Mrs. Justine Homeier Buried on Monday
Death came as a peaceful slumber to Mrs. Justine Homeier around the hour of midnight on Thursday of last week. She had attained the age of eight-five years, six months and twenty-two days; thus living to a ripe old age. her passing has left behind a memory of the days of old, which she often recalled and which must now be passed on by those with whom she came in contact.
Funeral services were conducted on Monday of this week at the house and at the Lutheran Church, with Rev. J. Carl Bast, presiding. Interment was made in the Beaver Falls Cemetery.
Surviving are two sons, Edward and Henry, of Morton, and four daughters, Mrs. Emma Reinke, of Appleton, Mrs. Henry Langmack, of Springfield, Mrs. Dora Zachor, of Portal, North Dakota, and Mrs. Anna Hensel, of Morton; also a brother, Jul Scheffler, of Beaver Falls. There are twenty grandchildren and thirty-three great grandchildren. Her husband, Henry Homeier, passed away in 1886 and three children in infancy.
Mrs. Homeier was born Justine Scheffler in Posen, Poland, on October 15, 1844. When she was seventeen years old, with her parents and brothers and sisters, she boarded a vessel at Bremen, Germany, sailing for Green Garden, Illinois, where she had an aunt living. In 1865 she was married to Henry Homeier.
Immediately after their marriage, the newlyweds ventured to Minnesota, going first to LaCrosse, Wisconsin, where the groom purchased a team and fitted out a prairie schooner. In that pioneer rig, the couple proceeded to Northfield, where the bride remained while her husband went on to locate a claim. He homesteaded eighty acres and secured another eighty in Beaver Falls, later buying two hundred acres more.
At the time of her death, Mrs. Homeier was residing with her son, Ed, in Morton. She was a life long member of the Lutheran Church, being a charter member of the local Lutheran Church.
Because of her lovable character she had made many warm friends, who are grieved at her passing, but are consoled in the fact that her life was one of usefulness, and after attaining her age, she is now resting in peaceful slumber.
-------------------------------------------
PIONEER MORTON WOMAN TELLS OF EARLY YEAR EXPERIENCES
---------------consin--------------
Mrs. Christina Homeier Recalls Hardships as Settler's Wife in Rude Cabin--
Toiled in Fields at Husband's Side Many Days
Discomforts and inconveniences experienced nowadays usually evoked complaint and criticism. Although one's patience and powers of endurance are not properly tested until emergencies arise, it is probable that the young women of the Morton community today could not face, without collapse, the ordeals that confronted the pioneer woman here.
Few suffered more hardships and discouragements than Mrs. Christina Homeier of Morton, who celebrated her eighty-second birthday October 15. Living in a crude log hut in Beaver Balls township, two miles north of Morton, thru the roof of which snow sifted in the winter and rain dripped in the summer; working side by side with her husband in the harvest fields for other farmers, binding grain all day and milking cows and doing housework morning and night; losing her first born in a strange land at a time when her second child was only four days old, yet called upon to carry her share of the burdens of pioneer life, and willingly facing even greater hardships and trials--these are high lights in the early life of the Morton woman, highlights which epitomize a remarkable story of faith and courage and great patience.
Mrs. Homeier was born Christina Scheffler in Prussian Poland. Her father, Michael Scheffler, drove a carriage for a wealthy Prussian and he and his wife and several children, including Christina, were employed at various tasks on the rich man's estate. There were at first seven girls and one boy in the family, but wages were pitifully small and the father, impelled by the needs of his growing family, turned in desperation to other fields and finally found employment in a village nearby. In those days grain was flailed by hand and since the process was slow, this work was done most of the year. The elder Scheffler was employed at this and wielded a flail three years, while his wife and children helped to eke out an existence by performing other menial tasks.
