My Father's sister, Mina Cress

My Father's sister,  Mina Cress.

Mina Cress was born Sept 1 1874 the second child of Sarah Hagerman and Jacob Cress.  She had an older sister Angelina then Mina then Daisy and May, two brothers John  and Lafayette.  They were born near Toddville Iowa and in the same vicinity were  her parents Angelina Gray Hagerman and Amariah Hagerman,her brothers Jim Hagerman, Robert Hagerman ,George Hagerman and her sister Ellen and husband Billy Beggs.  I think that all the families homesteaded in that area.  The parents of Angelina Hagerman came to Iowa in about 1840.

Angelina's mother Sarah Howe died in 1834 and is buried in the family burial ground near Mainesburg Penn.  Her grandparents came into Pennsylvania in 1798 and settled in Gray Valley Sullivan Twp Tioga County.  Her grandfather was a veteran of the war of 1776 and he bought 1000 acres in Gray Valley and was one of the first settlers there.

Mina's father Jacob Cress was born in 1849 and his parents Lydia Neighbor and John Cress came into Iowa about the same time that is the early 1840s.  Lydia's mother came west out of Newcomers town Ohio with 8 of her children.  The Neighbors were early Germans of New Jersey and they came to America in about 1733 and settled west of New York City near and around Dover New Jersey. 

The Cress family came out of around the Richmond Virginia area and they came into Iowa in the 1840s.  They had several children Jacob ,Mansfield,  Phillip ,Mary and Marilda.  I have a lot of info about them and also about the Hagermans and the Grays.  That is just a little background.

Mina married Elmer Flickinger on Mar 18 1896..to this union 4 children were born. Carl Flickinger Oct 23 1898 died 11-26-05, Mary Etta Flickinger Feb 26 1897 died Mar 29 1897, John Flickinger Sept 11 1901 Died Jan 16 1908. And Sylvia Flickinger born Apr 11 1908.

I have a picture of Mina and Elmer with Carl and Johnnie and it was a lovely young family.  The boys died with either whooping cough or I think diphtheria.  So many young people died back in the early 1900s with those diseases.  Sylvia was born shortly after Johnnie died and I hate to think what Mina went through in those days.  She had lost her sister Angelina and her sister Daisy in about 1905 with child birth fever.  

I do not have the date that Elmer Flickinger died but my father said that he was a strong man and that he suddenly started loosing weight and died with some kind of cancer.  That left Mina a widow and she took in washing in Center Point to support herself and Sylvia.  Then Charles Kimball lost his wife and Mina went to work as his housekeeper and they later married.  I do not have that date either.  Charles and Mina came to Elk City probably about 1918 or 19 and settled there.  Charles had a couple of girls that Mina helped raise and I understand that they were very fond of Mina and they used to come to Elk City and take her down to Dallas to stay for a while.  I understand that they married well and had some extra money.

I will tell you a story about when the kids were growing up in Iowa.  I was out visiting with Mina and she said that when the kids were young the boys were out swimming in the Cedar river naked.  The girls went down to the banks and took the boys clothes so they could not get to them easy.  John stayed in the eater but my dad Lafe came out naked and got his clothes.  We laughed and laughed about that.  Mina was probably 80 years old at that time.

My cousin Ann said that the only sibling Mina ever talked about was my father.  I remember as a child that they always exchanged Christmas cards and caught up with each other at that time.  I know one time Mina came back to Iowa and my father had not seen her for 35 years.  

I went out to see Mina when I was 18 years old and visited for 4 or 5 days.  Laverna had just got married and she was the same age as I.  Lylus was about 13 and was a real live wire.  Charles was maybe 14   and Ann was about 8 and she hated to go to school.  I was probably the only contact that they had with Mina's family.  I think the Scott cousins stopped when they were on the way some where else.  I still have one of the letters Mina wrote to me and I treasure it dearly.

About 30 years ago I was talking to a retired druggist here in Ponca City and he said he was from Elk City.  I asked him if he knew Charles Kimball and her said.  Oh yes..when I was a kid I used to polish his shoes in Elk City.  He said I had not thought of him in many years.  It is a small world indeed.

I am including a couple of recipes that I think came from my grandmother Cress.  Peggy said there were my aunt Mina's and she thought they might be my grandmothers. So one way or the other they are family recipes.

Pound cake

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar Beat until fluffy

Add 6 eggs one at at time

Then 2 cups flour

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp lemon extract.  

Put in angel food cake pan which has been sprayed with oil and then line with parchment paper

Bake 300 degree oven 30 minutes then

Bake in 325 degree oven for 50 minutes.

The other receipt is for baking powder biscuits I know they are my grandmothers as my Mother could not make biscuits and my dad went down to Toddville when they were first married and brought his Mother out to their house to help my Mother learn how to cook.  They laughed about that all their married life.

For each cup of flour add 2 tsp baking powder.  The add pure cream for shortening and liquid.  Mix and roll out and that is all.  Bake in hot oven.  They used wood burning stoves and they got them hot.  Suppose in modern stove would be 425 for about 15 mins more or less.  They had plenty of milk and cream and they sure used it for cooking.

That is about all I can think of for now.  Enjoy the read..Cousin Deloris