One day, a few years ago, we decided to do a few local geocaches. There was an interesting one nearby in a small town called Eureka. Eureka is between Oshkosh, WI and Berlin WI. Little did we know the connection this would have to me. This is the description of the cache. The home is no longer there but the place on the river where is once was is well marked.
The Day They Gave The Babies Away
The final coordinates will take you to the location of the Eunson Homesite at the base of the Fox River in Eureka. Scottish immigrants Robert and Mamie Eunson were early Wisconsin pioneers. Robert made a comfortable living for his family building boats while Mamie raised their six children. Unfortunately, misfortune soon struck. Robert perished and shortly after, Mamie became ill and passed away leaving the oldest, Robbie, age 12, to fulfill her deathbed request – find the children suitable new homes.
This heart wrenching story of the burden placed upon the young boy as he searches for loving and decent families for his siblings eventually became a short story written by a descendent – Dale Eunson. The story first appeared in an issue of Cosmopolitan under the title “The Day They Gave The Babies Away”, then was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux of New York. The story was also rewritten for the big screen under the title “All Mine To Give” and can still be seen played certain times of the year on classic movie stations.
******The final is at N44° 00.ABC W088° 50.DEF******
AB= The day after the holiday associated with the story
C= The third digit of the year the story appeared in Cosmopolitan
DE= The last two digits of the year the story took place
F= The last digit of the year the movie was released
This description and researching the answers to the questions, mentioned a movie made called "All Mine To Give" based on the Cosmopolitan magazine article. I decided I wanted to watch it. I searched and found it on half.com for a very reasonable price. It wasn't the best movie as far as today's movies. The set and acting have certainly improved since this movie was made. I enjoyed it though, mostly because it was based on a true story.
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The Robbie mentioned in the description became the sheriff in Clark County Wisconsin where I was born. My great grandmother also worked for the Sturdevant family after her husband died in 1906. This is the story about the family that was published in the Clark County Press newspaper and written/compiled by Dee Zimmerman.
As I have said many times, Geocaching has shown us places and told us stories we would have never learned about.
‘The Day They Gave Babies
Away’
(Robert “Robbie” Eunson,
former Clark County Sheriff from 1908 to 1910, at the age of 12 was
designated the task of finding homes for five younger siblings, after the
death of first his father and then his mother. In later years, Eunson’s
son, Dale wrote the story as it had been told to him by his father,
entitled, “The Day They Gave Babies Away.”
Dale Eunson was well known
for his work as a fiction editor of the Cosmopolitan magazine as well as
writer of some of the stories on TV shows such as ‘Little House on the
Prairie, The Walton’s and Leave it to Beaver.’)
Robert String Eunson and wife,
Mamie, married in 1855, left their homeland of Scotland a year later, in
1856. After crossing the Atlantic Ocean, they traveled to Chicago,
America’s heartland city.
Having spent most of their
savings for passage, Eunson had little time to waste in finding work as
their first child was to arrive in three months. While in Scotland, he had
worked as a sailor and ship builder, so he looked for a position in his
trade. He soon found employment in a little town along the Fox River in
eastern Wisconsin. The village had a construction yard where small boats
were built along the river bank; when finished the boats were launched in
the Fox River, floated to Lake Winnebago and onto Green Bay and Lake
Michigan as the Fox River flows south to north, unlike nearby rivers.
The couple moved into a
four-room log house near the river, only a short distance from Eunson’s work
in the boatyard. Their first child, Robert, named after his father, was born
at the newly acquired home. At two-year intervals, two brothers and three
sisters joined Robert, Jr. (Robbie), making a family of six children. There
was Jimmie, Kirk, Annabelle, Elizabeth and Jane; the girls were named after
their mother’s sisters who were living in Scotland.
As soon as the father could, he
went into the boatbuilding business for himself. He began to contract for
small river-lake boats, hiring men to assist him with the work.
