German Families – History of Schaumburg Township

AN ACCOUNT OF THE SCHWEENS AND SCHIERDINGS OF SCHAUMBURG TOWNSHIP (PART ONE)

If we go back to the very earliest days of the township, two names that pop up time and again are Schierding and Schween. These families were some of our earliest residents and were interconnected through a marriage that occurred around 1840 in Chicago.

The tale of how the families met is told in this marvelous account by Clara (Schween) Kaste. She was the granddaughter of Ernest Philip and Mary (Schierding) Schween. (We see the Schween name often popping up as “Swain” in many documents.

Ernest came to this country with his brothers, William and Augustus. They all purchased land patents in Schaumburg Township from the federal government. Ernest purchased his four parcels in Section 22 in 1845 and 1848. Augustus also purchased two parcels in Section 22 in 1846. William purchased two parcels in Section 5 in 1848, and one parcel in Section 8 in 1849.

There is an excellent account of William Schween–and his brothers–on Find A Grave that is taken from History of Cook County, Illinois: From the earliest period to the present time by A. T. Andreas, Publisher, Chicago 1884.

Ernest and Mary had five children who were all born in either Chicago or Schaumburg Township, per their family tree in Family Search, the 1850 U.S. Federal Census and the Chicago Tribune: Catherine b. 1841, Helene b. 1847, William b. 1849, Henry b. 1850, August b. 1854.

Photo of Clara (Schween) Kaste that appeared in the June 4, 1953 *Chicago Tribun*e on the 50th anniversary celebration of her marriage to William Kaste.

Clara (Schween) Kaste, who wrote this account, was one of two children of August, the youngest son, and his wife, Dorothea (Koelle.) Clara was born on June 17, 1884. Her brother, Walter was born in 1887.

We have to assume that they were born in Schaumburg Township because, according to the 1886 Cook County plat map created by L.M. Snyder & Co., August owned the same E.P. Swain property on the southwest corner of Schaumburg and Roselle Road, as noted in the earlier map below.

Ernest Phillip or E.P. Swain (Schween) owned property on both the north and south sides of Schaumburg Road, just west of Roselle Road. Henry Schierding owned a parcel on the southwest corner of the intersection. Photo credit to the 1861 S. H. Burnhans and J. Van Vechten plat map.

The following account was written by our Mother, Clara (Schween) Kaste, wife of William Kaste, before her death in 1956.

AS TOLD TO ME BY GRANDMOTHER SCHWEEN – Mrs. Ernest Schween (Mary Schierding)

On the 16^th of October 1810 in Fursternau, Hanover, a little boy opened his eyes to this world. (Ernest Phillip Schween). Just ten years after this date a little girl was born at Osnabruck, Hanover. (Mrs. Ernest Schween, nee Mary Schierding).

This map of northern Germany shows Furstenau in the center, very close to the port of Bremerhaven, where most Germans left for their trip to the United States.

The little girl grew up in this community, her father following his profession or whatever you call it – a tailor. This was considered the ordinary working class, but below land owner. A little brother joined the family group, who afterward was known as Henry Schierding, Esq of Palatine.

In 1838 this little family joined other relatives and came to Chicago, Illinois which, at that time, wasn’t much more than a good-sized village, and swampy at that. They bought two acres of land on Clark Street, north of the Chicago River.

In the meantime, the little boy that had seen the light of day (Ernest Schween) at Furstenau Hanover, grew up to be a young man taking the trade up as a coppersmith and as the future looked brighter in America he, with two brothers, came to Buffalo, New York, either in the year 1835 or 36.

After staying in Buffalo two years, he decided to go to Chicago and, looking up some people of German descent, he met a girl on Clark Street and, after a short courtship, married her. And that was Ernest Phillip Schween and Mary Schierding who, afterwards, were called grandparents to this writer.

Wildcat Grove is in the upper left on this 1851 James Reese map of Cook County. Sarah’s Grove is in the lower center.

After this wedding, the young couple, with the Schierding family, decided to sell their two acres, being too swampy in Chicago, and join relatives that had settled at Schaumburg, Illinois. But at that time [it] was known as Wildcat’s Grove but when they got there no more land was available.

So they went a few miles further south and located at Sarah’s Grove and took up two hundred and fourteen acres of land–part of this was wooded. This was afterwards known as the Schween place (pronounced Swain). (Note: transcriber suspects that this was 160 acres, first purchased in January 4, 1843)

This is one of four land patents that Ernest Schween purchased from the federal government. Source is the Bureau of Land Management.

For this land they had to pay the government $1.25 an acre but, not having this much money, my grandfather and his brother-in-law came back to Chicago and procured work helping dig the new Ottawa-Michigan Canal, earning $1.25 each day (man and team).

In the meantime, my grandmother, with her father, Phillip Schierding and her mother, Katrina nee Ottman, stayed at the farm trying to get a start at farming the Illinois prairie.

But, while the young men were away at their work, the mother suddenly took sick with severe cramps and after three days of suffering without doctor there, had went to sleep to wake no more. So, with the help of relatives from Wildcat’s Grove, they selected a high spot on the south side of the woods and there they laid her to rest (Mrs. Philip Schierding, nee Katrina Ottman).

So, when the young men got word what had happened – it took three days to make the trip with an ox team – they hastened home, but no mother anymore. This was one of the hardships of the early settlers.

But it was not all hardships. One day Grandpa Schierding found some little kittens, pretty black and white, [in the] back of a hay shed and putting them in his cap, took them to the house in a happy mood, but soon a peculiar odor was noticed and as you can guess they were little skunks. These little kittens lost their happy home.

Another time a deer came along with the cow to the hay shed.

Gradually, a few more settlers came and a minister from Addison – then called Dunkley’s Grove – began to look up the German speaking people and tried to have church services. The most suitable place selected was Grandfather’s barn – so services were held in the barn and the rooster crowing outside. And, thru God’s grace, this was the beginning of the Schaumburg Congregation (St. Peter Lutheran Church).

Pastor Francis Hoffman of St. Peter Lutheran Church. Ca. 1865 after he had left the area. [Photo credit to the Francis Hoffmann Collection of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum]

The missionary that started this work was Francis Hoffman–afterwards quitting this work–he went to Milwaukee, going under the pen name of Hans Buschbauer, writing for the Deutsch Wort and Erholungsunden.

