Digging the Cesspool

February 29, 1936  Mama and Mary did Saturday’s work.  The boys plowed the garden.  I harrowed the garden.  The boys also worked on the cesspool again.

The sewer system for a farmhouse in the 1930s was much simpler.  Everyone used the outhouse, so that sewage went into a pit.  There was some water used in the kitchen, and it drained out into the yard through a pipe.  The only water that went into the cesspool was the wash water – the cesspool had to be deeper than the basement because water had to drain by gravity from the floor drain where they washed in the basement. 

The boys had dug on the cesspool the day before and they continued on this day, which was a Saturday.  And they worked on it Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday the following week.  Cornelius had been a well digger in Herbert, Sask., in his early 20s, so he was not afraid of the hard work of digging deep holes, but now he had three strong sons to do the digging.

Baking Cookies

February 28, 1930  I went to Morris and sold 35 bushels of wheat for 91 cents per bushel.  The boys brought in some straw again.  Mary baked cookies.  It snowed again.  We had a north wind. 

Cornelius liked to save as much wheat as possible to sell during the winter and spring when prices were higher.  Of course, a farm family always needed as much cash as possible after the harvest, so it was tough to save some back, even knowing that he would get more for it later.  But here he must have taken a wagon-load of wheat to Morris to sell at the elevator – that gave him a little cash for his upcoming trip.

The boys were bringing in straw from their stack.  Perhaps they were refreshing the bedding for the animals in the barns.

And notice the difference in climate between Kansas and Manitoba.  In the diary entry from two days ago (February 26, 1932) in Kansas, they finished their spring plowing.  In Manitoba at the same time of year, it was snowing and north wind was blowing.  There would still be more snow and frost in Kansas in March and even April, but in Kansas the ground was warm enough to work at the end of February.

And Mary baked cookies, which would have warmed the house with a wonderful aroma, no matter how cold it was outside.  I wonder what kind of cookies she baked.  And when is the last time you treated yourself to some made-from-scratch cookies?  Make some in honor of Aunt Mary today!

Measles

February 27, 1935  9° cold [12° F.] and south wind.  Corney and I fixed the plow.  John has measles.  Jacob and Corney are sick.  Mama is busy taking care of the sick.  In the evening C. Dalkes came over.

Measles used to be one of the common childhood illnesses.  It usually involved four days of fever, cough, head cold, red eyes, and itchy rash that covered the body.  There was no prevention, and it spread easily.  Most people had measles once in their lives before a vaccine became available in the 1960s.  Usually measles is just a miserable experience for the children who get it, but it can have complications such as pneumonia, scarring of the cornea, and encephalitis and caused 6000-8000 deaths of children annually in the United States before the vaccine became common.

John must have gotten measles somewhere, probably at school since he was the only one in school.  Usually children got it at a younger age, but the boys must not have had it before because by the end of the day Jake and Corney were coming down with it.  So Margaret had three sick children to nurse.  Mary did not get it.  What would have been especially scary for the Siemens was that they had three little children whose immune systems might not be as strong. 

Families tried to isolate themselves when they had measles, but the Cornelius Dalkes came over because they had no children at home who could catch measles.

Finished Plowing

February 26, 1932  We finished plowing and then one-wayed.

The Siemens had started to plow their land the day before and finished this day.  They did not plow everything because they had some pasture land and a lot of land that was planted to wheat in fall.  But they plowed the rest of the land to prepare it for planting crops.  The moldboard plow killed weeds and turned under crop waste from the previous year so that it could rot and act as fertilizer.  It broke the surface of the soil and brought fresh nutrients to the surface.

Plowing

 The one-way disc plow was invented in 1926 by Charles Angell of Plains, Kans., which was only 15 miles west of Meade.  The one-way had discs mounted vertically but at an angle to the direction of disking, so it moved the soil in one direction and would build up mounds along fences until the direction was reversed the next year.  The one-way became wildly popular throughout the Great Plains.  The Siemens were using it only six years after it had been invented.

The one-way was intended to chop stubble from last-year’s crop into the soil and to break up the clods that were left by plowing.  However, it left a fine, pulverized soil that blew easily when dry.  While the one-way was a great tool in certain situations, its overuse combined with severe drought was one of the causes of the Dust Bowl.  

UPDATE:  The drought that caused the Dust Bowl only hit in the summer of 1932, so in February 1932, the Siemens and other farmers had yet to experience the consequences of the overuse of the one-way.

One-waying

Stuck in a Blizzard

February 25, 1930  I was in Winnipeg and bought a passport for $8.08.  The trip to Winnipeg cost me $1.15 and the return was also $1.15.  In the morning I went along with Jacob R. Klassen to Silver Plains.  Peter J. Loewen went along also.  It was snowing with wind in the morning.  At 7:00 p.m. my boys Jacob and Corney came to get me.  It was dark already when they came, and it quite a blizzard.  We lost our way in the deep snow.  We traveled four hours, which was not pleasant.

This is the first entry in Cornelius’ first surviving diary, and in it he records preparation for a life-changing trip that he was about to make.  In the morning, when it was already snowing and blowing, he and two friends went from Rosenort, where they lived, to Silver Plains so that he could catch the train to Winnipeg.  Jacob R. Klassen was his maternal cousin and seems to have been a close friend because they visited frequently.  And Peter J. Loewen was a close friend and second cousin who lived just across the Morris (or Scratching) River from the Siemens.

