This is an amazing document: Both as FAMILY history as well as general history about life in rural Illinois during the first half of the twentieth century: Changes in farming practices, the addition of labor saving devices, cars, tractors, etc.
My family, mainly the grandchildren, have asked me to share some of the highlights and incidents that took place during my 85 years. My father was one of a large family living in Mason County, Sarah Grosenbach, Lydia Heinhorst, Katherine Kopp, Adam Schroen, William Schroen, Hattie Barnes, Charles Schroen, Frances Worner, and John Schroen.
My Grandfather Robert Kopp and Anna Koch were married and had one daughter, Susanna and Robert Kopp had two children, Henry and Emma Kopp by a previous marriage. While on a trip to Nebraska visiting old neighbors, Grandpa became ill as they returned and had Typhoid fever from the contaminated drinking water of which he couldn’t battle. So that left Grandma widowed with the three children on the 140 acre farm.
In later years my mother became acquainted with Adam Schroen and they married in their early ‘20s and Dad was farming for Grandma. Their family was started with Henry Lester, 1895-1972, Clara Ruth, 1899-1976, Robert Leroy, 1900-1979, Merna Mildred, 1902-, William Arvel, 1909-1979.
My father took over the farming, and Grandma continued living through her years with us. The farm was an all crop, dairy, horses, hogs, and chicken farm, and lots of garden space and many fruit trees of all kinds. We always kept a heavy farm horse team for the heavier work, and some lighter horses for all of the light work and always one for the horse and buggy.The dairy herd was around 15 plus the calves we would feed and grow up for increasing the herd.
My father usually hired extra help for the work. It wasn’t easy to find reliable help,just like it is today. You could say they were on trial and if it didn’t work out,their stay was short and he would try again. A neighbor close by and living in a rent house would come by the day sometimes.
I was quite a small girl during World War I but but quite a lot of young men were inducted. Also at that time the epidemic of Influenza hit the nation which caused many deaths,pneumonia and complications. Brother Lester was gravely Ill,which left him with asthma,of which he had to battle through his years. About this time the tragedy of the sinking of the Titanic made daily news. There were some 1500 on board and some were very wealthy people. I don’t think many were rescued and the band stayed with the ship as it sunk, playing, “Nearer My God To Thee”.
Shortly after the Titanic tragedy there was an excursion boat on the East Peoria side that usually had Sunday trips to Pekin. It was a pleasure trip of dancing and merry making. On a return trip the boat struck a sandbar at Creve Coeur, almost home and sank. I don’t know how many were on or how many casualties. But a close neighbor of ours and her brother were on the boat. A colored man saw Margaret flailing in the water and he rescued her.
The farm is located about four miles west of Washington, a small town ,and eight miles east of Peoria,one of the largest cities in Illinois,with lots of industry, all kinds of businesses and large stores for shopping.
We were growing up as a lively bunch of kids and would get into scrapes that wouldn’t bear repeating. I can remember the tramps as they walked by, they would knock on the door for a handout. Mother would fix something and hand it to them, but they were never allowed to come inside. Then they would have to go on their way. Another thing that would scare us was the gypsies as they would come during summer in their covered wagons. They usually parked in the school yard about a half mile from us. Their stay would be a week or more, they could get water from the well as well as having the outside toilets, an ideal place to park. The horses roamed the roadside eating the grass. When grazing was short they would move on. If they came to the door asking for eggs, milk,etc, you had better give it to them–or else. During those days you can be sure we kids didn’t stray too far from the house yard.
