Chapter 15 - Time To Move Again 1900

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?

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 11 - Boone County to Hamilton County 1884-1900

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.

Chapter 5 Abraham Schmidt's Daily Life 1850-1872

What sort of chores did Abraham do?
One chore that Abraham loved was taking care of the horses. They were used for transportation and also for plowing. For seeding, four horses pulled a three-share plow. A man or large boy rode one of the horses and guided the other horses and the plow. When a part of the acreage was "kept black" or fallow every year by plowing it two or three times during the summer, the farmers used a one-share plow.

Abraham loved horses all of his life. In America Abraham was known for his "fine, matched set of black funeral horses. Everyone wanted to borrow Abe's buggy for their funeral procession," wrote Walter Karber (Abraham's grandson).

In this picture Abraham is about 60 years old. His wife Katharina Regier Schmidt is 52. They are standing in front of one of their horses. I believe that in the following generations this love of horses evolved into a love of cars by his son Henry Schmidt and his grandson R. Schmidt.

In the spring there were many jobs for the boys to help with. For example, there was plowing and sowing the fields; planting the gardens and pruning shrubs. Some chores were done year round like feeding, cleaning and caring for livestock. In the summer everything was readied for the harvest. They repaired and sharpened tools. The hand scythe was the only tool made out of steel because it had to have a good temper and keep a sharp edge. The haying was done two or three weeks before the harvest.

Immediately after haying the rye was reading for harvest. This was a valuable and useful crop. Rye was grown mostly to make into bread. "roggenbrot" was a favorite of the Mennonites. Abraham's granddaughter Dorothy remembers the best roggenbrot that she ever tasted was made by her cousin Rosa Voth Toews. After harvesting the rye, the workers tied it into bundles to keep it smooth until it could be threshed in the winter. After threshing the straw was used for roofing and some was braided into hats by both men and women.

The barley and oat harvest followed. The farmers used the barley for cattle, horse and hog feed. They took the oats to market and traded it for young pigs, ducks and geese. Since barley and oats were easier to harvest, the sons of the family did the harvesting and the women did the binding.

Men were hired for cutting and binding the wheat harvest. As soon as it was ripe they tied it in bundles and set it up in shocks -fifteen bundles to a shock. Everyone tried to get done with the harvest before the weather changed. They worked from sunup to sundown. Many times they had to cut at night when there was a full moon. The first harvesting machines didn't come on the market until 1875, after our Mennonites had left for America. (Henderson Mennonites: From Holland to Henderson by Stanley E. Voth, 1982.)

OK, but what about OUR Mennonites? What was going on in Abraham's family?"
Next blog - a death and a move...

Chapter 4 More about Abraham Schmidt in Russia

Isolation from Russia

Catherine the Great invited the hard-working Mennonite to live in Russia

While the Mennonites from northern Europe (Switz., Poland, Germany, Alsace-Lorraine, Holland) lived in Russia, they had their own self-governing colonies. They might employ Russian servants or workers but they did not intermarry or adopt the language. If anyone did inter-marry, they lost the privileges granted to the colonists under the special charter from Catherine the Great. All of their systems -  education, government, commerce, transportation, etc. - were among their own community. In other words, they were isolated from the Russian culture.

Why do we care that Abraham wrote his diary in German?
If Abraham was able to write German he must have gone to the village "schule". This was taught by either a parent or a graduate of the new teachers' school in nearby Ohrloff. In these church-governed villages everyone went to church and all the children went to school. One must be able to read the Bible in order to find salvation.

Everyday life for a boy
I'm sure that Abraham would much rather have been fishing or catching frogs along the creek. Many of the boys his age liked to trap rabbits, mice or ground squirrels. The trapper received praise and maybe even a coin for getting rid of these pests.

 Sometimes the boys went nest-egg hunting. There were cuckoos, nightingales, turtledoves, blackbirds and owls in abundance. However, the boys were cautioned to leave the storks alone, because a stork nest on their roof meant good luck.

Since firearms were against their beliefs, only one man in the village had a rifle, to protect their flocks from the wolves.

Abraham could have explored the woods along the creek by his home village of Schardau. Literally millions of trees were planted by the settlers under the urgings of Johann Cornies, an agricultural specialist. The settlers planted nearly a quarter of a million trees a year to stop the wind from blowing the soil away and to help hold the rain.

Sundays
Abraham looked forward to Sundays when work was kept to a minimum and everyone had time to visit with friends and relatives. His mother woke him early to do his chores before he put on his "other" pair of pants and shirt which were kept for Sunday. Mama always looked nice in her special church apron. It was made of fine, white linen with a three-inch crocheted border around the edge. She would never leave the house without also wearing her "doke". Her "doke" was a dark maroon kerchief made of fine wool, embroidered with bright red flowers and green leaves. (Letter from Mary Martens, Vancouver, Canada, April 5, 1989)

Imagine little Abraham skipping along the street on his way home from church. He passes the fine picket fences and brick gateposts of the farmers with a full 175 acres, called the "wirtschaft", and then he passes the small plots just big enough for a house and a garden, which were called the "kleinewirtschaft". These were assigned to the craftsmen and widows. (Trailblazer For the Brethren, by Betty S. Klassen, 1941, p. 15)

At the end of Sunday, everyone sat down to "faspa", a simple meal that didn't require cooking. These meals included such items as cold cuts, zweiback and fruit "moos" (like stewed prunes). In most homes it was thought that Sunday couldn't come without zwieback (pronounced "twayback" in Low German). Baked on Saturday with enough for Sunday's three meals and some to begin the new week, it continues to be a favorite kind of bread. "Zwie" means two. The rolls were made by pinching off a bit of dough and placing it like a head on a larger ball of dough and then pressing it down before baking.

Chapter 3 Heinrich Schmidt's Family 1850

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?

How I Got Started...the prequel

My great-grandfather Abraham Schmidt had been laid to rest in a Reedley, California cemetery for fifty years before I began searching for him. By 1978 only the skeleton of his life remained. I had so many unanswered questions. Who was he? Where did he come from? How did he get to California? Why did he come here? What traits have I inherited from him?

These questions fascinated me and started a search that continues still. This blog is an attempt to answer these questions from information that I have pieced together from many sources.

I began my research when I came across an antique photograph of a large family. I was intrigued to learn that the slender, young boy in the center was my grandfather Jacob Schmidt. My childhood memory of him was of a huge man with a big belly. Could this slender young boy really be him?

 Back row: Peter Karber, Jacob Hiebert, Abraham A., John, Henry
Standing: Elizabeth (Voth), Peter, Jacob
Sitting: Katharina (mother Nikkels), Mary, Nicholas, Katharina, Abraham
Infant Walter Karber

The family was dressed in black and looked as though they were going to a funeral. The inscription on the back, however, said that it was a joyous occasion. Abraham, with the white beard, had just become an American citizen.

My mother used a few German expressions around the house and when we visited her relatives they would serve "German" food. Naturally I assumed that her ancestors had come from Germany. Imagine my surprise when I learned that Abraham Schmidt had emigrated from Russia!

I showed the picture to my mother. "RUSSIA?" I asked. "But I thought they were from Germany."

Well, actually," she replied. "They came from Poland, but they spoke Low German because they were originally from Holland."

That was really confusing!

"How did Germans from Russia come from Poland and speak German that was really Dutch?" The answer was in their Mennonite religion. So started my search to unravel this confusing history.

Stay tuned for the rest of the story tomorrow...

A 78 year Life Story with Music in 3 minutes

Here is a video that I made about Abraham Schmidt 1850-1928.

Click on the arrow: