The Creamery/Laundry at Chatfield, Minnesota

 Our regular reader knows that I'm a little addicted to paging thru old issues of Technical World Magazine, mostly for the astonishing ideas that were published as tho they were already accepted and in full production.  Dies ist nicht so, as quite a few of those ideas were pipe dreams.
However, check this story of the laundry connected to the creamery in Chatfield, Minnesota in 1914. The basic idea made excellent sense, in that creameries had an "engine, water supply, sewer system and facilities for heating water", and as the clip below mentions, this equipment was needed only in the forenoon for processing cream. Why not use it for something in the afternoon?
The rest of the Minnesota Farmers' Institute Annual article is HERE, complete with comments from Chatfield farm wives on the next few pages.
I wondered about drying the laundry, but the article says they had an extractor (rather than a wringer) and two drying rooms.  Turnover was usually the next day!  According to the pictures online, the laundry was still in operation in 1918, and the latest mention I found was in 1920, when there were 224 families using the service.  Leave a comment if you know more about it, ok?

Travel, Blow snakes and Karo syrup

The Andersons probably went by way of St Cloud, making the trip 132 miles instead of 103 miles and an hour and 49 minutes now.   

 The western hognose snake (puff adder or blow snake) is primarily diurnal. If threatened (or perceiving a threat), it may flatten its neck (much like a cobra), hiss, and make mock strikes...Although it is more common that they will flatten their heads out, some individuals may puff up, filling their throats with air. This is more common with adolescent males.

Oh yeah, I was sure this was a pull-yer-leg story, but just for fun I googled "blow snake"--and, wow, there really is/WAS such a thing.  (With snakes, you react first, talk later).  There may have been a small benefit in seeing one if it meant your friends plying you with liquor as a cure, too. "...the snake blew it's poison into his face and poisoned him" was enough, even if there was no poison.

 Wonder if the side track in Elk River ever materialized?  Who knew there were mineral springs there? Stranger things have happened; it was an age of possibilities and mineral water was mineral water, right?

 Wow, just think--Paul's wife Mary (Otremba) Hesch came here when she was 12, and now, at 57, she went to see the big ships.  Course, this may have had something to do with Math & Ted talking about going to Europe (they did the following spring), and maybe Mary wanted to see for herself whether or not the were safer now.

What an odd ad, huh?  Corn syrup was better than honey?  But maybe honey was considered poor man's sugar, where Karo was manufactured.  

This next article blew us away.  We thought "Live long and prosper" was Star Trek...but no--actually, it was used to wish a happy life to newlyweds too.

(Everything old, etc)

William Faust, Fresco Artist, and other items of note...

"William Faust spent the last week visiting his parents.  William is now a member of the firm Dunn & Faust, fresco artists and decorators, with headquarters in St Cloud.  They are now engaged in decorating a church in the northeastern part of Iowa."

It's interesting to know that there were actual firms who contracted out to paint the inside of churches.  Of course there were, but a Faust, from Pierz?  Cool.

 


A postcard Larry found online, from Neidermuhl, the village our Heschs came from in Bohemia.  Johann and Marya and their sons Paul, Mathias and Anton had left 36 years earlier, so this would have been recognizable to them.

"On the pavements of Wroclaw, Poland, at the intersection of Piłsudskiego and Świdnicka streets, Jerzy Kalina installed a total of 14 life-like statues, seven people descending into the ground on one end of the junction and seven people emerging from the ground on the adjacent corner, as a symbol of the martial law in effect from 1981 to 1983, a time when many ordinary civilians were killed and went missing, which is reflected by the descending pedestrians who disappear into the Earth, the end of the martial law being echoed by the rise of the ordinary man on the opposite side of the street". 

To me, the sculpture is more about ordinary Polish people who've been persecuted thru the ages--"going underground" when necessary, and emerging when it's safe, but always coming back.  It's a beautiful monument to the indomitable Polish spirit, I think.

