Chapter 14 - Five More Children for Abraham

Review: The last entry covered the birth of Henry Schmidt, schooling in Henderson, food and the funeral of Katharina's father Johann J. Regier.

Family Life
One Wednesday, January 7th, 1891 at 7:30 p.m. Peter "Pete" Schmidt was born. Perhaps he was named for Uncle Peter Regier, the minister. Hierschau by Helmut Huebert, 1986.

Peter married later in life and didn't have children. He and Edna were famous for their wide repertoire of songs that they played on their cow bells. They entertained the "old folks" at retirement homes.

Jacob "Jake", my grandfather, was born two years later on Wednesday, March 22, 1893 at 10:00 p.m. He married Anna Thesman and had 5 children who lived to adulthood. He was famous for his potato chip factory in Enid, Oklahoma.

Jake and Anna Thesman Schmidt 1917

After four sons in a row, they were probably delighted to have another daughter, Anna, even though Jake was only a year old and Pete was barely out of diapers. Anna was born on June10, 1894 at 1:01 p.m. Then two years later, Elizabeth arrived on March 29, 1896, at 12 midnight.

Elizabeth Schmidt and Jacob Voth 1916

Elizabeth married Jacob Voth. (To go to the family tree click on the colored words.) They had six children who lived to adulthood. Jacob Voth was famous for his dairy farm, delicious milk and other farm products.

The last baby born to Abraham and Katharina was Nickolaus "Nick". He was born on January 15, 1898. Nick married Susan Wiebe and they had three children.

Nick Schmidt 1950

It must have been a full house by then. In addition to the new baby, Nick, the oldest girls were Tena, 19, and Mary, 16. The boys were A.A., 14, John, 11, Henry, 8, and Pete 7. Then the "babies" were Jake 4, Anna, 3, and Elizabeth, 22 months.

 So while there was a lot of help, both for the housework and the farm work, there was still a lot of work to be done. With ten babies in 16 years (don't forget Susannah), I guess Katharina had had enough. At the age of only 36, she had no more children.

Katharina was a strong-willed person. Having had her children, she set out to do her best for them. They were obviously healthy, since they didn't die in an age when a common cold could kill. And, as mentioned earlier, she made sure that they were educated. That included a musical education.

Music
From my research I find a long tradition of singing in the Mennonite church. Before 1760's in Poland/Prussia hymnbooks were not common. They were too expensive and they might not include the songs the church wanted to use. When the Mennonites arrived in Russia they used a "liner" or "vorsaenger". This person started the songs, set the pitch, tempo and mood, and then he chose which tune would be sung with which text. He needed a strong voice to prompt the congregation by speaking the next words while others were singing. He did use a tuning fork to help him find the key.

Next came the development of "Zifferngesang" (cipher singing) to replace "Gehoermelodie" or (ear singing). Ciphered/numbered singing caused a discussion and disruption in the church for many years from 1839 to 1870.

An example of numbered notation for the tune. Click on this picture to make it larger.

 Four-part harmony was not accepting for the same reasons. Even playing musical instruments was not allowed at first. The 1890 community band in Henderson, although it was comprised of church members, was opposed and caused dissension in the church. Instruments were finally used in services in 1906.(This is not to imply any lack of knowledge on the part of the Mennonites. They were protecting their community from all corrupting outside influences. Every new idea had to be evaluated on its merits before it was allowed in to this protected society. Many of us wish we had the ability to protect our children from the videos and music of today.)

Here again, our Katharina R Schmidt was different. She had a tradition of musicianship in her family. She not only played the violin but also taught her son A.A. to play it. His daughter Joanne Olfert now has Katharina's violin.

Of course, all of Katharina's children sang. The four brothers often sang as a quartet in church and at community functions. A.A., Henry, Pete, Jake and Nick received their college degrees in music. A.A. taught music at his mission; Henry was a professor of music in Texas; Jake sang opera with a civic group in Enid; Nick directed his church choir in California; and at the age of 85, Pete was still playing and singing for the "old folks".  Mary's children were proud of her lovely alto singing voice and Elizabeth played the organ in her home.

