The Weis Family - Part 6

CAPESIUS, DONDLINGER, ETRINGER, GOSCHE, JACOBS, MATHIEU, REISTROFFER, RITTER, SCHILTZ, SCHIRMER, SCHWAGER, THOMA, WAGNER, WALTER, WEIMERSKIRCH, WEINSCHENK, WEIS

Posted By: Lorraine Weis Houghton (email)
Date: 4/14/2010 at 19:36:04

The Weis Family of Jackson County, Iowa

Part 6

Compiled by Lorraine Weis Houghton

Farm Life in the Early and Mid 1900's *
Electricity, Bathroom and Milking Machine Come to the Farm *
Tombstones of Weis Ancestors *
Saints Peter and Paul Parish in Springbrook *

Farm Life in the Early and Mid 1900’s

By Lorraine Weis Houghton

with help from Marie, Erma and Gert

John’s son, Charles Weis, who is my grandfather, built a new house on this farm in 1932 at a cost of $2,800. The head carpenter, Gus Klemme, received 40 cents per hour, plus room and board. The other carpenters received 25 cents per hour, plus room and board. Ray Deyen finished the woodwork with seven coats of varnish. A “hired girl”, Rosie Mootz, helped Charles’ wife, Margaret, prepare all of the meals and helped with the laundry at this time.

When I was a child, growing up in this house, I remember how much fun my cousins and I would have playing in the “old house” that my grandfather, Charles, was raised in and lived in until he built the new house in 1932. At one time, the families of Charles Weis and his brother, John J. (Fiddler) shared this house. It was almost set up like a duplex with each family having their own side of the house and their own set of stairs, to go up to the bedrooms which were on the second level. The second level was not divided. We would play many games running up and down the double set of stairs in this house. It was just a giant playhouse for us.

A windmill, that fed water into a reservoir, provided gravity fed cold water for the barn and the new house. There was a sink in the pantry for washing dishes. If I remember correctly, we had to heat the water on the stove, in order to get the hot water to wash the dishes. Water was carried from this sink to fill a basin in the “washroom” for the men to “wash up” when they came in from doing work outside. I still remember the men lining up to “wash up” during haying season.

Water was also piped into the barn to fill a water tank for the animals to drink from. There was a faucet to get water for other uses in the milk house section of the barn, including getting a cold drink for ourselves, as well as to clean the cows’ udders before milking, and to clean the milk buckets, and anything else that needed to be cleaned.

After the Charles Weis family moved into the new house, the laundry was done, for years, in the old kitchen that was in the limestone part of the house, which had been built by John Weis as an addition to the log cabin. They first carried the water in buckets to the tubs, from a faucet on the side of the new house, which was about 40 feet away. They heated some water on the wood fed stove to have hot water for washing the clothes, which involved rubbing the clothes clean on a washboard. Then the laundry was placed in a tub on the stove and boiled for a while. After that it was rinsed in water in another tub, and ran through a hand turned ringer.

The old house was also used as a “summer kitchen” which was a place to prepare meat for smoking in the smokehouse, or for canning meat, fruit and vegetables.

Farming with horses was a pleasure for my grandfather, Charles. Horses were used in farming that farm until 1953, at which time the tractor took over. He also loved to cut wood for the wood stove or wood fired furnace, or any carpentry work he could find. Even though Charles never drove a car or tractor, he bought a new 1938 Ford. His son, Herbert, my father, drove that car most of the time. Many relatives remember having a lot of fun riding in that car, especially up and down the hills in the ½ mile lane. In 1942, Charles sold that car to my dad.

In preparation for the change from farming with horses to farming with a tractor, a lot of planning and money had to be spent. My dad, Herbert, bought a new threshing machine in 1950, a new Farmall tractor with a cultivator in 1951, a Ferguson 30 tractor with manure loader, manure spreader and disc in 1952 and a corn planter in 1953, all in preparation for farming without horses. 1952 was the first year that the entire corn crop was picked with a corn picker, rather than by hand.

Doing chores was always a family event. Each family member, including children, had their tasks. Some would feed the chickens, some would go and pick up the eggs, which at times could be tricky, as the hens didn’t always want to get off of the nest, and that beak could really pick you.

About every spring, we would go to Scheckel’s Hatchery in Springbrook to get a new batch of chickens. This would give us a good supply of chickens for our supply of eggs and also our supply of chicken for Sunday dinner. We would butcher the chicken on Saturday, get them cleaned and cut up and cooked for Sunday dinner, especially when we had relatives coming to visit. It was common for relatives to invite each other for Sunday dinner. We children really got to know our first cousins well, as we visited each other’s homes often.

Milking the cows by hand was handled by the adults or by the older children. Then the milk had to be separated, so that the cream could be saved for sale to the creamery. The milk was used to make “slop” for the pigs. Milk was added to ground up oats to make this slop. It was then poured into troughs for the pigs to slurp up. The children, from about age 6, were usually the ones assigned to feeding the new calves from a bucket.

Carrying the milk from the barn to the hogs was generally a task for the “strong” members of the family. As children, we always wanted to appear “strong”.