Cornelius went to Winnipeg to buy a passport for his trip to the United States.  He caught the train to Winnipeg on the Canadian National Railway line that ran from the US border up through Morris to Winnipeg.  Notice that he records every penny that he spent.  The Siemens were poor, and he no doubt thought carefully about every cent that he spent.  Mary probably packed him a lunch to take along to save money.

By evening when he returned, it was a raging blizzard.  Jake and Corney came to pick him up at the train station, and it was already dark when they came.  They had to travel the 9 miles/14 km back to their farm in darkness and blowing snow.  We do not know for sure, but very likely they were riding in an open wagon.  (On March 3, Cornelius recorded that he took guests somewhere in the wagon, and he would have used a buggy if they had one.  Quite a few people had cars by this point and almost everyone had a buggy, but the Siemens seem to have had neither because they were very poor.)  Due to the blowing snow and darkness, they got stuck in deep snow.  This must have been a terrifying moment because people froze to death if they got lost or stuck on the open prairie.  Blowing snow and darkness is extremely disorienting, so it is easy to get off the road or even worse to turn gradually and unconsciously so that the wind is at your back and to drift off into the prairie.  But somehow the three of them (Jake was 16 and Corney 14), got the wagon out of the deep snow and back on the road.  After four freezing hours, when it would have been 11:00 p.m., they arrived safely home thanks to God’s protection.  Mary (18) and John (12) were no doubt relieved that their father and brothers had returned.

Map of southeastern Manitoba, showing where the Siemens farm and Silver Plains were located in relation to Winnipeg.

Selling the Satanta Land

February 24, 1933  Mama, Mary, Jacob, Corney, and I went to Dodge because of the Satanta land.  Very windy day.  Susie [Reimer] went along to Dodge.  Uncle [David] Plett also went along.

 After weeks of legal work and trips to Meade, it was finally time to sell the land in Satanta.  (See the post “The Plett Inheritance” on 28 January for background.)  They had gone to town the day before regarding the land sale, probably to get the Probate Judge of Meade County, Florilla De Kuh, so sign on the side of the deed that she approved the transaction because it involved minors. The Plett family had agreed to sell the two quarters of land to Bernhard D. Doerksen, who also lived in Satanta.  Each of the four older siblings had inherited a 1/48 interest from the grandfather Plett’s estate.  

Since she was over 18, Mary signed one document in her own right as an adult.  But Jake, Corney, and John were still under 21 and therefore minors, so Cornelius signed a guardian’s deed to transfer their interests.  Each child received $187.50 for his share (equivalent to $3440 today).  Jacob L. Plett had bought the land for $2000 in 1917, and it was being sold for $9000 total, so it had been a very good investment, even if Cornelius and his brother David had not made much use of it.

Court clerk's copy of guardian's deed signed by Cornelius K. Siemens to transfer the 3/48 interest of his sons Jake, Corney, and John to Berhard D. Doerksen in the two quarters of land at Satanta.  Before the day of photocopiers, the court clerk's office would copy documents into a bound book and the single copy of the original was returned to one of parties.  You can tell that this document was the one they signed in Dodge City because the notary's statement at the bottom says that it was signed in Ford County, Kansas.

Sunday - A Wedding and Dust Storm

February 23, 1936  We all went to church.  Peter L. Classens came over for dinner.  In the afternoon was Abe Z. Friesen’s wedding.  Rev. Henry F. Isaac married them.  In the evening we went to Cornelius H. Doerksens.  We got quite a dust and electrical storm. 

It was Sunday, so the whole family went to worship services.  They had gone to the north church building because they had guests for dinner afterward the service.  Then Abram Z. Friesen (b. 1914) and Katharina L. Friesen (1909-1963) were married, and the Siemens must have attended.  (Abram Z. Friesen was the brother of Anna Z. Friesen, the future wife of Cornelius’ son John, i.e. “John’s Anna.”)  Probably it was at the bride’s home, but it might also have been at the church building.  There would have been a big faspa for the wedding guests, but Cornelius does not mention if they attended.  Then some visiting to wrap up the evening.  

But what a day it would have been for the wedding.  There was a big dust storm, and all the dust in the air created a lot of static electricity.  So there were lots of electrical discharges and perhaps even lightning from the clouds.  During a dust storm it would get so bad that cars could not be started without grounding them first.

Preparing the Garden

February 22, 1935  The boys hoed tumbleweeds.  Corney and John also plowed the garden.  Mama and Mary cleaned dust out of the house.  Mama and I went to Mother to get some plants from their garden.

It must have been a nice day in late winter because the Siemens were working in the garden.  They had a large garden because it had to feed six adults, including two teenage boys, and three children for an entire year.  The Siemens bought very few if any vegetables, so they were very dependent on what the garden produced. 

Once all the old plants and mulch and tumbleweeds were burned, they worked the garden with a horse and walking plow to break up the soil for the coming season.  The tractor was too big to use in the garden.  Then Cornelius and Margaret went to her mother’s house to get some plants.  She had probably started lots of plants indoors in containers and was sharing them with the Siemens.  It would have been a lot of fun to get the tiny new plants started and to watch them grow day by day in preparation for setting out in the garden after the danger of frost had passed. 