But an aunt of Mrs. Homeier had come to America and was settled in Illinois. She was Mrs. Joseph Salena. The plight of the Schefflers was revealed to her in correspondence and the kind hearted women sent $275 to pay the fares of the family to America. Overjoyed, they immediately gathered together their few belongings and boarded a sailing vessel at Bremen, Germany, arriving in the harbor at New York in July, 1863. They came on to Chicago, where the aunt met them and they accompanied her to the Illinois community in which she lived. There the father went to work as a section hand and the children soon became oriented to life in the new land. The eldest sister married and moved to Nebraska and in 1865 Christina married Henry Homeier.
"Immediately after our marriage we decided to venture to Minnesota," the gray haired matriarch recounted. "We traveled by train to LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and there my husband bought a team and fitted out a prairie schooner. In it we rode to Northfield, where I remained while my husband went on to locate a claim. He homesteaded 80 acres and preempted another "eighty" of the land in Beaver Falls Township on which we settled and later bought 200 acres more. He returned to Northfield and worked there a while and then we drove on to New Ulm."
"From New Ulm we came on to claim and brought out $10 worth of lumber to build a little shanty. The shanty had a dirt floor and a hay roof, but we were glad of any shelter. My husband broke some land and the harvest season soon came on, so we both went down into Courtland Township, Nicollet County, to work in the grain fields. It was about that time that my oldest child, Louis, died when a year and a half old"
Tears glistened in the pioneer woman's eyes as she recalled the sorrow of that far off time. "I was so far from home and I did not want to bury my baby in strange land," she explained, " but there was nothing else to do, and I had a baby four days old to care for." The latter baby was Ed Homeier of Morton with whom his mother now lives. He was born in New Ulm in 1867. Mrs. Homeier's parents also had arrived in New Ulm that year.
In the harvest fields Mr. Homeier cradled grain and his wife bound the sheaves. He received $1.50 a day and she 75 cents, but she also worked in the house of her employer and milked two cows. Afterward the husband went threshing" being employed at that until shortly before Christmas. They spent the winter in New Ulm and returned to the claim in the spring to find that a prairie dire had destroyed their shanty and two stacks of grain. The seriousness of this blow may be difficult for the average reader to appreciate. There was very little money available and even the smallest loss was serious.
"Kind neighbors helped us to build a log cabin", Mrs. Homeier recalled. "The roof was of hay and straw, and snow sifted thru the roof and thru the crevices between the logs, while rain troubled us so often we had to huddle in a dry spot to eat and moved our bed around to avoid the rain at night.
"Our nearest trading posts were at New Ulm and St. Peter. Since my husband had a team of horses he spent quite a bit of his time hauling supplies from St. Peter and New Ulm for the settlers. A 100-pound sack of flour cost $8, and once a New Ulm storekeeper gave him 25 sacks to bring out and sell, allowing him to keep one sack for his trouble. We had three cows and gave the butter we did not need to the neighbors as we did not have enough to bother taking so far and the neighbors had no money, but we could let our cows graze anywhere so that helped.
"A saw mill was built in Beaver Falls in 1868 and we were able to obtain lumber for our roof and also for a floor. From that time on, conditions improved and although I can recall other hardships of later years, the worst was over."
Among the early neighbors of the Homeier's were Deidrich Wickmann, Henry Ahrens, Frank Schmidt and Albert Dagen. Mrs. Homeier is of the opinion that these had arrived before the outbreak of 1862. The pioneer woman has brother, Julius Scheffler, residing 4 ½ miles north of here, and a sister, Mrs. Henry Blume, in Morton. Three of the children died in the old country. Mrs. Homeier's children are: Edward, Morton; Mrs. Herman Reinke, Appleton; Mrs. Henry Longnack, Springfield; Mrs. A. Zhor, Portal, N.D.; Henry, Morton and Mrs. Anna Henzel, of Springfield. Besides Louis, two others died in childhood.
