This article was written by Mabel Updyke about the loom that she used to weave rugs. She wrote this article in the first person - from the point of view of the loom. It tells her family history, and that of the loom. Published in the Montgomery Standard, Montgomery City, Missouri - Thursday, January 3, 1980
"Miss Mabel Updyke is writing this for me. When her great-great-grandfather, John Oliver came to Missouri in 1826, I was just a young white oak tree growing on some of the land that he purchased in Montgomery County. Birds in the air built nests among my branches and cattle rested in my shade. John moved his family from Clark County, Kentucky as far as Saint Louis where he left them for a time to survey land in this part of the country. He returned to his family as often as possible to see about their welfare and provide for their needs. In 1831 he was able to move his large family to their home west of Montgomery City where he had purchased 80 acres.
As money became available, he would buy more land, and he would ride horseback to Palmyra, Missouri to get the transfer, as that was where the land office was located. Montgomery City was not incorporated till 1857, so while I was growing bigger and taller, on the Oliver land, Montgomery City was being founded by our pioneers. Indians still roamed among the hills of this sparsely inhabited land. As time went on John and Margaret, his wife, built better living quarters, which was later occupied by the late Milt Oliver family. The old Oliver cemetery is on that land not far from their home site.
During John's life he was able t0 purchase 2000 acres of land, which he paid for at around $1.25 an acre, which was the current price of land at that time. At his death, the land was divided among the children. I heard that two churches and one school were built on his property. The school was called the Harper school and in 1955 the building and the acre where it was built was sold to Joe Poindexter - a descendent of John Margaret Oliver, who remodeled it and now makes a comfortable living quarter for his family.
Bethel Church is only a few miles from the schoolhouse and is situated in a beautiful setting where church services are still held annually in the lovely churchyard. Back of the church is a cemetery, which is filled with loved ones of long ago, including Mabel's grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Poindexter. Another church that was built on that land was called New Salem, which was built in 1882. It was well attended for quite sometime, then abandoned and finally it burned. The foundation still stands there. Then in 1901 New Hope Church was built near by.
Glen Oliver, who lives on his grandparent's home place, has been a big help by giving dates and names of places. It was his grandfather, Elbert Oliver, who was Supt. of S.S. for many years and his wife "Rennie" played the organ so beautifully and led in the singing of many gospel songs. New Hope Church building stood until a few years ago when it was torn down after being abandoned for a long time. Mabel used to attend church services there with her parents, sister, and brothers when she was growing up, as it was within walking distance, of their home, and she remembers well of Bro. Robert E. McQuie preaching there many times. He was the grandfather of Walter D. McQuie, Jr. who is our attorney-at-law of Montgomery City.
When her great-great-grandfather, John, had cattle or hogs to sell, he and his sons would drive them to Saint Louis to market on foot, taking several days to make the trip. One time, one of the boys, Pleasant, got sick on the trip, and as there were no doctors available or hospitals, he worsened and died. I was told it was cholera, and he was buried on the way near Saint Charles, Missouri. Banks were scarce, so money was carried on their person in goatskin pouches and usually in gold coins.
Around the year 1900, during a severe electrical storm, I was struck by lightening and killed. Several years before that Mabel's grandmother, Mrs. Edward Poindexter (Mary Elizabeth Oliver or "Molly" as she was called) inherited several acres of land from her father, Shelton A. Oliver, which included the land, I was growing on, in their back pasture. After I was struck by lightening, Mabel's grandfather, Edward Poindexter told her father, Eugene Updyke, he could have me to cut down, and haul me to the sawmill where I could be sawed in suitable lumber to be made into a loom. This he did, Her aunt, Mrs. Luther Fipps (Mary Poindexer) who was a natural artist, drew the pattern of her stepmother's (Nancy Jane Poindexer) loom.
That winter two men in the neighborhood - Dick Johnson and Milt Keith, worked on this lumber and made me into a lovely, hand-made loom. Mabel's mother, Lillian Poindexter Updyke, made beautiful carpets and rugs for their home on me. In later years she only wove rugs, which she did for profit and pleasure as long as she was able to weave. Since Mabel has retired from her nursing duties she has woven a lot of rugs on me, too, and doesn't remember when she learned to weave as she used to help her mother with this craft when she was quite small.
I am considered an antique now, but am still in good condition, and hope to be useful for many years to come.
"Mabels Loom"
