Eilleen Gish - the Early Years

Eilleen Frances Vinson 1906 - two years old

Born at the turn of the century on November 13, 1904, my Grandma was the firstborn child to a young couple in the small town of Cottonwood Falls,  Kansas. Her parents were Thomas E. Vinson (born Sept. 16, 1879 in Iowa) and Malina "Lina" Sieker (born 9/5/1884 in Kansas) married on October 1, 1901. Lina's family came from Schweinfurt, Bavaria in Germany where her father, George Adolph Sieker, was born. George immigrated to Wisconsin with his family when he was 13 years old. Her father worked as a Hardwareman in 1880 in Hillsboro, KS and a flour miller in 1900 in Cottonwood Falls, KS. Lina was one of seven children. Lina's mother's parents also came from Germany in the Zimmern area of Prussia. Here's a link to more information about Germany in the late 1800s-early 1900s.

Eilleen (r) and Floyd Vinson about 1908

Eilleen's younger brother Floyd was born in about 1908. They were the only children of Lina and Tom. Eilleen's father worked as a Lineman and they lived in town, in Hillsboro, KS. Her many aunts and uncles lived nearby, several were first-generation immigrants: from Russia (a German-Lutheran settlement) and Germany. One uncle was a Teamster and owned a large threshing machine to help with farm work. Others were farmers. I recall my fascination when my Grandma talked about how she spoke German as a child. I always wanted her to say something in German to me, but she said she forgot how to speak it.

Eilleen went to school through the 10th grade but dropped out before she graduated. This was a common at the time, with only about 16% of students graduating high school nationwide in 1919-20. She did enjoy school, though, and even participated on the women's basketball team, a sport newly invented in the late 1800s by James Naismith. It was thought to be especially beneficial for women, as reported in the Kansas University newspaper, 'By 1896, the Kansas University Weekly had published an editorial calling for the introduction of basketball to the University precisely because the game was “especially well-adapted for girls as quickness and accuracy count instead of muscular strength.”' 


In the next blog we'll look at Sam's early years and then how they met and fell in love.

Eilleen is the second from right, bottom row, with the great smile. Their costumes were stylish but don't seem conducive to vigorous exercise.

High School in Hillsboro, KS about 1914