The couple conducted the farm and slowly bettered their condition until 1886, when the husband died. The older children were grown then, however, and Mrs. Homeier remained on the farm, retiring sixteen years ago. She is able to smile now even at the hardships she experienced, proving that success and time are the greatest of healers.--Win V. Working. (The Morton Enterprise, Thursday, Nov 10, 1927)
Death came as a peaceful slumber to Mrs. Justine Homeier around the hour of midnight on Thursday of last week. She had attained the age of eight-five years, six months and twenty-two days; thus living to a ripe old age. her passing has left behind a memory of the days of old, which she often recalled and which must now be passed on by those with whom she came in contact.
Funeral services were conducted on Monday of this week at the house and at the Lutheran Church, with Rev. J. Carl Bast, presiding. Interment was made in the Beaver Falls Cemetery.
Surviving are two sons, Edward and Henry, of Morton, and four daughters, Mrs. Emma Reinke, of Appleton, Mrs. Henry Langmack, of Springfield, Mrs. Dora Zachor, of Portal, North Dakota, and Mrs. Anna Hensel, of Morton; also a brother, Jul Scheffler, of Beaver Falls. There are twenty grandchildren and thirty-three great grandchildren. Her husband, Henry Homeier, passed away in 1886 and three children in infancy.
Mrs. Homeier was born Justine Scheffler in Posen, Poland, on October 15, 1844. When she was seventeen years old, with her parents and brothers and sisters, she boarded a vessel at Bremen, Germany, sailing for Green Garden, Illinois, where she had an aunt living. In 1865 she was married to Henry Homeier.
Immediately after their marriage, the newlyweds ventured to Minnesota, going first to LaCrosse, Wisconsin, where the groom purchased a team and fitted out a prairie schooner. In that pioneer rig, the couple proceeded to Northfield, where the bride remained while her husband went on to locate a claim. He homesteaded eighty acres and secured another eighty in Beaver Falls, later buying two hundred acres more.
At the time of her death, Mrs. Homeier was residing with her son, Ed, in Morton. She was a life long member of the Lutheran Church, being a charter member of the local Lutheran Church.
Because of her lovable character she had made many warm friends, who are grieved at her passing, but are consoled in the fact that her life was one of usefulness, and after attaining her age, she is now resting in peaceful slumber.
-------------------------------------------
PIONEER MORTON WOMAN TELLS OF EARLY YEAR EXPERIENCES
---------------consin--------------
Mrs. Christina Homeier Recalls Hardships as Settler's Wife in Rude Cabin--
Toiled in Fields at Husband's Side Many Days
Discomforts and inconveniences experienced nowadays usually evoked complaint and criticism. Although one's patience and powers of endurance are not properly tested until emergencies arise, it is probable that the young women of the Morton community today could not face, without collapse, the ordeals that confronted the pioneer woman here.
Few suffered more hardships and discouragements than Mrs. Christina Homeier of Morton, who celebrated her eighty-second birthday October 15. Living in a crude log hut in Beaver Balls township, two miles north of Morton, thru the roof of which snow sifted in the winter and rain dripped in the summer; working side by side with her husband in the harvest fields for other farmers, binding grain all day and milking cows and doing housework morning and night; losing her first born in a strange land at a time when her second child was only four days old, yet called upon to carry her share of the burdens of pioneer life, and willingly facing even greater hardships and trials--these are high lights in the early life of the Morton woman, highlights which epitomize a remarkable story of faith and courage and great patience.
Mrs. Homeier was born Christina Scheffler in Prussian Poland. Her father, Michael Scheffler, drove a carriage for a wealthy Prussian and he and his wife and several children, including Christina, were employed at various tasks on the rich man's estate. There were at first seven girls and one boy in the family, but wages were pitifully small and the father, impelled by the needs of his growing family, turned in desperation to other fields and finally found employment in a village nearby. In those days grain was flailed by hand and since the process was slow, this work was done most of the year. The elder Scheffler was employed at this and wielded a flail three years, while his wife and children helped to eke out an existence by performing other menial tasks.