Working with the cows was just as important as preparing the fields for planting. The milking was a twice a day job. It was done by hand,when I became old enough I went to the barn, sat on a three legged stool, holding the pail between my knees and pulled the faucets. There were time when you didn’t know when you would be kicked in the gutter. When we milked, the milk was carried to the milk house,strained and run through a DeLaval separation to separate the cream from skim milk which was a good feed for the hogs. Then Dad had an idea of starting a dairy and produce route in Peoria. Mother was starting to make butter. They purchase a wooden barrel churn,hand turned. The cream was put in tall covered pails, hung by rope in the well for cooling. Sometimes it took an hour of more to churn, to separate the butter from the whey. Then Ma had a large wooden bowl and wood paddle and would work the butter until it looked dry, no milk. Then she would weigh and package the butter wrapped in butter paper, something like our waxed paper now. Dad had some Jewish customers and they would order as much as four pounds of unsalted butter. The larger amounts were sent in bowls and not packaged. Mother was a good butter maker and would make as much as 60 pounds per week. Dad purchased an enclosed dairy wagon, had enclosed shelves inside and Saturday was the delivering day. A team of of mules pulled the wagon, one mule was blind in one eye. A great aunt lived in the neighborhood of his route and he usually had dinner with her. The mules must have thought Dad was staying too long, so they started out and Dad caught up with them at the next stop. There were no cars to interfere with them.
If there was any produce available that was also loaded in the wagon for delivering. As we separated the milk, it became my job to clean up the separator.
It was time and I was old enough to start on music lessons, my first lessons were on an old pumporgan, and later on Clara, Roy and I walked across the woods and had piano lessons for some years. Dad was always music minded and liked to sing. Sometimes in a mixed quartette for church. We grew up in a country church a mile or so from the farm. That early training is still with me and good to this day. There was a parsonage for the minister and he had a horse and buggy to drive to make his calls. You could be pretty sure when the minister called he would have an empty bag with him, thinking he might pick up some corn or oats for horse feed. The minister’s pay was meager, after our service in the morning, he would drive to another church about 6 miles away for an afternoon service. He sometimes had the same sermon for both places. Dad thought it was time we should have a piano. He did surprise by having bought a concert grand piano, a Baldwin make. I think it was a $600.00 piano that time. The three of us were still having piano lessons. My brothers and sisters started school ahead of me, now it is my time. We are in the same one room building where my mother had her education about a half mile from the farm. A big room with high ceiling, a pot belly stove in one corner fired by wood. A pail and drinking cup is in the hallway, carried in from the outside well at recess. No inside plumbing so two houses were in the far corner of a big school yard.
My first grade teacher is Willis B. Coale,age 21 years. We have double seats for two, if an over crowd sometimes three. The teacher hears and has daily recitations of all subjects, through the eighth grades. Some of the older pupils are seventeen years or more. There are maybe some sixty kids of all ages and sizes. How is that for a young teacher’s day of work on small pay? We would walk that half mile in all kinds of weather. In extreme weather we were always happy to see someone waiting to take us home.
On a Sunday noon in 1915 my father came back from church feeling ill. By Five-o’clock he was growing worse, the local Dr. came out and started him on Hypo’s. Through the night he was gravely ill and suffering, the Hypo’s weren’t helping. In the morning neighbors were called in to hold him down. A specialist was called from Peoria, transportation was slow those days. Before the specialist arrival at 12;30, Dad had passed away. There was nothing to do but hold an autopsy right then and there. The autopsy disclosed a bowel obstruction and gangrene had set in. Now days an emergency is done to prolong life. What a shock, just a 24 hr. Duration. That had changed everything for the whole family. Before his death he had been elected road commissioner for our township. They were in the middle of building a bridge, he wasn’t the kind to stand by and watch others work, he worked with them.
Mother tried to keep up with the route but it was too much for her and she had to give it up. Then the separated cream was put into five gallon covered cans and taken to Peoria creamery.
Since we were in the horse and buggy days, transportation was slow, we were one of the earlier ones to have a car, it was an Overland with canvas top and side curtains had to be attached according to weather conditions. The earlier cars weren’t the electric start usually the front hand crank. Sometimes the crank flew back almost breaking an arm. As time went on the better cars were coming into the market.
We had no telephones until the neighbors banded together and set the poles,stringing the wire, when it was completed it was known as home owned. There were as many as eight on the line and it was sometimes good to listen in if you had the time. They also had to maintain the line and keep it in working order. About this time we had a dusty road which was almost impossible during a rainy season. Again the neighbors had a low box gravel wagon that they used to haul the gravel out of a creek bed. It took a lot of hand shoveling and hard work but at least we had a better road. After we had our telephone service, the big line came past our farm and eventually we had telephone service from the big poles and lines.