Here I cannot help to add that when the weather was nice in spring, that a rattlesnake would hang itself on the edge of the roof trying to sun itself. Although these snakes weren’t plentiful, still, a Mrs. Gieseke, while chasing a pig in the prairie grass, was bitten and died there [from the bite.] She was buried in the Schween Woods cemetery.

Gradually, more settlers began to come in and it was at this time my mother’s parents, Henry Koelle and Christina, nee Senne, first came to Schaumburg township near Elk Grove and this must have been about in the early 50’s (1850’s). But, before going further, I must add the story of their romance.

On account of Grandpa [Koelle] being the only son, he was to inherit the family estate. Although burdened with debt, [he] was supposed to marry a wealthy girl, but he fell in love with Christina Senne, also of a well to do family but, as was customary at that time in that part of Germany, [she] would only get a dowry as she was not the eldest one in the family.

As soon as Christine found out she was not considered welcome in the Koelle family, she secretly made plans to go along with a sister and half-brother, Henry von Harz (the von name was dropped by the children but the father would not give up the “von” name under any consideration) to America. But, just as soon as Grandpa found out she had left, he dropped everything and followed his sweetheart to America.

They were married soon afterward and settled in Palatine Township where Grandpa, with several relatives and friends, built the Plum Grove Evangelical Church. He always tried to help maintain this church as much as he was able to, and sometimes more. As Grandpa was a religious man, grace was said before each meal and, whenever possible, he read his Bible daily.

My mother was a third child of this union, born April 8^th, 1860, christened soon afterward and given the name of Dorothea but, generally, called Doretta. She had two sisters, Caroline and Fredericka, older than herself. Fredericka died when she was twelve years old and, as Caroline grew up a cripple, my mother was considered more as the oldest child; hence, burdens and confidences fell on her young shoulders more than on her two older sisters.

Starting school, as we lived in a community of German speaking people, the English School was looked on as a necessary thing to be allowed, but the children were mostly sent to the German Lutheran Parochial school. Although I do not like to write this about my old hometown still, it really happened, and when the English school enrollment got so low, there were rumors of closing it.

Schaumburg Center School that was eventually built on land supplied by Ernest Schween. This property today is known as Schoolhouse Square. This school can be found on the St. Peter Lutheran Church property.

My father’s father (Ernest Schween) had given the piece of ground the school was on. [The] land [was] to be used only for school purposes [and seeing the wisdom of having a public school], my father did not want the school closed.

Two other neighbors, Mr. Fenz and Mr. Sporleder did not want it closed either so, as to keep the school open, I was sent to school [as a] four and a half year old, with Mr. Fenz’s oldest son, Herman, and Mr. Sporleder’s youngest daughter, Emily, and Emily Pelletier and myself. The school stayed and is still there on the same spot after all these years and much more appreciated.

The Result of Being Disobedient

Our nearest neighbor had a girl by the name of Martha (?) who used to give rides in a little express wagon. On this occasion I had asked my mother if I could go over to Martha’s house and she said “No” but I couldn’t see the reason why I couldn’t go so I just slowly left the house and wandered over to Martha’s.

All at once I realized it was time to go home and, with a guilty conscience, looked for Grandma. I found her home alone and my prettiest blue lawn dress laid out for me to wear. I asked Grandma why my dress was there and where was my mother? She answered me saying “Why did you run away? Your father and mother went to Grandpa and Grandma Koelle’s (and how I loved these two people) and they wanted to take you along but you ran away. That’s why your mother said you couldn’t or shouldn’t go to Martha’s.”

I went out of that house and had a good cry but this was not the end yet. When mother came home she asked if I’d come along with her to do a little chore and I thought everything is alright now. But, I was mistaken as what I did get was a spanking and had to promise my mother never to run away again. And, that cured me from running away from home to Martha’s without permission.

First Recollections

Opening my eyes wondering where I was, I found myself in the old cradle which was [un]usually large – parked in the living room. Before I realized what woke me, I heard my father coming in the door and, after speaking a few words to my mother, also to Grandma – my father’s mother (Mary Schierding), he came over to me and said “And what do you think I brought for you?” And there he had a picture book with a big white and tan cat on the front cover. The cat had a red ribbon with a big red bow around its neck. On the inside of the book was the alphabet–first the capital letters and then the small letters. Each letter was in a square by itself and alternating in the colors of black and red.

My father gave me this book and showed me the letters and that was the start of my learning ABC’s. Father had been on jury duty in Chicago and he had brought me this book as a Christmas gift. [To be continued]

Next week this account, written by Clara (Schween) Kaste, will focus on how German weddings were celebrated around the turn of the twentieth century.

In the meantime, let’s wrap up the history of Clara’s family in Schaumburg Township.

Plaque at the base of the cemetery on Cedarcrest Drive in Schaumburg.

Ernest Schween died on January 2, 1875 in Schaumburg Township. Mary followed him on June 17, 1909. To the best of our knowledge, they were buried in the cemetery on their property, a remnant that can now be found on Cedarcrest Drive in Schaumburg. It is in the Timbercrest subdivision. This area, along with The Woods subdivision, was frequently referred to as Schween’s Grove.

This is the tombstone of August and Dorothea (Koelle) Schween that can be found in St. Peter Lutheran Cemetery. Photo credit to Nancy Lyons on Find A Grave.

August, the father of Clara (Schween) Kaste died on August 1, 1911. His wife, Dorothea, predeceased him on July 4, 1900. It is likely they both died in Schaumburg Township given the fact that both of them are buried in St. Peter Lutheran Church cemetery in Schaumburg Township.

Clara, the author of this document, died on September 16, 1956, having lived in Lockport, Illinois with her husband, William Kaste. He died one year later on November 2, 1957. They are both buried in Bethania Cemetery in Justice, Illinois.

We can thank Clara for taking the time to record the account of the Schweens and Schierdings in Schaumburg Township. It is a priceless document of our local history.

Jane Rozek
Local History Librarian
Schaumburg Township District Library
jrozek@stdl.org

A BARTELS FAMILY OF SCHAUMBURG TOWNSHIP

Thanks to a heads up from L.S. Valentine, the library was fortunate enough to acquire this farmhouse photo. The back of the photo has a simple identification of “Grandpa and Grandma Bartels. Schaumburg, Ill.”

The house is rather majestic and appears to have been in place for only a short amount of time when this photo was taken. There are vines crawling up either side of the turreted windows. These could be a perennial or, possibly, an annual morning glory. The only other vegetation consists of the two bushes–one is behind the group of people and another is on the far corner of the second porch to the right.