And the unending battle against the dust continued as Margaret and Mary wiped every surface in the house with wet rags, swept all the floors, and maybe even scooped out dust where it had blown in badly.

Winter Day on the Farm

February 21, 1933  Mary, Jacob, and Corney went to get another load of kindling.  50 cents.  Mama walked to C. Dalkes.  I was sick, so I stayed home with the little boys, Henry and Elmer.  Strong south wind.

Today we see a routine day at the farm (and there were many of these).  It was winter, so most of the work was dedicated to maintenance, whether maintenance of human life by making food, clothes, and quilts or fixing things on the house and car or keeping warm.  They kept the animals alive so that they would be ready for another season.  And they fixed farm equipment so that it would be ready for spring.  Only when warmer weather arrived in spring did a farm family swing into production mode where they worked to produce more crops and animals.

This day the three older children, Mary, Jake, and Corney got another load of kindling.  It was a Tuesday, and on the Saturday before they got a load of kindling.  They must have found a place where they could pay a little for scrap lumber or tree branches to heat the house.  They paid 50 cents for the load, which would be like $9 today.  John did not help, so he must have been in school.

Wife Margaret walked to Cornelius Dalkes, which was about a mile to the northeast.  At that time it was common to walk a mile or even a few miles to see someone instead of driving.  It does not say why, but he had been deathly sick since at least the 16^th.  She probably went to comfort her sister and help around the house, since her sister Anna would have been busy taking care of her husband.  His children had even come home, which indicates that they expected him to die.  He was already 68 years old, and by 1933, he was one of the few people left who had been born in Russia.  But he recovered well and lived until 1950.

Finally, Cornelius was sick, probably with pain from kidney stones, so he stayed home with his little sons, Henry (22 months) and Elmer (11 months). 

Of course the wind was blowing.  It would not have been a routine day otherwise.

Going to School

February 20, 1933  The children and Mama did laundry.  I took care of the children.  John went to school.

 In the days when families were large and when the standard farm size was a quarter section, even rural schools were in walking distance for nearly all children.  And control really was local with the parents on the school board able to see directly what was going on.  Thus, John went to the Oakland school that was ¾ miles north from the Siemens’ house.  Cornelius does not often mention specifically that John went to school, but he does often mention the work that the other three older children did without mentioning work that John did.  So we can assume that most days, John was attending school.  He was fifteen at this time; and according to the 1940 census, he completed seven grades; so 1933 was probably close to the end of his school years.

Pleasant Hill school in Meade County, about 1930.  Source:  http://fhsuguides.fhsu.edu/kansasheritage/meadecounty

I doubt that the other older children attended school in Kansas.  Mary and Corney completed five grades and Jake three according to the 1940 census.  Based on their ages when they moved to Kansas, it seems likely that they got all their education in Canada.  There were legal requirements to attend school during certain ages, but they were widely unenforced in rural areas because it was understood that farmers needed their children to help on the farm.  And if children were not very interested in studying, it was easy for them to stay home to do farm work.  Plus with the grief and lack of a mother in the Siemens’ family from 1920 to 1930, I am sure that the children’s education suffered.  For example, the 1921 Canadian census reports that none of the four older children attended school during the 1920-1921 school year. 

The younger three children (Henry, Elmer, and Anna) attended McNulty school in later years, which was two miles south of their farm, because Oakland school had closed.  All of them completed eight grades, and Elmer got three semesters of high school at Meade Bible Academy.

Buying a Newer Car

February 19, 1936  14° cold [0° F.].  Mama and Mary mended.  We got a car from Meade, a 1929 Ford sedan.  We traded with Merril Dye for our Touring and $50.00.

In a sign that the worst of the Great Depression had passed by early 1936, Cornelius traded for a newer car.  Since he always bought Fords, he traded his Ford Model T Touring car and $50 for a 1929 Ford Model A sedan.  

A 1927 Ford Model T Touring Sport.  This would have been similar to the Siemens' car, although we do not know what year their Model T was.

A touring car is an open car with a canvas top and curtains that could be pulled up to protect the passengers from the weather.  In contrast, a sedan was a closed-in car.  

1929 Ford Model A Standard 165A Fordor.  Again probably similar to the Siemens car.

The Model T was produced 1908-27 with a 2.9-liter engine that produced 20 horsepower and a 2-speed transmission.  It was the first car produced on an assembly line, Henry Ford’s great contribution to the car industry, which had made it affordable for a middle-class family.  And Ford produced the same model for twenty years with only minor tweaks!

The Model A was produced 1928-31, and it had a 3.3-liter engine that produced 40 horsepower and a 3-speed transmission, with a top speed of 65 mph.  Clearly this was a much better car than the Model T that the Siemens traded away. 

The Model T was designed before the now-standard driver controls of a gearshift, accelerator, brake pedal, and clutch pedal were developed.  Instead, it had a timing stalk to adjust the rate of fire for the spark plugs, a throttle stalk to adjust the flow of fuel,a foot pedal to change gears, a reverse pedal to engage reverse, and brake pedal.  Since the Model A had the modern driver controls, Cornelius and the boys would have had to learn a new way of driving.  [UPDATE:  Actually, Jake and Corney had likely already bought their "dating cars," which surely were not old-fashioned Model T's, so I imagine that boys already knew how to use the new driver controls.]