Everyone sang at Christmas. It was a very religious holiday for our ancestors. In spite of the houseful of children, gifts were not the focus of the holiday.Christmas trees were not allowed in the Mennonite church until after 1926. Dorothy Schmidt remembers returning from performing at an Englishcher church in the 1930's. Her mother, Anna Thesman Schmidt, remarked that the Christmas tree in the church was like an idol interfering with the worship.

Here is song that was traditional at Christmas in these households: (Click on the arrow in the middle of the box to hear the song.)

The Mennonite Brethren made a three-day holiday out of Christmas and enjoyed the chance to visit each other at home and at church. Services were held both Christmas Eve and morning with additional celebrations taking the form of musical performances, and, as always, plenty of food.

Since there wasn't a tree, Abraham and Katharina put the presents on each person's place at the table. A slip of paper with the person's name written on it was placed there with their "tute". Relatives gave the children "tutes" or sacks containing a piece of fruit (if they were lucky) some nuts and some candy. Some families and churches continue this tradition today.

One Christmas was not very happy in the Schmidt household. A week before Christmas, 1898, Anna, who was 4 1/2, became ill. For a week or so, through Christmas, they thought it was a bad cold. She had a fever and congestion so she stayed home from the church services. The following week her cough grew worse. It was so bad that she made a whooping sound as she gasped for breath. Katharina nursed her through the night as the congregation added their prayers for her recovery at their traditional New Year's Eve services. Finally, Anna was so weakened that on January 3, 1899, she died from her 16 day struggle.

The following year, Abraham and Katharina sold their 120 acres near Henderson, Nebraska, to her father Johann J. Regier for $3600. The deed was signed on June 2, 1900.

Review:
The Schmidt family had lived in Hamilton County near Henderson, Nebraska for 14 years from 1879 to 1893. Eight of their children were born there. 
The next chapter: Why did they move? And where did they move to?

Chapter 13 - Henderson, Nebraska 1887-1903

Recap: Abraham and his wife Katharina Regier Schmidt have moved from York County to Boone County and now back to Hamilton County in Nebraska over the past 10 years. They have five children and are living on their own farm outside of the city of Henderson, Nebraska on the border of Boone and York Counties.

This plat map shows A Schmidt's land on the right side.

Schooling
By now little Tena (Katharina), Mary (Maria J.), and A.A. were old enough to go to school. Until a schoolhouse was built in 1888, classes were taught in someone's home. But they only went for four months a year, from November to February, when the kids weren't needed on the farm.

The teacher was paid with eggs, meat, vegetables or labor. There were mixed feelings about education in many homes. They believed in the importance of education but also wanted to protect their children from bad influences. Not unlike today. They had always protected their beliefs by being self-sufficient and self-contained. Some parents limited the subjects their children were taught. The children were taught German by using the New Testament as the text and everyday math for use on the farm.

In this area Katharina Regier Schmidt was different. She was proud of the education that her children achieved. Eventually most of the boys had a college degree! This outstanding accomplishment was attained at a time when survival was the primary consideration in many immigrant homes. Even the daughters were educated, although not all graduated from elementary school. They all knew how to read and write in High German.

When Tena, Mary and A.A. could be spared from their chores, they walked to school at someone's house, like Jacob Friesen's or John Janzen's. When the snow was blowing and the road was slippery with ice, they hurried to get inside. Lessons began at 9 and ended at 4 with an hour for lunch and two fifteen-minute breaks. Copying, memorizing and reciting were the standard learning methods.

Of course, all grades were together. But grades were not divided by age. As students progressed they would move to the next level. If they had missed school to help at home, they stayed at the level that they needed to study. The children used slates because paper was so expensive. But slates were noisy and smelly. They were wiped clean with spit and a wipe of the sleeve.

First Schoolhouse in Henderson built in 1890

A few years later when public school was held for six months a year, almost all of the children attended three months of German school as well. The church established this school to make sure that the younger generation would be able to read Martin Luther's German Bible. German was still the language of the community of Henderson for church services, the newspaper and much of the the business.

Eventually, when the state law required nine months of school, time had to be found for German school. Everyone was busy in the summer and before and after school. The community found a solution by providing a German school for those who graduated from 8th grade. It became the first type of high school education in the Henderson community.

The Schmidt farm was across the street from the German School which was right next to the church.Only Abraham's oldest son, A.A. attended the German school before they moved to Oklahoma. However, eventually, all of Abraham's sons graduated from German school, and most from college as well.