There are no trees or outbuildings, save for the shed or privy that we see behind the house. We have to assume, then, that the family is proudly having their photo taken in front of their new house.

But, who is this family? Other than Grandpa and Grandma Bartels? We can see two men, three women and a boy sitting on the lawn. We have to assume that the two older people–the man with the beard and the woman with the apron–are most likely Grandma and Grandpa.

To begin the search of who might be connected to this photo, the first order of business was to determine a time frame. Judging by the clothing, it appears the time is the latter part of the 1800s. We can then take a look at the following document on our Local History Digital Archive called Schaumburg Township Landownership Map Index and General Notes which was compiled by L.S. Valentine.

*Snyder’s Real Estate Map of Cook, DuPage and Part of Will Counties, 1898*

By inserting the name Bartels and looking at the maps near the turn of the century, we find two Bartels listed on Snyder’s Real Estate Map of Cook, DuPage and Part of Will Counties, 1898. Conrad Bartels is in Section 19 (on the far left of this map on Schaumburg Road where it meets Barrington Road) and C. Bartels is in Section 23 (on the far right on both sides of Schaumburg Road.)

The next step was to do a search on Findagrave.com to see the array of Bartels that could be found buried in St. Peter Lutheran Church in Schaumburg. That is where we struck pay dirt.

There is a listing for Conrad Bartels AND a photo. Take a look for yourself and notice the gentleman on the far left. There is that distinctive beard that we see on the man in the farmhouse photo. By clicking on the photo on Findagrave, we can see a description of the five Bartels brothers and Conrad is, most assuredly, the one with the beard on the far left.

We can also see on this page that he was married to Caroline (Meyer) Bartels. Clicking forward in the photos on findagrave, we arrive at a photo of the five women who were married to the five Bartels brothers. The description states that the woman on the far left is Caroline (Meyer) Bartels. This photo confirms her presence on the farmhouse photo, directly to the left of Conrad.

But, where was their farmhouse–and farm–located? Was it in Section 19 or 23? And, did Conrad, in fact, own both farms?

To try and find an answer, we can take a look at the 1880 and 1900 censuses to see who their neighbors are. (Early censuses did not list a specific address in rural areas–just a township. This is why plat maps can be so invaluable.) In both censuses, one of their closest neighbors is consistently H. or Henry Salge. The Salge family lived on the south side of Schaumburg Road across from St. Peter Lutheran Church, also in Section 23.

Because the Bartels are shown owning property on both sides of Section 23 on Schaumburg Road in 1898, we are left to wonder, at this point, whether they built this new home on the north or south side of the road. Judging by the fact that there appears to be no roll to the land and most of the farm is on the north side of the road, is it safe to assume that that was the location of the farmhouse?

If we also look at Mr. Bartels’ obituary from the July 9, 1915 issue of the Daily Herald, we get another clue. It states, “…he came with his parents to America and settled upon the farm in Schaumburg on which he resided until nine years ago.”

S. H. Burhans and J. Van Vechten, Publisher. 1861

Looking at the earliest 1861 plat map of the township, we can see a listing for F. Bartels and J. Bartels which are directly at the Section 23 number. Johan Friedrich Bartels was Conrad’s father so we can assume this was their original homeplace. And, because the small black square above J. Bartels indicates where the farmhouse and buildings were located on the property, is it possible that Conrad eventually built a new farmhouse to replace the one his father built?

Yet another clue, is the wedding listing for his son, Emil Bartels, in the May 24, 1906 issue of the Daily Herald. The article states: “After the ceremony at the church, the party were conveyed to the old Conrad Bartels homestead, which has recently been fixed up from cellar to garret, freshly painted and papered for the happy young couple… Mr. and Mrs. Conrad Bartels will move to their new home in the village of Roselle…”

Should we infer that the farmhouse was new in the 1880s and very much needed some updating by 1906 when Emil Bartels and Amanda Freise married?

We also have to ponder who the other people in the photo are. If this is the 1890s and we know that Conrad and Caroline had 3 children who lived to adulthood, we can suppose that, from left to right, the people are: Herman Bartels; Herman’s wife, Emma (Licthardt) Bartels; Emil Bartels; Conrad Bartels; Conrad’s wife, Caroline (Meyers) Bartels; and Wilhelmine (Wilkening) Bartels.

If we have the people, outside of Conrad and Amanda, identified correctly, it was confirmed through the St. Peter Lutheran Church records that Herman and Emma Licthardt were married in late 1891. Given the fact that their first child, Arthur, was born in October 1892, it appears that this photo was taken in the late spring or early summer of 1892.

Is it possible, then, that Conrad Bartels’ son, Herman Conrad Bartels purchased the farm in Section 19 after his marriage to Emma Lichthardt in 1891? And it is their farmhouse? Take a look at this photo of the couple with their children, Arthur and Laura.

Herman and Emma (Licthardt) Bartels with their children Arthur and Laura. Ca. 1906. Photo credit to the Schaumburg Township Historical Society.

This photo certainly seems to confirm Herman as the man on the left in the farmhouse photo.

Knowing how flat the land is at Schaumburg and Barrington Roads in Section 19, and that this could, quite possibly, be the Herman Conrad Bartels farm, maybe we have solved the puzzle?

But, then again, in making the identification as Grandma and Grandpa Bartels on the photo, we have to wonder which couple the identifier is actually referring to. Conrad and Caroline or Herman and Emma?

We’re not quite back where we started from but, if anyone can provide additional information on this photo, it would be much appreciated. It would be nice to have proven confirmation!

Jane Rozek
Local History Librarian
Schaumburg Township District Library
jrozek@stdl.org

MANAGING A HOUSE AND COOKING WITH EDNA VOLKENING: PART TWO

This week’s post is a continuation of Edna (Greve) Volkening’s management of her house and household. Edna Greve married Herman Volkening on November 2, 1930 at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Schaumburg Township. Both had grown up in the township as part of the German farm family contingent.

The couple lived on, what is today, the southwest corner of Schaumburg Road and Walnut Lane, working their farm and raising their three children. The couple was busy from early morning until after supper, performing the necessary chores of their day.

Written from their daughter, Ruth (Volkening) Clapper’s perspective, this is an account of what Edna’s days, weeks and months were like while living on the farm. We might find it hard to keep up.

