Did You Know This About Geary County History?”
By Dr. Ferrell Miller
Geary County Historical Society Board Member
“Difficult Times Require Sacrifices”
During the Great Depression and WWI flour companies began to pack flour in colorful fabrics. Once the flour had been used, women turned the sacks into clothing.
People make sacrifices during times of need for their country, state, county, community or for individuals. We can only imagine there were people who resisted, but eventually the majority did and will also do the right thing in our time.
During WWI and II each American shopper signed a pledge promising not to buy, hoard or use more than 3 pounds of sugar per month. Coffee, meat, cheese, milk, clothing, shoes, canned goods, tires, processed foods, gasoline/fuel and metal were also rationed.
Every American on the home front was issued a series of ration books. The ration books contained removable stamps good for certain rationed items. No one could buy a rationed item without also giving the grocer the correct ration stamp. If you ran out of tokens, you could not buy more until the next month. This meant strict meal planning and innovation for families to make it through the month.
Americans were told to buy it with thought; cook it with care; use less wheat and meat; buy local foods. Serve just enough and use what is left – don’t waste it.
For brides preparing their wedding dresses in the 1940s, the war rationing made traditional white dresses an expensive luxury. Some brides opted to wear their best dress – white or otherwise – to help conserve fabric. Wedding suits and colored dresses were an alternative to the traditional white gown. One trend involved sewing dresses out of the white silk of parachutes after the war ended.
When SGT Charles Jewell returned from the Philippines, he brought home pina fabric made from pineapple fibers for his bride to be – Anna Matilda Oesterhaus. This fabric was used to create clothes for her wedding trousseau.
Rationing became a part of the image of patriotism. Posters, newspapers articles and radios praised those who used rationing to help with the war effort. A common phrase used during WWII was “Do with less, so they’ll have enough”. In difficult times individual sacrifices are necessary for the good of all!!!
“John and Ruth Keys Were Early Settlers”
John and Ruth Keys were married in the state of New York in 1854. They decided to move out west and first lived in Iowa before coming to Kansas in the spring of 1860.
The Keys stopped in Junction City where they purchased a land warrant for $200, which entitled them to 160 acres of unclaimed land. They settled in the Chapman Creek area. There wasn’t a drop of rain all that summer. John and Ruth slept in their covered wagon with their nearest neighbor being three miles away and Native Americans roaming about the area.
One day John went to Junction City to get supplies and did not return until the following day. While he was gone and just before dark, a band of Native Americans came by and asked Ruth if the big chief, meaning Ruth’s husband, was in the wagon. Ruth led them to believe that he was, so they left and didn’t bother her. However, they did set up camp so close that Ruth could hear them snoring as they slept.
As a result of a drought and John’s ill health, the family gave up the farm and moved into Junction City where Ruth lived on the same block for nearly fifty years. She raised two sons, but both died within a month of each other in 1906. Her husband, John, had passed on many years before she died in 1915. Ruth was buried in Highland Cemetery in July of 1915.