I was 13 years when Dad left us and had a couple of years to finish in school in order to graduate from the elementary. The old school room of many years lost its usefulness. So a two room cement block was built just across the road. Two lady teachers were hired for the lower and upper grades. Hazel Bishop was my 7th grade teacher and brother Lester taught the 8th grade. That meant graduation for me. On a blustery hot day in June the graduation was held on the Pekin courthouse steps our county seat. Those steps were full of graduates from all over the county. A girl from Hopedale had high honors which was a 4 year scholarship for Normal. I came in for 2nd high also have a scholarship but was unable to continue my education since i was needed at home. Normal was possibly 70 miles away and about the only transportation was by train. It wasn’t a coming home every weekend. Lester was able to continue over at Normal and after 4 years he was graduated and ready to apply for a teaching job. Sometimes he was needing more credits and he was able to pick up those during summer school.
It is time to think about farming and since my Fathers sudden death we are lacking a leader. The farming must go on, there isn’t much choice. Roy and I will have to see what we can do. As soon as the weather becomes settled, fields are workable, it is time to sow oats, the earlier the better. It takes a lot of oats for horse and cow feed. Then maybe there is a field of winter wheat starting to grow if it survived the freezing. Likewise for the alfalfa field if it survived the winter freezing. After the oats are in it is time to prepare fields for corn planting. Sometimes the corn hills would be missing and as kids we would have to take our hoe to the field, go up and down the rows, and plant the missing hills, It wasn’t a desirable job for kids but we did it, The corn was planted with a two row planter, horse drawn,also was cultivated that way.
In the spring if there was a lull between field work there was always the job of wood cutting for the kitchen and two other woodburning stoves we were using. Trees were cut down,limbs hauled in and a couple of neighbors would come in for the wood sawing. We had a Majestic range for the kitchen and some heating stoves for the other rooms.
As the crops are growing now, they will be harvested. We always kept a 4 horse team to pull the heavier machinery, always a lighter team for lighter work. It didn’t take me long to learn how to harness the horses and hook them up to the machinery.
We are still milking cows so we put up a cement silo,filling it in the fall with cut corn for the winter feed. We aren’t carrying milk to the separator anymore, but selling the whole milk. As it is milked and run through a strainer it is put in ten gallon covered cans and carried to an outside tank with cold water for cooling. The milk route goes by and it is picked up by the hauler. Sometimes it presents a problem when there is a blizzard and roads are drifted in. Neighbors go together to open the roads but there are times the milk has to be taken to the truck at a certain spot. The years that we milked cows, it was always my job to keep all utensils clean. There was never a dull moment, we never had to look for a job, they just came to us.
We always had good gardens, always worked by spading. Grandma was our gardener for many years and as she grew older Mother relieved her of it, and later years I was gardener. There are no crops needing to be planted at this time. So for a variety of work maybe the cow, horse stables and chicken house are needing cleaning. A spreader is pulled up and we start pitching. The manure is hauled to the field, we knew nothing of commercial fertilizer. A line fence between our farm and neighbors is needing a new fence. So Roy and I start digging post holes and stringing new wire. When finished it looks like a fence, not half bad. Our neighbor would remark as he saw us working as a team and taking both of us in getting the job done.
It is time to cut hay, rake it in rows for the curing and when dry it is mowed away in the hayloft. A very important crop for winter feeding. The taking care of the crops always makes a busy season.
There are times we need to relax and have some entertainment. During the summer the Jessie Colton family troupe came to Washington for about a ten day stay. They pitched their big tent in pasture, of lots of parking space. We are in the era of more cars and need a lot of space. They have a nightly performance of high standard, and clean shows at a charge of around a dollar. A person almost wants to go every night.
Then as the Coltons leave, a Chautauqua company would come for a couple of weeks. They would pitch their tent on the lawn in the back of the Lutheran church. They also would have a variety of performances and clean entertainment. I think they had season tickets and possibly higher priced.
