Letter from Christine (Seber) Sanders to Pearl (Seber) Westerham:
Dear Pearl:
I'll write what I can of our family. Mike often mentioned things, John and Joe never did. Theresa often spoke of things that came to her mind. I wasn't around my brothers & sisters after I came to Montana much. Peter was first to come west. Our parents name was Mike and Mary Seber. My father came to the U.S. first and homesteaded in Kansas. After he built a sod house & accumulated 2 horses, a few cows etc. he sent for my mother and the 2 children they had, Agnes and Mary. Their ship captain lost his bearings and traveled around 2 weeks before he got his bearings and arrived in N.Y. Harbor. My mother had a brother who had already come to Minneapolis from Austria-Hungary. (I expect mother & her 2 girls very likely stopped over to visit her brother and family in Minneapolis, I never heard)
They lived on the homestead in Kansas 12 or so years. Theresa was born there, also John, Mike, & Joe. Then the draught came and stayed. No rain, no pasture, no crops. So father fixed up the wagon into a covered wagon, & put the cook stove in & bedding etc. They had 2 good horses & bought another for $5.00 to have in case one of the others got lame. Before leaving the law had them kill all cows & other animals, other wise they would just have starved to death.
They started out for the Red River Valley in North Dakota & Northern Minnesota. They ford 3 rivers before arriving at Lake Minnatonka, 15 miles from Minneapolis. They made camp there & father walked into Minneapolis & visited mother's brother & family.
The people along the way were all very nice & gave them vegetables etc. Also had them stay over to rest the horses & so mother could wash etc. They ran out of money along the way & sold the spare horse for $5.00. They arrived at Breckenridge in due time & father worked in the wheat harvesting. I don't know how long they stayed there. Mary & Agnes stayed in some town in Kansas as both had jobs working in homes. I was born in Breckenridge Minnesota.
From the Red River Valley they moved on to Randall, how they happened to move to a small farm out from Randall I never heard. It was a nice place, good log house, cellar under it & another outside, barn, corn crib, well, we drew up the water in buckets. Also a small pond below the barn. We were surrounded by swamps, forests, hazel nut bushes, blueberries, & wild game. A big garden, father made sauerkraut, mother canned blueberries & sold quarts in Little Falls from door to door at 10 cents a quart. We had 2 milk cows, pigs, chickens, plenty fire wood, & all kinds of wild berries including cranberries. Raised mostly corn and the corn stalks were fed to the 2 horses & cows in the winter.
In the early fall father went to the Red River Valley to earn cash for our winter clothes. Mother fixed food for father to eat on the long trip. This left us without any transportation. Mother would carry a basket of eggs to Randall to trade for coffee & sugar. Otherwise we had plenty food, never went hungry like some do these days. I would cry as I watched her disappear up the road & disappear out of sight. Father had leased some acres from a blind man & his wife some miles from our home. Mother & the boys and I would walk to this field to chop & shock the corn. Peter was carried by the boys wrapped in a blanket. All would get busy & chop & shock corn including our mother. My job was to pull the pidgeon grass out by the root, which was used to make ropes to put around the finished shocks. The rope kept the shocks together at the top till they were loaded in to feed the horses & cows. Mother always fixed a fried chicken lunch to eat at noon. Water was also taken along. Families worked together in those days. We also raise beans which were sold to the grocery store in Randall run by Mr. Miller. The boys made their own sleds & skies. Father made the ax & hammer handles or sled mending etc. Some of our groceries were sent for to Sears and Roebuck Co. The mail carrier from Randall came several times a week. In winter the farmers would break the road for him between farms. The horses were glad to get the exercise & we children & mother to get a sled ride.
Father would return from the Red River Valley after school started in September. About the time we thought he would get home dash over the courdray (road over the swamp) & dash for the main road past our house & if we saw wagon tracks we were sure he had come home only to be disappointed if the tracks went on by our home.
But eventually he did get home with gifts of clothing, a bag of candy, and less than $100.00 to last us through the winter.
The boys skied on the hill onto the lake or pond. In the winter evenings we all sat around the oil cloth covered table & father poured a heap of beans in the center & we children sorted out the bad ones. Father read his German paper & mother would mend the many socks etc. All this was done by a dim kerosine lamp. We didn't have eye trouble like so many people have these days.
When visitors came they came with wagon or sled & stayed several days brightening the whole family including the dog. How we enjoyed this, I loved the woods as I do to this day.