Socializing
Besides getting together for baptisms, wedding and funerals, the community celebrated the holidays together as well. The first Children's Festival was started in 1889 on the 4th of July to give the Mennonites an alternate way to celebrate Independence day. The "Englishchers" celebrated the holiday with drinking and carousing.

The Festival was held on the farm owned by Abraham's father-in-law, Johann J. Regier. Events included talks on the missionary work that was going on in other countries and an auction of goods to raise money for the missions.

Isn't it amazing that within ten years of immigrating to a new land, these people were sending aid to foreign countries?

Favorite Mennonite Foods
Food was an important ingredient of any celebration, and summer was the time for a Mennonite favorite, watermelon. They were eaten cold from the stream or pickled. The small melons were placed in a barrel of water, salt, dill, grapevines and the pulp of some of the over-ripe watermelons. They were fermented for three weeks. Then they were ready to enjoy. Cucumbers were another favorite, as well as sauerkraut. Before canning with glass jars began in 1900, these picked foods preserved summer's produce for the winter.
Henderson Mennonites: From Holland to Henderson by Stanley E. Voth, 1982.

Drying in the sun was used to preserve apples, apricots and cherries. Gooseberries were put in bottles, the bottles were corked and then they were baked in the Russian oven. There was no juice with them. Later these fruits were steamed, fried or used in moos (stew) to liven up the winter meals.

Apples and potatoes were kept in a cool, dry place; however, some of the potatoes were buried below the frostline. Paper and straw were placed over the potatoes before the dirt covered them. In the spring after the frost was gone, they were dug up again almost as fresh as when they went in.

Called "roggenbrot", rye was a favorite bread. Fresh bread is good by itself but the housewives liked to bring their best spreads to the 4th of July celebration. Everyone had their favorites. The purists liked just the fresh churned butter on their bread while others liked wild plum jelly, apple butter, watermelon syrup, sugar cane syrup, molasses or honey.
Katharina taught her daughters to make verenike, which was a favorite food of their husbands according to their children. It was made like this, in case you want to try it.: The cottage cheese kettle was kept to the back of the cookstove. The clabber milk in the kettle was kept hot, but not boiling, in order to change it to curds and whey. The whey was drained to leave a dry cottage cheese. The cottage cheese could be eaten alone with salt and pepper. But if you made pockets of dough and stuff the pocket with cottage cheese and boil or fry them, then you have verenike.

Verenike

After lunch the women laid out a table of desserts with cakes, pies and big sour cream cookies. There was also tea and coffee but no alcohol. Before granulated sugar was commonly used, sugar came in solid cones. A person scrapped or broke off a piece to use. Tea or coffee drinkers held the piece of sugar between their teeth and let the hot beverage dissolve the sugar as they sipped it.

For entertainment, the children recited poems, Bible verses and songs that they had learned for the occasion. The Children's Festival was a yearly tradition until 1902.

A Funeral
In July, 1902 there was a late wheat harvest, so the festival was postponed. It was re-scheduled for July 11th. On July 8th Johann J. Regier, Katharina Schmidt's father died. On July 11th, they had the festival in the morning and Johann J. Regier's funeral in the afternoon.

As you can see by the number of people in attendance, Johann J. was a well-respected religious leader in the community. His advice was sought for local as well as religious matters. In 1895 he traveled back to Russia with his family. There was an outbreak of smallpox and two of his sons suffered for six weeks before they recovered. Eventually, they were able to continue their trip. J.J. preached and spoke at conferences and festivals in the Molotschna area including Hierschau the model village. The family returned home to Nebraska in 1896. Hierschau: an Example of Russian Mennonite Life by Helmut Huebert, 1986.

Following tradition, after he died, Johann J. Regier's wife, Maria Schellenburg Regier, and his married daughters, Susanna Unruh and Katharina Schmidt, washed his body and dressed him in his Sunday clothes. They laid his family-built coffin in the front room so that family and close friends could say goodbye. Services which included singing were held at the house.

After the family services the casket was placed on Abraham Schmidt's horse drawn funeral carriage. Abraham, as the oldest son or son-in-law, lined up the vehicles for the funeral procession. Johann J's brother, Peter Regier, a minister, was in the lead buggy. The hearse was next, followed by the family arranged in order by age.