The growing town pushed the
forest back from its site. Wisconsin’s vast timberland started being invaded
by the big loggers who realized the fortunes to be made on felling the
virgin growth of towering pine, spruce and maples. New saw mills mushroomed
along rivers and lakes. As winter’s ice thawed in the waterways, rivers
became clogged with floating logs, rushing over rapids, piling up at the dam
sluice gates, herded through the final process of being sawed into siding,
flooring, beams, supports, furniture or other related products made of wood.
The Eunson family witnessed the
Fox River logging activities from their front yard. In the summer, the
river served as their avenue to the rest of the world. Mail arrived from
Scotland, an occasional newspaper from Chicago, and needed supplies came by
boats. Eunson’s newly made boats were launched and sent off all via the
river.
The family worked steadily to
make ends meet in providing for their needs.
In the summer of 1868, son Kirk
came down with Diphtheria. A family conference was held and the decision
made to send the other five children off to live in a vacant cabin in the
woods. Robbie, age 12 and the eldest would care for his siblings. He
walked to the edge of the woods, near town, daily. There a family friend
brought food and news of the sick brother.
After the fifth day, the
children’s father came to tell them that their brother, Kirk had passed the
crisis in his illness and would live. A few days later, they were able to
return to their parents and home along the river.
Three days after their return
home, Robert Eunson, the father, who had lost 15 pounds during the illness
of his son, was stricken with the dreaded disease. Mrs. Pugmeyer, a family
friend, took the children to her home. They never saw their father again; he
died on the fourth night of his illness.
Neighbors and friends were kind
and helpful, but that goes only so far when there is a family to provide
for. Mamie Eunson “took in” sewing as a means of income. When some sewing
jobs required her temporary absence, the older children cared for the
younger ones.
Robbie wanted to quit school and
find employment, but his mother, knowing the importance of education, wanted
him to continue his schooling. After the river froze over in late November,
Robbie would put on his ice skates and travel up and down the river for
miles to visit logging camps. The camps were in full operation seven days of
the week, providing him time to pick up a few pennies by acting as a helper
in the cook shanty. Sometimes he would carry hot soup to the men at noon.
He would sling a strap holding 30 tin cups over his shoulder and carry a
bucket of soup to feed the lumber-jacks.
Mamie Eunson faced lonely times
while trying to provide for her six children. Often, she would be seen
staring out the cabin window, thinking of her family back home in Scotland.
Being a woman of small stature,
just five feet tall, she had previously been wiry and active. After her
husband’s death, she had lost her appetite and eventually couldn’t keep food
down when she did eat. In mid-December, she was struck with a fever,
becoming bedridden.
Though Robbie had promised his
mother he wouldn’t call Dr. Delbert, because of no money to pay him, he
broke his promise when she became delirious. Dr. Delbert came when the
young lad asked and diagnosed her illness as typhoid fever. The doctor told
the children he would come to their home twice a day to check on their
mother.
On the morning of Dec. 23, Mamie
asked Robbie to listen carefully to some instruction she was going to give
him. She took his hand in hers and told him she was going to die. She told
him not to mourn for her, as there wouldn’t be time. Then she told him what
he was to do with the children. There were all nice, good children, she
said, and he could get decent homes for them. Since the responsibility must
be his, he was to decide where they were to be offered. It would be better;
she thought if they were placed with families that had children of their
own. They wouldn’t be so lonesome for each other, that way.
Speechless, Robbie was asked to
nod his head after each statement, designating he understood the
instructions. “You watch out for them,” she said. “You go and see to it as
often as you can that they are taken care of.” He nodded his head.
She then said, “Robbie, you get
a good place for yourself. Promise me.” “I’ll get along all right, Mama.
Don’t you worry about me.” Those were the only words he could say to her.
Mamie Eunson passed away later
that day, and the funeral was the next day. The Delberts and Bradleys,
family friends, discussed where the children should go and what families
could take a child or two into their fold. Young Robbie announced that his
mother had asked him to decide where they were to go.