The very short life of the Buckman Athletic Association

January 1913

 "The boys of Buckman had a meeting last Monday for the purpose of organizing an athletic association.  The price to join was fixed at $1.00.  The money will go towards buying boxing gloves, punching bags and a wrestling mat.  The village hall can be used for awhile. The boys all agreed that the first big purse won against one of the "White Hopes" or Jack Johnson will go toward building a hall of their own".

February 1913

"Well, our punching bag is here and put up.  Frank Mischke got the first prize for the fastest hitter.  He can make them hum.  Any one that wants to take a share, come now."

:  :  :  :  :  :  

This is not one of ours ( a picture of a boxer from the internet), but I assume bruising and black eyes might have been a deterrent for the Buckman tough guys, not to mention plowing and planting that spring....

One hundred years ago today--

From the February 6, 1913 Pierz Journal:

That bouncing boy would become my dad.  Unbelievable that he'd be 100 today, and that it's been more than 33 years since he invented new swear words to describe a 1971 Vega.

We miss ya, Curly!

A letter from Germany

Early in our fascination with the Pierz Journals online, we found a short note that three men were soon leaving for a visit to Europe:

 "A farewell surprise party was held at the Alb. Motschke house Sunday evening.  A number of his friends gathered there to spend a social hour and to bid him "Aufs Wiederseh'n".  Mr Motschke, "Buffalo" Otremba and Peter Nagel left on the Soo line Monday morning for Europe".

Looking farther, Larry found this article about  the travelers, starting with Peter Nagel:  

                                               WILL SAIL FOR EUROPE  

Peter Nagel will leave in about two weeks for St. Catherine, Rhine Province, Germany, his old home he left over thirty years ago.  He intends to spend the summer there.  Frank Otremba Sr, better known as "Buffalo" Otremba, and Albert Motschke, of South Pierz, intend soon to leave for their old home, Schlesien, Germany, but have not yet decided on the date.  Mr Motschke's and Mr Otremba's old homes in the Fatherland are not far apart.

Turns out they left on the same ship from New York to Hamburg:

Then in July 1913, this odd, cryptic column appeared in the PJ.  It starts nicely enough, but whew--wonder what ticked him off?  Think he was jealous?

     "A LETTER FROM GERMANY
Mrs Peter Nagel is in receipt of a letter from her husband, now sojourning at his old home in the Fatherland.  Mr Nagel, Buffalo Otremba and Albert Motschke took the steamer at New York on June 8th and arrived at Hamburg June 19th, after a fine calm voyage, wholly devoid of sea-sickness, but not without a longing for home and familiar faces. Out of the vast expanse of the Atlantic with nothing to rest your eyes against but the blue heavens above and the ocean below, and nothing to feed your fancy but the thoughts of the slimy monsters  of the deep, the ceaseless monotony of the rolling billows become almost unbearable.  They were all glad to once more rest their feet on Terra Firma.
Their arrival at Hamburg found them all in good health, especially Buffalo Otremba, who reports that he gained 20 pounds while crossing the Atlantic.  The Journal hopes that their visit to the old country will be a pleasant one.  All visitors to the Fatherland, after an absence of 30 or 40 years, do not find conditions there so congenial as they expect.  During the space of so long a time, American custom and haste has been adopted, age and fixed habits of thought have crept on, and the bright visions of adventure and fortune beyond the western main no longer flit before a youthful and hopeful imagination. Many of their old schoolmates are gone and are not remembered by the rising generation, all of whom are too busily engaged in the struggle for existence to give much thought to the entertainment of Americans.  The old familiar landscapes, and buildings which have not tottered to decay, are now unduly small and contracted in comparison with what they appeared to be when life was young, dilating, magnifying.
But discomforts and shades of disappointments  the inevitable companions of the traveler may be relegated by an historical interest in the grandeur and beauty of the scenery along the river Rhine, of which it has been said:
More mighty spot may rise--more glaring shine,
But none unite in one attaching maze,
The brilliant, fair and soft;--the glories of old days.
Peter Nagel no doubt took a boat up the Rhine to his destination.  He who travels for comfort, leaves that which he seeks, at home.
A competence always fails to give full measure of comfort and contentment, save where it was attained, and those who go long distances to enjoy their fortunes, usually come back.
We have in mind several of our acquaintances of Melrose, possessors of home-made millions, now suffering affected enjoyment of Pacific breezes at Los Angeles, who might add immeasurably to the comfort and the peace of mind during their declining years, by returning to the scenes of their early struggles".

