Being our best: Struck by lightning.

Axel and Lillian Davidson Wedding Photo

My Grandfather, Axel Constance Davidson, came to this country in 1908 at the age of 18 from Silverdahlen, Sweden to avoid being drafted into the army. His father, Carl Drott, was in the army in Sweden. His uncles, Otto and Andrew Davidson lived in Stanton, NE. Uncle Andrew paid for Axel's passage over to the USA, where he entered the country through Ellis Island. He changed his name from Drott to Davidson when he arrived in the US.
     Axel worked for Uncle Andrew for several years to pay back the money for his passage here. He and my Grandmother, Lillian Amelia Kingsley Davidson, worked for and lived with Andrew after their marriage.
    Andrew was a bachelor and very tight with his money, therefore relatively well to do. He would change the coffee grounds he used to make coffee only once or twice a week. He would watch while my Grandmother Lillie made the morning bacon to make sure she used no more than 2 slices per person. He remembered that when he came to Stanton, he tried to buy a 79 cent shirt on credit, and the store owner, Mr. Raabe, refused him credit.  However, later on when Mr. Raabe built a new and bigger store with a large fancy opera house above, Uncle Andrew loaned him the money. During the depression, Andrew loaned money to various farmers who were in debt, but if they could not repay him, he did take their farms. Dad didn't know if Andrew was very popular because of this, but he was an astute business man.
     Uncles Otto and Andrew both farmed in Stanton. Another brother, Uncle Peter Davidson, was the John Deere dealer there.  Their sister, a widow named Mrs. Carlson, also lived with one of her brothers for a while and kept house.
     Grandpa Axel's brother David Davidson came over a few years later. He was sponsored by Uncle Otto and farmed for him. Another brother, Carl Drott, the only one not changing his name, eventually settled in Stanton after starting out in South Dakota. A sister, Otilia (Tillie) came over to keep house for one of her bachelor uncles. None of them spoke English before coming here. It must have been a scary voyage over and train trip across country. Each came alone. Great Aunt Tillie was only 17 when she came over. She contracted head lice on the ship. Some nice woman, who she couldn't communicate with due to the language barrier, helped her cut her hair short and wash her head with kerosene.
     My Grandfather Axel, Grandmother Lillie, and their growing family moved to their own farm after a few years. In June, 1931, Grandpa, his son Axel Jr. (my Uncle Bud) age 9, his 2nd son (my uncle) Don age 7, and a hired man were stacking hay. A sudden thunderstorm blew in, and the 2 teams of horses became frightened. The hired man took control of 1 team of horses...the ones pulling the hay sweeper. Grandpa held the bits of the other team of horses...the ones that pulled the stacker up. Lightning struck the horses Grandpa was holding, killing them. Grandpa was holding them by their metal bits so he was struck, also. 7 year old Don was nearby. He was thrown onto the dead horses, but unharmed.
     9 year old Bud ran the mile west to home to call the hospital. The hired man got Grandpa into the team buggy and the remaining team of horses pulled them home.   They gave Grandpa a big shot of whisky so he could make it 25 miles to the hospital in Norfolk, NE, all on dirt roads by car.
     According to my Dad's sister, Arlene, who was 10 at the time and probably remembers, the hospital refused to treat my Grandpa until they had guarantee of payment. This was in the first years of the depression. So Uncle Andrew said he would pay if Axel couldn't. (My Dad was only 4 years old in '31 so doesn't really remember these events, although he is the one narrating them to me).
     Grandpa was burned from the chest down. When they removed his clothing, the skin peeled off along with it. He was in the hospital for 2-3 weeks my Dad thinks.  Dad remembers having big gallon jugs of vaseline in the closet at home. That was all they had to treat him with....slathering him with vaseline. If he had gotten an infection, it would have been all over.
     Grandpa was ill for 6 mo. to maybe a year. He had some type of insurance that paid him a small stipend if he couldn't work. The insurance people kept coming out to check on him to make sure he was still unable to work. Grandpa was so angry at them he never got insurance again.
     Since this was the depression, Uncle Andrew stepped in and paid the mortgage on the farm. They didn't think my Grandpa would survive his injuries, so this was an early inheritance for him. Later when Uncle Andrew died, other relatives inherited farm land, but my Grandpa understandably did not.
     Neighbors stepped in and helped cultivate the corn, put up hay, and do the threshing.
     The depression was tough, everyone was poor. My Grandparents had cows and chickens, and took the cream and eggs to town to sell. Between trips they kept the items cool in the cave (root cellar). They lived on this money.   Grandma Lillie made their bread and butter. She sewed clothing from the bags flour and chicken feed came in.   Dad remembers always wanting Log Cabin Syrup, but all they ever got was dark Karo syrup in a can.
     He does remember they had a beautiful ice box. It was solid oak with silver handles. They got ice from neighbor Walter Muhs' dam.   When the ice got to be 18" thick every winter they'd go cut large chunks and put it in their ice house, which was basically a hole in the ground with a small house over it. They covered the ice with layers of straw to keep it cold.
     Every day they'd have to go find wood and cobs to get a fire going in the stove before making breakfast.   They'd butcher their own meat and smoke it or can it. Sometimes they would salt pork down in a crock and seal the crock with lard, if they didn't cure it. They made a lot of sausage and sometimes had it for breakfast and at noon. There was no such thing as fresh roast beef or fresh meat.
     In the fall they would sell 15-20 calves. With this money they would pay their fuel bills, taxes, vet bills. Everything was paid on an annual basis. So they got by.
     The grocery store only sold dry goods like flour, sugar, and salt, which is about all they bought. There was a bakery in town which people would need to go to every couple of days if they bought bread. There was a butcher.... people would have to visit him every day. There was milk delivery. Most people, especially farm families without electricity, did not have refrigerators.
     Grandpa Axel did recover and lived until 1959. I remember him a little, I was 7 when he died. He always had a Swedish accent. He called my folks "Yimmy and Yune". He liked to visit with people but never talked about his life back in Sweden, even to my Dad. He never got back there to visit.   My Dad, Jim, and Mom, June, moved to the farm in 1950 after their marriage, and Grandpa Axel and Grandma Lillie moved into Stanton. Grandpa Axel would come out to the farm to help out. Grandma Lillie lived until 1979. They did have 1 additional child, LaVonne, born in 1934.