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.
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| 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. |
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