Isn't that about the oddest commentary?

Who was John Heach?

This afternoon, Larry showed me a GREAT customized search engine he came up with to find key words on Minnesota Reflections.  He suggested I try a name--any name--from those we've researched.  I tried Otremba, and found gobs of hits, of course. One, the July 31, 1913 issue, 

had this startling headline:

Autobiography of John Heach.  

Wow, could it be a misprint?  Did they mean grandpa's brother John...or the John Hesch in Agram township?  I'd never heard of a family named Heach around Morrison county, but what do I know?  

As we read the entire column, written in first person, we were still unsure if this was a relative. What he described wasn't familiar, but then.... He was supposed to have lived around Pierz for 25 years and was "well known". Hmm, did we need to do lots more research?  

The next autobiographical installment was the next week, August 7, 1913.  The headline was the same, mid front page at the top.  This John was erudite, and descriptive.  He'd evidently traveled a lot, around the world even.  WHO was he?

It's worth it to go to Minnesota Reflections online and search the word HEACH.    After those first two columns, the name is mentioned here and there, and finally there's an small announcement in 1915, of his death, with a tribute printed the following week.  We're pretty sure he wasn't one of us, that it wasn't a mis-print...see what you think.

John 'Huntz' Hesch & Cecilia Otremba Get Married

Larry found this tonight--and look, it was almost exactly 99 years ago!

He Changed His Tune

(From the Pierz Journal, January 3, 1913.  By a Journal staff writer and NOT Math Hesch)
"P.J.Bollig, J.N.Rauch, Andrew Faust and Tony Wolke hunted rabbits in the Hillman country last Thursday afternoon and killed 84.  On the way home, the beautiful sight of the setting sun moved P.J. and J.N. to attempt an immitation of singing "Seht wie die Sonne schon sinket, Sie ladet zur Ruhe uns ein".
P.J., driving, and J.N. were in the front seat; Andrew and Tony sat behind, lulled, no doubt,by the sweet melody to dream with watering mouths of the brown crusty "Hasenpfeffer" floating in a platterful of its own gravy on the next days dinner table.  When about two miles east of the red bridge at a point where the horses were winding their way out from an unusually heavy stand of pine stumps and underbrush, the sled struck a stone and dumped the conglomerate mass of dead rabbits, red hair, guns, lowdutch and other junk among the windfalls.  The stuff was reloaded and the journey continued in silence for several miles.
When the good safe road was reached on top of Waytasek's hill, J.N. burst out in a broad basso profundo and resumed the song, but he changed the words to "Und ladet zur Ruhe uns AUS".


Here's the translation of a few verses of the song, found by Larry, followed by a lovely rendition of it from Youtube: 


Watch as the sun there sinks,
behind the forest at night
Bell beckons us to rest
hear just how lovely it sounds


Do you hear the bleating of the lambs
Cooling breezes waft already
See, it's starting to dawn on
Let us to the hut ONES!
Snug little bells ...


Do you hear the bleating of the flock
See how the air waft already
Twilight veiled the earth
let us go to the hut
Snug little bells ...

THANKS, Larry!

Aww, Dad's birth is announced!

COOL!  In the Pierz Journal issue of February 6, 1913, Math Hesch mentioned dad's birth twice, to get the most mileage out of the news, no doubt.

It's still hard to believe dad was ever the size of Owen, his newest great-grand ☺.










Best I can do is a pic of dad in the summer of 1913.  Ha! the ears give him away.