There was no need of living a dull life on the farm. A farm organization for both men and women was organized. The younger ones could join when they were 14 years of age. They also have the juvenile group at about school age. Since the old one room school wasn’t in use, they chose to hold their meetings there after it was organized and they had a full slate of officers. It was then known as the Hopewell Grange. The Grange is of a national organization well known for many years. After these many years the Hopewell Grange still has their meetings maybe twice a month. They also have their annual pancake and sausage supper every November. This organization seemed to keep the younger ones together and they started reaching out and doing things. During the summer some 60 of the crowd started rehearsing for an outdoor operetta in a natural costume setting called the harvest moon. It was a musical and the lead were two couples doing the main singing. The rest of us were grouped for different choruses. My brother directed us and it was given on two nightly performances and both evenings the weather was perfect. I can still remember the big full moon as we sang. Many came out from Peoria and it made news in the Peoria paper which must have been a worthwhile performance.
Another time we gave two plays two different years. They were two plays which took a lot of memorizing and rehearsing. After the parts were learned our coach Mrs Hood came out from Peoria for the dress rehearsals and we would be ready to perform. I took the lead in one of them and it meant a lot of memorizing to know the right cue for entering. I think the tickets were sold at about $1.50. There was expense connected with it, always the royalty and the fee for the coach. We were usually sure of a good crowd. So during the winter we would have bobsled parties, a low box on sled runners and a party at somebody’s house afterwards.
Then we got down to the more serious and started organizing a chorale group with Lester directing. We would go out to the different towns of a Sunday evening and give a sacred concert. As a large group we were still very active and were closely knitted. It was always a non-alcoholic and togetherness. Occasionally there would be a wedding, then the chivari followed by a reception and the couple received a gift.
The grain is ripening and July is the time for cutting. A four horse team is pulling the binder, it is usually very hot and by noon the horses are brought in and the evening chores are done early so it is back to the field after our supper and we are cutting until dark. Some of us are picking up the bundles and setting them in shocks. The shocks are left to dry out and cure for maybe ten days and we are ready for the threshing machine. It is a coal burning outfit and there are about three men in the crew. In later years they had the big gas mogul-which wasn’t so much firing. The threshing ring was about 2 miles down and that far across so that took in about all the neighbors around. During threshing time the cooks were busy feeding some twenty hungry men. After the threshing is finished there is an evening set for the settling up. The families are invited for an evening of ice cream and cakes. As we go into the month of November it is the silo filling ring for those that have silos. This ring is smaller, all loaded on wagons brought in to the silo and chopped as the corn goes into the blower. A wet, rainy fall can interfere so the fields are too muddy and the work can drag into freezing weather. Again the cooks have to prepare to feed some fifteen hungry men.
Sometimes the winter months can be rough and tough, there is no maintainer so it is up to the farmers to keep the roads passable.
Early winter is usually the butchering and getting ready for the winter kill and processing of the meat for the rest of the year. About four neighbors help each other, the day begins about five A.M. One neighbor starts the fire under two large kettles and has the water rolling by the time the others arrive. Then is the killing scalding and scraping the hair with a steel scraper. By mid morning there are at least four large hogs hanging on poles, slashed open for the cooling. When they are chilled enough the bacon, ham shoulders and ribs are cut in pieces and separated. The pieces are closely trimmed in nice pieces and the fat that falls off is rendered into lard, all lean meats and scraps are ground up into the pork sausage. The natural casings are thoroughly scraped and cleaned and we have a sausage stuffer turned by hand to fill the sausages. The many ropes of sausage are hung over a rod in the smokehouse and a smoldering fire of apple or hickory is used for the smoking, which might take a week. The rendered lard is put into large earthen jars and when set and cold enough is carried to the cellar. Sometimes a paraffin covering is on top. By the end of the day it was a day of steady work and you felt like “you had it”. The lard is our baking shortening, we knew nothing of oils and margarines.