The family and friends went to the church, where more services were held with much joyful singing. The pallbearers then took the open casket outside so that pictures could be taken of him surrounded by members of the congregation.

All the members of the congregation attended funerals as well as weddings. They took an active part in the service as well as helping to dig the grave to show respect for the deceased. The relatives sang hymns at the graveside to express their love and their belief in the hereafter. Everyone stayed until the grave was filled in.

Ed. note: We got ahead of our story. To review, in 1889 Henry Schmidt was born and the Children's Festival in Henderson began. Then we talked about favorite foods and J.J.'s funeral being the same day as the festival of 1902. But we can't skip those years in between because a lot happened including the birth of four more children and my grandfather Jacob.

Next: Family life in the Schmidt Household 1891-1898

Chapter 12 - Hamilton County Nebraska

To recap: With 3 small children (Tena, Mary, A.A.), Abraham and Katharina Schmidt moved from Boone Co. Nebraska to Hamilton/York County (about 90 miles south). They bought some land from Johann J. Regier and sold their old farm to Abraham's brother Heinrich through an intermediary.
Then Susanna and John were born in Hamilton/York County in the last chapter.

Now:
A typical Mennonite farmers life in 1900 Nebraska
So, Katharina and Abraham settled down to a typical farm family's routine. Abraham used horses to pull his plow and planted his Turkey Red wheat. It worked just as well here as it did in Russia. By planting early in the year they were able to harvest in early July and get a second crop in before winter. He also had pigs, cattle a vegetable garden and many fruit trees.

Many settlers had brought over mulberry trees. They were not only good for shade, but also the leaves fed silkworms that had been a cottage industry in Russia, although it never was successful in America.
I wonder if the Schmidts had help on their farm. That was a lot of work for two adults with 5 small children. Perhaps some of the Regier family members helped. Not only Johann J. Regier came to America, but also his brothers Peter, Cornelius, Klaus (Nikolaus) and Heinrich. Their family line is found in the Regier Book. (The Family Tree and roots of Johann Regier and Susanna Quiring compiled by Mrs. J.C. Ediger and Mrs. Elfrieda Hildebrandt, Fresno 1980.)

Every day was chore day on a farm. Tena was six years old and old enough to milk the cows. But they had to be milked in the winter as well as the summer. In the winter the milk splashed and froze on the milker's clothing and in the summer the flies bit the cow and the milker alike. Her younger siblings could swish a branch back and forth to keep the cow's tail out of her face and the flies off everyone. After milking the buckets had to be washed. Then the chickens, hogs and cows were fed wand watered, all before breakfast. The entire water supply was hauled, bucket by bucket, from the family well.

The mother's job was to make sure that the lamps were filled with kerosene, that the wicks were trimmed so that they didn't smoke and the chimneys were washed clean of soot. She spread fresh, white sand on the kitchen's dirt floor and made sure that the walls were kept whitewashed. (Whitewash was made with lime and kerosene diluted in water.)

The kids could gather twigs and straw for the stove and haul water for the never-ending cleaning and washing Then it was time to cook lunch for a large, hardworking family. Their noontime meal was called "dinner" because it was the big meal of the day. Perhaps they had a baked hen, potatoes with chicken fat, fresh bread and butter and fruit moos for dessert. The milk was kept cool in the well until needed. The Schmidts did not drink alcohol. Besides cooking and cleaning, mother and the girls were in charge of making all the clothing and tending the vegetable garden to supply the "groceries" for the growing family.

Laundry was a chore that was only done every two or three weeks during warm weather and less often in the winter. They made their own soap and it took long hours of scrubbing on a washboard to clean the family's cloths and linens. The clothes were laid on bushes for lack of clothespins. In the winter the clothes were laid on the snow. The sun was reflected off of the snow so that they were bleached from the bottom and the top. Several flat irons were heated on the cook stove. Mother would use the iron until it wasn't hot anymore. Then she switched to the hot one. Katharina took great pride in her family's clean, well-pressed appearance.

A well-pressed Peter and Susannah Regier Unruh (Katherine Regier Schmidt's sister)

In 1875 a newspaper published a report of a visit to three Mennonite  settlements. The article expressed surprise over the efficiency of the Mennonite's "oven fireplace". It claimed that it could keep the whole house "well heated and the cooking done for twenty-four hours in the coldest weather, all from the burning of four good-sized armfuls of straw."

