Garland in His Own Time: A Biographical Chronicle of His Life, Drawn from Recollections, Interviews, and Memoirs by Family, Friends, and Associates

[Garland’s Iowa, Dakota, and Boston Years, 1874–1890]

[1] X [Garland’s Iowa, Dakota, and Boston Years, 1874–1890] Franklin Garland Hamlin Garland was born in West Salem, Wisconsin, on 14 September 1860. When he was eight years old, the Garland family moved to the first of four Iowa farms, eventually settling on a tract of land near Osage in September 1872. In the fall of 1876, Garland enrolled in the Cedar Valley Seminary in Osage, an institution that provided college-preparatory classes during a time when Osage had no high school. When Garland graduated in 1881, he left to take a tour of the East and find work, returning in 1883 to join his family in the Dakota Territory, where they had established a homestead near Ordway in the James Valley, near present-day Aberdeen, South Dakota. With his brother Franklin (1863–1945) and school friend Charles Babcock, Garland established a homestead in McPherson County before selling his claim for two hundred dollars in 1884. The proceeds enabled him to move to Boston, where he hoped to continue his education. In this letter and its accompanying “side lights,” Franklin provides the only extant account of Garland’s early life apart from Garland’s own narrative in A Son of the Middle Border. As is common with memories of events from years in the past, Franklin confuses chronology at some points in his recounting: when he graduated in June 1881, Garland first skittered about trying to find a job as a teacher and then joined his family for two weeks in the Dakota Territory before leaving for the East. Franklin joined him in July 1882; by April 1883, Garland was homesteading in Dakota before selling his claim and leaving for Boston in October 1884. I have retained Franklin’s idiosyncrasies in spelling and capitalization. july 19 1940 My Dear Mr. Hill: — I am sorry I cant give you any information about the Girl Alice,1 as I never met her, and Hamlin was not much of a hand to talk about matters of that kind. garland in his own time [2] I was born March 11th, 1863, in Greens Coulee, some ten miles from Hamlins birth place in West Salem. Mother was born some place in Ohio April 16th, 1848. While Hamlin was attending the Seminary, I was at home doing the chores and keeping up the Farm work on the assumption that I was to have my chance when he had finished, but my chance never came. Conditions got so bad Father could not spare me or the money, then he sold the Farm and we moved to Dakota. A wildly beautifull land the first two or three years we lived there. When I first roamed those prairies Buffalo Carcases dotted the plain like hay-cocks in a hay meadow. The ground was so smoothe you could drive anywhere with a Horse and buggy, regardless of roads, and the most invigorating Air. Wish I could live it over again. I am also enclosing a few little side lights, that may possibly be of interest to you, if not to the reading public. Any way I hope they may be of some use. Most Cordially Yours, Franklin Garland Notes of the Early Life of Hamlin Garland During the years from 14 to 17 of Hamlins life, we both belonged to a Baseball team composed of farm boys, Hamlin was our Star Pitcher and was a good one. He threw the curves, and had one particularly effective sinker that had the big boys swinging wildly and missing. He was so effective that we beat the County seat team more often than they did us. I played short in the line-up, but was pretty light to be much of service. Also during these years, this was while he was attending the Cedar Valley Seminary, he was reading Shakespeare, and other High-brow works, which he would tell me about during his week end visits at home. The Sword fights in Shakespeare made a great hit with both of us so we fashioned Broad Swords out of some tough Elm timber we had, then we engaged some very lively fights, though probably [not] very expert. But we had loads of fun at it. We both rode Horses like wild Indians, bare-back mostly, until I won a saddle at a County fair, then we took turns using the Saddle while the other one used a blanket with a Circingle.2 We indulged in some wonderful races [3.139.70.131...