Often I listened to Woody talk about the "Indians." He always told me he was impressed by the respect the older folks had for them:

It wasn't like in the movies, not around here anyway, and I heard about a lot of good memories growing up about them.

Your family owned a lot around here, in fact, they owned our Farm house before we moved in. His name is still written on the beam there. They also owned a man-made lake…you've seen it leaving New Hope on the way to Lahaska. Well for a time there was a woman, an indian who lived there, and Beaumont didn't mind at all. They let her stay as long as she liked.

Woody then shared his own "Indian" story with me: My Father had a farm with five daughters, and they were put to work. Once I came along, they put me to work too. It's just how it was back then. It was hard to find help, and even when you had it most of the time they would not last very long. So I was helping my Father clear trees on our land. I remember cutting down tree after tree when we came to one where the Indians had carved a picture into it. It was a fire, Indians, and guns stacked together. It was really neat. My Father made sure we didn't cut that one down and we moved on cutting the rest around it down but not that one.

Well, it wasn't long after that a storm rolled down the river and blew that tree over. By cutting down all of the trees around it, it no longer had any protection. That was sad really, and my Father wasn't happy about it at all. He always blamed himself for that happening.

Elwood Rossiter