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 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 10 - York County to Boone County, Nebraska 1880-1884

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.)

Next post will be in their life in York County.

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 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...