Eventually Agnes and Mary came to Minnesota. Agnes married Andy Wold in Northern Minnesota, & Mary worked for a large farm and met & married Otto Zastrow from Wisconsin. They left to live in Wisconsin after their marriage, I wasn't very old , can just remember the wedding. Tracy worked for some well to do people few miles from our home. They lived at Randall Lake.
Mary wanted Tracy to come to Wisconsin. Guess she was lonesome to see someone of the family, so Tracy went to Depere Wisconsin. She married Martin Wassenberg of Depere. He and his brother had a baker shop.
John, Mike, and Joe grew up & went to work in the timber in Northern Minnesota.
Our mother was a good cook & made all the noodles , apple strudel & many other foods that she made in Austria-Hungary. The boys trapped muskrat which were plentiful in all the ponds & swamps. They received 18 cents for a #1 muskrat fur.
The woods were full of beautiful flowers, birds, geese, ducks, & fish in the many lakes & ponds surrounding our farm. We had neighbors on small farms, but could not see their houses due to the thick forest. The Mississippi River was a few miles away. Once in a while we were allowed to run down to it and pick high bush cranberries, and in the fall butternuts. Were lots of hazel nuts throughout the forest.
My father, mother, Peter, and I moved to a farm several miles away and closer to a school. The school John, Mike, Joe, and I attended while they were home was built in the middle of a forest. We walked to school but in the middle of winter we had a vacation of a month or so but walked in deep snow & cold. We made up lost time by going an extra month in the spring.
Then Mary and Otto wanted us to move to Wisconsin. So my father & Joe, who came home to help load our cattle, horses, furniture, etc. into a box car at Randall & went along in the box car to Depere, Wisconsin. Mother & I & Pete went by passenger car & stopped over in Minneapolis to visit our aunt, uncle & many cousins. I was 12 or so. Father leased a good farm, huge house & farms all around us. What a difference. I cried, I was so homesick. Father did well though on this farm. then mother became ill & Agnes wanted us to come to Northern Minnesota where she was planning to buy a restaurant or boarding house. My father did go to look the situation over. Mother, Pete, and I stayed at Otto's and Mary's home on the farm, then mother became ill and died. So all the boys and father and Agnes came to Otto & Mary's. Was a house full as Mary already had 5 or so children.
She had 12 children, all healthy & nursed every one. After the funeral the boys went back to Minnesota. John was already married then. Father & I & Peter went back to Randall where father bought a small farm. Then he wanted to sell and go north to where the boys and Agnes were he & and Peter did but I went to work in Little Falls. Then these people moved west to Bozeman, Montana & eventually sent me money to also come West as wages were so much better. So I did. Fare from Little Falls to Bozeman was $25.00 on the N.P. Railroad. I loved the mountains & stayed in Montana. Father went to Wisconsin off & on to stay with Mary & Otto and also stayed with Agnes till his death from several strokes. He was only 63, but he didn't exercise enough, ate too much as Agnes served family style to her boarders in Virginia. When he had his first stroke the Dr. told him to exercise more, but it was too late. Peter and I went to Agnes before father passed away. John, Mike, & Joe came down from the north. John stayed and did the cooking for Agnes' boarders. Her husband also stayed but Agnes & I went to Wisconsin where father was buried in the Greenleaf Cemetery beside our mother. Christine (Sieber) Sanders
Dear Pearl:
I'll write what I can of our family. Mike often mentioned things, John and Joe never did. Theresa often spoke of things that came to her mind. I wasn't around my brothers & sisters after I came to Montana much. Peter was first to come west. Our parents name was Mike and Mary Seber. My father came to the U.S. first and homesteaded in Kansas. After he built a sod house & accumulated 2 horses, a few cows etc. he sent for my mother and the 2 children they had, Agnes and Mary. Their ship captain lost his bearings and traveled around 2 weeks before he got his bearings and arrived in N.Y. Harbor. My mother had a brother who had already come to Minneapolis from Austria-Hungary. (I expect mother & her 2 girls very likely stopped over to visit her brother and family in Minneapolis, I never heard)
They lived on the homestead in Kansas 12 or so years. Theresa was born there, also John, Mike, & Joe. Then the draught came and stayed. No rain, no pasture, no crops. So father fixed up the wagon into a covered wagon, & put the cook stove in & bedding etc. They had 2 good horses & bought another for $5.00 to have in case one of the others got lame. Before leaving the law had them kill all cows & other animals, other wise they would just have starved to death.
