THE FARM IN MIDLOTHIAN, IL

THE

IN 1941, LIVING IN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, OUR MOTHER AND FATHER, WITH SIX CHILDREN IN TOW, AND MY AUNT NORINE AND UNCLE BERNARD (BERNIE) CUMMINS WITH THEIR DAUGHTER MARY ELIZABETH (AND MORE CHILDREN TO COME) COULD SEE WAR WAS IMMINENT.  NORINE WAS MOM’S YOUNGEST SISTER.  SHE, MOM AND DAD ALL HAD GROWN UP ON FARMS IN IRELAND.  BERNIE WAS A LAWYER AND A CITY BOY, BUT HE REALLY LIKED THE IDEA OF BEING A “GENTLEMAN” FARMER.   

TOGETHER THEY REASONED A FARM, DURING WAR YEARS WITH RATIONING SURE TO COME, WOULD BE A BETTER PLACE TO GROW THEIR OWN FOOD AND RAISE CHILDREN.

DAD HAD WORKED AT A NUMBER OF JOBS SINCE HE FIRST ARRIVED IN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS ALTHOUGH HE HAD BEEN A STEEL MILL WORKER FOR ALMOST TEN YEARS NOW.  ONE OF THOSE JOBS HAD BEEN LAYING SEWER PIPE OUT TO SUBURBAN TOWNS LIKE MIDLOTHIAN, ILLINOIS.  HE REMEMBERED THE AREA AND WHEN THE TWO FAMILIES STARTED LOOKING THERE FOR A JOINT HOME THEY DISCOVERED THE MEIGS ESTATE.

WHENEVER WE COYNE KIDS WERE ASKED WHERE WE LIVED WE ALWAYS SAID, “ACROSS FROM THE 13TH HOLE OF THE MIDLOTHIAN COUNTRY CLUB”.  WHILE THAT WAS TRUE, THE MEIGS ESTATE WAS ON 147TH STREET BETWEEN LARAMIE AND CENTRAL AVENUES.  THE FARM HAD BEEN PURCHASED FROM THE BROTHER OF MR. MERRILL C. MEIGS WHO HAD AN AIRPORT IN CHICAGO, NOW A PARK, NAMED FOR HIM BUT THE LAND WAS WHAT INTERESTED DAD AND UNCLE BERNIE.  IT WAS EVER AFTER KNOWN AS, THE FARM, IN THE FAMILY.

THE WAR DID COME LATER THAT YEAR, AND WHEN WE HEARD THE NEWS ABOUT PEARL HARBOR THAT SUNDAY AFTERNOON, I SAW MY MOTHER CRY FOR THE FIRST TIME.

THE FARM WAS FIFTEEN ACRES STRETCHING FROM 147TH TO 149TH STREET.  THERE WAS A LARGE BRICK “MANOR” HOUSE ON THE EAST ENTRANCE OF A HORSESHOE DRIVE WAY AND A FRAME “CARETAKERS” HOUSE ON THE WEST ENTRANCE OF THE DRIVE.  BOTH HOUSES FRONTED ON 147TH STREET.  GOING DOWN AND AROUND THE DRIVE FROM THE CARETAKER’S HOUSE WAS A CHICKEN COOP, A LARGE BARN, A SMALL GARAGE, A PUMP HOUSE AND BROKEN WINDMILL AND THEN BACK UP TO THE MAIN HOUSE.

THE FIELD DIRECTLY BEHIND THE BARNYARD AND THE GARAGE WAS THE LARGEST.   ABOUT HALF WAY THE FIELD BEGAN AN INCLINE ALL THE WAY UP TO 149TH STREET.  BEHIND AND TO THE EAST OF THE PUMP HOUSE WAS WHAT HAD BEEN, AT ONE TIME, TENNIS COURTS AND A PLAYGROUND AREA FOR CHILDREN BECAUSE THERE WERE STILL SWING SETS AND GYMNASTIC RINGS.  EAST OF THAT AREA WAS A SMALL FIELD THAT STILL HAD A CROP OF UNPICKED CORN WHEN WE ARRIVED.  ONE OF MY FIRST MEMORIES OF THE FARM WAS PICKING THAT CORN.

TO THE WEST OF THE DRIVEWAY AND THE CARETAKER’S HOUSE WERE TWO SMALLER FIELDS RUNNING NORTH TO SOUTH.  THEY DID NOT EXTEND ALL THE WAY TO 149TH BUT STOPPED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE RISE.   FOR MOST OF THE TIME WE LIVED ON THE FARM DAD GREW ALFALFA IN THE FIELD CLOSEST TO 147TH AND VARIOUS OTHER CROPS, USUALLY CORN, IN THE BACK FIELD.
ANOTHER SET OF TWO FIELDS WERE FURTHER WEST BUT WERE NOT OUR PROPERTY. 