But an aunt of Mrs. Homeier had come to America and was settled in Illinois. She was Mrs. Joseph Salena. The plight of the Schefflers was revealed to her in correspondence and the kind hearted women sent $275 to pay the fares of the family to America. Overjoyed, they immediately gathered together their few belongings and boarded a sailing vessel at Bremen, Germany, arriving in the harbor at New York in July, 1863. They came on to Chicago, where the aunt met them and they accompanied her to the Illinois community in which she lived. There the father went to work as a section hand and the children soon became oriented to life in the new land. The eldest sister married and moved to Nebraska and in 1865 Christina married Henry Homeier.
"Immediately after our marriage we decided to venture to Minnesota," the gray haired matriarch recounted. "We traveled by train to LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and there my husband bought a team and fitted out a prairie schooner. In it we rode to Northfield, where I remained while my husband went on to locate a claim. He homesteaded 80 acres and preempted another "eighty" of the land in Beaver Falls Township on which we settled and later bought 200 acres more. He returned to Northfield and worked there a while and then we drove on to New Ulm."
"From New Ulm we came on to claim and brought out $10 worth of lumber to build a little shanty. The shanty had a dirt floor and a hay roof, but we were glad of any shelter. My husband broke some land and the harvest season soon came on, so we both went down into Courtland Township, Nicollet County, to work in the grain fields. It was about that time that my oldest child, Louis, died when a year and a half old"
Tears glistened in the pioneer woman's eyes as she recalled the sorrow of that far off time. "I was so far from home and I did not want to bury my baby in strange land," she explained, " but there was nothing else to do, and I had a baby four days old to care for." The latter baby was Ed Homeier of Morton with whom his mother now lives. He was born in New Ulm in 1867. Mrs. Homeier's parents also had arrived in New Ulm that year.
In the harvest fields Mr. Homeier cradled grain and his wife bound the sheaves. He received $1.50 a day and she 75 cents, but she also worked in the house of her employer and milked two cows. Afterward the husband went threshing" being employed at that until shortly before Christmas. They spent the winter in New Ulm and returned to the claim in the spring to find that a prairie dire had destroyed their shanty and two stacks of grain. The seriousness of this blow may be difficult for the average reader to appreciate. There was very little money available and even the smallest loss was serious.
"Kind neighbors helped us to build a log cabin", Mrs. Homeier recalled. "The roof was of hay and straw, and snow sifted thru the roof and thru the crevices between the logs, while rain troubled us so often we had to huddle in a dry spot to eat and moved our bed around to avoid the rain at night.
"Our nearest trading posts were at New Ulm and St. Peter. Since my husband had a team of horses he spent quite a bit of his time hauling supplies from St. Peter and New Ulm for the settlers. A 100-pound sack of flour cost $8, and once a New Ulm storekeeper gave him 25 sacks to bring out and sell, allowing him to keep one sack for his trouble. We had three cows and gave the butter we did not need to the neighbors as we did not have enough to bother taking so far and the neighbors had no money, but we could let our cows graze anywhere so that helped.
"A saw mill was built in Beaver Falls in 1868 and we were able to obtain lumber for our roof and also for a floor. From that time on, conditions improved and although I can recall other hardships of later years, the worst was over."
Among the early neighbors of the Homeier's were Deidrich Wickmann, Henry Ahrens, Frank Schmidt and Albert Dagen. Mrs. Homeier is of the opinion that these had arrived before the outbreak of 1862. The pioneer woman has brother, Julius Scheffler, residing 4 ½ miles north of here, and a sister, Mrs. Henry Blume, in Morton. Three of the children died in the old country. Mrs. Homeier's children are: Edward, Morton; Mrs. Herman Reinke, Appleton; Mrs. Henry Longnack, Springfield; Mrs. A. Zhor, Portal, N.D.; Henry, Morton and Mrs. Anna Henzel, of Springfield. Besides Louis, two others died in childhood.
