CHAPTER ONE
There were no Interstates in 1876. By trail or train, you just toughed your way through it. The best thing about the trip, there was a lot of scenery, but, my, it passed by so slowly. And, in those days, there were very few round trips. Once there one built a house or cabin and stayed awhile. A long while. That's the way it worked with the Barwise family. There were many lonesome days and nights before Papa and Mama and the kids got used to the idea.
Joe Barwise must have looked forward to the day of departure. The family home sat looking out across a landscape that was flat, made that way by the flooding and draining of the Mississippi, Illinois and Missouri Rivers. He was a farmer as were all of his neighbors. Long ago the name originated in England, probably was spelled Barwiss. The name and its owner landed in this country in New York--the subdivision called Brooklyn.
I don't have records of their early life in this country. But, like all pioneers of that era, it was westward movement. It was the only way to go.
My name is Howard DeMere. I never met either of my great grandparents, but I wish I had.
J. H. Barwise was a tough man, a true pioneer.
There is snow on the ground, on the trees and all around our house at 352 North Forsyth in Clayton Gardens, Missouri. That's the address of the house where we live in suburban St. Louis and have lived at this address since we maried, Nancy and I, in 1974.
ReplyDeleteToday is January 12, 2011. As all my life, I wait restlessly for warm weather. It always comes, as it did in Wichita Falls, Texas, where I was born in 1925.
My mother, Nina Barwise DeMere, frequently commented on my pleasure at seeing the winter pass and warm weather come. As a child, my major concern was always weather-related when I would say, Mother, can I go out and play?"
From this point, some rough spots will be explored, commented on and some will be explained.
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What's in a name? I think it was Shakespeare who said, "A rose by any other name would be just as sweet." The name in this case is Barwise, just a name, neither bitter nor sweet. It's important, nonetheless,to all who were born with it and handed it down from generation. I regret from time to time that it bad to be changed by marriage--to DeMere in my case. And, another Barwise girl became a Carrigan. Interesting. Custom. Tradition.
ReplyDeleteLast Name: Barwise