Ruth and her mother, Edna, baking multiple loaves of bread for the week. Photo credit to Ruth Clapper.

Saturday was baking day and clean the house day. Edna baked a dozen loaves of white bread each Saturday along with coffee cake, cake and pies. These desserts were ready in case someone stopped by to visit on Sunday afternoon and for the family to enjoy during the week. Ruth was assigned the task of cleaning the main floor of the house. The children were allowed to watch a few westerns on the television in the morning.

Monday was laundry day–Edna had a laundry room in the basement of the house. The laundry chute ran from the upstairs bedrooms to the laundry room and the dirty clothes would be placed in the chute and end up in the basement.

Edna had a wringer wash machine. Homemade lye soap was used and the first load was always white clothes. The same water was used for more delicate colored clothes and on to the dirty farm clothes. The clothes were hung outside on clotheslines or on a clothesline strung in the basement. In the afternoon these clothes had to be brought in from the clothes line and folded.

Tuesday was ironing day so the clothes needing ironing were sprinkled with water, rolled up so the whole garment would dampen and placed in a basket waiting for the iron. Edna had a door in the wall behind Herman’s chair at the table that held the ironing board.

The ironing board closet is behind the door and between the two windows. Photo credit to Ruth Clapper.

Each Tuesday the ironing board came down and ironing began. The majority of the clothes needed ironing since non-wrinkle clothes had not been invented yet. In between ironing, dinner and supper still needed to be cooked and the chickens still needed to be fed and the eggs picked. Many times, Dina Greve came to do the ironing since she enjoyed it and Edna had other work that needed to be done. Ironing was not Edna’s favorite thing to do.

Edna had to be mindful of Ruth’s piano lesson after school each week. Ruth would be picked up from her one room country school by Edna and driven ten miles to Elgin, IL for the piano lesson. Edna would use that time to run errands. Supper had to be ready when they got home so usually the meat was already in the oven and the potatoes were peeled and ready to be cooked when they arrived home.

Edna and Adeline Piepenbrink went to a cooking school, the Antoinette Pope School of Fancy Cookery, in Chicago, IL one evening a week. Edna tried a casserole recipe for dinner one night and Herman asked for the normal dinner–a separate piece of meat, boiled potatoes and vegetable–in the future.

Edna did learn to make the best cakes–daffodil, chiffon, angel food, etc. These were time consuming to make, so she made them for birthday celebrations. Ruth always wanted a chocolate angel food for her birthday cake. For normal weekly cake, Edna made a cake in a 9×13″ pan–spice cake, chocolate cake, applesauce cake or her favorite–Lazy Daisy Cake.

The Lazy Daisy Oatmeal Cake from Quick Quaker Oats

Edna also made cookies. Ruth doesn’t remember her mother making chocolate chip cookies. Edna would make gingersnap cookies or molasses cookies. Her recipes are below.

Edna traded recipes with family and friends. Her aunts and cousins in Canada sent recipes to her and she to them. They corresponded monthly. In the following recipes you will find two recipes for hamburger type buns from her cousins in Canada.

Also you will find a recipe from Edna’s Aunt Emma Kastning, who was a sister to her mother, Dina Greve. Aunt Emma was noted for her German Potato Salad. I still use her recipe today. You will find a recipe for relish from Carrie Volkening, Herman’s cousin, who lived a mile down the road from Herman and Edna. Another weekly favorite was Herman’s mother’s German Green Bean recipe.

Siblings Carrie and Fred Volkening were long time and long-lived residents of Schaumburg Township. Here, they are looking at a photo of their farm that was on the northwest corner of Schaumburg Road and Salem Drive. They were frequent visitors at the Herman and Edna Volkening house. Photo credit to the Village of Schaumburg.

Edna was also famous for her Beef BBQ. It was and is delicious! She would serve this dish at the end of a card party before everyone went home. She made her own hamburger buns and served BBQ with German Potato Salad and usually a jello salad or coleslaw depending on the season.

Of course, her vast selection of pies would be available. Edna made the best pies! Since the farm produced lots of eggs, a custard pie would one of the choices. Edna would have canned cherries from her cherry tree so a cherry pie would be another choice. Edna also made the best lemon meringue pie. Ruth always enjoyed a piece of pie for breakfast the next morning after one of these parties.

Canning food for the winter was a big chore. Nothing was purchased at the grocery store except coffee, tea, baking supplies and some miscellaneous items. All food that could be grown in the garden or was available on the fruit trees in the farm orchard, had to be processed for winter use.

Edna made her own catsup and canned it in bottles so it looked like catsup. Ruth remembers coming home from school and Edna is cooking large batches of catsup on the basement stove. Ruth was asked to changer her clothes and come to the basement kitchen and stir catsup so Edna could start supper.

Edna canned many quarts of tomatoes and made jelly and jam from the fruit. Half-candied peach slices, sour cherries and pears were canned if available. The peaches would be purchased from out of state by the bushel and canned. Blueberries would be obtained from Indiana and frozen.

Ruth Clapper with her mother, Edna, making sauerkraut in 1956. Photo credit to Ruth Clapper.

Edna froze lima beans and peas. She canned corn and green beans. She made pickles with the cucumbers and put them in huge crocks. She made sauerkraut from the cabbages in the garden. The cabbage mixture was placed in large crocks. At the end of the season, Edna canned corn relish. The family enjoyed this tart salsa type dish in the winter.

A standard winter Sunday dinner was two ducks, sauerkraut, German green beans and baked potatoes. The ducks were placed in the oven before church and the rest cooked after church. The sauerkraut was cooked with shredded fresh potato and lots of duck grease. The adults ate the breast meat and the children each got a leg and thigh portion. I still prefer the leg and thigh portion today.

The potato salad recipe that Edna used. Credit to Ruth Clapper.

A standard summer Sunday dinner was freshly butchered chickens, fried on all sides before church. After church, they were baked until done. The day before, Country Potato Salad would have been made and maybe even baked beans. The potato salad recipe is included.

Did Edna ever feel caught up? I doubt it!

Thank you to Ruth Clapper for this excellent account of what it was to walk in her mother’s shoes. Between doing laundry in a wringer washer, and weekly ironing, and tending the garden, and canning the produce, and raising chickens, and cleaning, and cooking everything (!) from scratch, it is an amazing account. Edna lived to be 91 years old and, clearly, it was healthy, full, busy life.