It is still during the winter and we had a bad sleet storm over night. The wires and poles were heavy on the big telephone line and nine large poles had fallen over in our field, one close in the house yard. We had to walk over the wires to get to the mail box. In a short time the repair crew came along to set up the poles. Transportation was still limited, so instead of going back to the city for meals the boss would knock on the door and would ask if we could serve meals for about fifteen. It was usually bitter cold at that time. The men would come in about twelve o’clock to eat. We had a wood burning stove in the dining room. They ate their meal leisurely and had a chance to get thawed out. We always cooked a good meal and sometimes would serve them for several days, at their price and good pay. The old dining table really served a lot of meals.
The Hopewell Grange became a very active and growing organization. Summertime is always the Peoria County and State Fair at Springfield. A committee was elected and they gathered grains of all kinds, produce that was available, etc. and exhibited them at these fairs. The hard work that was connected was very rewarding. They would come back with lots of ribbons plus many cash prizes. When the Grange had their annual pancake supper, the men did their own butchering in later years. So some meat and lard were also sold in connection with the supper. It was a worthwhile fund raising affair. A lot of hard work but the togetherness is what really counted.
Tfhe young men were still together and they decided to organize a ball team. Our neighbor consented having a ball diamond in one of his fields. It was a lighted field, putting the lights up themselves, and having bleachers and a concession stand. They would play outside teams and that was in 1946 and they continued for about ten years until their jobs took them to other places and they became scattered. It was still non alcoholic and no drunks on the field.
During my teen years I was dating but never seriously, just sort of shopping around and enjoying it.
Two young men came in form Missouri and had hired for corn husking jobs in Eureka area. After the job was done the one went back to Missouri and the other stayed working for a dairyman in Washington. He had a large herd in a round dairy barn. He became a member of the Grange and also attended the Methodist Church. Allbert Keck worked at the dairy farm for some time until he had gotten some work in Peoria. So we began dating steady; and in a couple of years we were married on March 10-1928. The year before my grandmother of 83 yrs. Became ill and passed away. We had a home wedding, Mother and Clara with some help cooked the meal for some forty cousins, with two good friends serving.
Early the next week we had to leave for Seneca, Ill. to work on a large dairy farm about 110 miles away. My youngest brother was leaving with us for an extra hired hand. This farmer was also a horse farmer and some of them were pretty fiery, occasionally there would be a runaway causing excitement. In May Roy and Esther were married and went on a wedding trip. On their return they decided not to take over the farm. So after four months at Seneca we were called back and Arvel came a couple of weeks ahead of us to take care of things. About the fourth of July we were on the move and needed a little time to get settled in but Al had to immediately join in with the threshing ring and it was back to meal cooking.
I have to go back to August 26-1924 as we were having a severe electrical storm that was brewing all afternoon and overnight. About 4 A.M. we were suddenly awakened as a tornado hit through the neighborhood and reaching out into Ohio. Buildings all around were badly damaged and lots of horses, barns and other buildings needed lots of repair. Our house yard was just one litter of fallen and uprooted trees. My sister and I did a lot of cutting with a cross cut saw. A row of six plum trees were blown over blocking our driveway. Our neighbor had his barn blown down and the the hay in the loft had smothered three heavy horses. The neighbors went in on Sunday and forked the hay off of the horses so they could be hauled out. It was just like a nightmare to see such a horrible mess that was done in a split second.
In 1931 our family started to increase and Alan Ellsworth was born July 26 and three years later 1934 Raymond Paul was born July 30. The Paul name was after a milk tester that said our home was his second home. Anyway they were two healthy and lively boys.
At the time we were selling whole milk we signed up in a testing program, to have an accurate test and weight of butter fat from each cow. The samples were taken evenings and mornings and the tester had his equipment to do the testing on the farm. This was done each month at about the same date. After the test the usual book work and record was made. The tester usually stayed overnight and sometimes young girls came to do the testing.
This is in 1933 and I had gone to the Washington State Bank to withdraw some money intending to purchase a wrist watch for each of us which we did. The next day March 1 Albert went in with a check from off the farm, hog check. He went into the door and it was shut, sorry we can’t cash your check, the Bank is closed. What a shock. I don’t recall how the check was ever cashed at the time. Anyway, the stock holders had to make good and cover, which hit some of them pretty hard. Through the years they came through with about 95% which was better than a total loss. We were happy for that much. The same time the government had called in gold pieces. As I recall Mother had given us some gold pieces for our wedding present that had to be sent in.
