The Sheep and the Tar Baby or A Woman’s Work is Never Done

I bought my daughter a sheep for Christmas.  No, we don’t actually have a four legged baaing creature tethered in the back yard, but we do have an entire fleece from one sheep.  It arrived in a large box in all its multicolored, lanolin rich, greasy, smelly glory.

One snowy New England day Sara and I stayed home together and did women’s work.  Sara has been spinning and knitting and generally working with wool for years.  Now she is taking the process of turning a sheep into sweater one step further back. As Sara washed some of the wool and carded it I made several loaves of dark rye bread that we have come to call the tar baby.  Never have I worked with such sticky dough.  I added flour and kneaded and prodded and scrapped dough off of my hands and every surface it had been in contact with and then did it again and again and again.  Ultimately a shower, a complete change of clothing and a load of laundry were required and I won’t even tell you about the kitchen clean up.

At the end of a pleasant day together we had a fluffy pile of snow white wool ready to be spun into yarn, perhaps enough to make one sock, two delicious loaves of slightly sweet, chewy dark bread, and the certain knowledge that if we had been responsible for caring for a family on a farm in the 1880’s we would all be both naked and hungry.

The sheer volume of work those women did is staggering and our relaxed day of craftiness in our centrally heated home complete with stand mixer, dish washer and washing machine certainly made me appreciate it.

If you are still reading by now you are probably saying to yourself, “I thought this was a genealogy blog.”  It is, and all this domestic bliss put me in mind of our ancestor, Annie Costello, and her story. Credit for the research for much of this story goes to our cousin Dick who has worked on the family genealogy for years.

Follow the link to see a timeline of Annie’s life and the events that surrounded and informed it.

But 1883 brought Annie what were perhaps her most difficult moments.  On February 22, 1883 John D relinquished his homestead claim, selling his land to J.D. Irvine.

In the words of the commissioner of the Colfax Land Office here is Annie’s story.

“ In support of said application it is alleged that John Costello is a confirmed and habitual drunkard and sold and relinquished said homestead while in a state of intoxication; that the improvements upon the premises where procured with her earnings and that the support of the family, embracing several minor children, devolves entirely upon her.  It is also alleged that J.D. Irvine to whom Costello sold, filed DS2993 for said tract March 26 alleging settlement February 24, 1883, but had not improved or established his residence upon the land prior to filing. …If Mrs. Costello however desires to make an entry in her own right as the head of the family, the filing of Irvine is not a bar to her application.”

Mrs. Costello did indeed wish to make an entry in her own name and was successful in doing so, retaining her land and her 12 by 20 foot home for herself and her children.

Annie and John were divorced in 1898, but continued to live together until his death.  I believe she pursued the divorce to protect her land and her family, not to abandon her husband of 31 years.

Annie found work wherever she could, while her son John T and perhaps her husband managed the farm. On Dec. 5, 1890 Annie received her Final Certificate fulfilling the requirements of the homestead grant and allowing her to receive a final patent for the land from the federal government in 1891.  She had saved her farm and her home and secured her children’s futures. But Annie wasn’t finished pursuing her dream of a prosperous farm.  In 1893 she bought an adjacent 160 acres from a neighbor.  Then in 1901 she obtained another 160 acres from the Northern Pacific Railroad.

John D died in 1903, his obituary states, “Mr. Costello was one of the pioneers of that section and had the reputation of being the best farmer in that country.”

Annie and John D.’s descendants have multiplied and prospered.  The original farm outside of Sprague remains in family hands to this day.  Members of this family live in many states and countries around the world.  They all owe their success to the strength and perseverance of one remarkable woman who refused to give up her dream.