Jane Rozek
Local History Librarian
Schaumburg Township District Library
jrozek@stdl.org

MANAGING A HOUSE AND COOKING WITH EDNA VOLKENING: PART ONE

Herman and Edna (Greve) Volkening on their wedding day. Photo credit to Ruth Clapper.

Edna Greve was born on March 22, 1908 to William and Dina Greve in Schaumburg Township. She was an only child who grew up on the family farm in the far northwest corner of the township. In 1930 she married Herman Volkening, the son of Henry and Martha Volkening, at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Schaumburg. Herman was born in neighboring Hanover Township and grew up on the family farm at the corner of Route 58 and 59.

Upper northwest corner of a Schaumburg Township plat map that shows the Wm. H. Greve farm. Thrift Press. 1926

After the couple married they lived with Edna’s parents, the Greves, and Herman helped with the farming. Two years later, in 1932, Herman’s father gave them half ownership of a 160 acre farm on Schaumburg Road that was on the south side of the road, between today’s Walnut Lane and Barrington Road.

Middle of a Schaumburg Township plat map that shows the Henry F. Volkening farm on the south side of Schaumburg Road, to the west of Springinsguth Road. Thrift Press. 1926

The damage to the Herman and Edna Volkening farm after the July 2, 1933 tornado that swept through Schaumburg Township. Photo credit to Ruth Clapper.

The farmhouse on the property was severely damaged the following year, in the tornado of July 1933, while tenants were living there and was subsequently torn down. Edna’s father, William, gave them $6500 to build a new home that still stands today on Walnut Lane as part of the Salem Korean United Methodist Church property.

Herman and Edna (Greve) Volkening house built around 1935. Photo credit to Ruth Clapper.

Herman and Edna’s daughter, Ruth (Volkening) Clapper wrote the following account of how hard Edna worked to take care of her family.

Edna enjoyed cooking. She was known as a good cook. If invited to Herman and Edna’s home for a meal, the food would be outstanding.

Edna had a husband, hired hand and three children to feed for three large meals each day. Breakfast was early since the men had already been outside tending the animals and the children needed to catch the bus or be driven to school, depending on which school they attended at that time.

Breakfast would be eggs, usually fried, with fried potatoes left over from dinner the night before, a type of German (beef) sausage such as Rinderwurst and homemade white bread toasted. Sometimes Edna would make pancakes or French toast as the children requested. A sausage meat was always served as well for those meals.

Recipe for Rinderwurst, which was served as a loose meat sausage in the Volkening house. Recipe and comments courtesy of Ruth Clapper.

Edna made the children’s lunches each morning. Each child had a metal lunch box during the elementary years. A thermos of milk was included with a sandwich made of homemade white bread and meat from a previous meal. A cookie or a piece of cake would be added to the lunch box along with an apple if in season. Everything was wrapped in wax paper. By the time they were in high school, the children made their own lunches and used paper bags since the school lockers had no room for lunch boxes.

After breakfast and the children were off to school, Edna cleaned up the kitchen. Remember the sink was in another room called the pantry. So, all the dirty dishes and pots had to be carried to that room to be washed. The kitchen table was covered with a vinyl tablecloth and that was wiped clean as well. No pets were allowed in the house so they did not get any food scraps that had fallen from the table. Ruth remembers her mother mopping the kitchen and pantry floors after everyone went to bed so no one would walk on it before the floor dried!

Edna put together the dog food with leftover food and took it out to feed the dogs. She would move on to the chickens and the garden, depending on the season.

Edna had a very large garden plot each year. All the fruit and vegetables eaten by the family during the winter had to be raised, canned or frozen each summer. Fresh peaches and blueberries were purchased. The hired man would help her with the garden plot–turning the soil, planting, weeding and harvesting.

Edna also had a root cellar in the basement of the original house on the farm. The 1933 tornado damaged the house and it was taken down but the basement was in place. A shed was built on top of the basement. In this root cellar, she would store potatoes, winter squash, cabbage, onions, carrots, apples and other fruits and vegetables appropriate to a root cellar. Remember, she did not shop for fruit and vegetables in the grocery store. At that time, grocery stores only sold fruit and vegetables in season.

Each day Edna would plan her menu which involved taking the meat out of the freezer to thaw right after breakfast, gather the vegetables from the root cellar as needed and go to the canning room in the basement and bring up quarts of vegetables and always a quart of fruit–applesauce or peaches. She also had crocks of sauerkraut, herring and pickles in the canning room. She would gather from those crocks what she needed for the next two meals–dinner and supper, as we called it.

Herman wanted boiled white potatoes for dinner and supper. He also wanted a piece of meat with vegetables. He and the hired man had already done hard work in the morning and needed a big noon meal. During the school season, the children were not home for the noon meal. The supper meal was another big meal for the whole family. The family was excited when fresh vegetables would come from the garden–wilted lettuce salad was a meal favorite.

The Volkening family hosting a party meal. Photo credit to Ruth Clapper

The possibility of extra people at the dinner table was frequent. William Greve, Edna’s father, worked with Herman as needed. Fred Volkening would help with the butchering. Herman’s father would stop by and enjoy dinner.

During the harvest season, extra help was around and they had to be fed and the whole group enjoyed a mid afternoon snack and cold drinks. Edna made lemonade and served it from a large gallon thermos. Snacks would be cake or cookies that could be eaten without a fork. This was all carried out to the field where the workers were located.

Herman butchered hogs and beef each winter. This meat was cut and wrapped for the freezer. Ducks were butchered before Thanksgiving. They were killed outside and then carried to the house basement where they were defeathered, gutted and refrigerated. They sold many of their ducks to a German meat market in Arlington Heights or people made order directly with Edna and picked them up from the farm.

Geese were butchered the same after Thanksgiving. Germans like a goose for Christmas dinner. The down of the birds was kept and used for pillows. Edna served turkey with her famous apple stuffing for Thanksgiving dinner. She also stuffed the Christmas goose with this stuffing.

Edna Volkening feeding the chickens. Photo and text credit to Ruth Clapper.

Chickens were butchered in the summer in batches as need for eating and to sell on Edna’s egg route in Chicago. Chicken was also butchered and frozen for winter use. The old roosters were used for chicken soup. They were cooked down in the pressure cooker. This was a weekly winter meal and some of the family refuse chicken soup to this day!!

Part Two will be continued next week. Is your mouth watering yet?

