In 1917 Jacob Schmidt and Anna Thesman married. There are over 150 descendants from that marriage. But the story didn't start with Jake and Anna. It started hundreds of years before.
This blog is meant to share stories that we have gathered over the past 35 years of family research. Please read it from the bottom up!
Jacob's parents were Abraham Schmidt and Katharina Regier. Anna Thesman's parents were Heinrich H. Thesman and Sarah Jantzen.
And that's just the beginning.....
One last picture before I go to the Thesman Story.
I don't know who the three adults on the left are. If we knew then we could identify the kids more easily.
This picture was taken in about 1915-1917 in Reedley.
The couple at the center are Katharina Regier Schmidt's sister and husband - Peter and Susaah Regier Unruh.
The couple on the far right are Jacob and Mary Schmidt Hiebert. Mary was Abraham Schmidt's daughter. The tall young man on the far right front row is their son Daniel Hiebert 1907-1967. To the left of Daniel is his brother Irwin Hiebert 1913-1994. Between the older two girls in checked dresses is may be Catherine Hiebert 1911-1995.
Recap: In the last chapter Abraham and Katharina had the last of their children - Peter, Jacob, Anna, Elizabeth and Nikolaus. We talked about funeral traditions, favorite foods, schooling, and the importance of music in the family.
Another Move
Why did the Abraham Schmidt family sell their farm and move from Nebraska to Oklahoma in 1900?
Well, they weren't the only ones who moved. During the fourteen years that they were living in Hamilton county near Henderson, Nebraska, people were moving away. Like many other frontier people in the 1880's the members of the Henderson Mennonite Brethren community were always looking elsewhere for land in order to develop greater farming possibilities. There was the constant appeal of ads and salesmen promoting cheaper land elsewhere. Prices were falling everywhere.
One Mennonite Brethren reporter wrote in 1888:
A quarter of land which sold for $4000 four years ago is now priced at $2500. A horse formerly sold for $150 and now sells for $75...A cow once worth...$50 is now worth only...$20. The reason for this is the shortage of feed for the cattle. Henderson Mennonites: From Holland to Henderson, Stanley E. Voth, 1982.
Katharina's uncle Peter Regier explored Oklahoma in 1892. Two years later he reported that four families were planning to move to Enid, Oklahoma, because of the widespread drought in Nebraska.
"There are others who would go if they could only sell what they have in Henderson," reported the Rundschau paper.
In Oklahoma, land was cheap. "The land is being sold for $1.25 per acre, the price paid to the Indians for the land," reported the Rundschau newspaper. In the fall of 1893 the U.S. government opened the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma for settlement. The desire for land prompted many to leave their home and family. Mennonite Life, Oct. 1954.
The majority of the settlers of the Oklahoma Strip were poor, and the harvests of the early years were meager. Many settlers lost courage and sold their homesteads very cheaply or left without the formality of selling. The Oklahoma Land Rush was over but others who had not participated in the rush, including Katharina's uncles Bernhardt M. Regier, Isaak Regier, Gerhard Regier and Heinrich Nickels, were able to buy land cheaply from those discouraged settlers.
But Oklahoma experienced droughts, too. From 1893-1896 the lack of rain produced poor crops, causing many farmers to sell even though free seed was supplied by the railroad. Then in 1897, rains were plentiful, the harvest was good and wheat prices shot up to $1 a bushel.
In celebration of the good harvest, the city of Enid invited the Ringling Brothers Circus to town on September 25, 1897. There were thirty thousand paid admissions.
A Circus Act that year
Enid, Okla. Ter. Saturday, September 25th.(click on the colored type to go to the source) Clear and pleasant. Business tremendous. This is the first big show Enid has ever had. The town is four years and nine days old and is wild about the circus. The afternoon audience was another surprise like that at Beloit, Kan. A good-natured multitude of noisy, yelling Westerners yelled themselves hoarse with enjoyment at the rare treat the big show afforded them.
If you have been paying attention to dates, you will know that the Abraham Schmidts had not yet moved to Enid when the circus came through that year. But I thought that this bit of trivia gave us some insight into Enid. The following story about Enid is also interesting.
