The eldest of the Reverend’s children was Hillis (Hi) Merrill Worstell, born August 11, 1910, in Columbus, Ohio. Hi was big, tall and handsome, and played football for Ohio State University in Columbus. His dad, Maynard, was quite a sports fan, and an extremely enthusiastic supporter at his son’s games. Hillis graduated in Industrial Engineering. In 1935, he married Florence Theresa Huber, who was born in or near Kansas, Ohio. They had two children, both born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, before Hillis moved his family to Houston where he became a district manager for Warner and Swasey Company. He was a member of professional organizations and St. Vincent DePaul Catholic Church in Houston. Their daughter, Mary Josephine, was born in 1936. She married John C. Gussett in 1959 and they had six children, five boys and one girl; all were born in Houston, Texas. The Gussett’s third child, Shawn Andrew Gussett, is interested in genealogy and is active on the Internet. Hillis’ boy, Thomas (Tom) Merrill Worstell, married Sara Frances Harley in 1941 and they had three children. Hillis died in 1975.

The second son of Rev. Maynard was Karl Robert Worstell, born April 22, 1913. Karl was also a graduate of Otterbein College and was a coach and mathematics teacher in Perrysburg. Karl married Mary Ann Twining in 1939. They had two children: Roberta, born in 1940, married with three children; and Steven, who lives in Kansas City, Missouri, who also has three children. An interest of Steven and his wife is dog breeding. Karl was present at a small Worstell reunion in New Philadelphia, Ohio, in June 1993. Unbeknownst at the time, the Worstell Family Reunion, dating from about the turn of the century, was still being held the last Sunday of August in nearby Feed Spring. Also present at that reunion was Richard Worstell’s son, Cameron, and his wife, Ruby. Both very tall men, resembled each other. Karl died December 27, 2001.

Maynard’s son, Donald J. Worstell, born in 1916, Otterbein graduate, was an industrial engineer for Action Mfg. Co., in Philadelphia. He also lived in Columbus, Ohio. Donald was first married to Doris Good, later to Gloria V. Stewart. He had three children: Ronald Alvin and wife Donna live in Denver, where Ronald taught in the music department at the university; Donald and his wife Stephanie live in Gahanna, near Columbus, Ohio; (Veronica) Sue, who married Bruce Pickering, lives in Pataskala, Ohio.

Maynard’s daughter, Helen Ruth, was born in 1919 and graduated from Bowling Green, a state college near Toledo that was founded in 1910. She became a teacher and taught business education from 1942 to 1957. She was married to Carl A. Eckel and they had two daughters, Sheila and Sharon. Helen was the organist for the Grace United Methodist church of Perrysburg, Ohio, for over 20 years; Helen was a fine pianist, as well. She died in 1977, age 58.

Rev. H. Maynard Worstell died in 1946, preceding his wife in death by 24 years.

Twins, Nettie Theresa and Rachel Clarissa, were born to the James family on March 4, 1881. Nettie, too, attended Otterbein. She married William Brewer on December 26, 1912. Their residence was St. Marys, Ohio. Their five children were: 1. Martha E., born May 11, 1913, died 1932. 2. Walter F., born Feb. 4, 1915, married Caroline Wimer in 1936, and had one son, John William Brewer. Walter was a jazz pianist. He worked for a lumber company and did sign painting and drafting in Wapakoneta, Ohio. 3. Helen, born March 8, 1917, married Adrian Greber in 1936, and they had two daughters, Eileen and Jane Ann. 4. Arthur, born Oct. 25, 1919, married Frances Goodman in 1940, and had one son Arthur Richard. 5. James Vance, born c. 1921, was a private in the U. S. Infantry, served, and was wounded in W.W.II.