Robbie asked the two couples to
allow the children to be left alone in their home. The next day, Christmas,
it would be their last chance to be together.
There were no Christmas gifts or
stories. Robbie put the younger children to sleep; by telling them stories
of Scotland, stories told to him by his parents.
After the four younger children
were asleep, Robbie and Jimmie talked. They made a list, written on a paper
bag, of family names in town that they thought would like children, be good
to them and bring them up as if they were their own.
“We won’t wait until the day
after tomorrow,” Robbie said. “But you told Dr. Delbert you would wait,”
said Jimmie.
“I know that. But Mama told me I
was to decide. If I wait, they won’t let me. And tomorrow being Christmas
we ought to get just about anybody we want to take any of us in,” said
Robbie.
He was a little bit ashamed of
himself for appealing to the sentiment of the season, but he knew what he
was about to do.
Howard Tyler was owner of the
livery stable. He owned 12 horses, had four teamsters and an assortment of
rigs for whatever occasion. Robbie had spent many hours at the stable as he
liked horses. Tylers had two boys. Mrs. Tyler was a leader in church doings
and a great organizer.
The Tylers were ready to sit
down to enjoy their Christmas dinner when there was a knock at the door.
Mrs. Tyler went to the door and two children greeted her, a boy of 12 and a
girl of six. They recognized them as the Eunsons.
The children were invited to eat
dinner. Robbie said, “Begging your pardon, Mrs. Tyler, but Jimmie and I was
wondering if you would like a sister for Howie and Bruce. Annabelle can
wipe dishes, has been learning to sew and knows her A-B-Cs.
Mrs. Tyler said, “Howard, it’s
Christmas. We have to – we’ve wanted a girl.” They both agreed and began
making Annabelle feel at home as Robbie left.
Jimmie hauled Elizabeth on his
sled to the Potter home across the river, but no one was home. As he
returned, he met Robbie on Main Street. They contemplated where to go next
and saw a horse pulling a cutter prancing toward them. The boys looked at
each other and nodded. They waved their arms, signaling the driver to stop.
Inside the cutter was a middle
aged couple, the Stevens. Stevens told the boys they were traveling to
their house to see if they could help in any way.
“Yes, there is, that is – since
you and Mrs. Stevens have no children you might like to take Elizabeth.
That’s her,” Robbie said pointing.
“We’ll take her,” Mrs. Stevens
said. With a bound, she was out of the cutter, lifted up Elizabeth, looking
to her husband for approval.
Knowing Stevens was the school
principal, Robbie explained that his sister had a Scottish burr making her
speech a little difficult to understand, but assured them they would get
used to it.
Stevens, said, “You bet we will
and you boys come and see her any time.”
After returning home, their
brother Kirk came to meet them at the door with a wild look on his face.
“Old Mrs. Runyon is in there. Says she’s going to take Jane,” he whispered.
Now here was a problem. Mrs.
Runyon had been a widow for 20 years wore only black, carried a cane that
she used to swipe things she didn’t like. Various remarks about her actions
had frightened the children.
As Robbie walked into the house,
he told Mrs. Runyon, that Jane was already promised to someone. He
convinced her it was no one she knew and they lived in another town, though
the boys weren’t certain who would take Jane.
Robbie instructed Jimmie to take
Kirk to the Cramers. The Cramers had no children and Mrs. Cramer owned a
cello, which she could play very well. “Tell them Kirk likes music and can
fiddle pretty good,” Robbie said.
Kirk began to cry, he didn’t
want to leave his brothers. Robbie was afraid of that, because he knew Kirk
was the soft one. Robbie thrust Kirk’s fiddle in his arms and said, “Go,
get a move on,” as Jimmie would go with him.
Robbie hurried to get Jane
dressed. Before he was finished, Jimmie was back. Robbie asked, “Did they
take Kirk?” Jimmie nodded, and asked, “Where are you going with Jane?”