Jane Rozek
Local History Librarian
Schaumburg Township District Library
jrozek@stdl.org

THE LIFE STORY OF AMALIA “MOLLY” (VOLKENING) HEIDE

This story was written by Shirley (Orton) Lehmann, a niece of Amalia “Molly” (Volkening) Heide, and was donated in 2023 to the Schaumburg Township District Library by Shirley’s nephew, Daniel Orton.

It is followed by notes taken from an interview with Molly Heide conducted by Marilyn Lind in 1973 or 1974.

These accounts tell the story of Molly (Volkening) Heide who was born on March 19, 1898, the daughter of Charles “Carl” and Amanda (Meyer) Volkening whose farm straddled Higgins Road between Golf and Barrington Roads in today’s Hoffman Estates. They were settlers in Schaumburg Township and were connected through their German ties to the Greve, Sunderlage, Ottman and Schierding families who came to this country in 1838.

This is Molly’s story:

Molly Volkening Heide was born March 19, 1898 in Burlington, Illinois, the daughter of Amanda and Charles Volkening. She was a very tiny baby, two pounds, I believe. It seems that I remember her telling me that she fit into a shoe box. It’s really remarkable that a baby that small could survive in the 1890’s.

It was a cold day when Molly was taken to church to be baptized. As she was held in her mother’s arms on the way, her little head became flattened. She said that her mother just pushed it back into shape, but she attributed the headaches that she suffered in later life to this.

When she was baptized, the pastor mistakenly pronounced her name to be Amalia when the parents had chosen “Amelia. “It must stay the way she was baptized,” said Amanda, so that is how she came to be “Molly.”

Looking south from Higgins Road at the Volkening farm. The familiar Sunderlage/Volkening farmhouse is on the left and the large barn is on the right. Ca. 1910. Photo credit to the Volkening family and the Hoffman Estates Historical Sites Commission.

When Molly was 4, the family moved to the former Sunderlage farm. By this time, she had a little brother, Ben, born in 1900.

Their new farm had a large barn and a herd of dairy cows. Amanda made butter from the sweet cream which she sold to customers from as far away as Chicago. Sometimes these people would come and stay for a mini vacation in the country. This must have made a lot of work for Amanda, but the children welcomed these visits because the people always brought gifts for the children. I believe Molly received a tiny wooden dresser for her dolls.

*Dietrich and Margaretha (Greve) Meyer, parents of Amanda (Meyer) Volkening and grandparents of Amalia “Molly” (Volkening) Heide. Ca. 1880s. Photo credit to Janice Hoffman.*

Molly was ten when her dad died. Unable to farm and care for three small children, Amanda held an auction and sold off the animals and farm machinery. The farm was rented to a Sunderlage family, and Molly, Ben and little sister, Emma, born in 1904, moved to their grandparent’s home. While Amanda was out in the field helping out, Grandmother Meyer kept the children in tow. Molly said that her grandmother was very strict and scolded them if they put their feet on the rungs of the chair.

The children attended the public school until they were of confirmation age. Then they transferred to St. Peter’s Lutheran German school. They did not go to high school, because Grandma couldn’t afford to board them in Palatine where the high school was located.

When the family moved back to their own home sometime between 1916 and 1918, Molly was a young woman approaching 20. Although they had a hired man, “Old Chris,” they all had to pitch in to make it. I think Molly resented having to take care of the pigs, while her sister, Emma, had the easier job of housework.

By 1921, Ben had married Erna Kruse, and in 1921 there was baby, Howard. Molly had been seeing Art Heide, and they were married in 1923. Amanda gave up her dream to run the family farm, and sold off everything at a second auction. Amanda and Emma then moved to Elgin where Ben was already living with his family.

Wedding photo of Arthur and Amalia “Molly” (Volkening) Heide who were married on April 8, 1923 at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Schaumburg. From left to right are: Herman Sporleder, Laura Heide, Amalia Volkening, Arthur Heide, Emma Volkening, and Louis Heide. Photo credit to Daniel Orton and the extended Volkening Family.

Molly and Art began their married life on a farm on Bode Road. The place was old and very drafty and had no electricity or running water. Their first baby was a girl that they named Vernette. She died at birth. Their son, Willis was born in 1927.

Around 1930, Molly contracted T.B. and she was very sick. She had to be confined to several rooms of the house under the care of a nurse. Even Art had to stay away. Willis was sent to Joliet to be cared for by his aunt and uncle, Emma and Art Orton. At the time Willis spoke only German, but by the time he was able to return home, he was fluent in English.

Amanda (Meyer) Volkening is surrounded by her grandchildren. Frances Heide is the little girl to the left of Amanda and Willis Heide is the young boy on the far right in the back row. Photo taken around 1939 or 1940, possibly at the Greve Cemetery where many family get togethers were held. Photo credit to Daniel Orton and the Volkening family.

In 1935 Molly and Art had a second daughter, Frances. She was a beautiful child with long, blonde, sausage curls. When she was five, Francie suddenly died of a burst appendicitis. I don’t think Molly really ever got over it. She was a worrier and over-protective of those that she loved.

When Willis had to register for the army, fearing for him, she did her best to keep him home by saying that he was needed to help on the farm. She started an egg business, and at one time she had 1000 chickens, ducks and geese. She cleaned and candeled the eggs and sold them on an egg route in Des Plaines. Nevertheless, Willis was called into the army.

The Art and Molly Heide farm is on the north side of Bode Road on this 1956 Cook County Highway map.

Molly’s life was centered around the hard work of the farm. She had a big garden and orchard, and she canned quarts and quarts of fruit and vegetables. Before she got a freezer, she even canned beef. Art butchered a hog once a year, and there was meat to smoke and soap to be made from the fat and lye.

In addition, she was never too busy to open her heart and home in the summer and was a big help. She always welcomed my brothers during school vacation; she cared for Ben’s boys after he and Erna divorced; and she also cared for Mart who had cancer and was in the last months of her life. When Mom died, she was there to help and support. She became something of a surrogate mother. She and Uncle Art truly lived a Christian life.

As long as I can remember, on Sunday we headed for the farm. Molly and Art were remarkably permissive. As long as we didn’t bother the bull or chase the chickens, we were free to make our own fun. Before returning home, we always had “lunch” consisting of home-made bread, sausage and cheese, and home-canned peaches or pears.