I DO NOT REMEMBER WHO ORIGINALLY OWNED THE LAND AND THE HOUSE ON IT BUT RELATIVELY SOON AFTER WE ARRIVED A FAMILY NAMED GANTA BOUGHT THE PROPERTY.  MR. GANTA HAD A REAL ESTATE OFFICE AT THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF CICERO AVENUE AND 147TH STREET (LATER A CAR DEALERSHIP).  MRS. GANTA WAS A VERY RECLUSIVE WOMAN WHO WE SELDOM SAW.  

BEYOND THE GANTA PROPERTY WAS REAL FARMLAND.  IT WAS KNOWN AS PURDUE’S FARM AND WAS PROBABLY OVER 100 ACRES.  THESE WERE PEOPLE WHO LIVED OFF THEIR FARM AND WHAT IT PRODUCED.   NOTHING LIKE AN IOWA OR SOUTHERN ILLINOIS FARM IN SIZE, BUT WE CONSIDERED THEM REAL FARMERS.

BACK ON OUR LAND, THE SPACE WITHIN THE HORSESHOE CONTAINED AN APPLE ORCHARD AND A GRAPE ARBOR WHICH CONNECTED THE TWO LEGS OF THE HORSESHOE DRIVEWAY.  JUST SOUTH OF THE MAIN HOUSE THERE WAS A LARGE LAWN WHILE TO THE EAST WAS A SUNKEN GARDEN, A BIT WORSE FOR THE WEAR.  BETWEEN THE CARETAKER’S HOUSE AND THE CHICKEN COOP MOM PLANTED YET ANOTHER OF THE MANY VEGETABLE GARDENS SHE TENDED THROUGHOUT HER LIFE.

 FOR THE FIRST WEEK OR SO, SINCE WE MOVED OUT FIRST, WE LIVED IN THE MAIN HOUSE BUT THEN OUR FAMILY MOVED TO THE CARETAKER’S HOUSE AND AUNT NORINE, UNCLE BERNIE, MARY ELIZABETH AND UNCLE BERNIE’S UNCLE (UNCLE BILL) MOVED INTO THE BIG HOUSE.  OVER THE YEARS THEY FILLED IT WITH FOUR MORE CHILDREN.  WE NEVER LACKED FOR PLAYMATES ON THE FARM.  ONCE, A PASSING DRIVER STOPPED AND ASKED IF THE PLACE WAS AN ORPHANAGE.

THE MOVE TO THE FARM HAD BEEN AN EXCELLENT IDEA.  DAD WAS DOING WAR WORK AT THE YOUNGSTOWN SHEET AND TUBE STEEL MILLS OF INDIANA HARBOR AND UNCLE BERNIE KEPT UP HIS LAW PRACTICE.  ON THE WEEKENDS AND DAYS OFF, DAD DID MOST OF THE PLOWING AND FARM WORK BUT, EVERY MORNING, BEFORE LEAVING FOR HIS OFFICE, UNCLE BERNIE MILKED THE FIVE COWS THAT HAD BEEN ACQUIRED AND LEFT THE MILK OUTSIDE OUR KITCHEN DOOR. MOM DID THE MILKING IN THE EVENINGS.  MOM HAD A SEPARATOR AND PREPARED THE MILK FOR OUR DAILY USE AND THE CREAM FOR MAKING BUTTER. MOM AND AUNT NORINE PRETTY MUCH RAN THE FARM.  ONE SUMMER THEY HAD A HIRED HAND WE CALLED “WEARY WILLIE”.  THE NAME FIT.

OVER TIME WE HAD CHICKENS, COWS, PIGS, GEESE, A COUPLE OF SHEEP, A COUPLE OF GOATS AND GUINEA HENS.  FOR SEVERAL YEARS MOM RAISED ABOUT 50 TURKEYS EACH YEAR WHICH DAD SOLD TO FELLOW WORKERS AT YOUNGSTOWN SHEET AND TUBE.   KILLING AND PLUCKING THE FEATHERS FROM THOSE BIRDS IN THE BARN WAS AN ALL-NIGHT AFFAIR. 

UNCLE BERNIE HAD A HORSE, NELLIE, AND SHE WAS BRED ONE YEAR AND PRODUCED A COLT.  EVENTUALLY BOTH HORSES WERE SOLD BUT NOT BEFORE ALL OF US KIDS HAD PLENTY OF OPPORTUNITIES TO RIDE NELLIE.

