Washington County ID Archives Biographies.....(Lanning) Brown Herner, Susia Anna  October 3, 1894 - November 13, 1993
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Amanda Brown-Krueger amanda7752@juno.com April 8, 2006, 4:45 pm

Author: Susie Anna Lanning Herner Brown (1975)

I was born Oct 3, 1894 in a little shack at Crystal, near where Harvey Dudgeon 
now lives, the daughter of Henry and Rebecca Dearborn Lanning. My folks, with 
my four older brother's and sister, left Nero City, Kansas, the spring of 1890, 
with 2 covered wagons and their few personal belongings, their cattle had all 
frozen to death in one of those Kansas blizzards, the winter of 1889-1890, 
except one steer and he had frozen feet, a neighbor gave father a dollar for 
the steer and they headed out West, the hunted and fished along the way. When 
it was nessacary they laid over and did their washing, which wasn't easy for 
they had 5 children bediedes theirselves, Lewis was 10 years, James was 8 years 
old, Ella was six years. Bill was 4 years old, and Zara was 1 year old. They 
stopped at Crystal in the 1890, they had some friends there that had come West 
before two or three years earlier, and they raised a large garden and lots of 
potatoes which the shared with my folks amd Mr. Davison told my two older 
brothers and sister, dad could have all the potatoes they needed if they would 
pick them up, so they gor their winters potatoes and father worked for anybody 
that needed help, they lived there for six or seven years, then father took up 
a desert claim of 40 acres near where the Sunnyside school now stands. I think 
I was 3 or 4 years old when we moved on this place, father was building the 
shack when we moved, I was five years old, I started to school at the Old 
Eastside school, which stood at the corner of 9th and East Main. There were two 
stores near the school house, we walked from our home in to school when the 
snow was dep, the children that were older than me went ahead and broke a trail 
and I followed behind, my legs werepretty short to wade snow then, if the snow 
was too deep, we went down the rail road track where the train had blown all 
the snow off, to town, then back up the main to the school house. About 1900 
they built a school house at Sunnyside, just a littlw one room frame building. 
Mr. Fred Brockman bought this when they builta a 2 room building about 1905. My 
youngest brother was born April 1, 1900, this made seven of us children but 
father learned us all to work and we worked at anything we could. Father worked 
at every job he could. I remember of him, leaving home long before daylight, 
maybe walk 4 or 5 miles and grub sagebrush from daylight until dark and walk 
back home at night for a dollar a day or sometimes dollar and a half a day. He 
also helped build the first building at the Institute, the old home building 
and waled from our house back and forth he came home every night and went to 
work before daylight every morning. When I was about 10, Miss Kate Pope taught 
the Sunnyside school and I did genorator work, sweep the floors, went over in 
the morning, made a fire in the coal stove, so everything would be warm when 
the other children got to school. Miss Pope lived in town and her brother Ben 
brought her to school with a horse and a buggy and came after her at 4 oclock. 
I went to school there until Dec 23, 1908. I had met a young man by the name of 
Tom Brown. We were married Dec 24, 1908, he had taken up a homestead on Upper 
Mann Creek in 1907 and had a little two room house built on it. We went there 
to live in the spring. We fenced part of the land and planted some grain. I 
planted a garden to help out with the living, we canned fruit, made pickles. 
and saurkraut. We had some pigs, one cow, and a few chickens and a team of 
ponies. On November 2, 1909 our first child was born, Walter was his name and 
he still owns the little homestead. On Aug 9, 1912 our second son Henry was 
born, we named him Henry after my father, he lives up out of Cambridge now, he 
has three sons, all grown, Walter has five children, three girls and two boys. 
In the spring of 1913 we bought 118 acres along Mann Creek, know as the old 
Dick Coats place, we had hay and quite a lot of fruit trees on this place and I 
raised a garden and lots of chickens. Lots of people going camping, would stop 
at the place and buy fryers and sometomes vegetables but I always had to keep 
plenty of vegetables. We raised our own potatoes, dry beans, beets, parsnips 
and carrots and cabbage. The rest of the vegetables we put in a big pit and 
covered them over with straw, then some dirt, fixed a little hole so when we 
wanted some of them we just uncovered the straw and dirt away, we would take 
out a weeks supply at a time, then cover the hole back up. As time went on we 
built a big cellar but Mr.Brown had to work away from home to pay taxes and pay 
for the things we didn't raise, so me anf the children were left alone most of 
the summer and fall. On May 30, 1918 our first daughter was born, by this time 
we had a pretty nice bunch of cattle, some pigs and chickens. Wee milked cows 
and seperated the milk, bring the cream to Weiser to sell, then on Feb 19, 1932 
Goldie was born, now that was quite a family, we had our good times, also our 
bad, Mr. Brown passed away June 25, 1935, Walter had bneen going to college, 
went one and a half terms at Spokane, then went to Caldwell, but met a girl by 
the name of Letha Foreman and was married Feb 24, 1935- after Mr. Brown's 
death, I still kept the ranch, the three youngest children were still home but 
Henry met a girl by the name of Gertrude Boles and they were married Oct 27, 
1935. Edith met Melvin Bain and they were married Nov 1, 1935. Now that left 
Just Goldie and me. She was just 3 years old, but Henry and wife lived with us 
until Feb 1936, he did the feeding and heavy work for me but daughter in law 
wants to live with her mother so they moved out. In the mean time I had written 
Walter a letter to tell him Henry was leaving so he quit his job he was 
working, for George Nesbitt at New Plymouth, he came home and stayed and helped 
me outr until Oct 1937 when I remarried a man by the name of Frank Herner. We 
lived on the Creek place until 1941 when we had a flood. Spoiled most of our 
farm land and then we moved back on our homestead but Mr. Herner's health was 
failing and in 1943 we bought a little 13 acre place just East of Weiser from 
Mink Dickerson. Mr. Herner passed away Feb 24, 1948. Goldie and I were left 
alone again, but I stayed with the ranch for a while.
Back to my folks, one of my brothers got killed in the logging camp, that was 
Zara, in April 1925 he left one daughter and a wife. Father Lanning passed away 
Dec 24, 1939, Mother Lanning passed away Jan 4, 1949. They had lived on the one 
place in Sunnyside ever since he takken the claim in about 1897 or 1898, then 
my oldest brother passed away in Jan 1953, that was Lewis. William passed away 
in 1960. James passed away Dec 6, 1964 and Dexter passed away in May 1969. So 
all the boys and my parents were gone just leaving my sister Ella and myself.
Getting back to my own family, Goldie was 16 years old when her stepfather died 
but we stayed on the little 13 acres. She worked at the laundary and at the 
Metropole until she finished school then went to work for D.L. Carter in his 
law office. She worked there about 3 1/2 years then she married Richard Jones 
in Dec 1953 and they moved to Boise for a while then back to Weiser. After Mr. 
Herner passed away, I worked at the laundary, then 12 years for Clark 
Wholesale. I sold the 13 acre ranch in 1957 and moved to Weiser, but I was 
still working for Clark Wholesale. Later I worked in one day a week for Letha, 
Walter's wife in her cafe in Ontario, but  I still raised my garden and mow my 
lawn and do the irrigating in the summer.

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