“I’m taking her up to Berlin,”
said Robbie. “But that’s 12 miles away,” said Jimmie. “I’ll take her up
the river on our skates with Jane on the sled. I’ll stay up there, too, and
work at Round’s camp,” replied Robbie.
Did you talk to the Raiden’s
about staying with them, asked Robbie.
“No, I know they will because
they don’t have any boys, just four girls,” Jimmie said.
Seeing Jimmie leave was hard for
Robbie. He put his sister Jane on the sled, clamped on his ice skates and
started up the Fox River ice to Berlin. It would take him three hours, but
the moon was coming up bright in the clear sky so he could see the river ice
ahead of him. Jane slept part of the way, lulled by the moving sled. At
last, there were feeble lights in a group of houses along the river. They
passed a saw mill and skated through a group of skaters who barely noticed
them. A moment later Robbie saw a house with Christmas tree candles
twinkling in the front window. He stopped and gave the house a silent
inspection. If there was a Christmas tree, there must be children in the
home. The house was small, so the family probably didn’t have much money
but must love children to sacrifice for a Christmas tree.
Robbie removed his skates,
picked up his sister, carrying her in his arms. Climbing the steps to the
porch, he then knocked on the door.
A lady, wearing a shawl, opened
the door and soon three little ones were peering around her skirts. Robbie
heard her say, “Well for mercy sakes.” He said, “Please, Ma’am, I wonder if
you’d like to have a baby.” Then Robbie fainted. When Jane was safe in the
hands of the Clareys, he said goodbye and walked up to the Rounds camp in
the woods where he became a helper, later a logger in his own right. He
always kept tabs on his brothers and sisters, visiting them whenever he
could, satisfied with their care.
The heart-warming story of a
12-year old boy, Robert (Robbie) Eunson, demonstrates how he had listened
closely to his dying mother’s words and carried out her commands.
The father, having died
previously, left Robbie the oldest member to care for the younger children
after their mother died. As the story relates, young Robert refused to be
turned aside by the neighbors’ suggestions. He placed the children in homes
where he thought they ought to be.
Robert always kept tabs on his
brothers and sisters, who on the most part, turned out remarkably well.
They all looked very much alike, and others who knew them recognized
something poignant in their love for each other, because they had nothing
but that love in common. As each child grew up, he or she took on the
characteristics and absorbed points of view of the foster parents.
Robert Eunson, and his son, Dale during Eunson’s
term as Clark County Sheriff, 1908-1910
Annabelle
Eunson had become a great dowager with a home in California and one in Chicago.
She ruled her children with an iron hand.
Elizabeth
taught school, then married, had two children and after her husband died, became
a housemother at a girls’ school.
Jane never
married. She taught music lessons, voice, and she possessed a sweet contralto.
She, of course due to her young age, had no memory of the evening’s ride on the
sled up the river’s ice, to her new home when two years old. But Jane and Robert
were always very close. As a boy, Dale Eunson remembered his Aunt Jane’s visits
to their home in Neillsville. A fond memory was of Jane sitting at the piano
singing, “In the Gloaming” and then breaking into “The Irish Washerwoman,” and
his dad would leap to his feet doing a real “Irish Jig” that made the furniture
jump from the floor’s vibration.
James
became a successful lawyer in Wisconsin, married and had three children. He and
his brother Robert wrote each other.
Kirk was
the only tragedy amongst the six children. Life was too much of a struggle for
him and he “took to drink,” as his older brother used to say, Kirk died
mysteriously when he was only 26.
Robert
himself, felt he needed no adoptive home at the age of 12, except what he could
find in a lumbering camp. He went to work in the woods, growing up to be a very
dependable man.
Eventually, Robert Eunson made his way to Clark County with his family. At first
he was a farmer, living on what would later be known as the Schmidt farm south
of Neillsville. Next, he moved to the Naedler farm next to Cunningham Creek and
along Highway 73.