THERE IS A NOVEL BY ROSEMARY TAYLOR TITLED CHICKEN EVERY SUNDAY.  THAT PRETTY MUCH DESCRIBES  OUR SUNDAYS.  THROUGHOUT THE WAR YEARS OUR FAMILIES HAD ALL THE MEAT, BUTTER AND EGGS WE NEEDED PLUS ENOUGH TO SUPPLY ANY OF THE RELATIVES WHO MADE THE TREK FROM CHICAGO TO OUR PLACE IN THE “BOONDOCKS”.    EACH YEAR MOM HAD THE SHEEP SHEARED AND THE WOOL CLEANED.  THEN SHE CARDED IT AND SPUN IT ON HER SPINNING WHEEL INTO THE THREAD FROM WHICH SHE KNITTED OUR SOCKS, HATS, GLOVES, SWEATERS AND SCARFS.  WE ALL HAD OUR OPPORTUNITIES TO TURN THE HANDLE OF THE BARREL BUTTER CHURN.  THE BOYS ALSO GOT TO CLEAN OUT THE BARN, THE PIG PEN AND THE CHICKEN COOP BUT THE GIRLS NEVER LACKED FOR WORK EITHER.

IN THE SUMMER TIME THE MIDLOTHIAN COUNTRY CLUB BECAME A MAJOR SOURCE OF INCOME.  AT ONE TIME ALL SIX OF THE COYNE CHILDREN WERE WORKING AT THE CLUB, THE BOYS AS CADDIES AND THE GIRLS AS WAITRESSES OR OFFICE CLERKS. THE MEMBERS USED TO TEASE US SAYING WE WERE PLANNING TO BUY THE GOLF COURSE AND TURN IT INTO A CORN FIELD.

AS WE GREW OLDER AND GRADE SCHOOL TURNED TO HIGH SCHOOL AND THEN REGULAR JOBS OR COLLEGE OR MARRIAGE FOR ROSEMARY AND EILEEN; MOM AND DAD, AUNT NORINE AND UNCLE BERNIE SOLD OFF ALL  THE FARM STOCK.  TIRING, AT LAST, OF THE FARM LIFE AUNT NORINE AND UNCLE BERNIE SOLD THEIR HOUSE AND HALF THE PROPERTY TO MARGARET (PEG) LEONARD FOR USE AS A NURSING HOME.  

IN 1954, MOM AND DAD DECIDED TO MOVE ALSO…….BUT NOT FAR.  WITHOUT QUITTING HIS JOB IN THE MILLS DAD HAD SERVED AS HIS OWN GENERAL CONTRACTOR, DID THE ROUGH CARPENTER WORK AND TURNED THE OLD BARN INTO A HOME.  MOM AND DAD SOLD OUR HOME, THE CARETAKER’S HOUSE, TO MARGARET LEONARD. MY SPECIAL MEMORY OF THAT HOUSE, IN WHICH I GREW UP, IS THAT IT NOW HAD A BASEMENT UNDER THE KITCHEN, DUG OUT BY HAND BY MY FATHER, WHO THEN POURED BASEMENT CONCRETE WALLS AND A FLOOR SO MOM COULD HAVE A LAUNDRY ROOM. 

NOW WE LIVED IN A REMODELED BARN.  IT WAS REALLY PRETTY NICE, AND I WAS JUST GETTING USED TO RETURNING TO IT FROM COLLEGE, WHEN MOM AND DAD DECIDED IN 1955 TO BUILD YET ANOTHER HOME IN THE FORMER ALFALFA FIELD TO THE WEST.  THEY LIVED IN THAT HOUSE, IT SEEMED, JUST LONG ENOUGH TO WELCOME MONIQUE AS A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AND FOR ME TO LIVE THERE WHILE I WAS STARTING WORK IN DOWNTOWN CHICAGO AND MONIQUE WAITED OUT THE BIRTH OF OUR FIRST SON AT HER PARENTS’ HOME IN KALAMAZOO.

WITH THE BUILDING OF THAT FIRST HOUSE IN THE OLD ALFALFA FIELD, LOREL AVENUE WAS BORN.  DAD HAD A DIRT AND GRAVEL ROAD GRADED WHICH LED TO THE NEW HOUSE AND ALSO SERVICED THE BARN HOUSE NOW OWNED BY COUSINS JEANNE AND TOM WALSH.  

AT THE TIME THERE WAS A HUGE OAK TREE NEXT TO THE BARN HOUSE AND THE NEW ROAD CURVED AROUND IT.  FOR YEARS MY SISTER DOROTHY THOUGHT THE ROAD CURVED BECAUSE DAD HAD WANTED TO SAVE THE OLD OAK.  WHEN SHE ONCE MENTIONED THAT TO HIM HE ANSWERED, “THAT ISN’T THE REASON AT ALL.  THE CURVE IS THERE BECAUSE THAT IS WHERE THEY DROPPED THE BRICKS FOR THE NEW HOUSE”.  LOREL AVENUE HAS OUTLASTED THE OLD OAK WHICH HAS BEEN GONE FOR QUITE A FEW YEARS NOW.