By [an undisclosed time] Molly and Art had remodeled the old farmhouse. Molly was proud of her modern home. Part of the old house had been moved off the foundation and relocated in the orchard. It was briefly used as a chicken brooder until some neighbors of ours in Elgin were desperate for a place to live. You guessed it, the Heides offered the old place. Another time a lady on the egg route needed a place, and she lived there.

It wasn’t long before the Heides were forced to look for another place for themselves. Hoffman Estate homes were springing up right next to their fields and taxes were too high. Although they tried to fight the development, finally they were forced to move to DeKalb where they found a place with very fertile land. Nevertheless, the move was hard on Molly. She said the she cried all the way to her new home.

Life in DeKalb was easier now. Willis was running the farm, and Uncle Art just assisted him. Gone was the egg route and all of the chickens. Aunt Molly had time now to sew curtains for the church and quilts for World Relief. They even had time to take an automobile trip with Willis, Gordon and me. It was the first vacation they had ever taken. We went to the Black Hills and to Colorado to see Helen Kolling.

Willis met his wife Donna at church. They both play the organ. After they were married, Molly and Art built a new smaller ranch house just across the lane. Willis and Donna occupied the older home. Eventually Willis and Donna produced three children, a son and two daughters. It must have pleased Uncle Art to know that the boy, Carl, was very interested in farming.

In 1978, Molly had a stroke which left her impaired and unable to walk. At first, when Uncle Art was still able to live at home, my husband, Ernie and I used to take Molly home for a Sunday afternoon. After Uncle Art died, we visited her weekly in the DeKalb Nursing where she had resided since her stroke. Although she lived 12 years after her stroke, she steadily declined until her death on January 29, 1990.

THE FOLLOWING NOTES ARE FROM MARILYN LIND’S INTERVIEW WITH MOLLY VOLKENING REGARDING HER LIFE AS A YOUNG GIRL ON THE MEYER AND VOLKENING FARMS. THERE ARE A FEW SMALL OVERLAPS WITH MOLLY’S MARRIED LIFE:

When our mother, Amanda Volkening, brought her children back to the farm to live between 1916 and 1918, Edwin Steinmeyer, a neighbor, worked as a hired hand. Chris Stolzenberg was a hired hand who came with the place and worked for them for 20 years and for the family and farm itself for over 40-45 years.
We used two teams of horses–one set of draft horses and the other set that my brother (Ben?) liked that were sort of “flighty.”

Top left to right, “Auntie” Catherine (Greve) Sunderlage, Margaretha (Greve) Meyer who was Catherine’s niece; bottom left to right, Wilhelmina (Meyer) Troyke, Herman Troyke holding their daughter Adella and Amanda (Meyer) Volkening, dressed in black after she lost her husband Carl. Ca. 1908 based on Carl Volkening’s death that year. Photo credit to Daniel Orton and the Volkening Family.

Mrs. Sunderlage (Catharine) lived in one part of the house [after the Volkenings bought the farm from her.] Her rooms were the downstairs back parlor area and she also claimed the basement area with the stationary tubs.
Green beans were cut with a knife. You “snippled” them, making them into fine slices, french style. We would wash the beans first, cut them, put about two inches of beans in a crock then a layer of rock salt and layer it up into a 15 gallon crock. Then you made a cream like sauce with water and dry mustard, and first put a white cloth over the beans and then smeared it with the mustard sauce.
Sauerkraut was fixed the same way. Grated cabbage was put into the crock and mashed with a potato masher to make its own juice. If it was dark on top or there was a little mold, we would scrape that away until the good stuff appeared. We had sauerkraut at least once a week.
We cooked in the smoke house in the summer time and did the laundry in there in the winter. We hung clothes outside to dry. If it was too cold, we put up a line in the kitchen.
Meat and potatoes were served for dinner and it was usually pork, ham, bacon, etc. Sometimes I would buy a quarter of beef and it would be canned in fruit jars after it was roasted. Dinner was at 12 noon. Lunch was served in the afternoon around 3:00 or 4:00. It was a sandwich made out of dried beef kept in salt water then smoked and sliced thin. A piece of meat like this would last about 2 months, wrapped in wax paper. It did not mold. Supper was at 7:00 or 8:00. Vegetables were always taken from the garden and served while in season.

An example of drying apples in the sun on the Nerge farm. Photo credit to the Nerge family

Apples would be put out in slices in the sun to dry. Fifty pounds of apples would be harvested. I would buy prunes and mix them with the apples. We grew six or eight different kinds of apples.
Breakfast was fried potatoes and was not a very good meal. We only got oranges at Christmas.
Home canned goods–grape jam, peas (shelled), pears, cooked apples, raspberries–were kept in the basement. A baked cake was put down there to keep it fresh and moist.

Richard Gerschefske standing next to the District 51 or Sunderlage/Meyer School that he purchased in 1955 after the schools in Schaumburg Township were consolidated. Photo credit to Marion (Gerschefske) Ravagnie.

We spoke both English and German. Grandmother (Margaretha Greve) Meyer boarded 24 different teachers. They came from Chicago and only went home at Christmas time. They taught at the little school (called Sunderlage or Meyer School.) My grandfather (Dietrich Meyer) was the school director. We children in the family benefited and learned more because the teacher lived with them.
Neither Arthur nor I went to high school but our son Willis went to Palatine. Earlier, they held high school classes in a grammar school. Willis and the Hattendorf boy drove in to school every day.

Spelling Contest ribbon won by Emma (Volkening) Orton in 1914. Photo credit to Daniel Orton and the Volkening Family.

They used to have spell downs at neighborhood school and once they had a big one in Bartlett and we won.
We made all our clothes. I can’t remember ever having a ready made dress. I even made my own wedding dress. Then I died it black so I could wear it more often.
Coal was used in the dining room stove, but wood was used in the cook stove.
At the beginning when we didn’t have a bailer we just piled the hay up loose. Stacking hay or straw had to be done in a certain way so that it wouldn’t get wet. The threshing machine belonged to the Meyers.

Steam tractor pulling a road scraper or grader along Higgins or Barrington Road around 1920. This was, possibly, Ben Meyer driving his tractor. Photo credit to Jon Bierman.

