked from dusk to dawn each day with few breaks, and would drag themselves back to the campsite each night for much needed rest.

Joe accepted the offer and was hired on as part of the crew. I have tried to imagine what it was like for him to leave home for the first time and what it was like for his parents to let go. Not only was his health a major concern, but as with any adventure, there was any number of things that could have happened on his 2,500 mile journey to Billings, Montana and back. Things that could have changed the course of his life forever: a fast moving lightning storm on the prairie; a stray bullet fired during a brawl at a saloon; a brush with diphtheria; a chance meeting with a pretty woman.

Joe Gamlin driving his "Minneapolis Moline" Tractor shortly before his death. 

Of course nothing happened, and luckily, Joe made his way back to Raymond. When he returned, his parents barely recognized him; he had put on a considerable amount of weight and seemed healthy and happy. The doctors claimed that spending time out in the western climate had cured him. I'm not sure about that, but one thing was for certain: he had never enjoyed better health in his entire life. Joe eventually married the woman who would become my grandmother, Wilma McCallum, in 1918. He farmed south of Raymond for three years before the couple moved east of Raymond to what was later known as “Anderberg Hill” (the hill opposite of Mulch’s hill and the birth place of my mother, Eileen Gamlin Bandy, born in 1924). In 1944, the family moved to a farm located on what is commonly referred to as the "East Road" (the road leading out of Raymond past Held's Sales and Service). My grandparents lived there at the time of Grandpa's sudden death on May 11, 1952.

As was customary in those days, the following fall, many friends and relatives gathered at the farm to harvest the corn Grandpa had planted just prior to his death. The following photo and article appeared in The Raymond News in the fall of 1952: 

1952 Harvest at Gamlin Home

While the names of the men who helped are listed in the article, unfortunately they are not identified in the photo. I can recognize my dad, Charles Bandy, seated in the front row, 4th from the left and possibly Earl Sorrells (kneeling in the front row, first from the left).

Many thanks to Susan Lebeck for providing the group photo and article.

If you have memories, photos, ideas for future blog topics, or any comments in general, please feel free to contact me at pinkston.jan@gmail.com. Thank you! 

The Hairburner

In 1975, all the hair stylists in Raymond were forced to raise their prices, and I'm sure that created quite a stir around town.  This advertisement appeared in The Raymond News on August 28, 1975:

When I was a kid, I was always fascinated by mom's weekly hair ritual that dad referred to as "going to the hairburner." After a couple hours at the beauty shop getting washed, dried, curled, teased, and sprayed, mom would end up with an up-do that held up for an entire week. It was low maintenance, only requiring a quick touch-up with a comb each morning, along with a little Aqua Net to hold it in place.  

On Thursday afternoons, mom, along with several other women who also worked at the First National Bank, got their hair done together at Sandra's Boutique in Raymond (owned and operated by Sandy Broaddus Carron). I believe the Thursday afternoon regulars included mom, Mary Johnson, Dot Hough, and Marge Hough.  I know my mom looked forward to spending time with "the girls" each week, and while I'm not sure what happened at Sandy's, I know it always stayed at Sandy's.

Remembering Heroes

The Krause family in 1944. Pictured are the parents, Lena (left)
and John (right), with their three children, Florence, Murvin, and Louis. 

Since today was a day for remembering heroes, I thought it would be appropriate to highlight one of our hometown heroes in this week's TBT blog.

Murvin Krause served in the Army over seventy years prior to 9/11, at a time when a different generation of men and women answered the call to serve our country after it was attacked. Murvin was involved in heavy combat throughout his years in the service, and was recognized for his bravery and sacrifice following the war when he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart.

The article below that appeared in the July 27, 1944 issue of The Raymond News, contains a letter that Murvin wrote to his parents, providing them with details about being wounded in action in France. Although he was injured, he referred to the incident as "a little bad luck," and expressed how anxious he was to return to the front lines as soon as possible.



Murvin was born on 11/11/11. He moved to Raymond from Nokomis in the spring of 1930. He married Grace Weerts on 11/29/47 at the Harvel Trinity Lutheran Church where they both were members. They had one daughter, Karen Krause Grove. Murvin farmed until his retirement in 1985. He died on 6/13/03 and is buried in Raymond City Cemetery.

Raymond's 125th Anniversary Book contains the following account of Murvin's experience in WWII:

Murvin Krause served in World War II, and made the invasion at Normandy. He was in the front line all during the war, and was in the Battle of the Bulge. After the war ended, he was in the Honors Guard at Hitler's headquarters until he returned home in September, 1945.

Following World War II, Murvin Krause received the Bronze Star Medal for "heroic achievement in action while serving with the Army of the United States, October 30, 1944, in the vicinity of Opheusden, Holland,where four men were seriously wounded and isolated from the unit. Pfc. Krause, realizing the importance of evacuating the men to a medical aid station, moved forward to aid in the evacuation. His route took him through a heavily mined area, subject to enemy observation, but he continued and reached the wounded men.

Krause entered the service March 24, 1942, at Scott Field, Belleville and was honorably discharged September 20, 1945 at Fort Sheridan. He served in Normandy, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, England, and Austria. He was wounded twice, first in France in June, 1944, and in Holland in August, 1944. He received the Purple Heart for being wounded in action.

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A special thanks to my sister, Susan Lebeck, for providing the photo of the Krause family.

The Train Derailment

On Labor Day weekend in 1967 a Norfolk & Western freight train derailed in Raymond. The following article and photos appeared in the September 7, 1967 issue of The Raymond News. 

Raymond's 125th Book published in 1996 gives the following account:
On Labor Day weekend in September 1967, there was a train wreck caused by a hot box. The train had just passed the gas storage tanks when cars began toppling like dominoes. Sue Rossi, on her way in to Raymond, had just gone through the viaduct when the terrible rumbling occurred, and train cars loaded with new automobiles came spilling down, closing the road to traffic. Train cars were overturned for several miles and detectives and railroad crews were in town for a week cleaning up the wreckage. The track was cleared in a remarkably short time, and rail traffic resumed.