THE McCABE FAMILY
Earl and Mary (Dewey) McCabe, with their four-year-old son Laurance, moved from
Washington state to Conrath in 1914. They settled on a farm southeast of town and later moved to another nearby farm when Dad got the rural mail carrier's job. They moved again to a log cabin, known as the Borego place, northeast of the school.
I, their son Leslie, was born while they lived on the second farm and my brother, Jim, was born while we lived in the log cabin. In the late thirties when the cabin became dilapidated, Dad tore it down and built the house that stands there now, where
Jim lives.
About the only thing to be said in favor of Dad's job was that it provided a steady income. In the 20's the roads in Rusk County could be best described as approaching disaster; dust and ruts in summer, deep snow and ice in winter and mud in
spring and fall. Dad used a Model T Ford, and horses in winter and spring. For use with the team he built a small cabin, "the Hack", mounted on a light sled with a small kerosene heater. Dad retired in 1947 after thirty years of carrying mail. He died
in 1952 at age 70. Mother taught school in the Conrath vicinity. When teaching at the Wilson school, better known as the Polish school because of the many Polish
families living in that area, Mother set up a night school teaching adults how to read and write English. Many could not do so although they were literate in Polish. Mother died in 1982 at age 101.
Earl Leslie McCabe, Sr., son of James Japeth McCabe and Rebecca (Craycraft) McCabe, b. December 30, 1881, Brook, Indiana. Married Mary Lucy Dewey, July 8, 1906, daughter of George Whitefield and Polly Jane (Ostrander) Dewey, b. March 22, 1881, Toulon, Illinois. The E.L. McCabes homesteaded in Washington State in 1909 for five years, had three successive years of crop failure and then their house burned with the loss of all family possessions. In the spring of 1914 they came to Wisconsin settling first on a farm about three miles southeast of Conrath. Mary taught school in the States of Illinois, Indiana, Arizona, Colorado, Washington and Wisconsin. She was a graduate of Oberlin College teachers institute, Oberlin, Ohio. Earl was a carpenter and farmer and in 1917 took on the rural mail route serving the Conrath area. His 'hack' was a familiar sight being drawn by a team of horses through mud and snow on what passed for roads in the early days. When the mud or snow got too deep he
would saddle up a morgan horse named Rex that no one else could ride and do the twenty-one miles of the mail route on horseback. After thirty years of mail carrying and at age sixty-five he retired, died September 2, 1952. Mary survived him by thirty years; died September 17, 1982 at age one hundred and one and a half. To them three sons were born, Laurance Louis, b. October 17, 1909, Earl Leslie, b. January 2, 1918 and James Dewey, November 12, 1919.
Earl L. McCabe, Sr. "Mac" as he was known to his many friends, was an obsessive fisherman who frequently supplied the entire community with fresh fish. He was a tall man, very kind hearted but sometime showing an explosive temper, always directed toward obdurate objects, not people. He had no enemies, everyone he associated with or met was his friend. Mary D. McCabe, although a housewife and mother for most of her life, always considered herself a professional school teacher, which she was. She taught off and on for nearly sixty years including many rural schools in Rusk County. She substituted at the Conrath Grade School for two weeks when she was seventy-five years old. Her performance was so satisfactory that she was asked by the Superintendent to remain on the substitute list but she declined. She was active in community and cultural affairs wherever she lived. In Conrath
she was instrumental in organizing and maintaining the Conrath Congregational Church and served as organist for nearly forty years. She also helped organize the Conrath Mission Circle, still active, and the Conrath Women's Study Club, a
community betterment organization that was active for nearly thirty years but now defunct. A firm believer in education she herself never stopped learning or lost interest in family, community or world affairs.
Although not among the earliest settlers in the Conrath area when they arrived in 1914, it was still quite crude and somewhat of a frontier which the McCabe family assisted in developing.
Earl and Mary (Dewey) McCabe, with their four-year-old son Laurance, moved from
Washington state to Conrath in 1914. They settled on a farm southeast of town and later moved to another nearby farm when Dad got the rural mail carrier's job. They moved again to a log cabin, known as the Borego place, northeast of the school.
I, their son Leslie, was born while they lived on the second farm and my brother, Jim, was born while we lived in the log cabin. In the late thirties when the cabin became dilapidated, Dad tore it down and built the house that stands there now, where
Jim lives.
About the only thing to be said in favor of Dad's job was that it provided a steady income. In the 20's the roads in Rusk County could be best described as approaching disaster; dust and ruts in summer, deep snow and ice in winter and mud in
spring and fall. Dad used a Model T Ford, and horses in winter and spring. For use with the team he built a small cabin, "the Hack", mounted on a light sled with a small kerosene heater. Dad retired in 1947 after thirty years of carrying mail. He died
in 1952 at age 70. Mother taught school in the Conrath vicinity. When teaching at the Wilson school, better known as the Polish school because of the many Polish
families living in that area, Mother set up a night school teaching adults how to read and write English. Many could not do so although they were literate in Polish. Mother died in 1982 at age 101.
