About John
John lived with his parents until he was sixteen in Illinois. He attended the Northern Indiana Normal Business Institute in Valparaiso, Indiana. He studied various subjects and excelled in public speaking. He was involved in debate. He attended the business college for a year, during which time his brothers, George and Jeff, made plans to move to Iowa. John joined his brothers in Iowa and began farming. The brothers settled east of Waterloo where the quarry is on Donald St. near Dewar and farmed land that is now Porky's Country Club and the Highland area in Waterloo.
John was approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall and in later years weighed over 200 pounds. He had red curly hair and was left handed. He had a rather gruff nature that hid a sensitive side. Whenever his children speak of him, it comes out clearly that he was a very intelligent man.
For many years, he had an avid interest in politics. John received the Congressional Record and read it faithfully. At various times, he was affiliated with both major political parties. He ran on the Republican ticket for state representative, but was defeated. John Gwynne, the U.S. Congressman from the district in which the Rigdons lived, was John's friend. He encouraged John to lobby in Washington, D.C. to get a high tax on butter and lard substitutes as part of a farm recovery plan. John got a new suit and a new set of false teeth to get ready for his trip. In 1935, and again in 1936, John took the train to Washington. When he came home after the second trip, he was disillusioned and at one point said that he hoped none of his children or grandchildren would get involved in politics.
His favorite politician seemed to be Franklin D. Roosevelt. John received a reply from Roosevelt, then Governor of New York, concerning the idea of unused land being planted to timber in order to create jobs. The letter was dated January 2, 1932, before Roosevelt was nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate. Between March and June of 1933, Roosevelt set up the New Deal to provide programs to help the jobless, including the Civilian Conservation Corps where men worked to conserve natural resources which included planting trees.
John was a risk-taker. When it came to farming he read about the latest advances and wasn't afraid to try new things. Not all of his ventures were successful, but he wasn't afraid to try. He also spoke up for what he believed in, even if it wasn't the popular view. One example was his opposition to the compulsory testing of cattle for T.B. John did public speaking on the topic, and in a speech he made to a group in Waverly, Iowa, presented evidence from the Pasteur Institute that humans drinking milk from a tubercular cow developed an immunity to tuberculosis in the human form. He felt the law was basically set up to create jobs for veterinarians. "It has been said that if a law were passed, putting all of the Ames graduates on an island where they could do no harm, it would be one of the best laws on the books," John Rigdon said to a group of over 200 farmers. (Taken from an article appearing in the Waterloo Courier, February 12, 1930.) The case was carried to the Supreme Court.
John experienced many changes over his life including moving from horses to the Model T which was cranked and run with foot pedals. The family acquired a Chrylser from Jay with a hand shift and John didn't drive for the longest time because he didn't know how to hand shift. Russell got the job of trying to teach his father to drive that car. The story is he never mastered it.
John did not drink alcohol and did not have it in the house. Apparently, other members of his family drank enough for him, too. In 1939 the family went to Michigan to visit their relatives who lived there. A picnic was held in their honor, and for the first time John's children saw him drink a beer. They were shocked and afraid he would get drunk. That was the first and the last time anyone saw him drink.
John always carried a pocket watch and would fascinate the children when he would take it out to check the time. His favorite radio program was Amos and Andy. He taught Norma how to play checkers, pitch and rummy when she was recovering from a blood clot. John believed in hard work. One of his favorite sayings was "It's better to wear out than rust out." John also had the habit of taking a short nap after the noon meal. Just fifteen to thirty minutes and then he'd be ready to go back to work. He kept Black Jack gum in the top drawer of the buffet. When the grandchildren realized that they stood by the buffet and gave their Grandpa a special look, and he would come over and ask in a gruff voice, "What do you want?" He would open the buffet and give them a stick of gum, and right then, they thought he was the greatest guy in the world.
In 1941, John sought medical attention for a growth under his eye which turned out to be malignant. He had surgery in the Iowa City hospital where they had to remove his eye. He had dangerously high blood pressure. In October the family returned from a hand corn picking contest and found John suffering from a terrible nose bleed that would not stop. He was hospitalized. He suffered a stroke on October 26, 1941, while in the hospital, and died on November 4, 1941, two days after his 64th birthday.
About Anna
Anna attended school until she was about through the eighth grade. In February 1898 her mother passed away, and her father's death came in June of 1899. All the Barron children quit school and went to work. Anna found work in Waterloo, on South St. taking care of an elderly couple for three years.