They started out for the Red River Valley in North Dakota & Northern Minnesota. They ford 3 rivers before arriving at Lake Minnatonka, 15 miles from Minneapolis. They made camp there & father walked into Minneapolis & visited mother's brother & family.
The people along the way were all very nice & gave them vegetables etc. Also had them stay over to rest the horses & so mother could wash etc. They ran out of money along the way & sold the spare horse for $5.00. They arrived at Breckenridge in due time & father worked in the wheat harvesting. I don't know how long they stayed there. Mary & Agnes stayed in some town in Kansas as both had jobs working in homes. I was born in Breckenridge Minnesota.
From the Red River Valley they moved on to Randall, how they happened to move to a small farm out from Randall I never heard. It was a nice place, good log house, cellar under it & another outside, barn, corn crib, well, we drew up the water in buckets. Also a small pond below the barn. We were surrounded by swamps, forests, hazel nut bushes, blueberries, & wild game. A big garden, father made sauerkraut, mother canned blueberries & sold quarts in Little Falls from door to door at 10 cents a quart. We had 2 milk cows, pigs, chickens, plenty fire wood, & all kinds of wild berries including cranberries. Raised mostly corn and the corn stalks were fed to the 2 horses & cows in the winter.
In the early fall father went to the Red River Valley to earn cash for our winter clothes. Mother fixed food for father to eat on the long trip. This left us without any transportation. Mother would carry a basket of eggs to Randall to trade for coffee & sugar. Otherwise we had plenty food, never went hungry like some do these days. I would cry as I watched her disappear up the road & disappear out of sight. Father had leased some acres from a blind man & his wife some miles from our home. Mother & the boys and I would walk to this field to chop & shock the corn. Peter was carried by the boys wrapped in a blanket. All would get busy & chop & shock corn including our mother. My job was to pull the pidgeon grass out by the root, which was used to make ropes to put around the finished shocks. The rope kept the shocks together at the top till they were loaded in to feed the horses & cows. Mother always fixed a fried chicken lunch to eat at noon. Water was also taken along. Families worked together in those days. We also raise beans which were sold to the grocery store in Randall run by Mr. Miller. The boys made their own sleds & skies. Father made the ax & hammer handles or sled mending etc. Some of our groceries were sent for to Sears and Roebuck Co. The mail carrier from Randall came several times a week. In winter the farmers would break the road for him between farms. The horses were glad to get the exercise & we children & mother to get a sled ride.
Father would return from the Red River Valley after school started in September. About the time we thought he would get home dash over the courdray (road over the swamp) & dash for the main road past our house & if we saw wagon tracks we were sure he had come home only to be disappointed if the tracks went on by our home.
But eventually he did get home with gifts of clothing, a bag of candy, and less than $100.00 to last us through the winter.
The boys skied on the hill onto the lake or pond. In the winter evenings we all sat around the oil cloth covered table & father poured a heap of beans in the center & we children sorted out the bad ones. Father read his German paper & mother would mend the many socks etc. All this was done by a dim kerosine lamp. We didn't have eye trouble like so many people have these days.
When visitors came they came with wagon or sled & stayed several days brightening the whole family including the dog. How we enjoyed this, I loved the woods as I do to this day.
Eventually Agnes and Mary came to Minnesota. Agnes married Andy Wold in Northern Minnesota, & Mary worked for a large farm and met & married Otto Zastrow from Wisconsin. They left to live in Wisconsin after their marriage, I wasn't very old , can just remember the wedding. Tracy worked for some well to do people few miles from our home. They lived at Randall Lake.
Mary wanted Tracy to come to Wisconsin. Guess she was lonesome to see someone of the family, so Tracy went to Depere Wisconsin. She married Martin Wassenberg of Depere. He and his brother had a baker shop.
John, Mike, and Joe grew up & went to work in the timber in Northern Minnesota.
Our mother was a good cook & made all the noodles , apple strudel & many other foods that she made in Austria-Hungary. The boys trapped muskrat which were plentiful in all the ponds & swamps. They received 18 cents for a #1 muskrat fur.
The woods were full of beautiful flowers, birds, geese, ducks, & fish in the many lakes & ponds surrounding our farm. We had neighbors on small farms, but could not see their houses due to the thick forest. The Mississippi River was a few miles away. Once in a while we were allowed to run down to it and pick high bush cranberries, and in the fall butternuts. Were lots of hazel nuts throughout the forest.
