Erma graduated Mt. Morris College, and married Harold Wiley who also attended Mt. Morris. Harold taught country school, and they settled on the Switzer homeplace north of Roanoke, IL.  Erma was an avid photographer, using a kodak box camera and developing her own film and prints. Her photographs document life on the farm at Roanoke in an outstanding fashion.

Erma was a gifted artist, and left many fine paintings.  Erma loved animals, and imparted that love to her children and grandchildren. She never allowed hunting on her property, and this author remembers her telling him to never kill a spider, as it was bad luck for the person who did that, and worse luck for the spider. She had a tender heart and so did her husband, they were thoroughly good people.

 Married Harold Thorton Wiley April 4, 1915

Children

Joyce Lorene Wiley B. May,27, 1918,  Harold William Wiley B. Oct.24, 1921, Lomax Switzer Wiley B. Sept.23,1923, Faith Erma Jane Wiley B. Jan. 26, 1925, John Royal Wiley B. May 13, 1926, Maynard Halmar Wiley B. June 2, 1929, Merrilyn Hope Wiley B. Dec. 20, 1930

List of Erma's Children/Cousins by Joyce             List of Erma's Grandchildren

Additional Information List of Erma's Children    List One   List Two

Painting by the artist Erma Switzer Wiley

Erma at 17

Hal Wiley, Erma Wiley, Marilyn Wiley, Harold Wiley, Faith Wiley, Les Whisler, Ralph Whisler

Life on the family farm in Roanoke was like stepping back a few generations in our culture.  The farm had electricity and actually was one of the first homes to have phone service in the area, but did not have running water or indoor plumbing until the middle 1960s.  This was by choice, and my grandmother was enraged when her children put water and indoor plumbing in her house against her desire to do so.

The author was gifted by having spent a lot of time at the homeplace in the summers, and particularly remembers going to town to trade (barter) and endless invented amusements that his grandmother and grandfather found for him.  Of these, washday at Roanoke stands out.

Washday at Roanoke

Grandma Wiley would wake me to help early in the morning, and after Grandpa made the daily pancakes (each one identical in diameter and height), we would feed the dogs, (many) with the left over pancakes, sailing them into the air and watching the dogs jump to catch them.  Then we would go out to the smoke house yard, and roll the big black kettle from the smokehouse.  It was placed on 3 large round stones over a fire that we had kindled and built. As the kettle warmed, we would begin carrying water from the well, a distance of about 50 feet, in buckets. When the kettle was hot and full, we would carry the water to the machine shed, adjacent to the smokehouse yard and carry more water to refill the kettle.  The hot water was poured into an old tub washer in the machine shed and the clothes were carried out to be washed there. After a good and thorough washing, we would carry them to the clothesline, which was about 50 feet across the front yard of the house. This activity took the entire day, and it was usually suppertime before the clothes were all on the line, and I remember how exhausted I was and ready for supper and then off to bed very early.  

Rose painted by Erma Switzer Wiley