One of Anna's many talents was to play the organ. She played hymns on the organ or piano while her daughters sang along. She was self-taught and played the organ in church as a girl. She attended a church on Elk Run Road north of Donald Street. The church was moved to Dewar and eventually became the Dewar Hall. The cemetery where Anna's parents were buried was unattended and sold as part of an acreage and has since become part of the owner's yard.
She did not have the same interest in politics as her husband. Jack, as she so fondly called John, would always discuss politics when there was company. She once said, "No matter if the Democrats or Republicans got in office, I had to work just as hard and never had any more money."
Anna was a hard worker and a wonderful cook. A typical breakfast would be oatmeal, sausage and eggs, potatoes, and milk. All prepared after she had gotten the cook stove going and then gone out to milk cows. Her specialty was lemon pie. Just think of what it would be like cooking for a family of fourteen! No matter how hard times were, there was always a good meal at the Rigdon home.
Needlework was another specialty. With growing children, she was kept busy with mending, making or altering their clothes to make them last as long as possible. In later year, she took up crocheting and was adept at counting stitches and talking at the same time. Every family had one of her doilies adorning a table. She would always sit with her legs straight out, crossed at the ankles -- never the knees -- with her project on her lap.
Anna liked to collect things. She kept the lovely hankies she had received throughout the years and treasured all of her lovely cards by putting them in scrapbooks. She also kept a scrapbook of all events that her family was involved in that were published in the newspaper. Anna also kept track of her family by writing in a diary almost daily until shortly before she died. She wrote about the weather and who visited or what she did that day.
She joined Trinity American Lutheran Church in Waterloo. In later years she left her home on Lincoln St. and moved in with Ethel and Bill Erpelding and their family. Using that as her home base, she spent time in each of her adult children's home. Sometimes she would go for a visit, but often times she would go where she was needed. Since Anna was used to keeping busy, she would cheerfully tackle chores that needed to be done. Two things she would faithfully do were clean the stove and the refrigerator. Wherever there were boys, there were holes. She made the neatest patches you ever saw.
Anna liked the "news". Not necessarily what was going on in the country, but what was going on in the lives of the people she cared about. She always wrote letters, and loved to receive them. Whenever she was in the Dunkerton area, she called Mrs. Gosse to catch up on what they were doing. She never forgot a birthday or anniversary.
Anna Rigdon had so many great qualities, including patience, ambition, devotion to her family, and many others. She also showed a lot of integrity. As she traveled from home to home, she always passed on the "news", but you never heard her criticize how each family lived their lives. That is probably why she was always so welcome.
Their Lives Together
Anna E. Barron and John H. Rigdon were united in marriage on February 25, 1903. They moved on a farm about three miles east of Waterloo on what is now Independence Avenue. John farmed the land with horses and built the barn that is currently there. During that time, it is thought that he worked in or ran a meat market in Waterloo. They lived on that farm for four years and while there had three children -- Lee, Neal and Ruth. In 1907 the family left Iowa to start a new life in Texas. They spent six years in Texas and one year in New Mexico. They traveled by train, taking their furniture and other possessions with them, to manage a hotel in what was then Virginia City near Muleshoe in Bailey County. M. C. Vaughan, a land developer in Waterloo, started the Vaughan Land Co. which specialized in bringing prospective farm purchasers to Bailey Co. When they arrived they stayed in the hotel that John and Anna ran. During the Texas years, three more Rigdon children were born -- Jay, Ethel and Myrtle. The older children attended a school some distance away. The teacher lived in the hotel and drove a horse drawn wagon to school and the school-aged children rode with her. Eventually the land deal went bad. The hotel closed. The Rigdon family moved across the border to New Mexico on a 160 acre farm and lived there for about a year. In December of 1914, the family came back to Waterloo by train but were unable to bring home their furniture. In 1936, John and other family members returned to Portales, New Mexico and found the house where they had lived and it is said that the Rigdon's furniture was still there, even Anna's pump organ.