My father, mother, Peter, and I moved to a farm several miles away and closer to a school. The school John, Mike, Joe, and I attended while they were home was built in the middle of a forest. We walked to school but in the middle of winter we had a vacation of a month or so but walked in deep snow & cold. We made up lost time by going an extra month in the spring.
Then Mary and Otto wanted us to move to Wisconsin. So my father & Joe, who came home to help load our cattle, horses, furniture, etc. into a box car at Randall & went along in the box car to Depere, Wisconsin. Mother & I & Pete went by passenger car & stopped over in Minneapolis to visit our aunt, uncle & many cousins. I was 12 or so. Father leased a good farm, huge house & farms all around us. What a difference. I cried, I was so homesick. Father did well though on this farm. then mother became ill & Agnes wanted us to come to Northern Minnesota where she was planning to buy a restaurant or boarding house. My father did go to look the situation over. Mother, Pete, and I stayed at Otto's and Mary's home on the farm, then mother became ill and died. So all the boys and father and Agnes came to Otto & Mary's. Was a house full as Mary already had 5 or so children.
She had 12 children, all healthy & nursed every one. After the funeral the boys went back to Minnesota. John was already married then. Father & I & Peter went back to Randall where father bought a small farm. Then he wanted to sell and go north to where the boys and Agnes were he & and Peter did but I went to work in Little Falls. Then these people moved west to Bozeman, Montana & eventually sent me money to also come West as wages were so much better. So I did. Fare from Little Falls to Bozeman was $25.00 on the N.P. Railroad. I loved the mountains & stayed in Montana. Father went to Wisconsin off & on to stay with Mary & Otto and also stayed with Agnes till his death from several strokes. He was only 63, but he didn't exercise enough, ate too much as Agnes served family style to her boarders in Virginia. When he had his first stroke the Dr. told him to exercise more, but it was too late. Peter and I went to Agnes before father passed away. John, Mike, & Joe came down from the north. John stayed and did the cooking for Agnes' boarders. Her husband also stayed but Agnes & I went to Wisconsin where father was buried in the Greenleaf Cemetery beside our mother. Christine (Sieber) Sanders
Letter from Christine (Seber) Sanders to Pearl (Seber) Westerham:
Dear Pearl:
I'll write what I can of our family. Mike often mentioned things, John and Joe never did. Theresa often spoke of things that came to her mind. I wasn't around my brothers & sisters after I came to Montana much. Peter was first to come west. Our parents name was Mike and Mary Seber. My father came to the U.S. first and homesteaded in Kansas. After he built a sod house & accumulated 2 horses, a few cows etc. he sent for my mother and the 2 children they had, Agnes and Mary. Their ship captain lost his bearings and traveled around 2 weeks before he got his bearings and arrived in N.Y. Harbor. My mother had a brother who had already come to Minneapolis from Austria-Hungary. (I expect mother & her 2 girls very likely stopped over to visit her brother and family in Minneapolis, I never heard)
They lived on the homestead in Kansas 12 or so years. Theresa was born there, also John, Mike, & Joe. Then the draught came and stayed. No rain, no pasture, no crops. So father fixed up the wagon into a covered wagon, & put the cook stove in & bedding etc. They had 2 good horses & bought another for $5.00 to have in case one of the others got lame. Before leaving the law had them kill all cows & other animals, other wise they would just have starved to death.
They started out for the Red River Valley in North Dakota & Northern Minnesota. They ford 3 rivers before arriving at Lake Minnatonka, 15 miles from Minneapolis. They made camp there & father walked into Minneapolis & visited mother's brother & family.
The people along the way were all very nice & gave them vegetables etc. Also had them stay over to rest the horses & so mother could wash etc. They ran out of money along the way & sold the spare horse for $5.00. They arrived at Breckenridge in due time & father worked in the wheat harvesting. I don't know how long they stayed there. Mary & Agnes stayed in some town in Kansas as both had jobs working in homes. I was born in Breckenridge Minnesota.
From the Red River Valley they moved on to Randall, how they happened to move to a small farm out from Randall I never heard. It was a nice place, good log house, cellar under it & another outside, barn, corn crib, well, we drew up the water in buckets. Also a small pond below the barn. We were surrounded by swamps, forests, hazel nut bushes, blueberries, & wild game. A big garden, father made sauerkraut, mother canned blueberries & sold quarts in Little Falls from door to door at 10 cents a quart. We had 2 milk cows, pigs, chickens, plenty fire wood, & all kinds of wild berries including cranberries. Raised mostly corn and the corn stalks were fed to the 2 horses & cows in the winter.