Earl Leslie McCabe, Sr., son of James Japeth McCabe and Rebecca (Craycraft) McCabe, b. December 30, 1881, Brook, Indiana. Married Mary Lucy Dewey, July 8, 1906, daughter of George Whitefield and Polly Jane (Ostrander) Dewey, b. March 22, 1881, Toulon, Illinois. The E.L. McCabes homesteaded in Washington State in 1909 for five years, had three successive years of crop failure and then their house burned with the loss of all family possessions. In the spring of 1914 they came to Wisconsin settling first on a farm about three miles southeast of Conrath. Mary taught school in the States of Illinois, Indiana, Arizona, Colorado, Washington and Wisconsin. She was a graduate of Oberlin College teachers institute, Oberlin, Ohio. Earl was a carpenter and farmer and in 1917 took on the rural mail route serving the Conrath area. His 'hack' was a familiar sight being drawn by a team of horses through mud and snow on what passed for roads in the early days. When the mud or snow got too deep he
would saddle up a morgan horse named Rex that no one else could ride and do the twenty-one miles of the mail route on horseback. After thirty years of mail carrying and at age sixty-five he retired, died September 2, 1952. Mary survived him by thirty years; died September 17, 1982 at age one hundred and one and a half. To them three sons were born, Laurance Louis, b. October 17, 1909, Earl Leslie, b. January 2, 1918 and James Dewey, November 12, 1919.
Earl L. McCabe, Sr. "Mac" as he was known to his many friends, was an obsessive fisherman who frequently supplied the entire community with fresh fish. He was a tall man, very kind hearted but sometime showing an explosive temper, always directed toward obdurate objects, not people. He had no enemies, everyone he associated with or met was his friend. Mary D. McCabe, although a housewife and mother for most of her life, always considered herself a professional school teacher, which she was. She taught off and on for nearly sixty years including many rural schools in Rusk County. She substituted at the Conrath Grade School for two weeks when she was seventy-five years old. Her performance was so satisfactory that she was asked by the Superintendent to remain on the substitute list but she declined. She was active in community and cultural affairs wherever she lived. In Conrath
she was instrumental in organizing and maintaining the Conrath Congregational Church and served as organist for nearly forty years. She also helped organize the Conrath Mission Circle, still active, and the Conrath Women's Study Club, a
community betterment organization that was active for nearly thirty years but now defunct. A firm believer in education she herself never stopped learning or lost interest in family, community or world affairs.
Although not among the earliest settlers in the Conrath area when they arrived in 1914, it was still quite crude and somewhat of a frontier which the McCabe family assisted in developing.
THE McCABE FAMILY
Earl and Mary (Dewey) McCabe, with their four-year-old son Laurance, moved from
Washington state to Conrath in 1914. They settled on a farm southeast of town and later moved to another nearby farm when Dad got the rural mail carrier's job. They moved again to a log cabin, known as the Borego place, northeast of the school.
I, their son Leslie, was born while they lived on the second farm and my brother, Jim, was born while we lived in the log cabin. In the late thirties when the cabin became dilapidated, Dad tore it down and built the house that stands there now, where
Jim lives.
About the only thing to be said in favor of Dad's job was that it provided a steady income. In the 20's the roads in Rusk County could be best described as approaching disaster; dust and ruts in summer, deep snow and ice in winter and mud in
spring and fall. Dad used a Model T Ford, and horses in winter and spring. For use with the team he built a small cabin, "the Hack", mounted on a light sled with a small kerosene heater. Dad retired in 1947 after thirty years of carrying mail. He died
in 1952 at age 70. Mother taught school in the Conrath vicinity. When teaching at the Wilson school, better known as the Polish school because of the many Polish
families living in that area, Mother set up a night school teaching adults how to read and write English. Many could not do so although they were literate in Polish. Mother died in 1982 at age 101.
Earl Leslie McCabe, Sr., son of James Japeth McCabe and Rebecca (Craycraft) McCabe, b. December 30, 1881, Brook, Indiana. Married Mary Lucy Dewey, July 8, 1906, daughter of George Whitefield and Polly Jane (Ostrander) Dewey, b. March 22, 1881, Toulon, Illinois. The E.L. McCabes homesteaded in Washington State in 1909 for five years, had three successive years of crop failure and then their house burned with the loss of all family possessions. In the spring of 1914 they came to Wisconsin settling first on a farm about three miles southeast of Conrath. Mary taught school in the States of Illinois, Indiana, Arizona, Colorado, Washington and Wisconsin. She was a graduate of Oberlin College teachers institute, Oberlin, Ohio. Earl was a carpenter and farmer and in 1917 took on the rural mail route serving the Conrath area. His 'hack' was a familiar sight being drawn by a team of horses through mud and snow on what passed for roads in the early days. When the mud or snow got too deep he
would saddle up a morgan horse named Rex that no one else could ride and do the twenty-one miles of the mail route on horseback. After thirty years of mail carrying and at age sixty-five he retired, died September 2, 1952. Mary survived him by thirty years; died September 17, 1982 at age one hundred and one and a half. To them three sons were born, Laurance Louis, b. October 17, 1909, Earl Leslie, b. January 2, 1918 and James Dewey, November 12, 1919.