A short
time later Eunson left farming, relocating to a little house on the south side
of Fifth Street, the 300-block in Neillsville. The house was on the west side of
Goose Creek and east side of the Claude Sturdevant home.
Eunson
became a partner of Charles Crocker in a livery stable business, which was
located on the northwest corner of Grand Avenue and Fifth Street. The building
was later occupied by the Stellow (Stelloh) Implement business. At the close of
the implement shop, the building was razed providing space for the IGA food
store, which is now the store’s parking lot.
Dale
Eunson, author of “The Day They Gave Babies Away,” was born in Neillsville
August 15, 1904. His mother died when he was 15 months old. At that time Robert
Eunson’s household was not organized to care for the baby. Arrangements were
made that little Dale should go into the Sturdevant home. The Sturdevants were
pleased with the little one being in their home from the start, eager to provide
the care he needed.
Of his own
childhood, Dale Eunson, while editor of the Cosmopolitan magazine related some
people considered him a spoiled boy, thinking he begged Neillsville shoppers for
nickels to buy candy. But that is not quite the way it was according to Mrs.
Sturdevant. She said Dale was a very winsome little child with large brown eyes
and dark brown hair, and everybody took to him. Neillsville people who knew the
Eunson family situation felt sympathy for the little boy whose mother had died.
They
expressed their sympathy in a way, which Dale could understand and appreciate –
they bought candy for him. Over-eating candy, occasionally caused Dale
indigestion and tummy aches.
As the
Sturdevants loved the little boy in their home, so he loved them. Though living
in the Sturdevant home as a member of the family, Dale never lacked for interest
or attention from his own father. Robert Eunson was a great family man, who
bestowed affection upon members of his family. He was remembered as being kind
and faithful to his family members.
Those who
knew Robert Eunson well, remembered him as being exceedingly generous, a man who
willingly helped others. However, he never wasted money on himself, careful in
his personal expenditures. His generosity stood in the way of any considerable
accumulation of funds. His philosophy seemed to be “use money instead of
hoarding it.”
In 1908
Eunson went into politics and was elected sheriff of Clark County. He left the
livery business and moved his family out of the little house next to Goose Creek
and into the sheriff’s residence at the county jail building.
Also,
Eunson married again, his wife being Jesse Romaine, a former Loyal resident who
owned a millinery shop on South Hewett Street. With a woman again in his home,
Eunson took Dale back into the family fold. Dale remembered and revered his
step-mother in one of the novels he wrote. Departing from the Sturdevants,
Dale’s absence left a void in the people’s lives.
Reading
“The Day They Gave Babies Away” story, Mrs. Sturdevant remembered Robert Eunson
repeatedly telling the story to them. The writer, Dale, held to the facts as his
father had related them to him and the Sturdevants.
Robert
Eunson got the western fever while he served as sheriff. He headed for a
homestead in Montana a few weeks before his term as sheriff had expired in
1910. Dale grew up in Montana and at the age of 17 moved with the family to
California. Eunson married twice and had seven children. Three of the children
died as infants. Robert died in 1937 or 1938.
Prior to
the family’s move to California, Dale, his father and step-mother returned to
Clark County, visiting the Sturdevants and other friends.
It was
Dale Eunson’s great interest in music and skillfulness at the piano that
encouraged him to enter a business course. The knowledge gained in the course
could enable him to learn how to get enough money to purchase a grand piano of
his dreams, or so he thought. He found an opportunity in publicity work for
Metro Goldwyn Mayer, and later became private secretary to Rupert Hughes, the
writer. Hughes gave Eunson the push that got him started in the writing
business. While working for Hughes, Eunson wrote the short story, “Sun Dog”
which was sold to Woman’s Home Companion magazine. Thereafter Dale Eunson went
to New York and became secretary to Ray Long, the editor of the Cosmopolitan
magazine. Upon Long’s leaving the business, Eunson became associate editor,
eventually giving up the position to devote himself exclusively to writing.
