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.)