Charles Franklin was born January 10, 1883 in King City which just across the county line from Union Star, Missouri in Gentry County. The only picture I have of him as a boy is on the preceding page. [Thank you so much to Tom Pemberton who graciously shared his photos of the James Monroe Pemberton Family when they were children]
In a story about her parents Yvetta Pemberton Hoyer wrote” Katherine [Wilkerson] met then married a handsome blue-eyed black haired young man Charles Pemberton whose parents lived nearby. He worked for the Brown Shoe Company in St. Louis, as did his friend Frank Riggs. The snappily dressed young men returned periodically to the home town, where they regaled everyone with tales of big city life. Charles and Kate married on August 23, 1908 at the Union Star Fairgrounds at a Wilkerson Family Reunion as seen below.
Soon two daughters were born: Yvetta Katherine November 9, 1909 and Frances Eileen November 26, 1912. Yvetta Pemberton Hoyer wrote a short story for one of her classes about her parents. “Charles and Kate opened a harness and saddle shop in Maysville, Missouri. But the advent of cars and farm machinery made the harness shop unprofitable, but they were true children of their adventurous pioneer ancestors. Selling their business, gathering their belongings together and taking their children, Frances and Yvetta, they set out via railroad for Billings, Montana to open a shoe repair shop. One of my most vivid memories is standing at the railroad station in St. Joseph, holding my sister’s hand and watching my weeping grandmother, arms around Mother, “There’s nothing but Indians and outlaws out there, take care of my grandchildren.” Fearfully I watched out the train window and sure enough as we crossed the Yellowstone river, camped out below the bridge were blanketed Indians next to their tepees cooking over open fires. Horses were tethered to the big farm wagons, children everywhere! Grandmother’s worst fears were true! But it was all forgotten in the new adventures awaiting us. Soon we were settled in a new home, a new school for me, a new job for Dad. But the old ways of warmth, good plentiful food, thrift and industry prevailed in our home which centered around our Mother’s plans and ambitions for us. Dad bought our first car, a Ford touring car, Mother could hardly wait to learn to drive, they planned and outfitted a camping kit, Mother even making us matching camping clothes, knickers and jacket with a blouse to match. We spent weekends fishing in the mountains, took trips to Yellowstone Park, Pompey’s Pillar, Roundup to name a few. Kate enjoyed the camping, fishing, and exploring the family did in the area. She was a superb needlewoman, cook and housekeeper.”
Charlie had became a member of the Masons in Missouri in 1910. He transferred his membership to Billings and was a life-long member
During WWI Charlie was an Army Inspector of Ordnance 1917-1918 in New York. I.D. No. 13270. He inspected saddles and other leather goods for quality. They stilled used horses in WWI.
Charles did not care for the shoe repair business and soon became a salesman and machinist for the Champion Shoe Machinery County of St. Louis. He traveled over the western states.” A picture of Charles at a shoes repair shop opening in 1950.
From Frances Pemberton DeYoung’s autobiography she writes “Dad had a family of five brothers and sisters. They were trades people and he worked at a harness shop. Harness making was doomed because Ford motor cars and mechanized farm machinery would soon appear on the scene. Why the entire Pemberton family (grandparents, aunts, and uncles) picked up “en masse” and moved to Montana has never been explained to me. At first, we crowded together, living temporarily in two side-by-side tiny apartments in Billings, Montana. Our apartment had one bedroom and an open screened in “sleeping porch” off the bedroom, one bathroom, a kitchenette, and a living room. One word about the sleeping porch: it fronted on the street and was enclosed with screens. During the winter blowing snow drifted in and settled on our bed covers. My sister and I had a feather bed and warm blankets so the only time we felt the cold was climbing into a chilled bed (no electric blanket), then having to scamper into the house, sometimes in -40° weather. In time my grandparents bought a dry land farm and homesteaded it, barely making a living. The aunts and uncles stayed in town and found jobs. As soon as possible we bought a house and I was enrolled in kindergarten. Our first home out west in Montana was located on the outskirts of Billings and close to the main lines of several railroads that were not too far away.
We had joined other countries in World War I and while Dad did not have to enlist, he was recruited into a civilian corp. to inspect saddles for the U.S. cavalry. He left for New York City and was gone for over a year without leave. Finally one memorable day, November 11, 1918, all the bells and whistles in the town went off. The word was passed around that the armistice had been signed that ended World War I. The town went on a wild time, celebrating for a week. Mother was happy to drop her plans of filling a barrel of homemade goodies to send back to New York City to Dad. He arrived home in a taxi a few days before Christmas, 1918. We moved often because Dad liked buying and selling real estate. When I was eleven years old, Dad bought a Model-T Ford and if he and I were both home for lunch, he would drive me back to school. We took tours all over town and saw surrounding country that we had never seen before. The Model-T enabled us to go to the city parks for concerts and picnics on Sundays.
The event that overshadowed the beginning of the 1930s was the birth of my twin sisters. Dad was now a company representative for a manufacturing firm located in St. Louis, Missouri, and he was gone for long stretches of time. My folks now owned a 1929 Chevrolet and I had my driver’s license for which I paid 25 cents and took no drivers test. In 1933 Mother, the twins, and I spent the summer in Seattle and moved to Missoula, Montana in the fall. I went to Fall and Winter quarters at the University of Washington while they were there. We drove back to Billings in January 1934 through another blinding blizzard in the Rockies. I went back and finished my year and returned home in June. In 1936 Dad had sold the car and brought a new one. The rental houses were sold and he decided to buy 10 logged-off acres east of Seattle in Woodinville, Washington. The house was nice but need quite of bit of work. We spent the rest of 1936 and 1937 doing this. The Washington winters were much more manageable for us seeing as how Dad was gone so much.
During this period Yvetta had become a teacher and was teaching in Eastern Montana. She had met and married Virgil “Bud” Hoyer.
The Twins
Here are some of my favorite pictures of the twins. I have many more pictures of the twins growing up I need to scan.
This is when Tom Sr brought his family and Susan to visit. The children in this picture are Tom Jr. and the twins
Like the Pemberton Family in previous generations when the Charles Pemberton family moved to Washington Bud and Yvetta soon followed. Below is a picture of the Pemberton Family in 1946. From left to right back two rows: Milford DeYoung and Frances Pemberton DeYoung, Jim DeYoung and Dorothy Pemberton DeYoung, Al DeYoung and Donna June DeYoung, and Virgil “Bud” Hoyer and Yvetta Pemberton Hoyer. In the front row are my cousins Lance and Larry DeYoung, Kate Wilkerson Pemberton, Charles Franklin Pemberton and my cousin Ronald Hoyer.
Here is a picture of Kate and Charlie at their 45 wedding anniversary party in 1953 with their daughters from left to right: Yvetta, Frances, Dorothy and Donna.
This is a picture of the Pemberton clan at Milford and Frances’ 50th wedding anniversary