Since our dairy herd became larger we were lacking space. The old barn was torn down and the usable lumber was salvaged. So in 1934 we were building the new barn, adding a milk house and a larger cement silo. An elderly neighbor would walk across with his claw hammer and pull nails out of the usable lumber. At about three years of age Alan was close by Grandpa Keil and was big help pulling nails, so he thought. During 1936 we were hit by a severe drought, the crops suffered greatly, there wasn’t much come harvesting time. Instead of corn fields having big ears of corn, they were just little nubs and hard to find. I raised some geese and went to the field with a pail to find some corn to fatten the geese for marketing. It was really slim picking.
The year of 1937 the electrical line came through the country and it was happy day to have the electric and better lights. We were able to discard the flat irons that were carried to the cook stove and heated. We did have a nice bright mantle light that we lit with a match, and a hanging light (pull type) over our dining room table. Sometimes there was a bracket on a wall for a kerosene lamp. We carried the kerosene lantern to the barn so after electricity came in the old lamps and lantern had to go.
This same year we got our first tractor, but still kept some horses for certain field work. I never was a tractor driver but could help with horses if needed.
In 1942 we purchased our first refrigerator. Before this we had a cool , brick floor in the basement that we used to keep things cool. Food and things were in a covered pan and the butter, milk, cream was put in a covered pail and hung on a rope in the well. We did have an old wooden ice box that held a block of ice on top. But we had to watch so we would have ice for it. A farmer had a large pond and during the winter he would cut blocks of ice and store it in saw dust in what he used for his ice house. A little crude but better than nothing. We could also bring ice out from Peoria.
Our farm house was a ten room two story house and not insulated as they do now. Our heat was always some type of stove until in later years we put in a pipeless furnace, the warmth came through a large register. A small register was cut above it in the ceiling which helped some of the upstairs rooms. But we still had a wood burning stove in the dining room and the kitchen range for cooking.
My sister had married some years ago and lived with her husband Fred Madlinger on a 40 acre truck farm adjacent to our farm. They raised all kinds of vegetables picked and sorted, put in containers and loaded his truck. He would make two and three trips to Peoria with his produce and would stop at different produce stores to unload. It meant a lot of hard work but rewarding for them.
During our earlier years there were some hard times like depression and money wasn’t flowing in rapidly. There was a time that Mother had our groceries on charge. The Washington Petri store thought we could be trusted in charging. Then things gradually bettered and the grocer was paid in full, also a debt that we still had to pay while my dad was still living was also paid in full. It looked rather bleak at times but there was that determination to keep on.
In January 1942 the furnace was fired at noon. We had a slanting kitchen roof with wood shingles. About two o’clock I was outside getting ready to dress a chicken for our supper. In crossing the lawn I noticed a lot of smoke, in looking up there was smoke rolling out of the attic roof and came through the kitchen ceiling. What a shock, about that time I was trying to think what should be carried out, especially the things that were needed most. The fire department was called and soon came in. They had to hose lots of water and everything was icy around, the dining room plastering was soaked and ceiling and walls fell off. The fire department said in another ten minutes the house would have been a total loss. We did our cooking and eating over into the living room temporarily. But it took us at least three months to get the kitchen and dining room back in shape. In rebuilding we had a kitchen sink and cabinets put in, water piped in and that took care of water carrying. Both rooms were practically new when completed. It didn’t take long for the insurance adjuster to arrive and ask questions. The only thing we could tell him was that possibly a spark lodged in the wood shingles and had smoldered for some time.