(It is a little confusing that the Model T was an older car than the Model A.  Ford Motor Company had lettered its first models from A through T, but the Model T was the first big seller.  When it came time to replace it in 1929, the new model was such a major upgrade that Henry Ford wanted to start over with the lettering, so instead of naming the Model T's successor the Model U, he called it the Model A.)

Planting Trees

February 19, 1932  The boys planted trees at Mother’s in the forenoon.  We all were at Mother for dinner.  In the afternoon we planted trees for us.  In the evening C. Dalkes came over. 

When the Siemens moved onto their farm in the fall of 1930, it was two quarters of farmland without a building or tree on the place.  First, they built a house, barn, chicken house, hen house, garage, and granary.  And then they planted trees.  Since the beginning of the 1800s, Mennonites had lived on flat, treeless prairies, first in Russia and then on the North American Great Plains.  They had developed a tradition of planting enormous numbers of trees wherever they went.  In Russia they had literally planted millions of trees around their villages.  They became so well known for it that the Russian government asked them to form a Forestry Service as their alternative to military service.  In Kansas the Siemens were no exception.  Within eighteen months of moving onto the farm, they planted trees.    

First, the boys, Jake, Corney, and John, went to their grandmother, Katharina (Barkman) Reimer, to plant trees at her house.  Of course, she and Aunt Lena fed the whole family dinner.  And then in the afternoon, the Siemens family planted trees at their house.  Probably this was the mulberry windbreak that was north and east of the house.  Mulberry trees have several advantages – they produce many berries that make great pie, jam, and snacks.  They provided shelter for the yard and house from the wind.  And they provided a steady supply of kindling for heating the house and cooking.  Finally, they added green and beauty to an otherwise stark prairie.

Going to Dodge

February 18, 1937  Dust storm from the north.  We all went to Dodge and also to Corney and Margaret. 

There were two good reasons to go to Dodge City.  First, it was the commercial center for southwest Kansas.  Meade had a five-and-dime store, a grocery store, a hardware store, and a lumberyard; but there were still many things that you could not buy in Meade.  So most farmers in southwest Kansas made occasional trips to Dodge, as they called it.  Since it was 43 miles north of Meade, it was a day trip.  The Santa Fe railroad had reached Dodge City in 1872, and since then it had been the most important city in southwest Kansas.  Fleets of freight wagons had hauled goods from the railroad in Dodge City to southwest Kansas, the Oklahoma Panhandle, and the Texas Panhandled in the 1870s to the 1890s.  (One of those waggoneers, George “HooDoo” Brown founded the town of Meade in 1885.)  Drives of Texas cattle went to the railroad in 1876-1885.  Even though it had changed much from the days of Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and Boot Hill, Dodge City was still the place to go shopping for the Siemens. 

The second reason was personal.  Corney and Margaret lived near Dodge City, so this was an opportunity to visit them.  What did they do during their visit?  They surely ate together, maybe just faspa.  They would have done some visiting and caught up on the news, although there cannot have been much news since they were only together three days before.  If it were summer, they would have certainly looked at the garden and the flowers.  And the women might have made discreet inquiries as to how Margaret’s pregnancy was coming along – son Verne would be born in July that year.

Washing Windows

February 17, 1933  Mama, Mary, Corney, and I went to Meade.  Mary cleaned windows.  In the evening we went to H. H. Reimers. 

Here you can see the windows that Mary washed (probably not the upstairs ones).  This is a view of the Siemens' farmhouse looking to the northeast.  It was taken soon after the house was built in 1930 because there are no trees and the enclosed porch was not yet built on the west side.

Wife Margaret was adamant that windows needed to be spotlessly clean.  You can imagine what a trial it was during the Dust Bowl when fine dust covered everything.  Of course, after a long winter of burning wood, kerosene, and coal to heat the house and to cook, soot had also accumulated on the windows.  Whenever there was a nice day, the windows had to be washed inside and out.  So when they got back from Meade, Mary washed windows with water and bit of vinegar to prevent streaking - much cheaper than Windex.

Free Dinner at the Co-Op

February 16, 1937  Had a big dust storm from the south.  Hung out the wash to dry.  Then we went to Meade.  We got a free dinner served by the co-op and John Deere.  Mama stayed at Mother’s. 

The co-op was a non-profit, mutual organization for all the local farmers to join.  It sold gasoline, diesel, chicken feed, livestock feed, supplies, and many other things a farmer needed.  It also owned an elevator and bought wheat from its members.  At the end of the year, it paid a bonus check to its members based on the amount of business they had done with the co-op and the profit for the year.  It was also a great place to socialize as all farmers would stop there when they came to town.  

On this day, the co-op and the John Deere implement dealer sponsored a free dinner for anyone who wanted to come.  It was their way of advertising to the community and of building goodwill among their customers.  Cornelius loved these sorts of events because it gave him the chance to visit with so many people.  And of course, no good Mennonite could turn down a free dinner.

Together Again

February 15, 1937  2° warm [36° F.] in the morning.  Very strong northwest wind with lots of dust.  We washed but did not hang out any wash to dry.  Corney and Jake Siemens all came over. 

They had a big dust storm – so bad that they could not hang wash out to dry because it would have just gotten dirty again. 

And now that the Siemens had married children, they came home to visit.  Corney and Margaret were living close to Dodge City, so it was a longer trip for them to come home, and they did not come so often.  But Jake and Anna were living in the Meade community, so they saw each other frequently.  It was a surely a good day when all the children came home to visit and the whole family was together again.

