I been called
a lotta names in my life. Sum I earned and sum I ain't. My
given name is Nedidiah but folks have called me Nedly, Nasty Ned,
Gnarly Ned, Knucklehead Ned, Nincompoop Ned, and all sorts of other
names.
I wuz born in 1812 at Fort Lisa on the Missouri River
nears to Omaha, Nebraska.
When I wuz 18 my family set out for
Fort Vancouver in the Oregon Territory. While on that trip west
I saw the purdiest gal I ever did see. Her name wuz Lilly Mae.
She didn't know that I wuz watchin' her whiles she tussled with her
brothers and sisters.
Unfortunately her folks and mine got into
a huge fight about sumthin' and the rest of the trip they wuz a-feudin'
back and forth.
One day she wuz chasin' her sister and she fell
and rolled down a hill. Well, I wuz fishin' in a creek when she
rolled into me and we both tumbled into the creek. I thought it
were a bear that jumped on me so I grabbed her and held her under the
water.
When I realized it were a girl I let her up. She
stood up and hauled off and blackened my eye. We stood there,
huffin' and a puffin', facin' off. Right then I knew I had to
have that feisty female fer my wife.
We ended up fallin' in
love. After we got to Fort Vancouver we decided to head for
Sutter's Mill fer to get rich on gold. We didn't stay there long
cuz we wasn't gettin' rich. We headed out south and ended up in
Banning where we ran the stage coach station. |
| Ned Cline
teaches eighth grade history and language arts. He and his wife,
Julie, packed up and moved to Beaumont when Ned was recruited to teach
in Fontana. |
|
