IOWA WOMEN’S ARCHIVES

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA LIBRARIES

IOWA CITY, IOWA

VELMA SKOTT TEEPLE (1913- )

“buckhorn: A Memoir,” 2001

70 pages

ACQUISITION:	“Buckhorn: A Memoir” (donor no. 794) was donated in 2001 by Velma Skott Teeple.
ACCESS:	“Buckhorn: A Memoir” is open for research.
COPYRIGHT:	»Copyright has been retained by the donor.
PROCESSED BY:	Doris Malkmus, 2001. [TeepleVS.doc]

»Biography

Velma Skott Teeple was born on February 1, 1913, the youngest of eight children of Hans and Helene Elissat Skott. Her father was a co-founder of Farmers’ Union Cooperative Creamery in Buckhorn, Jackson County, Iowa. Velma Skott Teeple attended rural school and boarded in Maquoketa to attend high school. During high school, s he took the Normal Training Course and after graduation, taught rural school for four years. She continued taking taking teaching courses at Iowa State Teachers’ College (University of Northern Iowa) and in Vermilian, South Dakota.

In 1938, she resigned from her teaching career to marry the local farmer Paul Teeple. Together they lived near Baldwin, Iowa for two years. In 1940, they bought a farm outside of Monmouth, Iowa, where they lived for forty-five years and raised three daughters, Carmin, Rosemary, and Patricia. The family was active in the church, school, 4-H, and Farm Bureau. Velma Teeple also taught in Monmouth’s elementary school for a total of eighteen years. She became an active volunteer with the Jackson County Historical Society after retiring in 1985.

Teeple pursued her interest in writing through a correspondence writing course and an eight-week writing course for senior citizens. She wrote “The Stuff of Life,” “The Way it Was,” and a “Meddle of Memories.” for her daughters. She was also involved in the publication of the Skott History (1984). She researched the histories of her farm community when she decided to write reminiscence about Buckhorn, a small community with few remaining inhabitants and few written records.

Scope and Content Note

The reminiscence “Buckhorn: A Memoir” was self-published by Velma Skott Teeple in 2001 and includes 70 pages. It begins with a brief history of the Buckhorn community and the founding of a cooperative creamery there in 1899. It also includes details of her childhood, descriptions of the weekly work, play, school, and church activities. A collage of thirty-one photographs (color photocopies) illustrate early Buckhorn history and other family events. A final section, “Tales of the Times,” includes short essays on farm chores, butter and cheese-making, famous blizzards, the Depression, children’s clothing, and Buckhorn families.

Related Collections

Clara Steen Skott A large collection of diaries, farm records, photographs, and writings of the wife of Velma Skott Teeple;s oldest brother Hans.

SCVF Description

Folder 1 “Buckhorn: A Memoir,” by Velma Skott Teeple