PURDUM, ROBERT OLIVER AND GLADYS MAY (WILLIAMSON)

by Grace Purdum Diehm

Entry F352 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

Robert O. and Gladys M. (Williamson) Purdum, 1935

I, Gladys May Williamson Purdum, was
born on February 9, 1912 in a sod house eight
miles southeast of Mullen, Nebraska. My
parents were Charley and Carrie Williamson.
They were married April 18, 1906. They had
come from their home state of Iowa.

My father's parents were Thomas and
Ellen Williamson. My father was born March
17, 1875 at Liberty, Iowa. He died May 1,
1955 at the Alice Poole Rest Home in Mullen
Nebraska. He was eighty years old.

My mother, Carrie Zepp, was born Novem-
ber 21, 1882 in Jamison, Iowa to William and
Sarah Zepp. My grandmother, Sarah came to
America from Ireland when she was twelve
years old. My grandfather Zepp was Pennsyl-
vania Dutch, born in Pennsylvania.

My parents moved to Nebraska in 1908
where they homesteaded in Hooker County,
Mullen, Nebraska. My mother died on
November 12, 1957 at the Alice Poole Rest
Home. She had a stroke seventeen years
before her death leaving her paralyzed until
her death. When she died she was seventy-
four years old.

My sister Cecile Bernice was born August
1, 1918 in Mullen, Nebraska. Cecile and I
attended a country school until I was in the
eighth grade. My parents moved closer to
Mullen and we went to school in Mullen.

An early recollection of my life was when
I had the measles. It was winter time and
snowing when the neighbors stopped by in
their wagon to pick my family up on their way
to a Saturday night dance. My mother said
"No Gladys has the measles." I thought,
"Measels isn't going to stop me form going,"
so I made a dash for the bedroom and
changed from my night gown to my best
clothes, came out and told mamma I was
ready to go. Everyone looked at my measley
face and laughed. Needless to say, I didn't get
to go to the dance.

I remember another winter time when a
blizzard was raging outside. All morning I had
begged mamma and papa to let me go outside
and play. Finally papa put my overshoes on
and bundled me up in all my coats and
sweaters, opened the door and let me go. The
wind and snow took my breath away and
needless to say, I was ready to go back into
the house. A wise papa knew how to stop my
begging.

I graduated from Mullen High School on
May 21, 1931 and eloped the night of
graduation. I was married in Thedford,
Nebraska to Robert Oliver Purdum the son
of Fred O. and Catherine I. Purdum who lived
southeast of Mullen, Nebraska.

We had five children. The first child,
Barbara Eldora, was born in Mullen, on April
19, 1932 and died on April 19, 1932. The
second child, Ernest Vinton, was born in
Mullen, on 1933. He lives in Sumner,
Washington and has eight children and ten
grandchildren. The third child, Delores Mae,
was born in Garland, Wyoming, on
1935. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona
and has six children and five grandchildren.
The fourth child, Grace Elaine, was born in
Garland, Wyoming, on 1937. She
lives in Nampa, Idaho and has four children.
The fifth child, Rosalie Jean, was born in
Powell, Wyoming, 1940. She lives in
Salem, Oregon and has three children.

Gladys May Williamson Purdum died on
February 14, 1986. Two months prior to her
death she wrote this account of her family
history.