NOT CONTENT, MOM AND DAD THEN GENERAL CONTRACTED THE CONSTRUCTION OF YET ANOTHER HOUSE SOUTH OF THEIR FIRST ONE WEST OF LOREL AVENUE AND MOVED INTO IT.  THAT HOUSE LATER BECAME KNOWN AS THE CUMMINS HOUSE.  IT WAS EVENTUALLY RAZED, AND THE SITE IS NOW THE LOCATION OF PATTY WALSH’S HOUSE.

BY NOW, ROSEMARY, EILEEN AND I WERE MARRIED AND LONG GONE.  DOT, JIM AND JACK WERE HOME SO MOST OF WHAT I KNOW COMES FROM THEM.  ONE STORY I DID HEAR, I WILL NEVER FORGET.  JEANNE AND TOM WALSH’S CHILDREN WERE MANY AND ACTIVE.  SOMEHOW, ONE OF THEM RAN AFOUL OF MR. GANTA, AND MAY EVEN HAVE BEEN SLAPPED BY HIM.  AS I HEARD THE STORY, JEANNE CONFRONTED GANTA AND TOLD HIM THAT IF ANYTHING LIKE THAT HAPPENED AGAIN SHE WOULD BE COMING OVER TO FIND HIM AND SHE WOULD MAKE ONLY ONE STOP ON THE WAY…………TO PICK UP A HATCHET.  THERE WERE NEVER ANY MORE PROBLEMS.  

THERE ARE A LOT OF JEANNE WALSH STORIES FROM HER BURNING HER LIVING ROOM FURNITURE IN THE BACKYARD, BECAUSE TOM RESISTED BUYING NEW FURNITURE, TO THE INEDIBLE LUNCHES SHE WOULD PREPARE FOR TOM WHEN HE WORKED AT THE FORD PLANT ON CICERO AVENUE IF HE TICKED HER OFF.  TOM TOLD ME THAT HIS FELLOW WORKERS USED TO HANG AROUND HIM AT LUNCH TIME JUST TO SEE WHAT JEANNE HAD PREPARED.  THE LADY IS ONE OF A KIND.  WONDERFUL!  THE TRULY LOVING COUPLE ALWAYS SAID THEIR MARRIAGE LASTED BECAUSE THE ONE WHO LEFT HAD TO TAKE THEIR SEVEN CHILDREN WITH THEM.

THE THIRD HOUSE MOM AND DAD BUILT HAD ITS OWN HISTORY.  MOM AND DAD HAD A BASEMENT IN THAT HOUSE.  IN THE BASEMENT THEY KEPT MANY OF THE FAMILY PHOTOS, MOST OF WHICH WERE DESTROYED IN A FLOOD FOLLOWING A MAJOR RAINSTORM.  RAINSTORMS FOLLOWED BY FLOODING WERE FREQUENT EVENTS FOR SEVERAL YEARS TO COME ALONG LOREL AVENUE UNTIL AN ADEQUATE DRAINAGE SYSTEM WAS FINALLY INSTALLED.  

HOWEVER, BUILDING HAD NOT BEEN STOPPED BY THE FLOODS.  THE UHLE HOUSE WAS BUILT BEHIND THE BARN HOUSE AND LOREL AVENUE GREW LONGER.  THEN, IN 1959 DOROTHY AND HUSBAND, RAY FENWICK, BUILT THEIR HOME ON THE FAR END OF THE WEST SIDE FIELDS AND LOREL AVENUE REACHED OUT TO THEM.

AT THE PRESENT TIME, I BELIEVE THERE ARE TWELVE HOUSES ON LOREL AVENUE AND MANY MORE BEHIND IT IN WHAT WAS ONCE OUR BIG PASTURE.  THE OLD CARETAKER’S HOUSE, OUR FAMILY HOME, WAS TORN DOWN IN THE LATE 60S AND A NEW, IMPROVED, MODEL BUILT IN ITS PLACE.  AT THE TIME OF THE RAZING OF THE HOUSE THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER, THE MIDLOTHIAN MESSENGER, NOTED THAT IT HAD BEEN THE HOME OF AUTHOR JOHN COYNE, OUR YOUNGEST BROTHER.  
WOULD YOU TEAR DOWN HEMINGWAY’S OR JAMES T. O’FARRELL’S FAMILY HOME?  

THOMAS E. COYNE  -   REVISED-JANUARY 10, 2020


·         HOME·         ABOUT THIS WEBSITE·         THE 9 COYNES·         THE COYNE HOMESTEAD·         MARY LYNCH·         THE COYNE TREE·         COYNE REUNION 2000·         GSCF·         SCHOLARSHIPS AWARDED·         CONTACT·          ·