Notes on Alice Henrietta Balter Oliver and Royal Irwin Oliver
Contributed by
Harold Balter
Copyright 2000
Notes on Alice Henrietta Balter Oliver
and Royal Irwin Oliver
Royal Irwin Oliver
B. 16 Jul 1884. d. 25 Jun 1970, El Dorado, Butler Co., Kansas.
Alice Henrietta Balter Oliver
Grandpa Boelter (Stephan) had 2 girls, Augusta & Ida that our Dad (Edward)
use to talk about.
Augusta married Eugene Kreiner and they had 1 girl but I forgot her name - The
last our parents heard from uncle Reynold (Rheinholt) he was married and had 11
children - but I dont know where they lived - our folks lost track of him when I
was 9 years old. Mother wrote them but her letter was returned.
My name is Alice Henrietta
WHITEWATER INDEPENDENT : January 25,1917 Page 4 column 3
Mrs. R. I. Oliver visited her Grandmother, Mrs. A. Robinson, and Aunt,
Lucinda Robinson this week.
WHITEWATER INDEPENDENT : March 08,1917 Page 4 column 3
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Roy Oliver Saturday March 3rd, a baby girl.
Marna 1966
I Alice Henrietta (Balter) Oliver was born on the farm north east of Benton, Kans. where Lee & Anna Belle Edmiston used to live and so was sister Olive Caroline (Balter) Fillmore. My folks Ed & Lizzie Balter moved to Union , Oregon when Olive and I was babies and lived there until I was 5 years old - then uncle Julius Balter came with a four horse team covered wagon & moved us over the mountains to a farm , I think it was North of Joseph several miles. Our trip over the the mountains I'll never forget as the roads were so rough and along a swift river on one side and mountains on the left side of us & we meet a 4 horse team coming down the mountain as we was going up and there was scarcely room to pass so my Dad & uncle Julius got out and got poles & braced against the wagon wheels & held them there & Mamma got out and stood ahead of the lead team & held on to their bridles so they wouldn't get scared and start until the wagon coming down on the mountain side passed our wagon. Blanche was a baby 6 months old then and I had to sit on the floor of the wagon & hold her while mamma was in front of the horses - she told me, don't bump her head & get her crying, so that the first thing I did. But by good careful drivers, the other wagon got by without bumping ours and we was on our way again and got to Uncle Julius & Aunt Alice's place safely. My folks rented a farm, there was a drainage ditch run through it__ _ _ .
We used to go to the head of the Wallowa Lake on the 4th of July to celebrate, I had my first ride on a merry-go-round, there was 4 or 5 seats and it was pulled by a white horse - they used some sort of a tumbling rod to turn the merry-go-round like they use to do the grain thrashing, that way too only they used several teams of horses on that or them. One time while thrashing at our place the tumbling rod broke & scared the horses as it released their pulling so they started to run and rear up & try to get away & Uncle Julius ran in & grabbed the bridle bits of a big team & it knocked him down and nearly killed him. They carried him to the house and got a doctor and he didn't come to for quite awhile a day or so.
There was a lot of Indians up at the lake & they would come by our place & stop & try to sell beaded moccasins and different things. They rode spotted horses we called them Indian ponies. My folks moved back to Kansas on the train when I was 9 years old and the first year we lived on the Tommy Herrin farm across the road from the Miller cousins & Uncle John & Aunt Emmy and was neighbors to the Dohrens & Pauls and went to school at Golden Gate.
I was always in to trouble when we lived in Union - run off and take Olive with me . Once we went to a side show there in town and a old man who knew us picked Ollie up & held her, held onto my hand and took us home. My mother use to blister my seat but I guess I thought "scolding dont hurt, licken dont last long and kill me she darent". One time we was running away going across the street and the sidewalks was made of 2 x 6 ft boards - we didn't know Papa was watching us as we was stooping over and hurrying along & Ollie fell down and a swarm of hornets came out from under the walk & stung Ollie & she fainted- Papa came running out and carried her to the house & I got skinned again , Ha!
The sheriff lived in the same block with us and their daughter Dolin Hamilton
colored a lot of Easter eggs & made a nest on our cove and put the eggs in.
Ollie and I found the nest of beautifully colored eggs, that is the first Easter
I remember. Dolin made me a pretty crochet cap they called them toboggins then,
it had some colored pom poms on it and it sure was pretty. You wonder just why I
am writing this, well there has been times since my folks are gone I'd like to
know things that happeded in their childhood - but there is no one now to ask
Your Mother
Alice was 89 years when she died. She was buried in Walnut Valley Memorial Park in Kansas.