Maggie

Maggie and Grandma
by Gina Adams

Mary Ellen was about 7 years old and the year was 1913. She was with her mother and father and siblings in a covered wagon heading west from Kentucky. By day, the wagon teams traveled and only stopped to rest the animals and to eat quick meals. At night, the wagons would pull up for the night and a campfire was built. The adults would talk about the day and plan for the following day. The kids would play, staying near the adults. Handmade quilts were their beds and they would fall asleep listening to the grown-ups talk.
There were many wagons headed west at that time, filled with homesteaders heading for free land. Their heads were filled with dreams of the new life awaiting them and the old one that they had left, along with family members that they may never see again. Along these wagon trails they would meet other families headed west for the same reasons, to homestead. Often they would camp at night with these other families, gathered around the campfire talking.

One night they found a river to camp beside in Tennessee. After long baths and dinner, the families were tired and settled down for the night. Mary Ellen noticed a little girl about her age sitting over in the bushes. She had dark hair and eyes and was dirty. The two girls sat there staring at each other for awhile, Mary Ellen with the impression that the little girl looked "mean". The little Indian girl look at Mary Ellen and thought that she looked like "an angel with blue eyes". She didn't notice any family around, or anyone in the wagon train that she had been traveling with. She went to her mother and told her about the little girl. Her mother looked and saw her and told Mary Ellen that the little girl was an Indian girl and was probably hungry and maybe lost. She told Mary Ellen to take her some food. Mary Ellen was afraid of the little girl and walked slowly toward her with the warm bread and butter. The little girl didn't move. When Mary Ellen got closer, she noticed that the little Indian girl was shivering and looked more scared than "mean". The Indian girl took the food and ate it very fast, never taking her eyes off Mary Ellen. Mary Ellen went back to the campfire to her quilt and fell asleep looking at the little Indian girl.

The following morning, the camp was busy getting ready to travel on and Mary Ellen noticed the little girl still in the bushes, and mentioned this to her mother. Her mother made inquiries around the camp and after some talk, it was decided that the little girl had been separated from her family who must have been traveling also. Mary Ellen's mother and father decided that they would take the little girl to the next town or settlement and surely they would locate her family. Her mother washed the little girls face and fed her and put her in the wagon with the other children. Along the way, at the settlements, camps and villages, they tried to locate the little girls family but were unsuccessful, so they decided to keep her with them. Mary Ellen's mother liked the little girl and felt sorry for her, and called her by the name of "Maggie".

When the family reached Arkansas, they stopped and homesteaded some land near relatives. It was all pine forests and trails had to be cut, trees cut for a cabin and Maggie and Mary Ellen became fast friends. Maggie was learning to speak English from the family. A few years went by and Mary Ellen would bring things home from school and teach Maggie. At that time, Indians weren't allowed to attend the school that was built for the towns white children. Maggie worked and helped with all the chores and the animals and the garden, and would be at the end of the trail everyday waiting and watching for Mary Ellen to come home from school.

On Sunday's, the family would load up in the wagon for the five mile ride to Church, where Maggie was allowed to attend. No one said much to Mary Ellen's mother about Maggie, because she had a sharp tongue and would promptly put them in their place. The years went by and both girls became teenagers, met young men in Church and married at about age 14. Mary Ellen and Maggie lived across the road from each other and still worked the gardens and tended to the animals together. Maggie's husband left to go to find work somewhere else and didn't come back. Mary Ellen got pregnant with her first child and Maggie delivered the baby girl - who Mary Ellen named "Maggie". Her next pregnancy produced a set of twin girls, with Maggie up all night with Mary Ellen, and they were named Pauline and Pearlene. Mary Ellen was pregnant with her last child when her husband left to go to California to work in the ship yards. Another girl was born and Maggie and Mary Ellen named her Margery.

Maggie built a grist mill and people came to her to get their meal ground. She also added on to Mary Ellen's house (which they both were living in ) and took care of Mary Ellen and the girls. Mary Ellen sewed and made Maggie shirts and coveralls that she liked to wear. Maggie did all the "mens" work and Mary Ellen did all the "womens" work. The people in the area never said anything out loud about these two women or to their face, but it was just "known" that they were much more than just friends.

As time went by the girls grew up and married and moved away to begin their own families. Maggie and Mary Ellen stayed in their house and lived a good life. . During the years that they were together, I spent time with them, watching them laugh and work, watching as Maggie killed a bear and made a rug. Watched as they took walks in the woods, listened as they told stories about how they met and what their lives had been like. Maggie never found her Indian family, but she said she found Mary Ellen who gave her more family than she could handle at times. Maggie was butch, tall and strong and broad across the shoulders, while Mary Ellen was slender and much shorter and wore only dresses...Maggie used to buy her dresses in town and bring them back to her. If Mary Ellen mentioned something that she would like to have, Maggie made sure she got it. They had spent almost 76 years together when Mary Ellen passed away in 1998. Maggie placed fresh flowers on her grave everyday, until she herself passed away in 1999. Mary Ellen was my grandma and Maggie ...well....she was "My Maggie". Because of them, I know that true love can last a lifetime.