In the early fall father went to the Red River Valley to earn cash for our winter clothes. Mother fixed food for father to eat on the long trip. This left us without any transportation. Mother would carry a basket of eggs to Randall to trade for coffee & sugar. Otherwise we had plenty food, never went hungry like some do these days. I would cry as I watched her disappear up the road & disappear out of sight. Father had leased some acres from a blind man & his wife some miles from our home. Mother & the boys and I would walk to this field to chop & shock the corn. Peter was carried by the boys wrapped in a blanket. All would get busy & chop & shock corn including our mother. My job was to pull the pidgeon grass out by the root, which was used to make ropes to put around the finished shocks. The rope kept the shocks together at the top till they were loaded in to feed the horses & cows. Mother always fixed a fried chicken lunch to eat at noon. Water was also taken along. Families worked together in those days. We also raise beans which were sold to the grocery store in Randall run by Mr. Miller. The boys made their own sleds & skies. Father made the ax & hammer handles or sled mending etc. Some of our groceries were sent for to Sears and Roebuck Co. The mail carrier from Randall came several times a week. In winter the farmers would break the road for him between farms. The horses were glad to get the exercise & we children & mother to get a sled ride.
Father would return from the Red River Valley after school started in September. About the time we thought he would get home dash over the courdray (road over the swamp) & dash for the main road past our house & if we saw wagon tracks we were sure he had come home only to be disappointed if the tracks went on by our home.
But eventually he did get home with gifts of clothing, a bag of candy, and less than $100.00 to last us through the winter.
The boys skied on the hill onto the lake or pond. In the winter evenings we all sat around the oil cloth covered table & father poured a heap of beans in the center & we children sorted out the bad ones. Father read his German paper & mother would mend the many socks etc. All this was done by a dim kerosine lamp. We didn't have eye trouble like so many people have these days.
When visitors came they came with wagon or sled & stayed several days brightening the whole family including the dog. How we enjoyed this, I loved the woods as I do to this day.
Eventually Agnes and Mary came to Minnesota. Agnes married Andy Wold in Northern Minnesota, & Mary worked for a large farm and met & married Otto Zastrow from Wisconsin. They left to live in Wisconsin after their marriage, I wasn't very old , can just remember the wedding. Tracy worked for some well to do people few miles from our home. They lived at Randall Lake.
Mary wanted Tracy to come to Wisconsin. Guess she was lonesome to see someone of the family, so Tracy went to Depere Wisconsin. She married Martin Wassenberg of Depere. He and his brother had a baker shop.
John, Mike, and Joe grew up & went to work in the timber in Northern Minnesota.
Our mother was a good cook & made all the noodles , apple strudel & many other foods that she made in Austria-Hungary. The boys trapped muskrat which were plentiful in all the ponds & swamps. They received 18 cents for a #1 muskrat fur.
The woods were full of beautiful flowers, birds, geese, ducks, & fish in the many lakes & ponds surrounding our farm. We had neighbors on small farms, but could not see their houses due to the thick forest. The Mississippi River was a few miles away. Once in a while we were allowed to run down to it and pick high bush cranberries, and in the fall butternuts. Were lots of hazel nuts throughout the forest.
My father, mother, Peter, and I moved to a farm several miles away and closer to a school. The school John, Mike, Joe, and I attended while they were home was built in the middle of a forest. We walked to school but in the middle of winter we had a vacation of a month or so but walked in deep snow & cold. We made up lost time by going an extra month in the spring.
Then Mary and Otto wanted us to move to Wisconsin. So my father & Joe, who came home to help load our cattle, horses, furniture, etc. into a box car at Randall & went along in the box car to Depere, Wisconsin. Mother & I & Pete went by passenger car & stopped over in Minneapolis to visit our aunt, uncle & many cousins. I was 12 or so. Father leased a good farm, huge house & farms all around us. What a difference. I cried, I was so homesick. Father did well though on this farm. then mother became ill & Agnes wanted us to come to Northern Minnesota where she was planning to buy a restaurant or boarding house. My father did go to look the situation over. Mother, Pete, and I stayed at Otto's and Mary's home on the farm, then mother became ill and died. So all the boys and father and Agnes came to Otto & Mary's. Was a house full as Mary already had 5 or so children.