Point of View

I struggled with writing the post about the brotherhood meeting.  My goal in my genealogical writing has been to write from a sympathetic point of view.  It has been said that the easiest era with which to find fault is the one immediately preceding our own, and the era whose faults to which we are most blind is our own.  So we should not judge our ancestors by the standards of our time but rather understand how they thought and why.

But I also do not want to view them with rose-colored glasses.  They had faults just as we do.  In addition to sharing their triumphs, I want to be open about their weaknesses (as long as it does not affect living people).  But I also want us to see that in their weaknesses they really were little different from ourselves.

Regarding the brotherhood meeting, I wanted to explain how they felt about the role of women in the church and about church discipline so that a modern reader would understand how Cornelius Siemens viewed these things.  But I finally gave up since each one would require an essay and I was falling further behind in my posting schedule.

Brotherhood Meeting

February 14, 1932  Sunday.  We went to church and brotherhood meeting.  In the afternoon we went to John H. Reimers.  C. A. Reimers came over in the evening. 

Mennonite congregations were largely autonomous and were run by a brotherhood meeting.  All males, young and old, who had been baptized had an equal vote in the decision-making.  Women did not attend the brotherhood meeting (and I doubt any of them ever thought that they should).  A brotherhood meeting was held several times a year, and it was an important event because (at least in theory) all members were equally responsible for the running of the congregation.

One duty of the brotherhood meeting, one which did not have to be done each time, was to elect the leaders of the congregation.  These included an elder, several ministers or preachers, and deacons and songleaders.  These men served for life, unless they resigned due to ill health or were removed for moral transgressions.  Thus it was not every year that a new leader had to be elected.

Second, the brotherhood meeting made decisions about the life of the church, after prayer and consulting the Scriptures.  These included weighty issues such as when the congregation had moved from Russia to Nebraska in 1874.  And it included daily issues such as helping members of the congregation who were poor or widowed or orphaned.

Finally, the brotherhood meeting was responsible for church discipline issues. 

One thing that they had very little responsibility for was the church budget – because there hardly was a church budget.  The church was built and maintained by donations of the members.  The elders, ministers, and song leaders were farmers who volunteered their time to the ministry.  There was no electricity, so no utilities had to be paid.  They met during daylight, so no kerosene was even needed for lamps.  If work need to be done on the building, the members did it themselves.  There was a scheduled rotation of families who cleaned the church each week and started the fire in winter.  The bathrooms were outhouses, and new holes were dug occasionally for those.  The preacher spoke loudly, and several hundred people sang in four-part harmony, so no sound system was required.  Back then Mennonites knew how to run a very inexpensive operation!

Sickness and Quilting

February 13, 1935  We got a small rain shower.  We took Elmer to Dr. Botkin.  He was quite sick.  Corney and John worked on the road.  Jacob and I got more wood.  Mary sewed on her quilt.  Mama is busy caring for the sick children.

The Siemens had been sick a lot the previous week.  This was a Wednesday, and little Elmer, not quite three years old, was so sick that he had to be taken to the doctor.  And that was would been very sick.  People did not go to the doctor unless it was absolutely necessary.  His wife Margaret was busy taking care of the sick children.

And Cornelius had written the week before that Corney was sick on Tuesday and both Corney and John on Thursday.  And on Saturday, he mentioned that “the children,” which usually meant the older four siblings, were sick.

But Mary must have felt better because she was sewing on her quilt.  It was common for young women to piece a quilt and then to quilt it so that they would have a beautiful bed cover when they got married.  I wonder if any of Mary’s quilts are still in the family.

Mangling Laundry

February 12, 1936  Was 12° cold [5° F.] in the morning.  Warmed up only to 11° [7° F.].  Had strong northwest wind.  We went to Meade and to mangle.

Mangling the laundry sounds like you tore it all to pieces.  But mangling was no such thing.  The day after doing laundry, the Siemens usually went to Margaret’s mother, Katharina (Barkman) Reimer, who lived a mile and a quarter to the east, to mangle.  Nearly all things that were washed had to be ironed, and a box mangle is a device used to iron flat items, such as sheets, towels, and pillowcases.  It cannot be used on shirts, pants, dresses, and skirts, and other things that have buttons or zippers – instead these were ironed with a metal hand iron.  By the way, institutions continue to use mangles to this day.

The flat item is spritzed with water to dampen it and then wrapped tightly and smoothly around a wooden roller.  Rocks are put in a sort of trolley with a smooth, flay bottom.  The trolley is then rocked back and forth, rolling the wooden rollers back and forth with the clothes on it.  The pressure from the rocks produces beautifully crisp sheets, towels, and pillowcases.

In August 1936, the Siemens bought a used mangle from Mrs. John Harder, probably at her farm auction, so then they had their own and did not go to the Reimers to mangle anymore.  But until then it was a weekly ritual to go there for a pleasant evening of mangling and visiting.

The Siemens’ mangle can be seen in the Meade County Historical Museum, so be sure to stop to see it next time you are in Meade.  And imagine the Siemens doing their ironing with it.

A Day of Work on the Farm

February 11, 1935  Corney worked on the road.  Jake and John helped in the garden.  I burned tumbleweeds.  Mama and Mary sewed.  In the evening we went to Mother’s.