Since the electricity we gradually was adding appliances as we went along and was able to pay as purchased. We bought a Maytag washing machine. Before, as small children, it was done the hard way, a chair, tub, and washboard. But we had a hand wringer that clamped on the tub which did help. Then they had a double tub machine that was run by gas motor. The water wasn’t piped in the wash house for quite a while and that had to be carried and heated on the stove in a large wash boiler. It took a lot of work to have things more convenient and easier. Quite a lot of these happenings were in 1942. On September 22nd,d 1942 Al and I left at noon to go to our apple orchard and get our winter supply of apples. It started to snow in the afternoon so we started back shortly. It snowed so hard and furiously, the roads were filling in, visibility was almost nil, hardly could tell if we were on the road or shoulder. Anyway, it was dark at 5 o’clock when we got back. The chickens were trying to seek shelter in trees and we had to rescue them and carry them to roost. What an afternoon to be driving in a blizzard, the snow was very heavy and wet. It was also a problem milking the cows that night.
Alan and Raymond both graduated from the elementary at Hopewell school and will enter Washington High School for 4 years. At that time, transportation was by school bus.
A horse is no dumb animal. We had a dinner bell with a loud sound. We would sometimes ring it at mealtime. The horses could hear it and twitch their ears, turn about face, and were ready to come in.
In 1944 Al and the boys were working in the field with a tractor and a team. Raymond was 10 years old and was driving the tractor home at noon. The others were coming in later. As he came down a hill and rounding a curve in the creek bed or ditch the tractor turned over and he crawled out from underneath. When Al and Alan rushed to him after seeing a cloud of smoke, it was a blessing to see he was unhurt. Luckily, Raymond had the presence of mind to turn the tractor off. When they came in for dinner, Raymond was one white looking, frightened boy and I don’t think dinner tasted too good. His big concern was that he had wrecked the tractor. The steering wheel didn’t pin him, tractor was back on wheels again, and what could have been a tragedy, all was well.
We are in World War II, a Korean conflict. Some of my relatives were in the service at that time. Men were drafted, which wasn’t exactly their choice, while others enlisted. Some waited anxiously for the discharge card to come, while others stayed on, making it a career. During wartime there was some rationing, but I don’t recall everything. I know we were allotted two pounds of sugar a week for family use which wasn’t very much for table and baking. While syrup was our substitute, and we bought that by the half gallon, sometimes that was scarce at the store. We had cake and cookie recipes made with the syrup. Then I think dairy products were included. We couldn’t turn to cooking oils. Meat was another thing, bought with meal stamps. During these days, we soon learned how to make do. In 1946 my cousin Ed Grosenbach took Alan and Raymond to Chicago to see their first ball game, Cubs were playing. As well as their first major league game. They were always interested in ball games. Sometimes Al and I would take them sometimes when we could get away for a day. Farm bureau, the largest farm organization was reaching out and organizing 4H clubs, Homemakers for the women. The 4H included both boys and girls. Our boys were members for quite a number of years. They had registered Holstein calves bought when small and they took care of them as they were growing up. The big farm bureau picnic was always held at Pekin, the county seat. It would be for about 3 days. In that time the 4H clubs had livestock and other things to exhibit. Being members kept them interested in things that were going on. Some girls entered with livestock and it could include baking, sewing, fancy work and crafts, cooking, canning. They would come back with lots of ribbons and nice cash prizes. The clubs held year round meetings. Then there was the Homemakers club for the older ones, like mothers. They had a monthly meeting in different homes. All of these clubs have been active through the years and even to this day.
Alan was three years ahead of Raymond in High School he had another year as Raymond started in 1948. Alan was very good in mechanical drawing. Awhile after his graduation he enlisted in the navy in 1951 and while in the service he married at a rather early age. After his discharge he was back on the farm until he started to work in Berlin. Farming wasn’t exactly his specialty. Raymond is now going through his four years and was on the football squad, playing left end. He was graduated as salutatorian and with honors. After graduation, he preferred the farm and didn’t further his education. His best girl needed a couple more years and awhile after her graduation they too were married in early years and chose the farm. During their H.school days sometimes they would have a hayrack party, pulled by a tractor, lots of fun. One time as they were driving along someone crashed into the back end of the wagon and some were injured. Some thought it was too dangerous, so that was farewell to hayrack parties. In my day it was bobsled party drawn by horses. A low boxed wagon on sled runners. In all, I would like to say, all through my many years of farm and rural living, it was a well rounded life and very worthwhile.