The couple conducted the farm and slowly bettered their condition until 1886, when the husband died. The older children were grown then, however, and Mrs. Homeier remained on the farm, retiring sixteen years ago. She is able to smile now even at the hardships she experienced, proving that success and time are the greatest of healers.--Win V. Working. (The Morton Enterprise, Thursday, Nov 10, 1927)
Mrs. Justine Homeier Buried on Monday
Death came as a peaceful slumber to Mrs. Justine Homeier around the hour of midnight on Thursday of last week. She had attained the age of eight-five years, six months and twenty-two days; thus living to a ripe old age. her passing has left behind a memory of the days of old, which she often recalled and which must now be passed on by those with whom she came in contact.
Funeral services were conducted on Monday of this week at the house and at the Lutheran Church, with Rev. J. Carl Bast, presiding. Interment was made in the Beaver Falls Cemetery.
Surviving are two sons, Edward and Henry, of Morton, and four daughters, Mrs. Emma Reinke, of Appleton, Mrs. Henry Langmack, of Springfield, Mrs. Dora Zachor, of Portal, North Dakota, and Mrs. Anna Hensel, of Morton; also a brother, Jul Scheffler, of Beaver Falls. There are twenty grandchildren and thirty-three great grandchildren. Her husband, Henry Homeier, passed away in 1886 and three children in infancy.
Mrs. Homeier was born Justine Scheffler in Posen, Poland, on October 15, 1844. When she was seventeen years old, with her parents and brothers and sisters, she boarded a vessel at Bremen, Germany, sailing for Green Garden, Illinois, where she had an aunt living. In 1865 she was married to Henry Homeier.
Immediately after their marriage, the newlyweds ventured to Minnesota, going first to LaCrosse, Wisconsin, where the groom purchased a team and fitted out a prairie schooner. In that pioneer rig, the couple proceeded to Northfield, where the bride remained while her husband went on to locate a claim. He homesteaded eighty acres and secured another eighty in Beaver Falls, later buying two hundred acres more.
At the time of her death, Mrs. Homeier was residing with her son, Ed, in Morton. She was a life long member of the Lutheran Church, being a charter member of the local Lutheran Church.
Because of her lovable character she had made many warm friends, who are grieved at her passing, but are consoled in the fact that her life was one of usefulness, and after attaining her age, she is now resting in peaceful slumber.
-------------------------------------------
PIONEER MORTON WOMAN TELLS OF EARLY YEAR EXPERIENCES
---------------consin--------------
Mrs. Christina Homeier Recalls Hardships as Settler's Wife in Rude Cabin--
Toiled in Fields at Husband's Side Many Days
Discomforts and inconveniences experienced nowadays usually evoked complaint and criticism. Although one's patience and powers of endurance are not properly tested until emergencies arise, it is probable that the young women of the Morton community today could not face, without collapse, the ordeals that confronted the pioneer woman here.
Few suffered more hardships and discouragements than Mrs. Christina Homeier of Morton, who celebrated her eighty-second birthday October 15. Living in a crude log hut in Beaver Balls township, two miles north of Morton, thru the roof of which snow sifted in the winter and rain dripped in the summer; working side by side with her husband in the harvest fields for other farmers, binding grain all day and milking cows and doing housework morning and night; losing her first born in a strange land at a time when her second child was only four days old, yet called upon to carry her share of the burdens of pioneer life, and willingly facing even greater hardships and trials--these are high lights in the early life of the Morton woman, highlights which epitomize a remarkable story of faith and courage and great patience.
Mrs. Homeier was born Christina Scheffler in Prussian Poland. Her father, Michael Scheffler, drove a carriage for a wealthy Prussian and he and his wife and several children, including Christina, were employed at various tasks on the rich man's estate. There were at first seven girls and one boy in the family, but wages were pitifully small and the father, impelled by the needs of his growing family, turned in desperation to other fields and finally found employment in a village nearby. In those days grain was flailed by hand and since the process was slow, this work was done most of the year. The elder Scheffler was employed at this and wielded a flail three years, while his wife and children helped to eke out an existence by performing other menial tasks.
