AMIGH, Ophelia L. (1936)

AMIGH

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 3/2/2012 at 23:03:30

WAR NURSE, 97 TELLS
OF EARLY HISTORY --
CIVIL WAR SERVICE

The editor of the Press-News recently requested Mrs. Ophelia L. Amigh, of Birmingham, Alabama, to write for us a history of her life, not only because Mitchell county residents are more than interested in its only living war nurse, but as a matter of record for coming generations.

As stated before, Mrs. Amigh is 97 years of age, and the local W.R.C. has been in touch with her for years. We consider the following article exceptionally well-written and presented, and wonder how many of Mrs. Amigh's readers, if they ever attain her great age, will have a memory as keen, or the ambition to write for publication. She says she will write another article if folks are enough interested in the following story of her life:

BORN IN NEW YORK STATE

I was born and reared in the town of Clinton, Duchess county, on the eastern part of the state of New York, less than five miles from where our president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, lives. I attended school in a little white school house, instead of a red one, and as we were always fortunate in having good, intelligent men for trustees; they saw to it that in our school we always had the best teachers that could be obtained.

They were for years procured from the city of Philadelphia, and, of course, belonged to the sect called "Quakers" by most people, but as our county was well in the majority so far as this was concerned, they were by us called "Friends." We had the best of schools for our times, as these teachers were calm and thorough, and understood children.

We commenced the morning exercize by reading a chapter in the Bible, after which questions were asked by the teacher to see who had, and who had not, paid attention to their reading. Those who had shown great inattention were told to remain in the room after they had eaten their dinner, and study the morning's lesson.

This same thoroughness was made available for all reading, spelling and writing, and during my later years I often felt grateful for the way those teachers managed our schools, and have wished that more of their methods were acceptable to the present generation. . . .

Now the son would take control, and husband would be obliged if he remained to have to work for him for a long time. They had not agreed very well and so Mr. Amigh was easily persuaded to go west, which was accomplished by a cousin of his, who had moved to Iowa three years previous. He wrote glowing letters and, anyway, at that time eastern people had in their minds become convinced that Iowa was the gem of the western states, so one day I heard these words: "Well, Ophelia, I have decided to go to Iowa, and I will go ahead of you and see how I like it, and also get a place to live in for us when you come."

So he left in November, and I did not go until February. I left on the 14th and in just one week reached my destination, which was Floyd Centre, Iowa. I ask you younger citizens what you think of that for speed, as compared with transportation of this day and age of the world.

The slow traveling was but a trifle compared with other difficulties I found on the way. When I arrived at Janesville, Wisconsin, I found but one way to cross the river, and that was with horses and wagon on the ice. That was a new experience and it did not look very inviting, inasmuch as I was the only woman with eleven men as passengers. However, these men were very kind and did their best to keep my courage up. We crossed the river without accident and landed safely at McGregor's landing, which I scanned with a good bit of curiosity because I could not see any place that looked like an inn, tvern or hotel, but soon there was a small building shown to me at which I was told that I could remain over night and get my breakfast.

This I did, and in the morning the first thing that I did was to inquire what kind of transportation I could get to take me farther west. I was told that on account of rought roads, for they had been thawed, and then frozen again, and were bad that morning and nothing could be used, but what they called "mud wagons," and horses would have to be changed every ten miles. I procured passage and about 9:00 o'clock a.m. we started. I surely found that the truth had been told me, for it required all the ingenuity that I was then mistress of to keep on the seat of the wagon, but I made the best of it and quite early in the evening we reached West Union, where my husband met me and I had the pleasure of his company for the lat miles of the journey. We arrived at Floyd Centre Monday, just one week from the time I left my home in the east.

CONDITIONS NOT GOOD IN IOWA

When I med our cousins I did not find them looking as cheerful as I had expected and in a day or two I found the reason. Caused by heavy and constant rains, crops had failed the previous year and food was beginning to be alarmingly scarce, and the roads so bad that it would not be . . .

TWO INDIAN TRIBES IN EVIDENCE

The Indians were of two tribes, some Sioux and the rest winnebago, the latter named were very friendly toward the white people and the Sioux could not be trusted. One quite old Winnebago chief seemed to take quite a liking to us and as he used to pass our place on his hunting trips, he would manage to reach us at night, and would come in, go into the kitchen, roll his warm blanket around him, throw himself on the flor and remain until morning, and at break of day, without a word, go out and take up his journey.

I was never afraid of him, in fact, he became a protector at one time.

Among those going to Pikes Peak there came a young man from Minnesota, driving a team, and well fitted out in every way. He drove by out house a short distance and turned and came back and asked if he might drive into our yard and stay over night. He said he heard a [group] of Indians yelling down the road and he was afraid of them.

Evidently they had come through St. Charles and had . . . themselves with firewater and were pretty loud. We were glad to accomodate the young man. During the evening he and Mr. Amigh were sitting on the door-step talking when a whooping band of drunken Indians stopped and came into the yard and demanded tobacco. It so happened that neither of the men had any, but the Indians did not believe them and became very threatening. To our great satisfaction the old chief was there that night and he heard the noise and cameout. They were a part of his tribe, and while we could not understand one word, we could see by looks and motions that he was delivering himself of some pretty strong language; at any rate the young Indians climbed on their ponies and went on, and he went back to his blanket and floor, and we were very grateful that the old chief was present.

HUNGER CONSTANT FOR SIX MONTHS

Hunger was quite a constant condition among the people during the first six months of that year. I would go out and gather greens, that grew wild in the fields, and cook them, and we were obliged to eat them without either salt or vinegar, since the salt was all used up and no more could be brought in until the roads were better. However we survived.

HAS DAUGHTER 76 YEARS OLD

I had esier times as the season progressed until fall, when all became victims of chills and fever, and my baby was born the last day of July, and was a good, healthy one too. She is still living, like her mother, an old woman, although twenty years younger, and always speaks of herself as a "Hawkeye," although she has lived most of her life in New York.

We could not get rid of the chills and fever, the doctors told us, unless we came away from that farm, and so we, with . . . .

MITCHELL COUNTY PRESS -- May 25, 1936
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NOTES: because the camera did not capture the entire article, some text is missing from this transcription.