In December of 1914 John and Anna and their six children returned to Iowa and made their home at 121 Smith St. in Waterloo. The following month their seventh child, Russell, was born. During that time, John worked at the Young Coal Co. A short term later, the family moved to a 240 acre farm seven miles east of Waterloo known as the Gibson farm. It, too, is located on Independence Ave. They lived there for five years. The children attended school at Barclay Country School #5 and went to Sunday School at the Presbyterian Church nearby. John built the corn crib that is still there. Another child joined the family, Irene and another was on the way, when the family moved again. In March of 1920, John and Anna and their now eight children moved to the Edward's place located on Donald St. near Idaho St. About four weeks later, Ruby was born. John's brother, Jeff and his wife, Mattie, had lived on the 180 farm for twelve years where they raised sweet corn for the canning company. It was owned by Dora Whitney Edwards. A year after the new set of Rigdons moved in, Mrs. Edwards built a new house on the farm for the renters to live in. What a treat! It was a big two-story house with cement block basement with a coal and wood furnace. Eventually, electricity came to Waterloo, but it wasn't run out that far. Fortunately, the Northeys, a well-to-do family who lived just east of the Edwards' place, wanted electricity and paid to have it run out as far as their place. So the Rigdons got electricity, too. It was a real working farm. The family milked cows, raised pigs, had an incubator where they hatched their own chickens, sold spring fries, and even had their own dairy, called Doraland, right there on the farm. The bottler was run by a one cylinder gas engine and the older girls washed the bottles. Neal, delivered milk in a Model T truck door to door and to some grocery stores. One year they even raised turkeys for Thanksgiving. The whole operation was shared, renter and landlord, each paying and receiving half. John also built a slaughtering house on the farm that was used by the Jewish butchers who ran the Independent Meat Market. They would herd some cattle to the farm, usually on Sunday. The rabbi would bless the animal and then slit its throat, then the meat was cut up in manageable pieces to take to their store. The Rigdon's pay was whatever was left to feed the hogs.
It sounded like a prosperous farm, but it was the 20's. After WW I there was a market surplus and farm prices went down, and there were over 2 million Americans out of work. Most farmers remained in crisis throughout the 1920's. During that time the cost of living nearly doubled. But the Rigdons were survivors, doing what they could to make ends meet. Everyone had to work. One year, while Neal was working for Gamble Robinsons, the Rigdons hauled away the spoiled produce to feed to their hogs, but anything that looked edible was eaten or canned. The family lived on the Edwards' place from 1920 until 1933. While living there, besides Ruby, they had their final three children, Paul, Marie and Norma. Most of the childhood memories are during the time they lived on this farm.
Early in the 1930's, John made a deal with Art Young to rent his place in Barclay township. The lease with Mrs. Edwards had one year to go, so in 1932, Ethel and Russell took part of the livestock and moved to the Young farm. The two farmed the ground as if it was their own. It was a 160 acre farm where they milked cows and raised hogs. The following year, the rest of the family joined them. By that time many of the older children were out on their own, but those remaining at home were in for a shock. No electricity, no furnace, and no new house. But one improvement was the school was much closer, only a quarter of a mile away. Life was eventually made easier with the purchase of a new John Deere B tractor with rubber tires and a two-row cultivator both for $850 in 1936. By then, only the the four youngest children remained at home. The family still milked cows. The cream was separated and taken to the Jesup Creamery. They usually had a hired man who worked for his room and board and a little extra.
In 1937, John and Anna bought their first farm for $6000, 80 acres on Highway 57. They also rented another 80 acres nearby. Paul helped his father farm. The Inner/urban on the W.C.F. and N. went right by their land. Anna finally had easy access to downtown Waterloo. The electric train, which ran on a regular schedule, would stop wherever people were standing and take them to the depot near Lincoln Park. Anna enjoyed shopping at Black's Department Store where she would sometimes leave Norma in the balcony to guard packages only to return to find her asleep.
In 1941, John died of a stroke at the age of 64. Anna remained on the farm, and Paul got a deferment from the army so that he could work the land for his mother. With WW II going strong, Paul wanted to enlist, so Anna sold the farm and moved to 1247 Lincoln St., Waterloo. She paid $6,500 for the house there. In 1950, she moved in with Ethel and Bill Erpelding in rural Jesup.
Anna had surgery in 1961, and died March 21, 1962, in the Allen Convalescent Home from cancer. She was 80 years old.
Credits
Information about John and Anna Rigdon and their family is primarily taken from the "We Are Family -- Memories Are Made Of This" book prepared by Linda Rigdon Shatzer, with help and input from aunts, uncles and cousins, for the 50th Rigdon Family Reunion in July of 1995.