Barber County Kansas
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Barber County Kansas |
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Bertha Emma (Inslee) Rucker & Clarence Edward Rucker, 40th
Wedding Anniversary.
Photo courtesy of Ed Rucker.
Clarence Edward Rucker was born 05 April 1909 on a farm south of Pixley, Kansas. He was the son of Oscar Rucker and Bertha Irene Young.Bertha Emma Inslee was born 28 March 1910 near Sharon, Kansas to Charles Rollin Inslee and Lulu Frances Bunch. She was born in a little two room house a few miles southwest of the Unity school house in Barber County.
She remembered her grand-parents coming in a buggy from Isabel to help butcher hogs (usually 2 or 3 at a time). They came early in the morning for it took a long time to heat enough water to scale the hogs and scrap off all the hair. They usually stayed all night to help render lard, make sausage and cure the meat the next day.
Grandma walked to grade school except for on bad days. Then her father would take her on a horse on in the wagon. She attended grade school at Unity School, Mumford, and Prairie View (5 miles north of Sharon). The Prairie View School was later moved to Medicine Lodge and made into a home. She attended Sharon High School. The first two years the transportation was by horse and buggy. She graduated in 1929 with a Normal Training Certificate. Upon graduation, she taught 4 years at Unity, 1 year at Blackmore and taught 3rd and 4th Grade at Sharon.
Clarence and Bertha were married at the Baptist Parsonage in Medicine Lodge on Christmas Day 1936. After the ceremony, the newlyweds surprised Clarence’s grandparents, the Hammon Rucker’s with the news. Clarence’s sister had baked a beautiful coconut cake and topped it off with the bride and groom that was used on his grandparent’s 50th anniversary cake.
They bought the Tom Kingsolver farm (3 miles north of Sharon), which was known for orchards and a watering place for horses pulling buggies, wagons and threshing machines. They lived on the farm all their lives.
USGS aerial photograph of the Clarence and Bertha Rucker farm
taken 17 August 1991
Three miles north of Sharon,
Barber County, Kansas.
Clarence was a farmer. The family milked cows by hand and sold a lot of cream to Soward’s Produce Company in Sharon. Grandpa loved to trap and coon hunt. Many winters were spent trapping and stretching hides. Grandpa also was a water-witcher. Many times when a well-driller could not find water, they would call him and he would almost always find water.
They had three children: LaVern, Darryl, Merle and Dianna. In 1986 they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
Clarence died 05 October 1993 and Bertha died 26 January 1998. They were laid to rest at the Sharon Cemetery.
Clarence and Bertha (Inslee) Rucker Family, 1970.
Back: Merle, LaVern and Darryl. Middle: Clarence
and Bertha. Front: Dianna.
Photo
courtesy of Ed Rucker.
Clarence E. Rucker with a horse, about 1929-1930.
Photo courtesy of Ed Rucker.
Bertha Emma Inslee
Sharon High School Senior Class,
1929.
Photo courtesy of Ed Rucker.
Bertha and Clarence Rucker, 1956.
Clarence was a member
of the Sharon School Board at this time.
Photo courtesy of Ed Rucker.
Clarence Rucker with a tractor-drawn combine, wheat harvest,
1965.
His 1965 wheat harvest yielded 30 bushels per acre.
Photo
courtesy of Ed Rucker.
"The combine was an Allis from 1957 or 1958 era. It was PTO-driven with a power takeoff and hydraulic header. Grandpa farmed approximately 120 acres in wheat and it would take him around 2 weeks to harvest it. After the combine bin was full, it would be off-loaded into a truck and then scooped by hand into a grain bin on the farm. When they needed money during the winter, the grain would be scooped back into the truck and driven to town to sell. The Massey Ferguson Tractor was probably the 1965 model that they had for a short period of time and the pickup was a 1958 Ford." -- Ed Rucker, 3 January 2007.
Gravestone for Clarence and Bertha Rucker, Sharon Cemetery, Sharon,
Kansas.
Photo courtesy of Ed Rucker.
Also see:
Theophilus Dee & Harriet Emma (Rinebarger) Inslee
List of Sharon, Kansas, High School Graduates, 1914 - 1987
List of Pupils in College Hill School - 1924 Clarence, Eva, Jessie, Lee and Tilford Rucker were among the pupils.
Tilford Joseph Rucker, brother of Clarence Rucker.
(The following off-site links will open in a new browser window)
The Rucker Boys Genealogy Page: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~cjsnyder/ruckerboyshomepage.htm
Descendants of Peter Rucker: Clarence and Bertha Rucker are listed here in the 8th Generation in the Rucker side.
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~cjsnyder/peterrucker.htmDescendants of William Illsley
And here in the 12th Generation on the Inslee side
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~cjsnyder/williamillsley.htmRucker Surname Message Board at RootsWeb
Rucker Family Genealogy Forum at GenForum
Thanks to Ed Rucker for contributing the above information and images to this web site!
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