Unlike his brothers and sisters, Owen Wilbur never went to college and never married, but he owned his own farm in Ross County, Ohio. When the urge to go west struck Wilbur, he sold his farm and went to Everett, Washington, to work in a sapphire mine. Then the Montana land promotion reached the west coast and Wilbur answered the call to homestead there; he was 35 years old. After arriving in Montana, he purchased a steam engine, thrashing machine, and gang plows. It was June 1, 1913, when he made actual settlement upon the land and built his shack. That summer he broke 10 acres and planted wheat. His crop produced 82 bushels. The next year he broke 80 more acres and planted flax, then took a short leave to go back to Ohio to visit friends and family. His harvest that fall was a failure, “No crop.”

Soon after Wilbur filed for a homestead, his sister, Rachel Clarissa Worstell, known as Clara, age 32, born in Ohio and single, also filed for a homestead. Clara was one of the twins, born March 4, 1881, three years after Wilbur. In her biography she writes,

In October of the year 1911, Egbert Gerald Rattray, of Canada, made entry for the Southeast quarter of Section 10 adjacent to what was later to become Wilbur’s homestead. Shortly after the Worstells settled on their homesteads, Bert Rattray met Wilbur and his eligible sister, Clara. He courted Clara and “sought and won a wedding ring partnership;” they were married on September 9, 1914. Bert filed for permission to reside with his wife on her claim and this election was granted. “He moved his shack on to my farm and built on two more rooms. We painted it white and called it The White House,” wrote Clara. On November 9, Clara Rattray gave notice for publication in the Kremlin Chancellor to make final “commutation proof” for her homestead. Her signature, Clara Rattray, on this day shows an “R” written over a “W,” a common mistake for newly married women. The value of the improvements on her land was estimated to be between $200 and $300 and included two houses, 10’ x 12’ and 10’ x 14’. Upon careful examination of the papers known as “Testimony of Witness” filed by two witnesses, one house is described as being on the southwest quarter as in the homestead description, and the other on the southeast quarter. Her neighbor, John Dobbie, testified he had seen Clara on her homestead 250 times each year and another neighbor, Fred Martin, said he saw her 100 times each year. In Clara’s final testimony she said [her] “husband has an unperfected homestead entry, he has resided with me on my claim about a month.” On December 18th, 1914, Clara received her “certificate to receive a Patent” for the homestead with the payment of $200 in lieu of the performance required for the three-year proof for homestead. Patent was transmitted in April 1915.

In January of 1915, Clara went to be with her in-laws, west of the Rocky Mountains in Libby, Montana. Even by train, there could be times, such as winter, when this would be an uncomfortable trip. From the Libby office of the Kalispell land district, Clara applied to the Havre land office for a leave of absence from her homestead. The request was made “for a leave of absence from the said land for a period of six months from Jan 15, 1915 to July 15, 1915, and, in support of said request, I have to state as follows: I am under the doctor’s care and it will be impossible for me to return to homestead until July 15th, 1915.” Clara’s daughter, Sylvia Melissa Rattray, was born May 9, 1915 in Libby, Montana. Clara wrote:

The CIRCLEVILLE HERALD Friday, September 9, 1988 — Circleville, Pickaway County, Ohio, published a story by Willie Ehrlich under the heading “Pickaway Spotlight,” which captured some of the history of the life of Sylvia Melissa Rattray Leist and her mother, Clara.

When it came time for Richard Gerald Rattray to be born, Uncle Wilbur, Clara’s brother, set out to get Dr. Worstell in Big Sandy. It was December 28 and the temperature was 40 degrees below zero. Wilbur got the team ready but, before going far, he had to return home as the horses were covered with icicles. Richard Rattray was born December 29, 1917, but instead of Dr. Worstell, it was a Russian midwife that delivered him. Richard likes to say that he is “not illegitimate, not a bastard, but posthumous.” Egbert Rattray is buried in Havre, Montana.