It must have been a nice day in late winter because lots of work was happening on the farm this day.  First, Corney worked on the road.  Kansas has an unusual road maintenance system whereby counties are divided into townships that maintain all but the largest roads in the county.  (About a third of all Kansas counties still use this system, including Meade County; but the rest have opted out and have a county-wide maintenance department.)  The Siemens lived in Logan Township in Meade County, and there was a township supervisor who was responsible to make sure roads were maintained.  In order to avoid voting taxes on themselves, the farmers contributed work and machinery to keep the roads up.  Corney and John frequently worked on the roads.  They may have been grading ruts from the winter mud, graveling roads, or building new ones; but there was surely always work to do to keep the roads in their own area passable.  The township supervisor would appoint a day when every farmer needed to gather to work on a certain road, and so Cornelius sent his son Corney to work for the family.

Jake and John were working in the garden.  They may have been raking together and burning the old plants and mulch from the last year and getting the garden ready to plow for planting.

Cornelius burned tumbleweeds that had piled up in the fences, corrals, and hedgerows.  The tumbleweed is the dried Russian thistle that detaches from its roots and rolls across the prairie in the wind.  It is a noxious weed and a non-native species that was accidentally imported in flax seed shipments from Russia in the early 1870s.  It spreads seeds as it rolls.  The tumbleweeds get stuck in fences, where they collect blowing snow and dust, and have to be burned.  It is a lot of fun to burn tumbleweeds because they are so dry and suddenly flame up in a huge ball of fire when you burn them.  (I'm sure Cornelius would have been shocked to know that eighty years later people would pay money for tumbleweeds.)

Finally, Cornelius’ wife Margaret and Mary sewed clothes.  They made shirts and pants for the men, dresses for the women, and clothes for the babies.  They only clothes they did not make were suit coats and dress pants for the men, which they bought in town.  They had a collection of homemade paper patterns marked with different sizes.  They used these to trace the outline of the different pieces for a garment on cloth and then cut them out and sewed them together with a treadle sewing machine.  With six adults and three small children in the house, there was a lot of sewing that had to be done.  And of course, they cooked three meals that day and took care of Henry (3 years old), Elmer (2), and Anna (13 months).

It surely felt good to get outside again after being cooped up inside for several months.  And in the evening they could enjoy going to Margaret’s mother, Katharina (Barkman) Reimer, who lived only a mile and a half to the east, for some visiting.

Fixing the Well

February 10, 1936  We got the plunger out [of the well].  We had the misfortune to have the rope break and the plunger fall into the well.  Charley Klotz came and got it out. 

The Siemens household and farm depended on a windmill for water.  Since there was usually plenty of wind in western Kansas, using a windmill to pump water was a huge labor-saving device over pumping water by hand.  Sometimes the windmill broke, so a farmer had to be able to repair it.  However, in this case, they made the problem worse by accidentally dropping the plunger into the well. 

A windmill operates with a pair of check valves that alternately open and close to ratchet water out of the well.  The upper, moving valve that is driven by the wheel is called the plunger.  Apparently they were working on the well and had suspended the plunger by a rope; and the rope broke, dropping the plunger down into the well.  It would require a special tool to grasp the plunger and pull it out.  

Charley Klotz was the well driller in the area, and when he was drilling or working on a well, he ate at the farm where he was working.  It was said that if you served süaromps moos (sorrel moos) instead of meat and potatoes, the well would get drilled much more quickly.  While Mennonites enjoyed süaromps moos, it was not a favorite of “English” people.

Sad News from Manitoba

February 9, 1935  Mama and Mary did Saturday’s work.  The children do not feel very good.  We went to Meade.  We got the message that the elder Mrs. P. P. Reimer  from Manitoba died on February 8 in the evening.

Sad news had come from Canada – Mrs. P. P. Reimer had died the evening before at the age of 58.  Her maiden name was Elizabeth R. Dueck (1876-1935), and she had married Peter P. Reimer, who was a second cousin to Cornelius’ wife Margaret.  And Cornelius had surely known them when he had lived in Manitoba.  She was called the elder Mrs. P. P. Reimer because their son Peter P. D. Reimer was also married, so his wife was the younger Mrs. P. P. Reimer. 

Most communication in the 1930s was written.  People frequently wrote letters and postcards back and forth between Meade and Canada.  Sometimes they would notify faraway relatives of a death by letter, but then they would outline the edge of the envelope in black ink so that the recipients would know before opening that the letter contained sad news.

In this case, the news must have come by a long-distance phone call or telegram because the Meade community found out the next day.  Long-distance calls were only made in case of a death, so when you got such a call, you knew it was not good.  If it was by telegram, the Western Union office in Meade would receive the telegram.  Usually then they would make a local phone call to the recipient and read it to him, and then the recipient could pick up the paper telegram next time he was in town.

Only one family in Meade would be notified, so whoever received the notification, whether by letter, phone call, or telegram, passed the word along to the rest of the community.  Because of the time and cost, it was impossible to travel to a funeral in Canada, even for a sibling, parent, or child, so faraway relatives would gather to mourn informally where they lived.

Posting Schedule

My goal is to post every day, but obviously I'm not succeeding at that.  I'm really going to try to do better at that from now on, but if I miss days - rest assured, there will be more posts coming.

Comments would also be appreciated.  Let me know what you think.  Many of you have interesting stories about our family as well.