She had 12 children, all healthy & nursed every one. After the funeral the boys went back to Minnesota. John was already married then. Father & I & Peter went back to Randall where father bought a small farm. Then he wanted to sell and go north to where the boys and Agnes were he & and Peter did but I went to work in Little Falls. Then these people moved west to Bozeman, Montana & eventually sent me money to also come West as wages were so much better. So I did. Fare from Little Falls to Bozeman was $25.00 on the N.P. Railroad. I loved the mountains & stayed in Montana. Father went to Wisconsin off & on to stay with Mary & Otto and also stayed with Agnes till his death from several strokes. He was only 63, but he didn't exercise enough, ate too much as Agnes served family style to her boarders in Virginia. When he had his first stroke the Dr. told him to exercise more, but it was too late. Peter and I went to Agnes before father passed away. John, Mike, & Joe came down from the north. John stayed and did the cooking for Agnes' boarders. Her husband also stayed but Agnes & I went to Wisconsin where father was buried in the Greenleaf Cemetery beside our mother. Christine (Sieber) Sanders
Dear Pearl:
I'll write what I can of our family. Mike often mentioned things, John and Joe never did. Theresa often spoke of things that came to her mind. I wasn't around my brothers & sisters after I came to Montana much. Peter was first to come west. Our parents name was Mike and Mary Seber. My father came to the U.S. first and homesteaded in Kansas. After he built a sod house & accumulated 2 horses, a few cows etc. he sent for my mother and the 2 children they had, Agnes and Mary. Their ship captain lost his bearings and traveled around 2 weeks before he got his bearings and arrived in N.Y. Harbor. My mother had a brother who had already come to Minneapolis from Austria-Hungary. (I expect mother & her 2 girls very likely stopped over to visit her brother and family in Minneapolis, I never heard)
They lived on the homestead in Kansas 12 or so years. Theresa was born there, also John, Mike, & Joe. Then the draught came and stayed. No rain, no pasture, no crops. So father fixed up the wagon into a covered wagon, & put the cook stove in & bedding etc. They had 2 good horses & bought another for $5.00 to have in case one of the others got lame. Before leaving the law had them kill all cows & other animals, other wise they would just have starved to death.
They started out for the Red River Valley in North Dakota & Northern Minnesota. They ford 3 rivers before arriving at Lake Minnatonka, 15 miles from Minneapolis. They made camp there & father walked into Minneapolis & visited mother's brother & family.
The people along the way were all very nice & gave them vegetables etc. Also had them stay over to rest the horses & so mother could wash etc. They ran out of money along the way & sold the spare horse for $5.00. They arrived at Breckenridge in due time & father worked in the wheat harvesting. I don't know how long they stayed there. Mary & Agnes stayed in some town in Kansas as both had jobs working in homes. I was born in Breckenridge Minnesota.
From the Red River Valley they moved on to Randall, how they happened to move to a small farm out from Randall I never heard. It was a nice place, good log house, cellar under it & another outside, barn, corn crib, well, we drew up the water in buckets. Also a small pond below the barn. We were surrounded by swamps, forests, hazel nut bushes, blueberries, & wild game. A big garden, father made sauerkraut, mother canned blueberries & sold quarts in Little Falls from door to door at 10 cents a quart. We had 2 milk cows, pigs, chickens, plenty fire wood, & all kinds of wild berries including cranberries. Raised mostly corn and the corn stalks were fed to the 2 horses & cows in the winter.
In the early fall father went to the Red River Valley to earn cash for our winter clothes. Mother fixed food for father to eat on the long trip. This left us without any transportation. Mother would carry a basket of eggs to Randall to trade for coffee & sugar. Otherwise we had plenty food, never went hungry like some do these days. I would cry as I watched her disappear up the road & disappear out of sight. Father had leased some acres from a blind man & his wife some miles from our home. Mother & the boys and I would walk to this field to chop & shock the corn. Peter was carried by the boys wrapped in a blanket. All would get busy & chop & shock corn including our mother. My job was to pull the pidgeon grass out by the root, which was used to make ropes to put around the finished shocks. The rope kept the shocks together at the top till they were loaded in to feed the horses & cows. Mother always fixed a fried chicken lunch to eat at noon. Water was also taken along. Families worked together in those days. We also raise beans which were sold to the grocery store in Randall run by Mr. Miller. The boys made their own sleds & skies. Father made the ax & hammer handles or sled mending etc. Some of our groceries were sent for to Sears and Roebuck Co. The mail carrier from Randall came several times a week. In winter the farmers would break the road for him between farms. The horses were glad to get the exercise & we children & mother to get a sled ride.
