Andrew Ole Anderson

Vera spoke of her grandfather, Andrew Ole Anderson, " My Grandpa Anderson had three wives and after the first wife [my grandmother] died, he came to live with us. I only remember seeing my Grandma Johanna once. Grandpa was a very gentle man. Since my dad was gone much of the time, Grandpa had the job of correcting us. I remember his long, white beard. Sometimes I would put my head under it when I was feeling badly.

He raised a huge garden. The thing I remember most were the huge watermelons. Keeping my brother Dee and myself out was his job. One day we were running in the yard playing when a blow snake crawled in our way. Grandpa said, 'Don't hurt it, I need it in the garden.' He picked it up with a big fork, put it in a bucket and carried it to the garden he said, 'to put it with his other snakes.' I asked how many he had and he said, 'buckets full.' My brother and I didn't bother the garden!

In Grandpa Anderson's earlier years, he was a pony express rider and owned one of the first repeating rifles. He would take off in one direction and ride his route until someone met and relieved him. He met alot of Indians along the route, but they were frightened of the repeating riles."