Pioneer Day -- WHO Sr.

Last week and this week, I am working on my great-great-grandpa's journal. His name is William Hans Oblad (WHO), Senior. Pretty cool, right?

This guy tells some pretty great stories about growing up in pioneer days. It is incredible to read about all the things that he did. For example, he and his friends used to catch stray chickens, kill them, cover them with clay from the ground, cook them in a backyard stove, and when they were done, he says "the clay would come off and take all the feathers with it" so they didn't have to pluck it. ...what?!?! Then they would eat it, of course.

WHO also got shot at a couple of times - by the same kid. The first time the kid just missed, the other time, he killed one of WHO's best friends. This is when they were children - between the ages of 9 and 12. I can't even imagine something like that. Most especially since they were so young. Wow.

One of my favorite stories was when WHO went on a trip as a young man. I'm not really sure of the age, but it was well before he got married, so I'm guessing he was in his late teens. He had three notable experiences that he shared.

One: WHO and his friends went out for a walk and found a woman sleeping under a tree. Well, there was also a rattlesnake on her chest. So, one of his friends took aim, and shot and killed the rattlesnake. The lady was fine. Scared, but fine.

Two: It's better in his own words: "Afterwords, we struck an open place with a hole in the center filled with leaves. Some of the boys poked into this hole with their bayonets and disturbed a bed of rattle snakes. They came crawling out and hissing and striking at everything. We boys backed away and circled the opening and all shot and shot again into this mass of snakes. It was lucky that none of us hit from bouncing bullets. When the smoke cleared away, there was a bunch of dead snakes (some 18 or 20 snakes). I got 7 sets of rattles ranging from 5 to 13 rattles."

Three: Later that night, they didn't like the music playing in the dance hall, so they found a piano and two of the guys brought out a guitar and a mandolin, and they started playing more up-to-date music that they enjoyed. After they had been playing for a while, the entire crowd from the dance hall came over and danced to their music instead.

Basically... I have loved going through this journal. I am typing it up so that we can have a digital copy as well as make copies for everyone in the family. It is a fascinating work. However, I realized yesterday that it is not all fun and games. He talks for a lot about polygamy in the early days of the LDS Church and his feelings towards it. He talks about needing money for an operation for his wife and not being able to get it. Things like that that are so hard to read, and type up for others to read. I want to skip those pages and move on to the fun. But then, it wouldn't be a real record of William H. Oblad's life.

I guess it just goes to show that sometimes there are wonderful experiences in our lives - things that make for great and unbelievable stories to share around the campfire. But there are always going to be hard things in life, too. You can't have one without the other and to pretend that a person didn't have struggles that made them stronger. To do so is to make a person half of what he was. I am so so grateful for my great-great-grandpa and for his honesty in his journal-keeping. It is such a treasure to have and I can't wait to read the last two-thirds of it. He has an incredible mind for detail and remembering things that I wouldn't have even thought important. But those things are there for a reason. I'm sure of it. I can't wait to learn more.

Happy Pioneer Day!!