I vaguely remember our sows having baby pigs. I remember we had a wood stove in that part of the building that was used for that purpose. This area was divided into pens, so each sow had their own space. I remember my dad spending a lot of time, in the middle of the night, having to watch so that the sows didn’t lie on their little pigs. When I was a child, these pigs were raised as feeder pigs and would be sold to the market to be slaughtered for food.

We grew up understanding that some of our animals would be used for our food. Generally, my dad’s brothers, Nick, Oris, and Leo and his sister, Lena and their father, Charles, and the older nephews would come to help on the day we butchered a pig or a cow. Several of the wives and their children would also come to help prepare the meal for the help. The animal was slaughtered on the farm, cleaned, and either skinned or the hair on the hog was removed by dipping in heated water. The animal would hang for a couple days in the cold weather to cure. Then it would be cut into pieces, wrapped, labeled and frozen.

Some of the pork was always ground up and put into casings to make “pork sausage” which was hung in the smokehouse for a few days, until it really had the smoke flavor. Then, after we had a meal with this great sausage, the rest was wrapped and frozen.

Some of the beef was canned in quart jars. When we had unexpected company, a fast dinner could be prepared with canned beef, mashed potatoes and the gravy that was made in the jar during the canning process. Just the thought of it makes me hungry now.

Charles Weis also built new additions to the barn, including a milk house west of the barn, as well as a lean on the south side of the barn. After moving from the farm to retire in Springbrook, my grandfather, Charles would help out the elderly, repairing screen doors, and doing other carpentry work or odd jobs.

He also would walk over to the farm, especially during planting, harvesting and wood cutting season to help my dad with farming during the day, and then walk back to Springbrook at night. This was about a three mile walk each day.

Grandpa Charles had a big garden in Springbrook, with wonderful grapes, strawberries and red raspberries. Just recently an old school mate from Springbrook, Sharon, told me how much she enjoyed the grapes that my grandfather would hand to the children as they were walking home from school. I had actually forgotten how we would munch on our bunch of grapes almost all of the way home.

Over the years my dad built many new buildings to house the chickens, cattle and hogs and built many additions to the barn. He upgraded the milking system from milking by hand to a pipeline system to be able to sell Grade A milk. Dad always enjoyed milking his holstein cows. The reason we know he enjoyed it was because he was always singing and whistling in the barn. All of us kids were so fortunate to be able to work with dad while he was doing something he enjoyed so much. As my sister, Pat, recalls, Dad always said, “You can’t just tell the kids to work. You have to work with them.”

The descendants of John Weis and their families enjoyed living and working this farm for many years. They were the families of Charles, then Herbert and then his son, Ardell, who lived on this farm until the late 1970’s when it was sold to a non family member. In 2006, the farm house with all of the buildings and a small acreage were sold to a descendant of Peter Weis, who was a brother to my great grandfather, John Weis, who originally lived on this farm. In 2010, a Weis family descendant and her family is again living in the square two story house that was built in 1932 at a cost of $2800.00 plus the cost of room and board for the workers.

Electricity, Bathroom, and Milking Machine Come to the Farm

By Lorraine Weis Houghton

with help from my siblings, Wayne, Pat and Ardell and the records kept by our mom

In 1946, Charles sold the farm to my parents, Herbie and Gert, who had rented it for four years. When I was six years old, in 1949, I remember the Rural Electric Authority “REA” coming into our area building the lines for electricity. The people living in the town of Springbrook already had electricity, but many of the farmers who lived down a lane and away from the roadway, needed to have the lines built through their land.

I remember watching them dig the holes and putting those big electric utility poles in the ground and eventually getting the electric wires connected. I remember an electrician coming to our house and dropping the lines behind the plaster walls, so that we could receive electricity. We had electricity from the basement, to the first floor, to the second floor where the bedrooms were, to a light in the attic. Our lights were turned on September 12, 1950. I was in 1st grade, and just couldn’t believe how I could sit at the kitchen table and be able to read, with all of that light from the florescent light above.

I remember the excitement of being able to see outside at night. We had a big yard light on a pole between the house and the barn. This important pole held the wires that brought electricity to our farm. Electricity was wired into the barn, the old red shed next to the house, the grainary, the tool shed, the steel building (which my dad built in 1946) and the outhouse. I don’t think the old corn cribs that we sitting in the middle of the yard, probably since John Weis owned the farm, were wired for electricity. My dad built a new double crib in 1953, which was wired for electricity at that time.

With the farm now having electricity, we didn’t have to carry our lantern to get from the house to the barn or to the outhouse at night, as there was another light in the back of the house in that direction. You may notice that we did not get a bathroom in the house until 1954, so for five years, we all appreciated that light on the way to the outhouse and in the outhouse. All we had to do was flick a switch.

Electricity was also run to a pump on the windmill, so that we didn’t have to depend totally on wind power for our water. If we had too many quiet days, dad would tell us kids to turn the pump on, which would pump more water into the reservoir.

Since electricity was now available in the barn, it didn’t take long for my parents to buy a new “Surge” milking machine. Before that, all milking was done by hand. At this time, we separated the cream from the milk and the cream was sold in 8 gallon cans. The separator and all of those plates had to be washed every day, which was usually done by my mom or one of us older kids. The milk was carried to the hogfloor to feed to the hogs. In the milkhouse, in 1952, a water heater and an elevated wash tank were installed. This was used for washing the milking equipment. My brother, Wayne, recalls this tub was sometimes used to give the children their baths.

I am thinking it was about 1950 when we started selling Grade B milk in 10 gallon milk cans to Kraft. Once we started selling Grade B milk, our farm was strictly a dairy farm. The pigs were sold and all of Dad’s time and energy were devoted to the cows, and everything necessary to keep them healthy. As far as we can remember, the price at that time was $2.35 per hundred pounds of milk.

We all remember “Bill, the Milkman” picking up the milk cans, and how he could swing those heavy cans into the double decker milk truck. He always gave the small children gum if they were in the house yard. This was his way to be sure all of the kids were safe in the yard and not around the truck. They say you could set your clock on him.

At this time, the separator was removed. We had an electric milk cooler installed in the milkhouse, to keep the milk cans cold. We could still skim cream off the top of those cans for whipping cream. Those big heavy milk trucks coming down the lane did not do the lane any good. My dad spent a lot of time, filling ruts, and spent a lot of money for gravel, keeping the lane in good shape.

In 1965 a bulk tank was installed in the milkhouse, and the Weis farm was now a Grade A dairy farm. In 1969 a pipeline was installed that carried the milk directly from the cow to the bulk tank, rather than my dad or brothers having to empty the milking machines into buckets which were then carried and dumped into the tank. All of these advances made farming a little easier, but farming was always hard work. In 1976, when Herb and Gert retired from farming, the dairy herd consisted of 27 cows. Grade A milk was selling for $9.25 per 100 pounds with a 3.5 test. Mom said that when most of us kids were still home, we milked up to 50 cows.

It was also in 1952 that new phone lines were installed so that we could have a rotary dial phone, and not be on a party line with eight other people. A party line was one in which all of the people on the line could hear each others phone ring, and could hear the conversations, if they picked up the receiver. Each party on this party line had a different ring. I remember ours was “2 longs and a short”. If we wanted to call any one else, it was considered long distance and you had to dial one long ring to call the “Operator”. She would then connect you to the person you were calling. The operator could also give you the correct time.

A bathroom was added to our house in 1954. The pantry was converted to a bathroom, with a bluegreen bathtub, sink and stool. I vaguely remember a sink being installed in the washroom. I assume that was the time we got a water heater, probably back in 1949, when we first got electricity. I still remember the excitement of turning the faucet and having either hot or cold water come out. Since the pantry was converted to the bathroom, white metal “Kelvinator” kitchen cabinets, with frosted glass sliding doors, were installed in the kitchen. A new double sink was placed in the cabinets under the window in the kitchen.

Tombstones of Weis Ancestors

Many gravestones of Weis family members have been posted to http://iowagravestones.org. If you have a picture of a relative’s gravestone, that is not posted, please feel free to post it. It is a great help for later generations interested in their roots.

Saints Peter and Paul Parish in Springbrook

Many Weis family members were pioneers in this parish, who brought their masonry skills from Luxembourg. The younger generations remember their parents and grandparents speaking of helping to build both of the churches and the schools.

In 1864 John Weis was awarded the contract to build a 40 by 70 feet rock church for the newly organized parish of Saints Peter and Paul in Springbrook, Jackson County, Iowa. This church was enlarged in 1890.

The first church rectory was built in 1867. In 1901 a new brick veneered rectory was built. During the 1970’s, the convent was converted to a church rectory/office and the old rectory was rented out. During the 1980’s it was decided that it was too expensive for the parish to maintain this building that was built in 1901 and it was razed.

The first parochial school in Springbrook was built in 1874. It was a white frame, 20 by 35 feet building that was located to the west of the above church. This school was used by all grades until 1884, when the upper grades moved to the first floor of the rock school (see next paragraph). Grades one and two continued in this school until the 1951 – 1952 school year, when those grades moved to the larger rock school. The area of the old wood school structure, to the west of the church office is now part of the cemetery.

When the parish had grown to 110 families, a new three story, rock school which measured 30 by 50 feet was erected just west of the cemetery in 1883. The school was placed under the direction of the School Sisters of Notre Dame in September of 1884, and opened with an enrollment of 50 students. The basement and the second floor of the school were used as housing for the nuns. The top (attic) floor was used for boarders at the school. There were nine boarders the first year. In 1950, a new convent was built. This made it possible for all of the students to be in the rock school, as the remodeling made classrooms on two floors, as well as restrooms in the basement. One of the basement rooms was still used by the sisters who made the hosts used at mass. The school was closed, in 1969, because of low enrollment. This building was razed in the 1980’s.

In 1937, after comparing the cost of enlarging the church to accommodate the large number of catholic families or building a new church, it was decided that a new brick church would be built at a cost of $50,000.

On the location of the first church, a convent was built in 1950 for the Sisters of Notre Dame, who taught in the rock school that replaced the wooden structure. This convent was used by the School Sisters of Notre Dame until 1969, when the school was closed. The convent was eventually converted to a rectory/church office.