Enid 1893-1900
According to Oklahoma by the Federal Writers Project, University Of Oklahoma, WPA 1941: "Enid" was named by a Rock Island Railroad official after a queen in an Alfred Lord Tennyson story. Enid was the site of the railroad station and a government land office set up in advance of the opening of the Cherokee Strip to the "land rush". When the government found out that some Indians (sic) already held choice allotments of the land, they moved the government office, courthouse and post office three miles south, leaving the Rock Island Railroad station behind. Thus a rivalry between "North Enid" with the railroad station and "South Enid" with the government offices began.
Every day the train ran right through South Enid without stopping, until July 13, 1894 when a freight train went off the tracks and into a ditch. It was discovered that the bridge supports had been weakened by sawing. This crisis brought about a presidential proclamation declaring that the railroad would stop at South Enid. On September 16, 1894, a freight and ticket office was established in South Enid, which became the present city of Enid.
Pranks continued even after the government ultimatum. One time "a finely-dressed liveryman was extolling the virtues of North Enid while he was in South Enid. The 'egg committee' greeted him with an ample supply of overripe ammunition. The North Enidian fled under the well-aimed barrage." ibid.
At this time the Mennonites that were already in Enid felt the need for a church building. In 1897, they invited Katharina's uncle Peter Regier, to move from Nebraska to North Enid. He became the leading elder of the MB Church with its 30 members. Peter and Isaak Regier and Gerhard Gaede served as the church building committee. Absalom Martens donated a three-acre plot of land. With money from Henderson, their mother church, they erected a meeting house in 1898, about 2 miles north of North Enid and west of the Chisholm Trail (Hwy 81). Two year later Abraham and Katharina Schmidt and their children moved to caddy-corner across the road.
Abraham's diary (click on the picture to make it larger)
Enid 1900-1918
"We left Nebraska on the 11th of June, arrived in North Enid on the 13th," says Abraham's diary. They settled on some land near the Abilene Cattle Trail also called the Chisholm Trail which paralleled the railroad. Eventually, the highway US 81 ran along the edge of the Schmidt property.
Abraham bought 160 acres from Frank Tercell in June 1900. The Tercells held part of the $2500 price as a mortgage. Abraham paid them off in September 1901 by taking out a loan for $650 from the Thorne Brothers Mortgage Col. He paid off the mortgage in March 1905. Then later he purchased another 160 acres from Jacob Friesen.
Between 1897 and 1903 two railroads, the Santa Fe and the Frisco, connected with the Rock Island in Enid. This connection provided the transportation needed to turn the area into the wheat and milling center for northwestern Oklahoma and helped the population to grow from 3,000 to 14,000 between the years of 1900 and 1910.
County Courthouse, Enid, Oklahoma
It was a time of prosperity, and eventually the Schmidts "owned their own threshing machine, matched set of horses and spring wagon, (a) two-story house and large red barn with a hayloft," wrote Abraham's oldest grandson Walter Karber in 1979."He (Abraham) taught his family to be thrifty and work hard...(he) was a very stable man, very sure of his salvation in Christ, much concerned about the spiritual and financial welfare of his family."
Changes
The children were older now and were moving out on their own. First to marry was Mary in 1903. She married Jacob J. Hiebert. The following year her older half-sister Tena (Katharina) married Peter Karber. In 1905, before the children scattered to their own lives, Abraham had a picture taken of all nine children with two sons-in-law and a grandchild, the baby, Walter Karber.
Back row: Peter Karber, Jacob Hiebert, A.A., John, Henry
Next row standing: Elizabeth, Peter, Jack
Sitting: Tena, Mary, Nick, Katharina, Abraham
On the 12th of June 1914, Abraham became a U.S. citizen. It took him many years to attain citizenship. He first declared his intention and renounced allegiance to the Czar of Russia in September 1881 at Albion, the county seat of Boone County, Nebraska. Thirty-two years later, September 1913, he petitioned for naturalization in Enid. He returned to court to finish the process in February 1914 but was given a continuance until June due to an absence of witnesses. Finally, he received his citizenship the month before the outbreak of WWI in Europe. His children, of course, were citizens by right of birth.
As part of the World War I Draft, four of Abraham's children, Henry, John, Jacob and Peter, registered for service with the government. The four brothers went to draft board together on June 5, 1917. A.A. was exempt from service since he was a minister by then. And Nikolaus went to Canada to work on a relative's farm during this time. Thinking that he might be called up, Jacob sold his farm and moved with his wife Anna Thesman to "town" where he started into business. None of the boys ever had to serve.
