Many immigrants came to Pennsylvania as indentured servants and after working off their endenture, usually about seven years per person, they often became independant, prosperous farmers in their own right. Most farms were 100 to 300 acres and were devided between pasture, woodlands and fields, thus supplying most of the family's needs.
Strange as it seems, pigs were the favorite livestock of the Pennsylvania farmer. They took very little to maintain as they could fend for themselves and forage off the land, making for a ready food resource. As well as the fat being useful for tallow for candles, it also provided lard for cooking and the tanning of hides.
Of special note, is the Pennsylvania Conestoga Wagon, which was used for freight and became the wagon of choice, in the westward expansion. The early 1800's saw a great transportation revolution as roads were improved, making freighting and travel much more available.
As paved roads, canals and finally, the railroad were completed, the area became more and more open to commerce. The farmer was no longer restricted in how far he could send his goods to market and this contributed to a good economy and stable life for the entire area. At the turn of the century in 1800 Pennsylvania led the nation in food production at a time when 90% of the population were farmers.
With the improved transportation, what had been predominately a rural populace, began to shift the wealth and power to the cities. Many families began to move westward. People were looking for unclamied land and it was to be found in areas west of Pennsylvania.
Benjamin Hay moved to Wayne, Ohio and there on April 11, 1839 he married Isabel Dunmire who had also been born in Somersett County, Pa. Benjamin and Isabel had 9 children, at least the first three were born in Ohio. Others born later were born in Illinois. Those children were;
Windfield Scott Hay married Fedelia Ellen Bates.
Windfield and Fedelia had a son Robert Ira Cyrus Hay on Aug. 29, 1879 in Fancy Creek, Ill.
During this same time, William Dothard Barnes, born June 6,1827 in Burke County, North Carolina, married Sarah Catberine Cole on Feb 28,1860 in Green County, Kentucky. She was born June 6,1937 in Green County, Kentucky. Known as WD, he and Sarah had a daughter, Mattie, in 1876 in Illinois. They later moved to Nortonville, Kansas, where WD was a very prominent citizen and was famous for his long white beard, cheerful disposition and his greeting to everyone, "How do you come on?"
Robert met and married most likely in Kansas, as they had 3 children, born to them in Wichita, Kansas;
- Ruth Emma on Feb.27, 1903
- Robert Kenneth on May 30, 1906
- Katheryn in 1909
When the children were 9, 6, and 3 years old they moved to Missouri and then later returned to Kansas and on to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. What is interesting to note is that these moves were by Conestoga Wagon. At that time only the most privledged people owned the new "horseless" carriage. Robert was a sharecropper at that time and life was not easy for the family. Robert and Mattie, though poor, saw to it that their children all attended school, which was quite an accomplishment for sharecroppers in that time.
The younger Robert would remember his adventures leaning to swim in the river in Oklahome City. He and his sisters would go to the river to swim and though Robert could not swim he would tie two five gallon cans together with a rope between. Once, while doing this, the rotten rope parted and it was "sink or swim", as he would later relate. He swam. And after that learned to swim quite well. Another incident from his boyhood involved his dad's plow horse and a collie dog. The dog was prone to torment the horse and the horse developed a great animousity for the dog. One day, when Robert, called Bob by everyone, was helping his dad harness the horse for plowing, the dog ran up and began nipping the horse. Young Bob was wearing a coat very similar in color and texture to the dog. The horse had his fill of the dog and mistaking Bob, in his coat, for the dog, snatched him by the ear and tried to throw him in the well. Bob's dad, upon seeing what was happening, drew back and hit the horse between the eyes with his fist. The horse, released Bob, staggered, fell to his knees, then down, out cold!!
He and his sisters were very close and his wild sense of humor was evident the time that he and his younger sister, Katheryn actually switched clothes!
At age 16, Bob went to work for Western Union as messenger boy. His parent were moving to Texas and Bob had chosen to stay and finish school in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. This job would be his only support as he completed high school. In time, Bob moved up in position with Western Union to relief manager, a job which took him all over Oklahoma, West Texas, and New Mexico.
Never staying long in any one place for very long, the job appealed to Bob for the variety of scenery and people it brought him in contact with. One friend he made over the years was Ike Sheffield, another Western Union employee. Their expenses on the road, as relief managers were re-imbursed to them only after they had submitted reciepts and documentation for them. This required them to have a good sum on hand for these expenses. One day while discussing this, they came up with the idea of a card that would pay for these expenses and bill the company, Western Union, directly. After tossing the idea around for a while and going to different companies, Gulf Oil finally bought the idea from them, for the sum of $100. each. This was a nice amount of money in that time. This came to be the first Credit Card. Obviously they had no idea what they had come up with!!
Bob, often called Red, for his full head of dark red hair spent quite a bit of time in Houston, Texas were he indulged his love of dancing. He even entered a dance contest there and he and his dance partner took a close second to a then unknown, Ginger Rogers and her partner. She went on to become the dance partner of Fred Astair, both achieving fame as probably the greatest dance team of the 20th century.
On his way to becoming a "confirmed bachelor" he went to Borger, Texas around 1939. There his life would change completely.
