| Show fields near the Reynolds farm Samuel tanned the deerskins himself into buckskin He used the bark of the oak tree for the second soaking solution as it was more available but other tree bark could also be used He told Elmo that buckskin could be wet down and smoothed out to dry and it would return to soft original not hard and dry like other leathers After it was tanned it was rolled up and used as needed for gloves vests shoe laces and other items Samuel always asked if anyone needed new shoelaces if they did he used his pocket knife to cutstraight thin shoelace for them He was alsotrapper making some of his livelihood by trapping muskrats man came around to buy the cured stretched skins Samuel showed Elmo and his brother Glenn how to cure and stretch the skins so they could eam some extra money He could trap rabbits and pigeons with box and string In early years he and his family lived in the house Lowell and Hannah Martin now live in in Chester They traded houses with the Kump family whose house was north of Chester This new farm was 30 acres 20 acres on the west side of the road which was farm land The ten acres on the east side had the house barn sheds animals pasture garden berry patch peas beets and carrots They had milk cows andbull The bull was kept separate and hadring in his nose Everyone was afraid of him but Samuel He was the one to lead the bull to water saying He wonhurt me and he never did Wilford Allred had the store and post office in Chester but now there was no store Samuel sawneed in the community for the store and decided that would be an opportunity to provide for himself and his sonfamily So the trade was made forbigger house and he builtwooden room on the north side of the brick house This was the new Chester store that began in 1915 the sign over the door said H Martin and Son Grocers Martins did not have the post office it was moved from the Allreds to Jim Christensens who lived on the northeast comer of the Chester intersection By now all four of Samuelchildren were married so he and his wife lived in three rooms on the south side of the house His son wife Ruby and eventually three sons lived in three rooms on the east side and also the two bedrooms upstairs There wasstore storage room between the two families kitchens They lived quite comfortably with six bedrooms two large kitchens and three outside entries besides the store Samuel Henerywife died two years after the store began The store was mostly food notgeneral store like some Food 74 |