The author did not acquire the homestead file of Egbert Rattray and therefore the history of his homestead claim is not available at the time of this writing. When the applicant was not native born (E. Rattray was born in Canada), he or she needed to provide a certified copy of naturalization or declaration of intention to become a citizen. Clara made a “commutation proof” and had already acquired the certificate for patent for her own homestead. She would have inherited Bert’s claim, and it is probably this claim, mentioned in the Pickaway story, that she was not able to “prove up.” In a bad year, the value of 160 acres was next to nothing. The description of the shack mentions the bank of dirt piled up around the footing. People who stayed in their shacks during the winter would surely have done this, and if not they would have scraped and piled up snow around the shack, perhaps even if they already piled up the dirt. Piling up snow around the foundation of houses without a basement was still being done in the 1960s and will continue to be so where needed because it is effective.

Sylvia Belle, the youngest daughter of James Worstell, homesteaded not far from Wilbur and the Rattrays. She was born January 23, 1884, in Emporia, Kansas, and attended Otterbein College, as did her siblings, and also Bowling Green. Teaching positions and travel took her across Colorado, New Mexico, (where she taught at Taos the year after her sister taught there), Mexico, to Panama, and eventually to Missoula, Montana. There she attended Montana University to become certified to teach in Montana. On February 25, 1918, Sylvia filed for a homestead on SE4 Sec 25, T 32N, R14E, containing 160 acres, serial number 042173. It was filed in the Havre Land Office under Act of February 11, 1915 of the Abandoned Fort Assiniboine Military Reservation.

The 179,000-acre military reservation, Ft. Assiniboine was established in 1879 to act as a deterrent to Indian uprising. It was a state-of-the-art fort. Col. C. A. Broadwater of Helena and a Chicago company got the contract to build the fort. Labor was provided by unemployed miners who had come to a gold rush in the Bear Paws near Box Elder. Additional men included 500 half-breeds from the Red River country, North Dakota, as well as the carpenters, masons, and other tradesmen who came with Broadwater from Helena. Bricks and mortar were made on site. Wood that wasn’t shipped in came from the Bear Paws. Eventually the fort comprised over 100 buildings, including barracks for 10 companies of men and officers, a 25-patient hospital with two operating rooms, chapel, library, school for children of the officers and for the enlisted men, telegraph office, stables for 300 horses, water tower, water lines and sewer system, steam power plant, saw mill, saddle shop, wheelwright, blacksmith, and granary. Civilian help provided staffing for many of the services. The 10th Negro Cavalry, first under Col. Mizner then under Gen. (to be) John J. Pershing, arrived in 1892. Pershing and the 10th Cavalry fought in Cuba and the charge up San Juan Hill. Later on, few soldiers were reassigned to Ft. Assiniboin. When a fire destroyed the water tank building, the government chose not to repair the damage but to vacate the post, and then turned it over to the U. S. Department of Interior. The Second Infantry Regiment, which had been stationed there, was sent to Wyoming. In 1913 the buildings plus 2,000 acres were designated the site of a state agricultural and manual training school, known as the “Assiniboine School.” It was also an agricultural experiment station. When Northern Montana College was established in Havre on donated land in 1929, there was no further use for most of the old fort buildings. Some were torn down and the brick used in building Pershing Hall and other buildings around Havre. During the Depression, some of the buildings were used as a W.P.A. transient work camp. Only about 16 of the original 104 buildings remain.

Witnesses to Sylvia’s Notice of Intention included Mrs. Clara Rattray, her sister who had also witnessed her Application for Leave of Absence, and Mrs. Minnie Hall, also her sister, and wife of George Hall who had also signed off on the leave of absence application. Minnie Agnes was born December 15, 1869. As a girl in the teens she was converted and joined the United Bretheran church at Emporia, Kansas. She received her Bachelor’s Degree from Otterbein and became a teacher. She was 25 when she married Rev. George Wesley Hall in March 1894. They began their gospel ministry together as quarterly conference preachers. When George Hall’s health precluded him continuing his own studies, Minnie returned to college. She graduated in 1909, became an ordained minister in the United Brethren Church in 1914, and pastored three different churches in Ohio. In 1917, the Halls went to Montana to be missionaries. Minnie, too, obtained a homestead east of Laredo. This unbroken prairie land faced the open plains to the horizon in every direction, except for Square Butte to the east. Mrs. Hall organized a United Bretheran church in Laredo and served as its pastor. As many women of her day, she was also an artist.

