Excerpted from the memoirs of Ethel Manly Hill (1972)

Aaron Richard MANLY

My dad's name was Richard Aaron Manly (sic Aaron Richard Manly). His first wife was dead. They had two children, Charley, a few months older than [my half-brother] John [Tiley], and Fanny (sic Fannie), same age as [my half-brother] George [Tiley]. Well, to start out with six children, it was tuff on a wedding but not on Mom and Dad.

I was nearly 9 years old when my dad died. It was the first I knew we were from different families. Well mom and dad had little Ruth, she died in a few days. Then my sister LaVena, she died June 23, 1972. She would have been 80 years old the 27th of August 1972. Then my brother Bob. He died March of 1964. He was 69. Then me, November 24, 1895. I'll soon be 77. Then little Grace. She died at the age of 3 years, 9 months, then little Hughie. He died in a few days. Believe me, that was a large family. It was wonderful.

My dad was a coal miner. A worker, he loved gardening and roses. He would work in the yard and really took care of his roses. Little Grace and Hughie died near O'Fallon, Ill. They are buried there. Then we moved to Colliersville (sic Collinsville), Ill, about ten or so miles away. Mom and Dad bought this house in Colliersville (sic Collinsville) from Mr. Swensen, a man from Sweden. He built houses in that area. He built fine homes. Dad paid $1,500 for this house. Four bedrooms, a big dining room, a big basement and a summerhouse where we did our washing and canning. Mom took in some boarders. They were coal miners like my Dad and brothers. The miners took their baths in the basement and the water the clothes were washed in was saved to spray on the rose bushes. We made our own soap that we did the washing with. Boy, it was strong. It really kept aphids off the roses. Dad used to did the roses up in late fall so they wouldn't freeze and hung them in the cellar. He was really a rose fan.

Dad was not a big man, about 5 ft. 6½ ins. tall, never weighed over 140 lbs. He had a mustache. He had it from the time he married Mom till I was about 7 years old. He shaved it off and all of us kids didn't know him. It took a little doing on his part to get next to us. He never grew it anymore. We all liked him better without his mustache. My dad was killed September 29, 1904. He was caught in a cave-in. He and his son Charley worked the same place. Dad ate his dinner while Charley was working, when he got thru eating he put his pail down, got up, said, ``Well Charley, it's time for you to eat.'' Charley came, took his pail and set down. Dad said, ``Well it's time for me to start picking.'' He went in the hole. It caved in right then. Vena and Bob and me were in school. They always blow whistles when a miner is killed. The teacher said to Mom, ``When those whistles blew I looked around at the children and wondered which one had lost their dad.'' We missed our dad so much. He was a real home man and a real good dad. We kids always felt happy because Dad & Mom seemed to belong to each other. They were so right.