Sylvia Aurilla HAND^[1]

1895 - 1955  (~ 59 years)

• Name	Sylvia Aurilla HAND
  Nickname	Puss
  Born	March 1895	Howe,Lagrange Co.,IN
  Gender	Female
  Census	22 June 1900	Austin Twp,Mecosta Co.,MI   [2]
  Education	1903	Burden Lake School,Mecosta Co.,MI   [1]
  Education	1909	Burden Lake School,Mecosta Co.,MI   [1]
  Census	1910	Austin Twp,Mecosta Co.,MI   [3]
  Education	1912	Prospect School,District #8,El Dorado,Butler Co., KS   [1]
  Census	1920	Lansing,Ingham Co.,MI   [4]
  Census	11 April 1930	Lansing,Ingham Co.,MI   [5]
  Education	Pontiac School,?Butler Co.,KS   [1]
  Died	1955
  Buried	1955	Fairview Cemetery,Mecosta Co.,MI   [6]
  Notes	Excerpts from daughter, Ethel (Hand) Armstrong's Story "A Family Named Hand" ..."Just about the turn of the century our parents left the Indiana farm where my father had been born and where their three oldest children had also been born and came to Michigan." ... ... "The oldest of the Hand children was an auburn haired, green-eyed girl named Sylvia Aurilla. The name Sylvia was for a great-aunt of father's but I don't know where they found the name of Aurilla. I have never heard it anywhere else. She must have been about four and looking back, I know that she never had a childhood. She had to grow up fast. She had to learn very early to care for her younger brother and sister and even help with the work of keeping the house. I hope that somewhere God made a special place for her because she earned it if anyone ever did. Her life sure was never easy." ... ..."In the fall, Sylvia and Harvey were enrolled in the tiny one room school near Burden Lake. It must have been quite a task for them to get to school in the winter. It was a mile and a half and the road was not traveled often and there often was not even a track through the deep snow. Once when Harvey had stayed home and Sylvia was walking home alone, a lynx followed her all the way slinking along behind her, stopping when she stopped and going on when she did but always here. She stopped and broke off a red willow switch and walked on home bravely carrying it. Mother and father were quite shook up when she told them about the big dark cat that followed her all the way home. Father went gunning for it and found the tracks but the animal had disappeared." ... ... "They called Sylvia "Puss" but I don't know why." ... ... "The young men had began to notice Sylvia. She had green eyes and long heavy auburn braids of hair and while not really pretty, she had a nice wholesome look about her. One young chap by the name of Fred Mitchener started calling on her. He had a matched team of tan colored horses and a shiny buggy and when he came into the yard it was always in a cloud of dust and he came right up to the door and skidded the horses to a stop. He called the horses Boy and Button. He was a teller of tall tales and he usually ended by saying, "me and George". George was his brother. One day father said to him, Is George any meaner than your are?" and he said, "No, Why?" and father said, "Oh I just wondered, you always say Mean George". He laughed about it but he tried not to say it anymore. Hundreds of acres of wheat were grown in Kansas and in late August and September the thrashing crews came. All of the neighbors helped each other and there were men who followed the harvest every year. The thrashing job took at least twenty men to handle it. They went from place to place and the ladies banded together to help feed the hungry men wherever they happened to be at meal time. Us children liked to go out by the road to watch in awe as the big steam engine went rumbling along making the earth tremble. It towed the thrashing machine, a huge iron giant. Behind it came a parade of wagons and the water wagon last with its huge tank to carry water for the boiler of the engine. Sometime after we moved there the telephone company ran a line by our house. All of the poles were set by hand all holes dug the hard way. There were about five men on the crew. They ate their lunch in front of our house and sat under one of our big trees, of course we kept them company. One of the crew had an eye on Sylvia and a day or so later I found a jack knife under one of the poles they had set. Sylvia remembered that she had seen him use that knife so she took it to him and it was not long before he was coming to see her. He didn't have a matched team and a shiny buggy. He had a motorcycle. It was an old Yale and the only way to start it was push it until it started. He was a short man and it was something to watch him push it until the motor started then jump on with his short legs." ... ... "During the summer Sylvia worked for one of the neighbors, cutting milk weeds out of the cornfield with a hoe. She got fifty cents a day for that. Just before school started she went to work as a mother's helper for a family who lived several miles away. She was to go to school there with their children but it would be a different school. She was in the eighth grade, I think." ... ... "Just before school started, Sylvia started working for a family that lived about seven miles to the east of us. When school started she went to the school nearest them, where the children of the family went. It was called Pontiac School. Sometimes on weekends, she came home to visit us. She usually walked home and someone took her back on Sunday afternoon. Her telephone repairman boyfriend took her out sometimes and quite often he was at our house for Sunday dinner. He had been married and his wife had divorced him. His name was Bill Dale. The Pontiac School had a team. I think that it must have been a basketball team. They had a cheer leader and a school yell. Sylvia had the team spirit and could give the yell as well as the leaders. Us children at home kept her busy giving the cheers. Our favorite one went like this, boom boom dee aye, boom boom dee aye, Pontiac, Pontiac, Jaywalker ?ay. It probably drove mother crazy but we liked it." ... ... "Sylvia finished at Pontiac." ...
  Person ID	I480	Marcia Shears
  Last Modified	19 April 2006

  
  

  Father	John Harvey HAND,   b. 12 March 1869, Howe,Lagrange Co.,IN ,   d. 8 December 1922, Lansing,Ingham Co.,MI  (Age 53 years)
  Mother	Frances Grace GREEN,   b. 28 February 1878, Near Steator,LaSalle Co,IL ,   d. 29 July 1921, El Dorado,Butler Co,KS  (Age 43 years)
  Married	1 March 1894	Sturgis,St Joseph Co.,MI
  Family ID	F37	Family Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family/Spouse	William Walter DALE,   b. 19 March 1884, KS   [4]
  Married	about 1915	Prob Butler Co.,KS
  Children	1. LIVING   2. (Female) DALE,   b. about 1819, Sturgis,St Joseph Co.,MI ,   d. Lansing,Ingham Co.,MI   3. LIVING + 4. Sylvia Arline DALE,   b. 12 July 1923, MI ,   d. 27 September 1983, Jerome Co,ID  (Age 60 years)   5. LIVING   6. LIVING
  Family ID	F256	Family Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Sources

  [S394] A Family Named Hand, Ethel (Hand) Armstrong. [S434] 1900 US Federal Census - HAND Frances Family , also M/F 1240730 Mason & Mecosta Co. 1900 Census a., Austin, Mecosta Co., MI - ED 92, Sheet 7B Lines 99-100 & 8A Lines 1-2, Image 14 and 15 of 15 . [S433] 1910 US Federal Census - HAND John Family , (Austin, Mecosta Co., MI - ED 115, Lines 34, 41, Image 15 of 18 ). [S955] 1920 US Federal Census - DALE William Walter Family, (Lansing, Ingham Co., MI; ED 108, Image 12 of 17 ). [S981] 1930 US Federal Census - DALE William W. Family, (Lansing, Ingham Co., MI, Ed 42, Sheet 8B, Lines 53-60, Image 16 of 28). [S424] DALE Sylvia A. Cemetery Marker.