milod Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 Mato... Neat, neat pix!!!!! My Mom, btw, was born in 1917 on a homestead that had been the Rosebud - southwest of Winner. Sitting in on some of her 1950s college history classes and a batch of her books actually got me into Turner without yet quite realizing it. Brun... In retrospect I wonder sometimes whether I shouldn't have been teaching lit or history. My "first person" living history presentations actually have tended more to be 1860-1880. I think Louisiana, for example, does still have some "frontier" mentality, but from my perspective it's still awfully crowded. <grin> Good luck with the hurricane parties... and may all be safe. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matonanjin Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 milod, too funny! Our mothers' paths may have crossed at some point! Mine was born in 1922 so they were not that far apart age-wise or geography-wise. The closest town to her (in SD) was St. Francis, I think. I do remember her mentioning Winner in conversations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 Mato... Could be... at least the families. The "homestead" was down by the Dogear Buttes. But they moved to Iowa in the 20s. Grandpa had been a traveling horse trader and loved the open spaces. Grandma was very young, and from a big town and more settled country. She could ride, she was a heck of a handgun shot. She could handle the train fire that burned half the lumber for their home. She could handle the prairie fire that just about put them entirely out of business and even "life." She just couldn't easily handle loss of an infant daughter so far from town and medical help in the flu epidemic. So it was back closer to doctors and such. Grandpa never learned to drive a car and, I think, was just waiting to leave a world of rocket ships and missiles and jet airplanes - and movies of riders running full speed for 150 miles non-stop with music in the background. <grin> m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matonanjin Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 Had lunch with mom today. And, as I expected, she said she new quite a few families from the Winner area. Let me know your mother's maiden name and I will ask my mom later this week. If you don't feel comfortable replying with that on here just send me a pm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 I did send a pm. BTW, this weekend we had 700 teams of team ropers here. Same bunch in June actually was bigger, 1,200 teams. They love the double arena for a big roping. In Winner, btw, I assume she knew some of the Abourezks. Back in the '50s we ran into an old boy who remembered my Grandpa and got directions to the old homestead. Oh - did your Mom know the Tope sisters? m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 I did send a pm. BTW, this weekend we had 700 teams of team ropers here. Same bunch in June actually was bigger, 1,200 teams. They love the double arena for a big roping. In Winner, btw, I assume she knew some of the Abourezks. Back in the '50s we ran into an old boy who remembered my Grandpa and got directions to the old homestead. Oh - did your Mom know the Tope sisters? m Keep it up boys... you could be kin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 If it is, here's some info on the company. http://www.purecowboy.us/Hess%20&%20Hopkins%20Rockford,%20Illinois%20Vintage%20Saddle.htm Or http://www.vintagegunleather.com/company-marks/hess_hopkins_history.html They should give you an idea of what the maker's stamps looked like. If it's a correct assessment, it's a relatively "mass market" product as opposed to the local saddlery that may or may not have had an individual craftsman doing his own thing and perhaps creating a very valuable work of art. A much more modern style Hess and Hopkins has had sale offerings at around $1,600. It'd take an expert on valuing these things - I'm just into getting local antique saddles into our museum rather than figuring the cash values. Regardless, I'd still say that for $50 you have a steal of a neat piece. As handy as you are, you may wanna build a saddle rack, perhaps even on wheels, for it somewhere... m Hess & Hopkins, according to the links was in Rockford, IL. That's just a hop and a skip from where I bed down at night. I think I've seen that building. They probably loaded up the raw hides in Chicargo, run them up to Rockford on the Galena & Chicago rail line for turning into saddles, chaps, straps, harnesses and various and sundry other leather goods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Tommy... Yup on the saddlemaker. Folks don't realize how much leather was used in so many ways up unto the 2nd half of the 20th century. Belts to operate lots of various sorts of equipment... sheesh. Of course, I also get a kick out of the anti-fur folks who wear leather shoes... but would have heart attacks to see the same piece of leather without the hair removed... m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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