But an aunt of Mrs. Homeier had come to America and was settled in Illinois. She was Mrs. Joseph Salena. The plight of the Schefflers was revealed to her in correspondence and the kind hearted women sent $275 to pay the fares of the family to America. Overjoyed, they immediately gathered together their few belongings and boarded a sailing vessel at Bremen, Germany, arriving in the harbor at New York in July, 1863. They came on to Chicago, where the aunt met them and they accompanied her to the Illinois community in which she lived. There the father went to work as a section hand and the children soon became oriented to life in the new land. The eldest sister married and moved to Nebraska and in 1865 Christina married Henry Homeier.
"Immediately after our marriage we decided to venture to Minnesota," the gray haired matriarch recounted. "We traveled by train to LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and there my husband bought a team and fitted out a prairie schooner. In it we rode to Northfield, where I remained while my husband went on to locate a claim. He homesteaded 80 acres and preempted another "eighty" of the land in Beaver Falls Township on which we settled and later bought 200 acres more. He returned to Northfield and worked there a while and then we drove on to New Ulm."
"From New Ulm we came on to claim and brought out $10 worth of lumber to build a little shanty. The shanty had a dirt floor and a hay roof, but we were glad of any shelter. My husband broke some land and the harvest season soon came on, so we both went down into Courtland Township, Nicollet County, to work in the grain fields. It was about that time that my oldest child, Louis, died when a year and a half old"
Tears glistened in the pioneer woman's eyes as she recalled the sorrow of that far off time. "I was so far from home and I did not want to bury my baby in strange land," she explained, " but there was nothing else to do, and I had a baby four days old to care for." The latter baby was Ed Homeier of Morton with whom his mother now lives. He was born in New Ulm in 1867. Mrs. Homeier's parents also had arrived in New Ulm that year.
In the harvest fields Mr. Homeier cradled grain and his wife bound the sheaves. He received $1.50 a day and she 75 cents, but she also worked in the house of her employer and milked two cows. Afterward the husband went threshing" being employed at that until shortly before Christmas. They spent the winter in New Ulm and returned to the claim in the spring to find that a prairie dire had destroyed their shanty and two stacks of grain. The seriousness of this blow may be difficult for the average reader to appreciate. There was very little money available and even the smallest loss was serious.
"Kind neighbors helped us to build a log cabin", Mrs. Homeier recalled. "The roof was of hay and straw, and snow sifted thru the roof and thru the crevices between the logs, while rain troubled us so often we had to huddle in a dry spot to eat and moved our bed around to avoid the rain at night.
"Our nearest trading posts were at New Ulm and St. Peter. Since my husband had a team of horses he spent quite a bit of his time hauling supplies from St. Peter and New Ulm for the settlers. A 100-pound sack of flour cost $8, and once a New Ulm storekeeper gave him 25 sacks to bring out and sell, allowing him to keep one sack for his trouble. We had three cows and gave the butter we did not need to the neighbors as we did not have enough to bother taking so far and the neighbors had no money, but we could let our cows graze anywhere so that helped.
"A saw mill was built in Beaver Falls in 1868 and we were able to obtain lumber for our roof and also for a floor. From that time on, conditions improved and although I can recall other hardships of later years, the worst was over."
Among the early neighbors of the Homeier's were Deidrich Wickmann, Henry Ahrens, Frank Schmidt and Albert Dagen. Mrs. Homeier is of the opinion that these had arrived before the outbreak of 1862. The pioneer woman has brother, Julius Scheffler, residing 4 ½ miles north of here, and a sister, Mrs. Henry Blume, in Morton. Three of the children died in the old country. Mrs. Homeier's children are: Edward, Morton; Mrs. Herman Reinke, Appleton; Mrs. Henry Longnack, Springfield; Mrs. A. Zhor, Portal, N.D.; Henry, Morton and Mrs. Anna Henzel, of Springfield. Besides Louis, two others died in childhood.