Kidney Stones

February 8, 1933  21° cold [-15° F.] again.  Northwest wind.  The children washed clothes.  P. F. Rempels came over.  I spent most of the day in bed, again my kidney disease.

From late 1932 to mid-1934, it appears that Cornelius had kidney stones.  Many days he mentioned that he had pain, and some days it was so severe that he stayed in bed.  He rarely mentioned what the problem was, but on this day he mentions “kidney disease” along with his pain.  Those who have had it say that kidney stones is one of the most excruciatingly painful conditions a person can have, yet Cornelius stoically mentioned it day after day for about two years without complaint or despair.

Home Alone

February 7, 1937  We went to church.  Mama and Anna stayed home because Mama did not feel well.  We had a strong south wind with lots of dust.  We were home alone.

Since it was Sunday, Cornelius and his children Mary, John, Henry, and Elmer went to church.  But his wife Margaret was sick and stayed home with little Anna.  Again there was a dust storm that would have blown lots of dust into the house.  They put wet rags around the windows, but the superfine dust still managed to blow into the house.  It drifted like snow along fences and around buildings.  It would have been so discouraging to fight the dust every time the wind blew, and in Meade it blew often.

But most remarkable – they were home alone on a Sunday.  No one came over to visit and they went nowhere.  It was so unusual not to visit that Cornelius had to note it in his diary.  You can almost feel the sadness in his words.

Visiting Was Serious Work

February 6, 1937  The Koops and we went to Jake Siemens for dinner.  Then to Gerhard J. Classens, then to P. F. Isaacs and to Mrs. John Classen and Mrs C. J. Classen and to Nick Reimers.  Then we left the Koops at P. L. Classens.

The Jacob N. Koops were visiting from Manitoba, and Cornelius had recorded that they had spent the previous night at the Siemens.  This day the Siemens took the Koops to their children Jake and Anna Siemens, who had been married for less than a year, for dinner, the noon meal.  Then they took the Koops visiting in the community, going to six different families that afternoon and evening. They would not call ahead or arrange, but just go visit whomever they wanted.  Visitors were very important, so the hosts would stop whatever they were doing, invite the guests in, and visit for a while.  They would exchange news about Meade and Manitoba and then on to the next place.  Finally, they left the Koops at the P. L. Classens for the night.  Undoubtedly, the next days the P. L. Classens would repeat the process with the Koops.

Thirty-eight years later, Jacob and Helena Koop’s grandson Norman would marry Cornelius and Margaret’s granddaughter Karen.

Going to Meade

February 5, 1933  The boys and I went to Meade. 

Cornelius did not write many details in this entry, but a couple things stand out.  First, no matter how short they were of money, he always had enough for gas to go to Meade.  The Siemens’ farm was the closest one in the Mennonite settlement to the town, which was a good thing, because Cornelius went there several times a week.  And he took his sons Jake (age 19), Corney (17), and John (15) along.  They probably stopped at the co-op, the feed store, the service station, the grocery store, and a few other places and visited and bought a few things that they needed at home.  It was winter and the farm work was slow, so it was their chance to relax and socialize.  And it was a time for father and sons to spend together.

Visitors from Manitoba

February 4, 1937  Henry Toews from Manitoba came over.  Also, John H. Friesens, K. H. Reimers, and Jacob D. Friesens.  Later the Toews and we went to Uncle Bartel and then to C. J. Friesens and Peter Kroekers. 

There were a surprising number of visitors from Manitoba, and that was because the Meade settlement was a sister congregation to the Kleine Gemeinde congregations in Manitoba.  Only sixty years before the two groups had been separate Kleine Gemeinde congregations, but mostly living a few miles apart in the same villages in Borosenko Colony in Russia.  Even though the two congregations had chosen to settle far apart in the New World, they were all related to each other and continued to marry back and forth and to move back and forth. 

Any Manitoba visitors were welcome at the Siemens.  Cornelius was eager to hear any news from his family and friends there.  In 1937, he had not been back to Canada or seen his siblings since he left in 1930 to get married. 

Then the Siemens took the Henry Toews visiting.  First, they went to “Uncle Bartel.”  Johann Bartel was elderly; so he was called Uncle, even by adults, out of respect.  Then they went to the C. J. Friesens and the Peter Kroekers.  One of the joys of winter was that a farmer had time to go visiting since there was no field work.  Manitobans would come south to visit relatives and friends in Meade.  And the Meade people would go from family to family visiting.

Keeping Warm on a Cold Day

February 3, 1936  10° cold [10° F.] with strong north wind.  Very cold day.  Mama and Mary sewed. 

On a cold day with a strong north wind, the Siemens’ house got cold very quickly because it was uninsulated.  They had a row of mulberry trees that they pruned to provide kindling, and they saved every scrap of old wood to burn as well.  If they heard of construction projects, such as building an elevator in town, they would go and pick up scrap lumber there because it was free.  Sometimes in fall they went down nearby river, Crooked Creek, and cut kindling.  And they also bought coal from town because it burned longer and hotter than wood.  

In the basement Cornelius had built three large bins to hold kindling and coal.  There was a basement window above the bins so that they could dump wood and coal directly into the bins.  In winter they could just go downstairs to get more coal or wood instead of going outside.  Cornelius had brought this idea from Manitoba, but in Kansas most other Mennonite families had to go outside to get their wood or coal.

