https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/d049294c69215f9970ac6115a19c254d.pdf 25f6f3552c5f11d93f65680fc04be86f PDF Text Text LOUISA (Shaffer) HARTIG Louisa's father was a Shaffer. Her mother was a Kinsloe whose line can be traced back to 1777. Lucy Kinsloe was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1856. Her father, John Bannister Gibson Kinsloe was a newspaper publisher in Knoxville who later moved to Lockhaven, Pennsylvania, where he published the Lockhaven Review and the Clinton Republic. Al Carlisle College in Pennsylvania Lucy met Duncan Shaffer. When they were married, Lucy and Duncan moved to Frostburg, Maryland, where the Shaffer's had a well established business. Frostburg is a small town (smaller than Durango) located in the narrow segment of western Maryland between Pennsylvania and West Virginia. This is Allegheny Mountain Country rich in the history of the Revolution and of the Civil War. "Everyplace you go is either up or down," Louisa says. Since the mountains there are rich in bituminous coal, mining was the chief industry when Louisa's parents settled in Frostburg. The quality of the coal was such that it was prized by the shipping lines for their coal burning vessels. "The whole area is underlain with a network of mine tunnels," Louisa explains. "However, the town itself was clean and neat. All the mining works were located out away from the town. My father and his brothers jointly owned the H.B. Shaffer Co. They sold dry goods, groceries, harness, millinery and household supplies. The business also had an area for grain storage, a mill and a carriage house. I remember the time years later when the old Opera House burned, It was just across the street from our business and was such a hot fire. My dad and uncles poured water on the roof of our place until the danger had passed." "My parents owned one of the historic old houses in town. It had a large front porch with pillars and seven bedrooms, but no modern conveniences - no bath, electricity, or gas. However, we had one convenience few people can afford anymore - hired help. Enzie Garletz maintained the house. She cleaned, did washing and ironing and most of the cooking. Jim Wilhelm was the handyman. He maintained the yard, brought in fuel and supplies, did repairs and took care of the horses and the buggies. Aunty Powell was the midwife who helped bring me into the world. On occasions she took care of us when my parents were away. When my brothers Henry and Francis and I were still small children, we had a goat which could pull a little red cart with a red harness. Once in a while Jim would hitch up the goat and away we would go down the alleys. I don't believe we were ever allowed on the streets with this animal." "My parents were very strict and quite old fashioned. I was never allowed to go to carnivals or Saturday night dances. I was never allowed to work in the store. Young "ladies" didn't do things like that. Being a "lady" in that lime and in that part of the country involved a whole list of "does" and "don'ts" which might seem ridiculous to most people today. Of course, not knowing any different, I accepted all the restrictions as normal and had a very happy childhood. Dad eventually sold the old house. We moved for two reasons. One was to get off Main Street. The other was to acquire plumbing, electricity and gas. It was great to have these conveniences." 74 �'J 'J 'J 'J 'J J J J l ) ) ) ' ' ) ") ') ) ) "Every year we hitched up the horses for our annual picnic at Cook's Mill, a creek and woodsy area about 10 miles north of Frostburg across the Pennsylvania line. Cook's Mill was a beautiful stream. We ate, romped in the water, ran in the woods and played games. Even though it was only 10 miles, it was an all day trip. I always felt sorry for the horses in that country - up and down hill everywhere we went." "The 4th of July was a big deal, too. Dad would buy each of us 'a poke of fireworks' and turn us loose." "When the First World War started, I was about 12 years old. Once a week the ladies and girls in Frostburg got together to knit caps and coats for the Belgian Babies." "The crash in 1929 hit our family hard as it did everyone. We got fifteen cents on the dollar for whatever was in the bank. During the years following, Dad's brothers died one by one. Finally he sold out the business. The building was bought by the Knights of Columbus and used for their meetings until it burned down a few years ago." "In High School I started dating. My boyfriends and I went to the Nickelodeon shows at the Palace and the Lyric Theaters. Sometimes we went to the Vaudeville shows at the old Opera House. When the circus came, we had to go to Cumberland to see it. This was a trip of 11 miles and down hill all the way." ) ) ) ) ) ) ) _) .J __J __J ...) ...) _) ...) ..J ....) ...) J J J J ....) ....) Louisa and Martin Hartig were married in Baltimore in 1925. For years Martin was a foreman at the Frostburg Cellunise Corporation, which manufactured artificial silk. He changed jobs during the Second World War to the Blue Ribbon Bread Co. During the war the windows of the plant were all painted black and all the homes in town had blackout drapes. Whenever the air raid alarms went off at night everything was blacked out in town. Any household showing a light was fined. The ladies in town got involved in hospital work for the war effort. ''We made stretcher pads for the battlefront out of layers of lace curtains contributed by the families in the county - and we made maroon slippers and robes for the Red Cross." "Before and after the war Martin and I did a lot of traveling. We went to Quebec, Canada, once and to Williamsburg and other points south. Martin was a big football fan . Since our town was halfway between Washington and Pittsburgh, we took our pick on the weekends of which place to go." The Hartigs have one daughter, Lucy. In 1953 Lucy and her husband became parents of twin girls, Marta and Marsha. Their grandfather, Martin, was especially proud because the girls were born on his birthday, November 1oth. When the twins were a little over two years old, their parents moved to Alamogordo, New Mexico. After a few months went by, Martin said, "What do you think about moving to New Mexico?" Louisa replied, "If that's what you want to do, let's go." "We lived in Alamogordo 10 years and liked it. At first we especially enjoyed the warm climate year round, but gradually we began to miss the changing of the seasons. When the kids moved up to Colorado, we came too, and have liked it very much. The climate and snow and changing seasons are much more like our old home in Maryland. We did 75 �a lot of traveling in the west once we lived here - to Carlsbad and Mexico and Grand Canyon and Yellowstone - all good times." Martin died suddenly on June 4, 1971. A few months later Louisa sold their home in the country and moved into Ignacio. She is an active participant in all the senior citizen's activities in this area. Every Tuesday afternoon for the past 5 years she has taught knitting and crocheting at the senior center. There are things Louisa likes about the East and things she likes about the West and there certainly are differences, she says. "For one thing, here it's not who you are, it's what you've done that counts." March, 1977 - Shelby Smith 76 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Louisa (Shaffer) Hartig Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1977-03 Subject The topic of the resource Hartig, Louisa (Schaffer); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Louisa (Schaffer) Hartig based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the March, 1977 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hartig, Louisa (Schaffer) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 3 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby