Home to Manitoba

April 4, 1930  Arrived in Morris at 6:50 in the morning.  The children came to get us.  We stopped at Mrs. Peter Siemens for dinner.  Then we went home.

 Cornelius and Margaret had wrapped up their visiting in Jansen, Nebr., and left from Fairbury at 11:35 p.m. on April 2.  They had arrived at St. Paul, Minn., at 3:15 p.m. on April 3.  Cornelius had bought two tickets there for $29.46 for the overnight express train to Morris, Man., and at 5:50 p.m. they had departed.  Now at 6:50 a.m. they arrived in Morris; and their children, Mary, Jake, Corney, and John, were there to meet them.  Cornelius was surely thrilled to see his children again, but meeting their new mother was probably a little awkward.  They no doubt had only wonderful memories of their mother Katie Siemens, who had died ten years before, and perhaps were hoping for a new mother just like the one they had lost.  On the other hand, they had spent a decade taking care of themselves and were probably very independent and self-reliant; and for a decade they had had their father completely to themselves.  Now they had a strict new mother, and Margaret had never raised children before, let alone four teenagers, so she had no experience to draw on.  Cornelius, of course, never mentions anything in his diary, but we can imagine that there was a lot adjustment that had to take place. 

On the way home, they stopped at Mrs. Peter H. Siemens, Susanna (Warkentin) 1869-1943 for dinner.  Cornelius’ father Gerhard T. Siemens had had four wives, and Peter H. Siemens (1867-1914) was the oldest son from his first wife.  He had died quite some time before, but Cornelius continued to keep up with his sister-in-law, even though she was quite a bit older than he.  And so she welcomed them home with dinner.