Lucy Esther Peabody Venters was born on 23 Oct 1875 near Stonington, Christian Co IL, the daughter of Sarah Elizabeth Hewitt and James Allen Peabody.  She appeared on the census in 1880 in Christian Co IL with her family. She died on 6 Nov 1953 in Decatur, Macon Co IL. She was buried 8 Nov 1953 next to her husband and among her parents and ancestors in Old Stonington Cemetery, Stonington, Christian Co, IL.

The summer of 1900 Lucy was able to spend three months at the home of James’ brother’s family, Dudley & Mary Peabody with children Daisy & Lewis in Westerly RI. Her mother, Sarah was born and raised in North Stonington CT with a large extended family near-by. Sarah married Jimmy Peabody there in 1867, but then moved to his farm in Christian Co IL and never was able to travel back east again. So when Lucy planned the summer with her cousin’s family, she felt it her mission to reconnect with all her parent’s families on the East Coast. She wrote letters several times a week all summer to her mother about meeting and connecting many branches of the family genealogy and Sarah wrote back as often with questions and comments weaving the extended families together. I have those letters that filled in many blanks during my later years of family research.  While in the East, Lucy was able to take painting lesson from the same teacher her mother had for lessons as a young woman, and some of the resulting hand-painted china are displayed in my home today.

All her life Lucy was an accomplished seamstress, creative and imaginative in her designs. Prior to her marriage to Ross Venters in 1901, she earned a living by spending prolonged periods of time in various homes in Christian Co sewing wardrobes for each family member, then going on to the next client. In later years, I remember walking downtown Decatur with her, looking in the dry-goods stores windows at fashions for little girls. I’d see something I liked and when we got home, Lucy would cut a newspaper pattern and create a duplicate of what we’d seen. In the late 1930’s and early 1940’s many of my clothes were made from the printed cotton feed sacks that grain and chicken feed came in for their farm animals. We’d rip the running-stitch seams and the bag would unfold into an even one-yard of fabric.

I loved to spend time at the farm as a child, where Mother “V” taught me many things – one was to sew. I first made doll clothes, learning to rip out mistakes and do over many times. The lesson was to always give my best effort – sloppy or mistakes would never do no matter what I was doing. So I’d have to pick out the errors and do over, but it was a good lesson to learn so early. I remember if it was lunch time with just the two of us, Mother “V” would pull out the bread board for our ‘tea party’ and she took time to sit with me to enjoy our lunch and tea.  She was always busy on the farm and I’d try to help. She’d set me up with the churn to make the butter, but my arms would tire before butter became a reality.  Although she showed me how to gather the eggs, I’d always seemed to get pecked making it one of my least favorite tasks. However I did love working in the huge garden for the reward was a sun-ripened juicy ripe tomato.

My memories of Mother “V” always saw her as a quiet, proficient, skilled, sweet lady who could do anything and did everything.  I’d see her tend the large flock of chickens, starting with the baby chicks in early spring and later butchering and dressing fryers for Daddy “V” to haul to Decatur on the weekly ‘butter and eggs’ route. She’d plant and tend the huge garden, then in fall can and process the produce for winter use. Besides teaching me to sew, Mother “V” helped her daughter, Esther make many of the family clothes. Making braided rugs for hire was something she did in her spare time. I remember her gathering others’ castoff wool clothes and I would sometimes help her cut them into long narrow strips. Sewing the strips together Mother “V” would braid them into perfect multi-colored rugs of all sizes.  It was a very time-consuming tedious chore. As the rug would get larger, furniture in the living room would get pushed aside to lay the rug out, then she’d working another round to enlarge it. Some of the rugs she made for others were as large as 9 x 12 and could take months to finish.

As busy as she was on the farm, the time I spent with Mother “V” I always felt she had time for me and never felt rushed or anything but loved and treasured. She was a good cook and I have her hand-written cookbook and I still use many family recipes to this day. She and my Mom were my heroes and over the years I’ve tried to copy their kindness, patience, and other traits I admired, not always with success.