This is from family
scrapbook, kept originally (maybe) by Mina Hogg
Brooks. This is from copies, with no pages or dates. I believe they
were
originally written by Robert Hogg, B.1818, Scotland, about 1902, in
the
Whitney's Point Reporter.(Broome Co., NY),not edited or corrected in
any way. For clarification, my notes are in parentheses: (Jan: )
12/27/2000 Janice Brooks-Headrick
"ALWAYS SOMETHING TO BE THANKFUL FOR."
"This was a favorite saying of dear aunt Belle's, who was a sister of
the Squire and second child in Robert Hogg's family. One day she sat
in
the middle of the living room paring a pan of pears with a pail of the
fruit at her feet and a dish-pan half full of the narrow curly parings
and cores on the floor.
(Jan: I believe this was Isabelle Hogg, who married Wm. Paisley in
Scotland. )
" "I mind me" she said " of the time when we cam' to America, and we
had
none of these things, and it wa a wilderness all around, and the
bairnies were sma' and ma' four of them sickened and died, and it was
haird times, but noo' we have plenty, plenty all the time, so much to
be
thankfu' for."
"Everyday, she found something to be thankfu' for and often she told
how
when they came across the wide ocean in 1845 in the sailing vessel
named the Belfast Independence
and the children were sick there would come sometimes a little lull
in
the rocking of the ship and then she could give the wee ones their
medicine , "for there was always something to be thankfu' for."
" And every day she spoke carressingly of "ma mother", and many times
said my father always looked "braw", that is handsome. She like to
praise her aunt Nellie, the aunt both by blood and by marriage, calling
her such a pretty woman. Isabelle was so conscientious and loving that
she was a favorite.
(Jan: I believe that "Nellie" is Helen Oliver Hogg)
"But coming to this country was a great change. Her (Jan: Isabelle's)
daughter, Jeanie Osterhout, remembers the home in Scotland with its
beautiful large house roofed with stone, all so comfortable, while upon
reaching their farm in America they found no house and had to accept
the
hearty hospitality of her mother's brothers, William and James, until
a
log house could be built.
"Mrs. Osterhout says "We left a nice gentle shepherd dog, and father
gave him to our landlord and he came out to the wagon when we started
and we children all cried."
"As an illustration of children's ideas she tells of two old ladies
who
lived up on the side of the road (in Scotland) who often came to see
her
mother while the little girl enjoyed listening to their old-fashioned
talk. "But" she says " once I went to see them and saw a man's hat
hanging on the side of the house and I felt a little suspicious lest
they might have made way with their men folks because I thought there
must be a man belonging to every house."
"Above the Paisley's good house on a beautiful knoll was the school
house with so many pupils that they looked like a swarm of bees.
"Below the house was a whirlpool called the Loga-low. Little Jeanie
loved the burns (creeks) and braes (hills or mountains) and says that
even the flowers seemed to her more fair and fragrant than those in
this
county."