America was only involved in the war for nineteen months. However, there was a strong anti-German feeling in the country, and many did not distinguish between Mennonites and Germans. This was especially true if they failed to go to war due to their religious convictions. Our relatives were somewhat insulated in their community, although those who left the community felt the impact of this conflict.
The move to Enid was an important one for the Abraham Schmidt family. They left behind some a good community in Henderson, Nebraska as well as Abraham's brother Heinrich Schmidt. Remember that Heinrich came over to America a couple of years after Abraham. Heinrich was married with children when he arrived in 1878. Heinrich's descendants still live in Nebraska although many have moved away. I am trying to get in touch just to see what memories and feelings that they have.
But Abraham and Katharina weren't finished with their wanderings. They moved from Molotschna, South Russia to the Kuban, South Asia, to Nebraska and to Enid. Where will they go next?
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.
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?
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.)
To review: Abraham Schmidt 1850-1928 came to America in 1876. He first married Katharina Nikkel and had a baby daughter "Tena" who grew up to marry Peter Karber.
Peter and Katharina "Tena" (Schmidt) Karber
Abraham's first wife died so he took his baby Tena and moved 90 miles north to Boone County where he joined Johann J. Regier's church. He married Johann J's daughter and had two more children: Mary (who grew up to marry Jacob Hiebert) and Abraham A. (who changed his name to A.A. Smith). And now:
Hamilton County, Nebraska 1884-1900
In 1879 Johann J. Regier helped establish a congregation with the fifteen families that arrived in Boone County with him. Within three years, church membership had reached fifty families. But fear of intermarriage with the Roman Catholics and Lutherans who had settle around the Mennonite Brethren triggered plans to relocate. By 1900 the entire congregation had moved away, most of them to the Henderson community in York County, southwest of the city of York, Nebraska. (Henderson, Nebraska by Henderson Centennial, 1979, Hiebert Library, Fresno.)
The Schmidt family consisted of Abraham, 34, Katharina, 23, Abraham A. (A.A. Smith), 18 months, Mary, 2, and their half-sister Tena, 5. They joined the exodus south to Hamilton County in September of 1884.
They ended up not far from where Abraham had lived before with the Nikkels. The Nikkels lived east of the county line in York County. The Schmidts lived right on the county line of York and Hamilton, just two miles from Henderson.
When I started doing this research I was often confused by the names Boone, Hamilton, York, and Henderson. Hopefully, with these maps, you won't be as confused as I was. You can click on any picture to make it larger.
Hamilton County map of Abraham's land on the border of Hamilton and York Counties
York County map (look at the left - Henderson is marked in red - Abe's farm is just over the border in Hamilton)
Abraham Schmidt bought 120 acres of Hamilton County land on June 7, 1884, before he actually moved his family 90 miles south from Boone to Hamilton. He bought it from his father-in-law Johann J. Regier for $2100. As the survey map shows, Johann J. had another 160 acres nearby; and so did Johann J.'s brothers Peter and Cornelius.
Across the street from Abraham's new property was a church built by Johann J. Regier's congregation. It was built in the traditional fashion. It had one side for men and the other for women. They even had separate cloakrooms.
Abraham did not sell his property up in Boone County before he left. Jacob Grau almost bought it on December 8, 1884 for $1500 but the deal fell through. Then, 18 months later, on March 15, 1886, he sold the farm to Mrs. Gerhardt Regier for $1400.
Wow, four years and he made a 300% profit! Who was this Mrs. Regier?
Mrs. Gerhardt Regier was Abraham's wife's aunt, and she immediately sold it to Heinrich Schmidt, also for $1400.
Heinrich Schmidt? Why didn't Heinrich buy it directly from Abraham? And we've been looking for Heinrich Schmidt, Abraham's older brother from the Kuban.
Recently, I have found new information about Abraham's brother Heinrich. If you remember in Russia, Abraham's parents had 3 children - Abraham, Heinrich, and Katharina. Katharina married someone from Prussia and apparently moved back there. Abraham stayed single until after he arrived in the U.S.
