Terry Campbell
West Concord News-Enterprise
West Concord, Minnesota
December 24, 2008
140 Year Old Christmas Tradition Spins on in Time
A Christmas present given to a young boy living in Red Wing in 1868 has continued through the generations as a family tradition. David Linsley was only six years old when his father, Dolph Linsley, gave him a small brass top as his only gift that Christmas Eve. David spun the top that evening and he treasured the toy so much that he spun it every Christmas Eve thereafter, a tradition that descendants have kept up for 140 years. In fact there have been only two Christmas Eves that the top did not spin. One was in 1904 when the family was moving on Christmas Eve to Litchfield, Minnesota by horse and mule-drawn wagon. The other time was in 1959 when the family forgot to pack the top when they traveled to Illinois for a family Christmas.
The family has created a website so that all may enjoy the story of the Christmas top. In a time when the economic uncertainty is everyone's concern, it is interesting to see how a simple gift continues to last through time, when many gifts given in this generation are forgotten long before the next holiday season. The top will be spun again this Christmas Eve in Deer park, Washington by David's great-granddaughter's family.
When David Linsley received his spinning top in 1868, the nation was in a post civil war recession and multiple gifts were not a common occurrence in homes. Children did not receive toys in Happy Meals on a daily basis and they learned to value what little they did have. The top was made of brass and dated 1868. It is held in a heavy steel wire frame with a wooden handle. A string wound around the top is pulled and the spinning top is released from the holder and spins on the floor with a musical hum. The Christmas memory of the top as a gift from his father, along with the mentality of keeping things led to the long-standing tradition of this story.
The Linsley family moved to West Concord in 1905 and remained here until David died in 1937. At that time the top passed to his son, James. James and his wife, Martha had a dream to own a farm near Nevis, Minnesota. They bought the property in 1929, just before the onset of the Great Depression. James took a job in Minneapolis as a streetcar conductor for 50 cents per hour while his wife and two children strayed on the farm. They all wrote to each other almost daily during those two years. In her later years Martha bought a typewriter and transcribed all those handwritten letters as a family memory. The family has created a website www.deardaddy.com which posts Ruth's Journal and the farm letters that they wrote to each other between June of 1932 and August of 1934. This Chronicle is an informative and entertaining insight into farm life during the Great Depression. A few interesting passages below allow the reader to remember life seventy years ago and how life has changed in our lifetime.
... As we sat by the woodstove and admired our tree, Daddy began reminiscing about his favorite boyhood holiday tradition - spinning the top ... Grandpa David would be marking the sixty-fourth year in West Concord that night....
Ruth's Journal: 13. Christmas at the Farm
... The first step prior to any errand, was lugging the heavy battery up the steps and out to the car, setting it in place, and connecting the cables. Since there was no anti-freeze, the next step was filling the radiator. She always heated the water on the woodstove first, in order to warm the engine. Finally, because low temperatures made the transmission stiff, she jacked one of the rear wheels up off the ground, to help the engine turn over more easily. There were no casual outings....
Ruth's Journal: 11. Winter Prelude and Thanksgiving
... there was a telephone pole directly across the road. She told us to stand behind it, and call out instructions as she backed out and turned ... she did more backing than turning, and hit the pole. At her slow speed there was no damage - except to the last shred of faith we had in her driving ability....
Ruth's Journal: 9. Preparing for Winter
... As for farming up here it can never be done unless you make every cent you can. There is the interest on the mortgage the 1st. of August and all of the taxes should be paid up this fall. We'll never make a go of it if we start out loaded with such debts. You had better not take any more time off until fall and then come prepared to build us a suitable house for the winter ... We want some chairs badly ... .
Martha, letter to James on July 6, 1932
Dear James,
...We walked over to Mrs. Shaw's Friday evening and brought home a young rooster. There being no one else to do it I chopped its head off with the new ax, plucked it and cut it up ready for the kettle. We all wished you were here to help eat him ... .
Martha, letter to James on August 28, 1932
... We are reading the Bible quite regularly ... I wish you would think of such things and pray once in a while for we surely need a higher wisdom to give us courage to carry on now. I know it means a lot to me and when we get together again I hope we will all be closer together in spirit and be able to build a happy home, for that is the biggest thing in life ... .
Martha, letter to James on February 7, 1933