In the dining room they had a Round Oak brandcast-iron stove.  The kitchen was heated by the wood-burning range that they cooked on.  For the living room, they also had a heater that burned kerosene.  In the evening before going to bed, they would bank the fire so that there would be some coals left by morning.  Then in the morning as the man of the house, it was Cornelius’ job to be the first up and start the fire in a literally freezing house.  So on cold winter days, it was a real chore to keep the fire fed and the house heated.

Sunday at the South Church Building

February 2, 1936  10° cold [10° F.].  Mama and the little three stayed at Mother’s.  The older children and I went to church.  Went to P. F. Rempels for dinner.  Was cloudy all day.

It was Sunday, so usually the whole family would go to church, but his wife Margaret and the three little children, Henry (4 years old), Elmer (3), and Anna (2), did not go, probably because it was so cold.  Instead they went to visit Margaret’s mother, Katharina (Barkman) Reimer, who lived about a mile and a half away.  She was 79 years old, so she surely stayed home in such cold weather and would have welcomed the company.

Kleine Gemeinde south church building.  Source:  http://fhsuguides.fhsu.edu/kansasheritage/meadecounty

Cornelius and the older four children, Mary, Jake, Corney, and John, went to the south church building.  The Kleine Gemeinde community was spread out over more than 20 miles north to south, from the town of Meade to the Oklahoma border.  To ease the burden of travel, they had built two church buildings, one at each end of the community, and alternated services between the two.  His wife Margaret’s sister, Aganetha H. Reimer, had married the widower Peter F. Rempel, and they lived close to the south church building.  So it was expected that the Siemens would go to the P. F. Rempels for Sunday dinner every other Sunday when the service was at the south church building.  In fact, half the congregation ate Sunday dinner at the homes of the other half of the congregation every week, so having two church buildings made for a very social congregation.  Very rarely was an invitation for dinner issued – they just went to someone’s house after the service and were invited in.  There was always room for five or ten more people.  They simply fried more potatoes and added another shift at the table.  And so virtually every Sunday was spent relaxing and visiting with family and friends.

Location of north and south church buildings.  The Siemens were at the far northern end of the Mennonite community.

Comments

I've been hoping to make it possible to comment directly on each post in the blog.  But I haven't been able to get the comments working, and I have seen that is a frequent problem with Google Blogger.  I may try switching to another platform.

UPDATE - I was able to make a comment from another computer, so at least part of the time the comment system does work.  Feel free to leave comments, add your own memories, ask questions, or make corrections.  Click on the words "No Comments" or where it says the number of comments to add your own.  I will moderate them for appropriateness.

Trachoma

February 1, 1933  Jacob and I went to Cimarron and Dodge City to Dr. Janne because of Jacob’s eyes, went along with K. H. Reimers.  Mama, Mary, and Corney went to Mother.

Jake and Mary both had trachoma, which is a bacterial infection of the eyelids.  If left untreated, it can become extremely painful and damage the cornea, resulting in blindness.  It seems that Jake was treated successfully, but Mary had it so badly that it did affect her vision permanently.  (At one point she was in the hospital for trachoma, and her vision was so poor that she did not recognize her father, which was very painful for him.  But her vision did improve after that.)  The Siemens went to the doctor in Dodge City and other places seeking help for Mary and Jake. 

Trachoma was wiped out in the United States about this time, and now it can easily be treated with antibiotics.  It is a disease caused by poverty and poor sanitation.  It spreads by contact with infected individuals, especially by sharing towels and wash clothes used by infected people or using water contaminated by sewage.  Sadly this trachoma was one of the consequences of the poverty that the Siemens family endured while Cornelius was a widower in the 1920s in Manitoba.  When Cornelius married Margaret in 1930, she had enough money so that they could go to the doctor and treat their illnesses.

The Reimer Girls Help with the Clean Wash

January 31, 1934  H. H. Reimer girls helped take care of the clean wash, ironing, folding, and mending.  K. H. Reimers came over.

Baby Anna was only five days old, so mother Margaret was still in bed resting and recovering.  Mary was busy with housework and caring for the mother and newborn, so she needed help with the wash.  After a baby was born, it was common for single Mennonite girls to come for a day or even several weeks to work.  This day several daughters of Henry H. Reimer, Margaret’s brother, came over to help with the clean wash.  They were probably Catharina, Mary, and Helen Reimer, whom we knew in later years as just “the Reimer girls.”

Everything needed to be ironed or pressed with a mangle – shirts, pants, dresses, dish towels, sheets, pillowcases, etc.  It would have been embarrassing to wear an unironed piece of clothing because it would have proven to the entire world the slovenly housekeeping standards of the mother.  The linens should be nice and crisp when they were put on the beds.  And who would want to dry dishes with a wrinkled dish towel?

Of course, ironing was not so easy without electricity.  Metal irons had to be heated on a stove to just the right temperature so as not to scorch the fabric, and then clothes were pressed until the iron had cooled, and the process was repeated.  Everything was folded neatly and put away.  And then clothes that were torn or worn needed to be mended.  Holes were patched and re-patched because it was expensive to buy cloth and make clothes.  Holes in socks were darned.  When collars and cuffs wore out, they were replaced rather than throwing away the entire garment.  No clothes were disposed of until they were well and truly worn out, and then they were cut up into rags, which themselves had innumerable uses around the house and farm.