Sylvia apparently did not teach in the Indian schools every year during this time, but instead taught children in her home as Clara’s biography explains:

Before the establishment of Rocky Boy Reservation, the Indians “... wandered, hungry and ragged. Nobody wanted them. These people were a conspicuous part of Big Sandy’s early years,” is quoted from Gathering of Memories.

As Uncle Wilbur testified on Sylvia’s Final Proof, he lived on her place. He must have helped make life interesting for the family group. He could do anything and one of things he did very well was play the violin; he played for the community dances around the country. Richard Rattray said he was “a wild violinist,” and that he carried rough sapphires in his violin case and gave them away as he pleased. Richard remembers trips the family made to Havre in the buggy. It always seemed like a long trip for the little boy. On one occasion he kept telling his Aunt Sylvia he needed to “pee.” “Wait until we get to Havre,” she said. When they crested the hill and could see the town below, it was quite a relief to Richard to know they had reached Havre. Aunt Sylvia only knew he had relieved himself too soon. In 1920, Wilbur purchased a Maxwell automobile. The picture of Richard and his dog, one on the trunk and one on the hood, is a treasured possession of Mr. Rattray.

In 1921-23, Clara was teaching high school in Shelby, Montana. Sylvia Melissa was with her, but her son Richard was with Minnie Hall. Richard had been with Aunt Minnie, at least during the school months, since he was one year old in 1918. Minnie and Richard loved each other, almost like mother and son. It was she who told him the facts of life, and hoped that someday he would become a dentist. Minnie preached in Laredo and had a pastorate in Harlem. Minnie was an orator, a very dynamic preacher; George was not, he was quiet and thoughtful. Minnie helped organize the Montana branch of the Women’s Missionary Association and served as its president. George ran the ranch and milked a herd of dairy cattle while Minnie lived in Harlem. Minnie commuted by train every week from Harlem to Havre, then out to the ranch, a distance of about 50 miles. One assumes that little Richard made the trip with her during the time he was living with her. The Halls expected to make Montana their permanent home. They located a good piece of level ground a two- or three-hour buggy ride away from the homestead, and purchased it and started building a nice new home. During the summers, Sylvia and Clara often paid long visits to George and Minnie’s ranch. Rustlers were a problem for the Halls. On one occasion, a group of rustlers made off with horses they had gotten from the Hall ranch. Minnie drove the buggy into Laredo and notified friends who got together a posse. The posse tracked the thieves, who were caught red-handed with a large herd of horses in a temporary corral. The rustlers were changing the brands on the animals, but the Halls were able to identify their own horses.

It was hard for Clara and her little daughter Sylvia Melissa to be separated from son and brother those years in Shelby. For diversion, they may have gotten caught up in the excitement of the community during that year of 1923. It was the publicity gag turned financial disaster in the Jack Dempsey – Tommy Gibbons boxing match. Clara writes her memories:

Oil wasn’t the only thing diminishing. The country had been in a drought since 1918 and farmers were taking a major hit. “That year 1923, I moved to Harlem, Montana, living with my sister Minnie and teaching in the high school there,” wrote Clara. Richard was in first grade, Sylvia Melissa in about the fourth grade.

The previous year, January 1922, George Hall passed away. Minnie was grief stricken and did a lot of crying that year. With Rev. George Hall gone, the summers in the bleak little homestead had lost their appeal for the sisters. It was time for the Worstell women to pull up stakes.