But Abraham's brother Heinrich was married on December 25, 1865 to Katharina Friesen in Russia. They immigrated with their 2 boys in October 18, 1879 on the SS Oder to New York.
Did Abraham sell his land to an intermediary (his wife's aunt) to sell to Heinrich because he wasn't talking to him? Church records state that Heinrich Schmidt "disappeared". He "ist verschwunden". Did he just leave the church?
We do know that Heinrich's descendants are still alive. Maybe we will find out from them.
Now back to our story....
Abraham and Katharina Schmidt and their three children were joined the following year by a baby girl, Susanna, born Thursday, May 22, 1885 at 3 a.m. She was named after Katharina's older sister, Mrs. Peter (Susanna Regier) Unruh. (She is on the far right in the picture below.)
Next came Johann, or John, who was born on Friday, November 20, 1886. Although a second son was often named for his father's father (Heinrich in this case) perhaps they felt closer to Johann J. Regier, Katharina's father. He was closer to them in many ways. He lived nearby. He sold them land cheaply and bought it back at full value. He was a leader in their church and their community. And, in January 1888, he gave each of his daughter from his first marriage $600. This was their share of his estate. (He then left everything else to provide for his young, second family with Maria Schellenberg Schmidt. For example, his daughter from the second marriage, Maria Regier, received 80 acres of land valued at $20,000 in 1918.)
Johann J. Regier Family - JJ. in center w beard - our Katharina to the right of him and Abraham Schmidt standing behind her - the inscription says it must have been taken around 1889 - that is his second wife, Maria Schellenberg to the left with their two young children - Maria and John S. - behind them
This seems like a good place to stop. Next chapter will be about their farm life and the birth of Abraham's 3rd son - Heinrich or Henry.
To recap: In the last chapter, our gr-grandfather Abraham Schmidt, settled in York County, Nebraska with the Nikkel Family. He married the older of two daughters of landholder and fellow Mennonite Brethren Heinrich Nikkel. In 1880 Abraham's wife died 9 months after giving birth to Katharina "Tena". (Tena later married Peter Karber).
Abraham and his baby daughter and moved.
York county is the star to the bottom of the map; Boone County is the star above it.
Boone County 1880-1884
The same summer that Abraham's baby was born, the Johann J. Regier family arrived in Boone County, Nebraska. (The Regier Family Tree by Esther Regier Ediger and Elfrieda Hildebrandt)They were to become an important part of Abraham's life.
Abraham and his baby daughter moved north about 90 miles to Boone County, to join Rev. Johann J. Regier's congregation. JJ. Regier was 47 years old. He had land, a wife, three small children, a married daughter, and an unmarried daughter.
What didn't he have? A son to help on the farm.
On Thanksgiving, November 25, 1880, six months after Katharina Nikkel Schmidt's death, Abraham, 30, married J.J. Regier's second daughter, Katharina, 19. She became a step-mother to 15-month-old Tena.
A Mennonite Wedding of the 1800's
The marriage ceremony was a simple one. Katharina would have worn her Sunday dress, which was a dark, maybe even black, color. To lighten it up she put a white bow on her lapel and one on the groom as well. Katharina walked in with Abraham to be married, signifying her adult status, rather than being given away by her father. Two chairs were placed in front of the pulpit for the couple. The service was lengthy so they sat. There were no flowers or candles. And, in this case, there wasn't even a church building yet, so they were married at her father's house.
The service itself was very much like most of the church worship services. They had congregational singing, a period of informal prayers, several sermons and some songs by a choir.
Weddings, as well as baptisms and funerals, were important social events. Everyone in the church was invited. They lived in a "closed" community. Marriages did not take place with anyone outside the church. These ceremonies reaffirmed their unity and bonded them very tightly with each other. So it was important for the whole congregation/community to participate.
After the ceremony, the families filled the evening with poems, recitations, musical selections, short talks and visiting. No one danced, and the men and women stayed in their own separate groups, while the children played and the teenagers flirted.
They had to entertain themselves in those days. The men could be found out back playing horseshoes. The school-age children played "In and Out the Window" and "London Bridge". And the women visited while cooking, serving and cleaning up. Once the women had finished the chores, one of the women got the "Mennonite Hat" and placed it on Katharina's head as a symbol of her newly married status. The covering was made of lace with a large, flat bow on top. She would keep her hair covered for the rest of her life.