A directory from 1913

In June 1913, the Pierz Journal printed this directory of Pierz, Buckman and Lastrup--a full column down the middle of the page.  Of course it's in pieces here so you can read it.  It's cool cuz of the mix--civic board members, a train schedule, creamery and Catholic church trustees.  The names are familiar and interesting for who's there, but also for who's not.

(The sections overlap a little.  I'll try to post them in order, but might not be successful.  Deal with it ☺)

YAY--they're pretty much in order!  BTW, don't miss the Soo Railroad passenger train schedule.  Imagine a Janson or Sand from New Munich coming to visit, or to help butcher chickens, or attend a funeral--they'd arrive at 3:30 PM, and stay at least till the next morning at 11:20.  In the opposite direction, if you just wanted to visit a little, you could leave Genola at 11:30, have lunch with the relatives in Stearns Co and be home before 4PM.  This schedule probably encouraged sleep-overs, don't you think?

BTW, the "C.O.F" was the Catholic Order of Foresters, a fraternal organization providing insurance to Catholics, who were discriminated against in the U.S. in those years.  Still, even if the area was mostly Catholic, it seems weird to include them.  Maybe the column needed filling out?

Family Pugilists? Honestly?

On page 130 in Horst Hanneken's new book about Buckman (see sidebar to order), there's an account of how the Buckman Athletic Association was formed. Evidently, our great uncles were a big part of it.  Who knew?

Math, Mary and Theo Hesch

 It was 1913, and Math and Theo were 25 and 23.  It was the year after the Titanic sank; the year before their trip to see Europe, as well as the year their nephew Mike was born ☺.  
Math was already writing the Buckman News for papers in Pierz and Little Falls.  I suspect he reported glowingly about winning, huh?  After all, they were strapping farm boys, as were their opponents from nearby towns.  
Horst's account is actually fascinating--I didn't know any of that, did you?

An amazing postcard from 1911

It's incredible that of the few old photos of Buckman that're still around, some of them show up online, like this one did, on ebay.  Someone saved a postcard or just never threw it away...and we get to peruse it a hundred years later...and purchase the original if we want...wow.
This is the way Buckman looked the year Dad was born-1913.  Mueller Brothers Grocery Store and Saloon is there on the right, and then Mischke's Hardware, behind the man with the black hat.  The next building with the cupola on the roof is the first town hall, jail and fire hall, I think.  According to Horst Hanneken's authoritative book (see sidebar), it was built in 1910, so it was pretty new here.  The first magnificent water tower looks pretty substantial, I'd say.
On the left is Frank & Anna Mischke's house, (the pretty gingerbread porch).  Beyond that is the John Sitzman store/dance hall/saloon (as long as it was still there in 1913.  If not, then it's the John Janson blacksmith shop).  The trees on the left would have been on the corner, and beyond was Schmolke's store, I think, with the Schmolke house behind the white fence, see?
The rough looking dirt road was not yet called highway 25.

And here's a small gold mine--it's the back of the postcard above.  It was sent by what looks like "J.M.", from Center Valley, Minnesota, to Mike Herold in Stirum, North Dakota (located in the SE quarter of ND, by the way).  If anyone's trying to trace the Herold family, here's a clue!
Our next project will be to check the 1910 census in Center Valley and see who J.M. might have been--maybe a Marshik?  We owe Larry for this one, too!

Later:  

Ok, Center Valley was in Hillman township, just east of Pierz township.  In 1910 there were only about 75 people there, some of whom WERE Marshiks, but identifying yourself as being from CV didn't necessarily mean you actually lived there, verstehen?  Narrowing it to family names beginning with M who also had a Joe, John or...Julius leaves only about 10 guys in Hillman and Pierz of the right age (figuring JM wasn't under 20 or over 50...for no real reason). Our writer mighta been a Meyer, Mischke, Medek, Mohler, Miller, Macho, Mueller OR a Marshik. Whew, say that fast 2 or 3X--its fun!

A'right, I'm going outside.