The newspaper account of young Sylvia’s story said, “... Sylvia Leist’s youth on the prairie ended when her mother, who had gone to the Seattle area as a maid, found a teaching position and reclaimed her two children.” With Rattray relatives in the Spokane area, the Worstell women gravitated in that direction. Sylvia attended Eastern Washington College of Education in Cheney, Washington, a little southwest of Spokane, to become certified to teach in Washington state. Sylvia got a teaching position in the small town of Rosalia south of Spokane. Then Clara got a teaching position nearby in a three-room school called Squaw Canyon. Little Richard, who had been living with Aunt Minnie, was “tagged” and put on the train in Harlem to go Spokane to join his mother and sister. The school had a teacherage and Clara had her children in her school.

After a time, Rev. Minnie Worstell Hall sold her homestead to a friend named Mr. Becker and got a pastorate in Spokane. Then she suggested to Clara that Sylvia Melissa come live with her and go to a larger school. The “country” in the young girl was evident. When asked by her new teacher to tell the class where she was from, her answer “Squaw Canyon,” elicited much laughter. Her embarrassment was so great she refused to return to that school. When Aunt Sylvia left Rosalia school, Clara took a position there. The years at Rosalia were good for the Rattrays. Clara purchased a 1925 Ford touring car that cost $500. Clara “paid for it making $50 payments each month for a year.” The locals thought she was a terrible driver. One day Clara was driving and a gentleman in a group of onlookers said, “Here comes Mrs. Rattray. Better watch out!” Then before their very eyes, she ran into a tree. Clara taught school there until 1929, when she again became unemployed. The Pickaway news story continues:

After Minnie moved to Ohio, she had a ministry as a circuit rider. While still preaching in Spokane, Minnie met Rev. George K. Hartman at a religious convention. They carried on a romance by correspondence. In 1932, Richard Rattray and his cousin Karl Robert Worstell (son of Rev. Hiram Maynard) took their Aunt Minnie to Harlem, Montana, to look at property. Karl was 19 and in college, Richard about 15. They also went to Glacier Park over the newly opened Going-to-the-Sun highway. They may have taken Minnie on to Spokane, because in September 1932, Minnie married Rev. Hartman in Spokane. Minnie’s nephew, Walter Brewer, son of her sister Nettie, lived with the Hartmans. Walter remained firm during this time not to let them “make a G— D—— preacher out of me.” When Rev. Hartman retired, he and Minnie moved to The Dalles, Oregon, where Minnie was pastor of The Dalles church and the Beaver church. On one occasion, Minnie went to Ohio to visit the relatives. Karl Worstell and Richard Rattray drove her back home and on the way paid a visit to her “second farm,” which she later willed to Karl Worstell. By this time the Montana farm was surrounded by the Rocky Boy Reservation.

Richard Gerald Rattray married Helen Bowman in Pickaway County in 1946. Helen was a high school home economics teacher for 23 years. Richard was a sergeant in the U.S. Air Force during W.W.II. He had a home and garden business in Chillicothe “selling trowels to tractors” before retiring to Circleville. They have two children. Their daughter Margaret Jane, born in 1957, married Jeff Spevak, a journalist, and they reside in Rochester, NY. Their son, Scott Spevak, born in 1959, is a graphic artist. Scott is married to Gail Chin, a Chinese lady, and has two sons. The couple lives near Chicago and are conservative Presbyterian. Scott and Margaret both graduated from Ohio University in Athens.

It has been through Richard Rattray that much of the material for this chapter was obtained. In the course of sharing the information, there were always jokes such as the one about the Baptist who said he’d never be a Christian, the train robber who agreed not to take the belongings of the Methodist minister because he (the robber) was a Methodist, or the one about the Frenchman and the Swede who were fighting over a young woman on the train to Idaho. The Swede, tired from the argument, looked out the window and saw the railroad sign for Havre, threw up his hands and said, “Ya ‘kin hav’ ‘er.”