For a tiny woman, Becky was hard working, had a great deal of willpower, and was quite resourceful. She made comforters from old pants and for mattresses would sew fabric together and stuff the finished product with straw or feathers.
Becky belonged to the Osgood Christian Church and was baptized in Mill Creek Stream just north of Osgood. Her black hair and eyes showed her gentleness, she was always taking people who needed help into her home. Oddly, a tramp she had once took in sent her leather gloves and a “woven gold belt with rubies! She also raised Baby Gladys, her unwed sister Ester’s child until the baby died…
Selling eggs for extra money Becky would often save quarters in a metal pipe which was hidden in a closet under the stairs. Once when husband, Bill, decided to clean the closet; he hauled everything away on a spring wagon-Becky realizing what had happened made Bill take her to the junk immediately. She finally found the quarters which she used to pay the taxes for the year.
In early spring Becky would take daughter. Alma, to find dandelions near the railroad. When she had enough, she would then cook them in a large iron pot with bacon. On one occasion she left the pot cooking on the old wood stove. Bill came in briefly to use the telephone and set his cigar above the stove on the warming closet. When Becky came back she was aghast at seeing a big brovm form floating in her dandelions! It’s obvious what she thought she had also picked up in the fields!
In the evenings, Becky would read Wild West, a popular magazine about a cowboy, and eat a peeled apple while sitting next to the fire.
Becky died of a ruptured appendix in 1934. She is buried at Yorkshire Cemetery, Patterson Township, Darke County, Ohio.
Resources:
- Alma Hilgeford, daughter
- Darke County Cemetery Records