Topeka Commonwealth, Dec. 9, 1875:
The Mennonites are economists in the way of fuel and at the houses are large piles of chopped straw mixed with barnyard manure stocked up for firewood. This kind of fuel destroys one's ideas of the 'cheerful fireside' and 'blazing hearth'. There is not much 'Yule log' poetry about it. In order to use (this fuel), however, the Mennonites discard stoves, and use a Russian oven built in the wall of the house, which once thoroughly heated with light straw, will retain its warmth longer than young love itself.

From other sources I learned that the oven was built on an interior wall so that more of the heat was used. Also, I learned that other settlers who didn't have the Russian oven used cow chips for fuel in their stove.
The Russian oven was used to bake large pans of bread and zwieback. Some were even wide enough to hang hams and sausages to be smoked.






Another important household appliance was the "meagrope". This large cast iron kettle was usually bricked up in a corner and vented into the chimney. This was the hot water heater for washing or could be used for cooking. It was also the word used for a rendering kettle for hog butchering.

Pork as the main meat in our ancestors' diet, so the fall butchering was an important community event. It occurred just after corn picking. It took a day to scrub all the items that would be needed - tables, crocks, pans, meat grinder, knives and sausage stuffer. And in addition, the women had to prepare food for all the helping hands.

All the neighbors gathered to help. The men hauled the slaughtered hog up by its hind legs on a tripod and then lowered it down into the huge pot of boiling water. This took the bristles off its skin. After it was butchered, some pieces were smoked with the skin still on. Every part was used. The women placed the fat into another big pot of boiling water with ashes to make it into soap.
What are grebbins? click here to find out!
A Dangerous Place for Children

The older children had to do their chores, as well as watch after the younger ones. But somehow a 3 1/2 year old got away. It was a crisp, clear October 9, 1888, when Susanna ran too close to one of the pots and was scalded with hot water. Although they did all they could for her, she only lived for three weeks. A note in Abraham's diary says that these were "sad days". Susanna died on October 31st.

Five months later Susanna's mother gave birth to a son on Monday, March 18, 1889 at 6 p.m. He was named Heinrich, after Abraham's father (who had died in Russia). He was known as Henry or at times as H. Andre Schmidt.

Henry Schmidt ended up in Texas. He had two daughters and 3 grandchildren.

(Ed.'s note: I should have been giving an update on each child as they were born. So let me try to do it now.
Abraham's first child with first wife Katharina Nikkel was "Tena". She married Peter Karber. They ended up in California. They had 4 children. Abraham's first child with second wife Katharina Regier was Maria. She married Jacob Hiebert and they too ended up in California. They had 4 children. Abraham's second child with Katharina Regier was "A.A. Smith". He was married twice and had 5 children. Abraham and Katharina's third child was Susanna and their fourth was John. John lived in Oklahoma and had 2 children.
So now we are up to date.)

What I Did on My Summer Vacation!

This is just a quick entry to explain the long dry spell of stories.

I took a trip to visit my mom in Florida. She is the granddaughter of Abraham Schmidt and Henry H. Thesman. I also visited my uncle who is her brother.

I came home with a multitude of stories, videos, pictures and documents. They will be included in the next entry as soon as I can get them scanned. No, I won't wait till I scan all of them to put a few in.

Some of the videos are already public. Raymond told me stories as I videotaped. I uploaded them on youtube and posted them on facebook.

They are about Henry H. Thesman and his wife Sarah Jantzen coming to live at 1101 N. Grand.
Another is about a regular family Sunday with all relatives - Schmidts, Thesmans, Voths, Regiers - and racing.

He talked about "grebbins and ruggebrot" (don't ask me how to spell those)

And 3 of the stories were about the harvests during the summers of the early 1930's. One starts with a picture of the threshing machine - the precursor of the combine.
The next continues with bringing in the sheaves.
And the third talks about the coming of the combine.

When you click on any of the colored phrases or sentences your computer will take you to another website. You do not have to sign-up, pay money or have an account with youtube to use it.

I am sure you will enjoy what a great storyteller Raymond is at the age of 91.