Since I had written before of some of the happenings through the years, I failed to make mention of some accidents that were near tragedies.
In November of about 1935 we were on our way to Church. It was a very special meeting to hear the Bishop. A good neighbor, Grandpa Keil came with us. Just outside of the Washington City limits the car ahead of us stopped to pick up two hitchhikers living a short distance out of the limits. To avoid crashing into the car ahead we had no choice on account of the traffic, we chose the shoulder and sheared a big light pole. There were 7 in our car, Grandpa Keil went through the windshield, severe scalp injury of 60 stitches, also a pierced tributary to the jugular vein. Alan was wedged between the two front seats and had a double line of stitches on the side of his head, glass pierced his eye, but no damage to his sight. Al at the steering wheel a minor injury. My mother flew into a wire fence, a bad scalp injury with many stitches, Clara with back injury. I held onto Raymond as he sat on my lap so he had no injury. Then I flew up and hit the top of my head and breaking the two inch bow across the top and bounced back on the seat holding onto Raymond. The results, a near broken neck the Atlas vertebrae at the base of the brain plus two more vertebrae knocked out across the shoulder and middle of the back. All of that meant lots of treatments with a chiropractor. Those that needed stitches recovered nicely after a couple of weeks. It took until midnight to find out where everybody was and which hospital they were taken. Mother was taken care of locally and was able to come home afterwards. It was a sad shaking up for all concerned.
While doing some carpenter work about the place, the men rented a Skilsaw from the lumberyard. It was sent out without the protective shield. Alan was sawing with it and it accidentally gashed his leg from the knee into the thick of his leg. He went suddenly to the local Doctor in Washington who said he was a hospital case. The cut needing extra cleaning since it cut through his overalls. After it was cleaned up he had some thirty stitches. The Doctor had him on a crutch a short time and within a few days he was on his own. Al and the boys were busy in the field with planting, they had a team of horses and also the tractor, everybody always had something to do. It was nearing dinnertime and Raymond at 11 years thought it was great if he could drive the tractor. So he started out ahead of the others and as he came down a hill and made a turn in crossing a big ditch the tractor overturned and he under it. There was a cloud of black smoke and Al and Alan rushed to him, as they got there, luckily Raymond from underneath had turned the tractor off and he was crawling out and unhurt but scared he had wrecked everything. A fortunate accident that the steering wheel hadn’t pinned him. He came into dinner but was unable to eat as usual. They were able to turn the tractor up again and that too wasn’t wrecked. During the fall Alan was working in the field on a rented farm some miles from home. He had a dump truck with a steel bed and as he raised the bed the catch failed to hold and the bed came down crushing his elbow. He was alone in the field and Pawing the ground and yelling for help, after so long a time the terrific pain eased and there was a numbness. An older man living along the highway thought he heard his call for help and as his son just came back from working he sent him back to see. As soon as he saw Alan he quickly released the bed, picked up Alan and put him in his truck, and he soon had him at the hospital. What suffering and agony, Alan could tell this better to you than I. The elbow was badly crushed, after quite some time of healing it gradually was getting better and became usable again.
During the summer months, after school was out, my nephew Dan Schroen would come for the summer months and would help out when help was needed. Having lots of buildings on the place, we dug a pond in order to have a water supply in case of fire. The deepest was ten feet. We didn’t stock it with fish. One summer evening after the choring was done, the boys, Dan and Raymond thought it would be good for a swim and get cooled off. Dan was a good swimmer and when Raymond took his dive he failed to come up. Thanks to Dan that he was able to rescue and bring Raymond up. That was an accident and near tragedy that wasn’t told for a long time afterwards. Don’t think they went back to the pond for a splash.
When we had no electricity and had to depend upon kerosene lamps those lamps had to be cleaned and filled every morning so they were ready for night. One lamp was filled too full, the kerosene seeped out. As I was lighting it that evening, it caught fire and was flaming, I suddenly carried it down the back steps and tossed it outside, it exploded. A neighbor was outside doing his choring and said, he saw the flames over the kitchen roof. I happened to be pregnant with Raymond at that time back in 1934.