So they were married. When was my grandfather born?
Now we're getting to the generation of uncles and aunts that many of us remember, either personally or from stories our parents have told us.
The Children and The Land - 1881
The following year, on Sunday, December 20, 1881, at 5 a.m., Abraham and Katharina's first child Maria Schmidt was born. In many European cultures, naming the children followed a traditional pattern. The first son was named for the father; the second son was named for the father's father and the third for the mother's father. The first daughter was named for the mother, the second for the mother's mother and the third for the father's mother.
The problem in this family was that everyone was named Katharina - the mother, the paternal and maternal grandmothers, the first wife, and there was already a step-daughter named Katharina. So they named the new baby for her maternal step-grandmother. They named her after Katharina's stepmother, J.J.'s young wife, Maria Schellenberg Regier. My mother talks about her Aunt Mary, born in 1881, who married Jacob Hiebert and moved to California.
The house was getting crowded by then, so the next year on May 17, 1882, Abraham and his wife and two daughers (Tena and Mary) moved nearby to their own land. Katharina's father, J.J. Regier, sold them 120 acres for $350. This was land that J.J. had bought from the railroad 3 years earlier for $429.38.
It was on this land that Abraham's first son was born on Monday, April 9, 1882, at 7:00 a.m. (Abraham's handwritten diary, owned by Hulda Langhofer, translated by Rosalie Schmidt Berg.) It should be no surprise that they named the baby Abraham. Often sons took their father's first name for their middle initial, thus Johann J. was the son of Johann, and Abraham's son Abraham became known as Abraham A. or A.A. He later became known as Rev. A.A. Smith. (see the earlier post about middle names in Mennonite and Amish families. Also, Mennonite Life, a magazine, p. 104)
But I thought the children were born in Henderson in York County!
Let's review: Abraham's first daughter, Tena, was born in York County, east of Henderson. Mary and A.A. were born while they lived in Boone County, north of York County. And the rest of the children will be born back near Henderson (the city.)
The Birth of Abraham
So there was Heinrich living in the south of Russia in 1850. He had come to Rueckenau as a boy of 18 in 1811. Now he moved a few miles away to live in Schardau with his wife Katharina Funk and their 2 children.
And that is where our great-grandfather Abraham Schmidt was born on July 23, 1850. Heinrich was 57 and Katharina was 43 when their son Abraham was born. They also had an older son Heinrich and a daughter Katharina.
(Yes, I know. A lot of people with the same name. Now you can see why nicknames were very popular. They would call someone by the nickname of a physical feature, a job or a hobby, etc.)
In a letter dated May 5, 1948, A.A. Smith wrote to his niece Jean, "My father (meaning Abraham) had only one brother with two sons, Henry and Abraham respectively."
I was confused by all these Henrys and Abrahams also. But recently I found Abraham's older brother Heinrich, the one that A. A. Smith was writing about. And I found 3 generations of his children. They live in Nebraska now.
Daily Life
Abraham's diary is written in High German. Low German was a spoken language used in everyday life. It wasn't a written language, so Abraham probably went to school, as most children in the Mennonite community did, in order to learn to write.
Why did they have two languages? And why didn't they speak Russian or Polish since that's where they lived?
Because many Mennonites viewed change as potentially detrimental to their religious integrity, the original Dutch Mennonites of the 1600's resisted the change to the use of High German in their church service even while living in German-speaking areas. They preferred the language of their home in the lowlands of Holland. That language was called Low German or "Plattdeutsch". It wasn't until 1760, one hundred years after their arrival in German-speaking Poland, that the Dutch Mennonites finally allowed German to be used in church. But they still kept the Low German for everyday speech. The same thing happened when English was introduced into the church service in the 1930's in the United States. The Mennonites continued to use books with High German on one side and English on the other.
Henry H. Thesman and wife Sara Jantzen
Some Russian ways were adopted by individual families. Dorothy remembers her grandfather Henry H. Thesman playing Russian gypsy tunes on his violin. With Russian-style soft slippers on his feet, Grandpa Thesman rosined up his bow and let the dust fly as he sang the tunes in Russian.
Next will be: What was daily life like for Abraham Schmidt when he was a child?
