Homestead Centennial

My father's parents homesteaded in Southeastern Colorado in 1914. About 30 years ago, Dad and his brother, Ben, made a pilgrimage to the old home place.  Dad returned home with a few relics which he picked up around the place, then he built this little shadowbox and wrote the account which is pinned to the left of the picture of the two old men.

Homestead site of Mr. and Mrs. R.R. Lacy in Bent County, Colorado about 35 miles South East of Las Animas.  Homesteaded in 1914.
Memorabilia:  Above left is Grapevine Springs, a mile S.E. of the house.  Picture to right is a tarantula.  Stone from the house foundation.  Cactus from near old home.  Marble found at home site 60 years after abandonment of the homestead.  Lacys had 7 children in 1914.  Below: Sons of R.R. Lacys in the foreground of Grapevine springs, Delbert and Raymond Benson (Bennie).  At right they stand on the homestead foundation remains.  Foreground shows a piece of Mother's old kitchen range.  .22 shell is a reminder of Mother's marksmanship with a .22 rifle.

(The marble is a clay marble.  The rattle from the snake, top shelf, left foreground, has seven full and a bud.  Dad said that had they known rattlesnake was edible, they would have eaten like kings.  The tarantula is hidden behind the prickly pear. The thing behind the open door of the shadowbox is not part of his display.  I would apologize for the photography, but my camera quit working on Thanksgiving Day, and my editing program failed Friday.  So there you go.  Fallback: old camera, no edits.)

The house Mr. and Mrs. R.R. Lacy built with their own hands from
outcropping native stone.

Grandpa Raymond, seated, left.  Wilma, Grandma Tempa, Carl, Merle, Delbert and Ellis. Wayne in buggy.


On the back of the original picture written in Grandma's hand:

Well, here is our old rock shack.  Millard isn't there.  Wayne was home on a visit.  He is in the buggy. This is the type of house they all live in here except they are mostly lumber. Built straight up and down.  Raymond and I look like two old duck feet but we all helped build it.