The couple conducted the farm and slowly bettered their condition until 1886, when the husband died. The older children were grown then, however, and Mrs. Homeier remained on the farm, retiring sixteen years ago. She is able to smile now even at the hardships she experienced, proving that success and time are the greatest of healers.--Win V. Working. (The Morton Enterprise, Thursday, Nov 10, 1927)
Death came as a peaceful slumber to Mrs. Justine Homeier around the hour of midnight on Thursday of last week. She had attained the age of eight-five years, six months and twenty-two days; thus living to a ripe old age. her passing has left behind a memory of the days of old, which she often recalled and which must now be passed on by those with whom she came in contact.
Funeral services were conducted on Monday of this week at the house and at the Lutheran Church, with Rev. J. Carl Bast, presiding. Interment was made in the Beaver Falls Cemetery.
Surviving are two sons, Edward and Henry, of Morton, and four daughters, Mrs. Emma Reinke, of Appleton, Mrs. Henry Langmack, of Springfield, Mrs. Dora Zachor, of Portal, North Dakota, and Mrs. Anna Hensel, of Morton; also a brother, Jul Scheffler, of Beaver Falls. There are twenty grandchildren and thirty-three great grandchildren. Her husband, Henry Homeier, passed away in 1886 and three children in infancy.
Mrs. Homeier was born Justine Scheffler in Posen, Poland, on October 15, 1844. When she was seventeen years old, with her parents and brothers and sisters, she boarded a vessel at Bremen, Germany, sailing for Green Garden, Illinois, where she had an aunt living. In 1865 she was married to Henry Homeier.
Immediately after their marriage, the newlyweds ventured to Minnesota, going first to LaCrosse, Wisconsin, where the groom purchased a team and fitted out a prairie schooner. In that pioneer rig, the couple proceeded to Northfield, where the bride remained while her husband went on to locate a claim. He homesteaded eighty acres and secured another eighty in Beaver Falls, later buying two hundred acres more.
At the time of her death, Mrs. Homeier was residing with her son, Ed, in Morton. She was a life long member of the Lutheran Church, being a charter member of the local Lutheran Church.
Because of her lovable character she had made many warm friends, who are grieved at her passing, but are consoled in the fact that her life was one of usefulness, and after attaining her age, she is now resting in peaceful slumber.
-------------------------------------------
PIONEER MORTON WOMAN TELLS OF EARLY YEAR EXPERIENCES
---------------consin--------------
Mrs. Christina Homeier Recalls Hardships as Settler's Wife in Rude Cabin--
Toiled in Fields at Husband's Side Many Days
Discomforts and inconveniences experienced nowadays usually evoked complaint and criticism. Although one's patience and powers of endurance are not properly tested until emergencies arise, it is probable that the young women of the Morton community today could not face, without collapse, the ordeals that confronted the pioneer woman here.
Few suffered more hardships and discouragements than Mrs. Christina Homeier of Morton, who celebrated her eighty-second birthday October 15. Living in a crude log hut in Beaver Balls township, two miles north of Morton, thru the roof of which snow sifted in the winter and rain dripped in the summer; working side by side with her husband in the harvest fields for other farmers, binding grain all day and milking cows and doing housework morning and night; losing her first born in a strange land at a time when her second child was only four days old, yet called upon to carry her share of the burdens of pioneer life, and willingly facing even greater hardships and trials--these are high lights in the early life of the Morton woman, highlights which epitomize a remarkable story of faith and courage and great patience.
Mrs. Homeier was born Christina Scheffler in Prussian Poland. Her father, Michael Scheffler, drove a carriage for a wealthy Prussian and he and his wife and several children, including Christina, were employed at various tasks on the rich man's estate. There were at first seven girls and one boy in the family, but wages were pitifully small and the father, impelled by the needs of his growing family, turned in desperation to other fields and finally found employment in a village nearby. In those days grain was flailed by hand and since the process was slow, this work was done most of the year. The elder Scheffler was employed at this and wielded a flail three years, while his wife and children helped to eke out an existence by performing other menial tasks.
