Susan Rachel Haigh Hotchkiss Susan Rachel Haigh was my great grandmother on my maternal side. She was born March 5, 1851 in Omro, Winnebago County, Wisconsin and died Marchh 28, 1922 in Fergus Falls, Ottertail County, Mn. Her parents were Jonathan Haigh (1811) and Hannah Dalton (1816), both born in Penniston, Yorkshire, England. Susan was the 5th of 8 children. Susan and William were married July 4th, 1872 in Rushford, Wisconsin. If the marriage record is correct, William was 19, had recently moved from St. Lawrence Co. New York, his occupation is farmer and Susan was 21 years old. My mother didn't have specific memories of her grandmother, although several of her cousins were able to create short biographies using their experiences and memories of a special lady. Vivian Tollerson Peterson wrote the following: "Susan Haigh Hotchkiss was my grandmother. She was a short, plump pretty lady with a very even disposition. I think she would have to be in order to survive having 15 children!(11 living) She told me she sewed and knitted stockings for all of the family. Belle was the oldest of Susan's children and she helped care for all her younger siblings. Grandma loved to cook, knit, crochet, embroider and tat. I was ill when I was 9 and spent a year with grandma and grandpa in the big house in Fergus Falls (Guttenburg Heights) They were both very kind to me. She was 5 years older than grandpa but he always seemed the oldest. Grandma Susan died of a stroke." Blanche Tollerson Smith shared these memories: "I spent a few weeks in the summer of a year between 1918 and 1922 with my grandmother when she lived on Cleveland Avenue. She was a very unique woman; talented in handwork of all kinds. She taught me how to sew and knit. She was very particular about my work--she ripped out many seams before she would pass her OK on any sewing I may have been doing. I helped her garden and every other night I would walk to Lerfald's Store (nearly a mile) for a pail of milk. She would give ma a dime for the milk and a penny for candy. Grandma took me to my first movie and we attended the First Federated Church near Lake Alice a few times. She said she never had much chance to go to church as a child or after marriage and she enjoyed music so much. She was a quiet woman, very neat and a very "dear person." We would walk way out to Mount Faith Cemetery to put flowers on Grandpa Hotchkiss's grave." Happy 171 years, Great Grandmother Susan! An honor to remember you during Womens' History Month!