Father would return from the Red River Valley after school started in September. About the time we thought he would get home dash over the courdray (road over the swamp) & dash for the main road past our house & if we saw wagon tracks we were sure he had come home only to be disappointed if the tracks went on by our home.
But eventually he did get home with gifts of clothing, a bag of candy, and less than $100.00 to last us through the winter.
The boys skied on the hill onto the lake or pond. In the winter evenings we all sat around the oil cloth covered table & father poured a heap of beans in the center & we children sorted out the bad ones. Father read his German paper & mother would mend the many socks etc. All this was done by a dim kerosine lamp. We didn't have eye trouble like so many people have these days.
When visitors came they came with wagon or sled & stayed several days brightening the whole family including the dog. How we enjoyed this, I loved the woods as I do to this day.
Eventually Agnes and Mary came to Minnesota. Agnes married Andy Wold in Northern Minnesota, & Mary worked for a large farm and met & married Otto Zastrow from Wisconsin. They left to live in Wisconsin after their marriage, I wasn't very old , can just remember the wedding. Tracy worked for some well to do people few miles from our home. They lived at Randall Lake.
Mary wanted Tracy to come to Wisconsin. Guess she was lonesome to see someone of the family, so Tracy went to Depere Wisconsin. She married Martin Wassenberg of Depere. He and his brother had a baker shop.
John, Mike, and Joe grew up & went to work in the timber in Northern Minnesota.
Our mother was a good cook & made all the noodles , apple strudel & many other foods that she made in Austria-Hungary. The boys trapped muskrat which were plentiful in all the ponds & swamps. They received 18 cents for a #1 muskrat fur.
The woods were full of beautiful flowers, birds, geese, ducks, & fish in the many lakes & ponds surrounding our farm. We had neighbors on small farms, but could not see their houses due to the thick forest. The Mississippi River was a few miles away. Once in a while we were allowed to run down to it and pick high bush cranberries, and in the fall butternuts. Were lots of hazel nuts throughout the forest.
My father, mother, Peter, and I moved to a farm several miles away and closer to a school. The school John, Mike, Joe, and I attended while they were home was built in the middle of a forest. We walked to school but in the middle of winter we had a vacation of a month or so but walked in deep snow & cold. We made up lost time by going an extra month in the spring.
Then Mary and Otto wanted us to move to Wisconsin. So my father & Joe, who came home to help load our cattle, horses, furniture, etc. into a box car at Randall & went along in the box car to Depere, Wisconsin. Mother & I & Pete went by passenger car & stopped over in Minneapolis to visit our aunt, uncle & many cousins. I was 12 or so. Father leased a good farm, huge house & farms all around us. What a difference. I cried, I was so homesick. Father did well though on this farm. then mother became ill & Agnes wanted us to come to Northern Minnesota where she was planning to buy a restaurant or boarding house. My father did go to look the situation over. Mother, Pete, and I stayed at Otto's and Mary's home on the farm, then mother became ill and died. So all the boys and father and Agnes came to Otto & Mary's. Was a house full as Mary already had 5 or so children.
She had 12 children, all healthy & nursed every one. After the funeral the boys went back to Minnesota. John was already married then. Father & I & Peter went back to Randall where father bought a small farm. Then he wanted to sell and go north to where the boys and Agnes were he & and Peter did but I went to work in Little Falls. Then these people moved west to Bozeman, Montana & eventually sent me money to also come West as wages were so much better. So I did. Fare from Little Falls to Bozeman was $25.00 on the N.P. Railroad. I loved the mountains & stayed in Montana. Father went to Wisconsin off & on to stay with Mary & Otto and also stayed with Agnes till his death from several strokes. He was only 63, but he didn't exercise enough, ate too much as Agnes served family style to her boarders in Virginia. When he had his first stroke the Dr. told him to exercise more, but it was too late. Peter and I went to Agnes before father passed away. John, Mike, & Joe came down from the north. John stayed and did the cooking for Agnes' boarders. Her husband also stayed but Agnes & I went to Wisconsin where father was buried in the Greenleaf Cemetery beside our mother. Christine (Sieber) Sanders
Family Members
Spouse
Children
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