Most of
Dale Eunson’s work was devoted to the short story line. However he did write a
novel “Homestead” and ghosted “Arctic Adventure” for Peter Freuchaen. Also he
co-authored three plays – “Guest in the house,” “Public Relations” and “Leo,”
the latter with his wife, Katherine Albert. In addition there were television
series that he wrote stories for such as, “The Walton’s,” “Little House on the
Prairie,” and “Leave it to Beaver,” plus others.
Eunson’s
work “The Day They Gave Babies Away” was the most widely acclaimed. As of the
year 1947, it was in its third printing by the publishers, Farrar, Straus & Co.
The story was amazingly successful when first published in the Cosmopolitan,
followed with a version on radio and later sold to a movie company. The movie
version of the story was entitled, “All Mine to Give.”
During
World War I Eunson returned to the Cosmopolitan as a fiction editor, Eunson was
married to Katherine Albert in 1931; they had a daughter, Joan to whom “The Day
They Gave Babies Away” was addressed. The Eunson family returned to Neillsville
when Joan was three years old. Visiting in the Sturdevant home brought back
memories for Mrs. Sturdevant. It was a happy reunion and pleasure for her to
see Dale as an adult. Seeing Joan with big brown eyes and brown hair, was much
like the baby she had once taken into her arms and home.
Eunson’s
daughter, Joan later became a movie star known as Joan Evans, who took parts in
several movies.
A weekend
in 1983 was designated “Dale Eunson Days” in Neillsville, in honor of the
nationally known author who revisited his hometown.
Highlight
of the celebration, was an open house at the Clark County Historical Society’s
Jail Museum. The local Historical Society unit sponsored the celebration and an
open house. Eunson autographed his books and met people of the area.
Sharing
some of his fond boyhood memories, he recalled and told of riding on his Flyer
sled from the jail building’s front door, sliding down the winter’s snow covered
Fifth Street, through the Hewett Street and Grand Avenue intersection as far as
Goose Creek. There wasn’t enough traffic at the intersections in those horse and
buggy days to cause any safety problem.
Neillsville was prominently mentioned in his novel, “Up on the Rim.” It is a
story of the hardships and experiences of a family, which moved from Neillsville
to homestead “Up on the Rim” near Billings, Montana, in 1910.
***Update: My original information was based on an article printed in the Clark County Press. Neillsville Wisconsin is the county seat of Clark county. Since posting this blog, I have been given new information by some very nice and helpful people. Here is one of the comments.
"Robert Strong Eunson married Jane Jamieson in Zetland on 27th January 1853.
I know this because I am holding the original 171 year old marriage banns in my hand, here in New Zealand.
Mamie was only our heroine's nickname. The real Mamie Eunson was their 7th and youngest (and apparently forgotten) child, born in 1866.
The real Mamie married Francis "Frank" Purdy Mills Jr in 1885 and had a son and a daughter - Genevieve (1888-1969).
In 1912, Genevieve married my uncle - Charles "Evy" Everard Le Neve Arnold (1883-1949) who had emigrated to the US from New Zealand in 1902.
When their line became extinct in 2004, the family heirlooms, including the aforementioned certificate, passed to their closest blood relatives in NZ."
I know this because I am holding the original 171 year old marriage banns in my hand, here in New Zealand.
Mamie was only our heroine's nickname. The real Mamie Eunson was their 7th and youngest (and apparently forgotten) child, born in 1866.
The real Mamie married Francis "Frank" Purdy Mills Jr in 1885 and had a son and a daughter - Genevieve (1888-1969).
In 1912, Genevieve married my uncle - Charles "Evy" Everard Le Neve Arnold (1883-1949) who had emigrated to the US from New Zealand in 1902.
When their line became extinct in 2004, the family heirlooms, including the aforementioned certificate, passed to their closest blood relatives in NZ."
