acres of land adjoining that left to his mother after the death of his father. The land cost only sixty five dollars and already had a log cabin on the property. Milton and Florence moved into the cabin, and their first eight children Were born in that cabin. Two of these children died in infancy, and Alpha Omega was the last child to be born in the log cabin. Land prices had been depressed after the end of the civil war since many large holdings were being broken up and sold because there were no slaves to work the land. After land prices recovered Milton sold off fifteen acres for his original purchase price of sixty five dollars and used this money to buy the salvage lumber from the old DeWitt school house. Milton hauled this lumber to his farm and built the sixteen by twenty four foot two room frame house in which his youngest four children were born. Alpha Omega had been the last child to be born in the original log cabin. The author remembers the frame house well since it comprised the principal part of the "L" shaped house into which my parents moved in the spring of 1936.
It was about the time of the birth of Alpha Omega that Milton underwent a change in his life style. He was converted at a camp meeting, and from that time onward he gave up his reckless way of life for one of Bible study and prayer. For a time Milton even ordered that his family give up the eating of pork to the dismay of his family since pork had been the principal meat for the household. This change in Milton's attitude can also be seen as he named his next two children Alpha Omega and Beulah Land. Milton soon began teaching the men's Bible class in the Olive Branch Baptist Church, a task which he continued for many years. Neither of the life styles however left him much time for serious farming activities.
On this farm Milton and Florence raised twelve children, ten of which lived to adulthood. Milton evidently did not apply himself very seriously to the business of farming, and most of the responsibility and work of providing for the children fell to Florence. She organized much of the family work, supervised the extensive gardening operation and the drying and preservation of fruits and vegetables. She also helped neighbors in the butchering and meat curing operations, and often received a share for her labor. Milton's mother, Nancy, also contributed cured hams, preserved fruits and vegetables as well as corn meal when the family was in need. Florence's Sister, Almeda Jane Kneedler, also helped the family by providing a home in Kansas City where the oldest daughter, Willa, went to work when she left the farm. The Kneedlers later helped Alpha to find work in Kansas City, and Beulah also stayed with them when she was in nursing training in a Kansas City hospital. When the second daughter, Edna, died leaving three small children, aged twelve, seven and one, Florence took them into her home for a time. The oldest daughter, Willa, had married Herbert Laudenburger whom she had met while working in Kansas City. They moved to Montrose, Colorado where Herbert worked in the land office of the Bureau of Reclamation. Herbert died in Colorado in 1915, and Willa brought her children back to Missouri, where the family lived for a time in a small house built in the southwest corner of the farm.