But an aunt of Mrs. Homeier had come to America and was settled in Illinois. She was Mrs. Joseph Salena. The plight of the Schefflers was revealed to her in correspondence and the kind hearted women sent $275 to pay the fares of the family to America. Overjoyed, they immediately gathered together their few belongings and boarded a sailing vessel at Bremen, Germany, arriving in the harbor at New York in July, 1863. They came on to Chicago, where the aunt met them and they accompanied her to the Illinois community in which she lived. There the father went to work as a section hand and the children soon became oriented to life in the new land. The eldest sister married and moved to Nebraska and in 1865 Christina married Henry Homeier.
"Immediately after our marriage we decided to venture to Minnesota," the gray haired matriarch recounted. "We traveled by train to LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and there my husband bought a team and fitted out a prairie schooner. In it we rode to Northfield, where I remained while my husband went on to locate a claim. He homesteaded 80 acres and preempted another "eighty" of the land in Beaver Falls Township on which we settled and later bought 200 acres more. He returned to Northfield and worked there a while and then we drove on to New Ulm."
"From New Ulm we came on to claim and brought out $10 worth of lumber to build a little shanty. The shanty had a dirt floor and a hay roof, but we were glad of any shelter. My husband broke some land and the harvest season soon came on, so we both went down into Courtland Township, Nicollet County, to work in the grain fields. It was about that time that my oldest child, Louis, died when a year and a half old"
Tears glistened in the pioneer woman's eyes as she recalled the sorrow of that far off time. "I was so far from home and I did not want to bury my baby in strange land," she explained, " but there was nothing else to do, and I had a baby four days old to care for." The latter baby was Ed Homeier of Morton with whom his mother now lives. He was born in New Ulm in 1867. Mrs. Homeier's parents also had arrived in New Ulm that year.
In the harvest fields Mr. Homeier cradled grain and his wife bound the sheaves. He received $1.50 a day and she 75 cents, but she also worked in the house of her employer and milked two cows. Afterward the husband went threshing" being employed at that until shortly before Christmas. They spent the winter in New Ulm and returned to the claim in the spring to find that a prairie dire had destroyed their shanty and two stacks of grain. The seriousness of this blow may be difficult for the average reader to appreciate. There was very little money available and even the smallest loss was serious.
"Kind neighbors helped us to build a log cabin", Mrs. Homeier recalled. "The roof was of hay and straw, and snow sifted thru the roof and thru the crevices between the logs, while rain troubled us so often we had to huddle in a dry spot to eat and moved our bed around to avoid the rain at night.
"Our nearest trading posts were at New Ulm and St. Peter. Since my husband had a team of horses he spent quite a bit of his time hauling supplies from St. Peter and New Ulm for the settlers. A 100-pound sack of flour cost $8, and once a New Ulm storekeeper gave him 25 sacks to bring out and sell, allowing him to keep one sack for his trouble. We had three cows and gave the butter we did not need to the neighbors as we did not have enough to bother taking so far and the neighbors had no money, but we could let our cows graze anywhere so that helped.
"A saw mill was built in Beaver Falls in 1868 and we were able to obtain lumber for our roof and also for a floor. From that time on, conditions improved and although I can recall other hardships of later years, the worst was over."
Among the early neighbors of the Homeier's were Deidrich Wickmann, Henry Ahrens, Frank Schmidt and Albert Dagen. Mrs. Homeier is of the opinion that these had arrived before the outbreak of 1862. The pioneer woman has brother, Julius Scheffler, residing 4 ½ miles north of here, and a sister, Mrs. Henry Blume, in Morton. Three of the children died in the old country. Mrs. Homeier's children are: Edward, Morton; Mrs. Herman Reinke, Appleton; Mrs. Henry Longnack, Springfield; Mrs. A. Zhor, Portal, N.D.; Henry, Morton and Mrs. Anna Henzel, of Springfield. Besides Louis, two others died in childhood.
The couple conducted the farm and slowly bettered their condition until 1886, when the husband died. The older children were grown then, however, and Mrs. Homeier remained on the farm, retiring sixteen years ago. She is able to smile now even at the hardships she experienced, proving that success and time are the greatest of healers.--Win V. Working. (The Morton Enterprise, Thursday, Nov 10, 1927)
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