Earl L. McCabe, Sr. "Mac" as he was known to his many friends, was an obsessive fisherman who frequently supplied the entire community with fresh fish. He was a tall man, very kind hearted but sometime showing an explosive temper, always directed toward obdurate objects, not people. He had no enemies, everyone he associated with or met was his friend. Mary D. McCabe, although a housewife and mother for most of her life, always considered herself a professional school teacher, which she was. She taught off and on for nearly sixty years including many rural schools in Rusk County. She substituted at the Conrath Grade School for two weeks when she was seventy-five years old. Her performance was so satisfactory that she was asked by the Superintendent to remain on the substitute list but she declined. She was active in community and cultural affairs wherever she lived. In Conrath
she was instrumental in organizing and maintaining the Conrath Congregational Church and served as organist for nearly forty years. She also helped organize the Conrath Mission Circle, still active, and the Conrath Women's Study Club, a
community betterment organization that was active for nearly thirty years but now defunct. A firm believer in education she herself never stopped learning or lost interest in family, community or world affairs.
Although not among the earliest settlers in the Conrath area when they arrived in 1914, it was still quite crude and somewhat of a frontier which the McCabe family assisted in developing.
Earl and Mary (Dewey) McCabe, with their four-year-old son Laurance, moved from
Washington state to Conrath in 1914. They settled on a farm southeast of town and later moved to another nearby farm when Dad got the rural mail carrier's job. They moved again to a log cabin, known as the Borego place, northeast of the school.
I, their son Leslie, was born while they lived on the second farm and my brother, Jim, was born while we lived in the log cabin. In the late thirties when the cabin became dilapidated, Dad tore it down and built the house that stands there now, where
Jim lives.
About the only thing to be said in favor of Dad's job was that it provided a steady income. In the 20's the roads in Rusk County could be best described as approaching disaster; dust and ruts in summer, deep snow and ice in winter and mud in
spring and fall. Dad used a Model T Ford, and horses in winter and spring. For use with the team he built a small cabin, "the Hack", mounted on a light sled with a small kerosene heater. Dad retired in 1947 after thirty years of carrying mail. He died
in 1952 at age 70. Mother taught school in the Conrath vicinity. When teaching at the Wilson school, better known as the Polish school because of the many Polish
families living in that area, Mother set up a night school teaching adults how to read and write English. Many could not do so although they were literate in Polish. Mother died in 1982 at age 101.
Earl Leslie McCabe, Sr., son of James Japeth McCabe and Rebecca (Craycraft) McCabe, b. December 30, 1881, Brook, Indiana. Married Mary Lucy Dewey, July 8, 1906, daughter of George Whitefield and Polly Jane (Ostrander) Dewey, b. March 22, 1881, Toulon, Illinois. The E.L. McCabes homesteaded in Washington State in 1909 for five years, had three successive years of crop failure and then their house burned with the loss of all family possessions. In the spring of 1914 they came to Wisconsin settling first on a farm about three miles southeast of Conrath. Mary taught school in the States of Illinois, Indiana, Arizona, Colorado, Washington and Wisconsin. She was a graduate of Oberlin College teachers institute, Oberlin, Ohio. Earl was a carpenter and farmer and in 1917 took on the rural mail route serving the Conrath area. His 'hack' was a familiar sight being drawn by a team of horses through mud and snow on what passed for roads in the early days. When the mud or snow got too deep he
would saddle up a morgan horse named Rex that no one else could ride and do the twenty-one miles of the mail route on horseback. After thirty years of mail carrying and at age sixty-five he retired, died September 2, 1952. Mary survived him by thirty years; died September 17, 1982 at age one hundred and one and a half. To them three sons were born, Laurance Louis, b. October 17, 1909, Earl Leslie, b. January 2, 1918 and James Dewey, November 12, 1919.
Earl L. McCabe, Sr. "Mac" as he was known to his many friends, was an obsessive fisherman who frequently supplied the entire community with fresh fish. He was a tall man, very kind hearted but sometime showing an explosive temper, always directed toward obdurate objects, not people. He had no enemies, everyone he associated with or met was his friend. Mary D. McCabe, although a housewife and mother for most of her life, always considered herself a professional school teacher, which she was. She taught off and on for nearly sixty years including many rural schools in Rusk County. She substituted at the Conrath Grade School for two weeks when she was seventy-five years old. Her performance was so satisfactory that she was asked by the Superintendent to remain on the substitute list but she declined. She was active in community and cultural affairs wherever she lived. In Conrath
she was instrumental in organizing and maintaining the Conrath Congregational Church and served as organist for nearly forty years. She also helped organize the Conrath Mission Circle, still active, and the Conrath Women's Study Club, a
community betterment organization that was active for nearly thirty years but now defunct. A firm believer in education she herself never stopped learning or lost interest in family, community or world affairs.
Although not among the earliest settlers in the Conrath area when they arrived in 1914, it was still quite crude and somewhat of a frontier which the McCabe family assisted in developing.
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