A road scraper was used to grade the farm roads and even out the bumps and hollow. Uncle Ben Meyer bought the tractor for about $4500.
The woods across the highway (Route 72) were the supply for the firewood. The woods was divided between four families, each getting ten acres. The family came over (from Germany) in 1838.
I always fed the chickens.
We never paid members of the family who came to help. They just helped.
We made most of their (the men) jackets and pants.
We raised domestic geese and ducks and hatched the duck eggs with the chickens. We kept one sheep as pet. We also sold butter.
The Townsend oil tractor started with gas and then switched to kerosene when it got going. It was built in Janesville by Fairbanks Morse. Sometimes, during threshing, we had two or three threshing machines working at one time. Single bladed plows were walking plows.
Father bought the Sunderlage farm in 1902. We were living in Burlington and moved to Schaumburg.
Arthur’s father bought him his own plow–a walking plow–when he was 14. It cost $14.

Reading through the story of Amalia “Molly” (Volkening) Heide, we can’t help but feel for her and the many sad moments in her life–the death of her father in 1908, having to leave their family farm as a result, overcoming tuberculosis, the deaths of her two daughters, the fear she must have felt when her son and only child was drafted into the army and realizing the need to sell their farm as development encroached.

Shirley’s story and Marilyn’s notes go a long ways towards capturing what life on a farm was like between the years of 1900 and 1960, how close knit the Meyers, Volkenings and Heides were, how hard they all worked and how tragedy could engulf them.

Yet, through it all, as her niece wrote, Molly and her husband Art maintained an open, giving attitude with their family and friends. Their farm seems to have been a place to gather, to stay the weekend–or even longer–if someone needed the space. They shared what they had and, in doing so, showed themselves to be truly special people.

Jane Rozek
Local History Librarian
Schaumburg Township District Library
jrozek@stdl.org

GRANDMA VOLKENING’S LIFE STORY: AMANDA (MEYER) VOLKENING

This story was written by Shirley (Orton) Lehmann, a granddaughter of Amanda (Meyer) Volkening, and was donated in 2023 to the Schaumburg Township District Library by Shirley’s nephew, Daniel Orton.

It tells the story of Amanda (Meyer) Volkening who was born on February 7, 1873, the daughter of Dietrich and Margaret (Greve) Meyer, whose farm straddled Higgins Road between Golf and Barrington Roads in today’s Hoffman Estates. They were very early settlers in Schaumburg Township and were connected through their German ties to the Greve, Sunderlage, Ottman and Schierding families who came to this country in 1838.

This is Amanda’s story:

Dietrich and Margaretha (Greve) Meyer, parents of Amanda (Meyer) Volkening. Ca. 1880s. Photo credit to Janice Hoffman.

Amanda was born in 1873, the oldest of five children in the Dietrich Meyer family. Her father was a prosperous farmer, and her mother, Margaret, was someone who taught the children the value of hard work done well. I have a hand stitched sampler that Grandma made as a child. I remember her telling me that if she was careless and made sloppy stitches, her mother would rip it all out. I don’t remember her telling me a lot about her childhood, nor do I know how she met her future husband, Charles, or “Charlie,” as she called him.

This is Amanda (Meyer) Volkening’s hand stitched sampler. Note that it has the initials A.M. for Amanda Meyer in the center, and so was done sometime around the late 1880’s or early 1890’s before she was married. This sampler would have hung in the Sunderlage/Volkening house when the Volkenings lived there. [Photo credit and info per Daniel Orton]

After Charles and Amanda were married [in 1897], they set up housekeeping in Burlington, Illinois. Their two children Molly [Amalia] and Ben were born there. But when Amanda’s cousin, Catherine (Greve) Sunderlage, put her farm up for sale, Charles purchased the property. Catherine’s husband, John S. Sunderlage, had died in 1873, and for a while the family had helped the widow to run the farm but, in 1902, up in age, she decided to sell the place with the stipulation that she could continue to keep several rooms there until her own death.

This seemed to be an acceptable agreement, and Charles and Amanda were happy to live closer to their respective families and friends in Schaumburg.

By 1904, the Volkenings had another daughter, Emma, and the family was prospering in their new home when tragedy struck. Charles died suddenly in 1908 from what, I believe, was meningitis.

Now, Grandma was a young widow with three small children to raise alone. Amanda reluctantly left their farm and moved back with her parents, the Diederich Meyers. She tried to pay for their keep by doing the work of a hired man. Although small in stature, she worked alongside the men plowing and haying. Her dream was to return to their own home when her son, Ben, was older. She had hoped that he would like farming, but that was not to be.

Amanda Volkening’s farm is noted on this 1920-1930’s plat map. She is listed as Mrs. C. Volkening and her farm, like her brother Ben Meyer’s to the east, straddled Higgins Road.

There were several years in the thirties when there was little rain and lots of wind. Times were very hard and many farmers gave up and moved to town. Ben had married and had a family to support. Molly was anticipating marriage to Arthur Heide, so Amanda decided to sell the place. They moved to Elgin where Ben sold cars for a while, and Grandma and Erna, Ben’s wife, ran a grocery store on Larkin Avenue. Molly and Emma worked as maids for wealthy people. My mom, Emma, also cared for Auntie Horstman in Palatine after she had broken her hip. Eventually, she (Emma) took a job in the watch factory in Elgin. By this time, Molly had married Art Heide and was living on a farm on Bode Road.

Emma continued to associate with her friends from Schaumburg and, one evening when she attended a band concert at Lord’s Park [in Elgin], Ben Menke introduced her to Art Orton, someone that he knew from Ellis Business College. Grandma was not too pleased when they started seeing one another. I think that she was suspicious of an Englishman. Grandma finally had to accept him and, in time, they both admired one another.

Amanda (Meyer) Volkening and her grandchildren at a family reunion around 1939. Photo credit to Daniel Orton and the Volkening family.

Now, with her last child married, Grandma was all alone, but never really. She made her home with Molly in the summertime. Molly appreciated her help on the farm and [with the] children. In the wintertime she was ours in Elgin. She helped mom manage four kids by now. She read us stories and disciplined us, too, when needed. We always looked forward to our times with her.

I remember the day that she died. I cried as though my heart would break. She was just 71 and had been visiting her brother and sister-in-law, the Ben Meyers. Ironically, she died at the Diederich Meyer homestead, the place of her birth.

1909 auction ad for the Mrs. Chas. (Carl) Volkening animals and equipment. The land, itself, was not sold but was retained by the family. Photo credit to Daniel Orton and the Volkening family.

Period of trials for Grandma (Amanda) Volkening:

Charles (Carl) dies May 28, 1908.
Auction of farm animals & equipment January 1909.
Amanda & children live with her parents 1909-1918.
Grandma’s dad (Diedrich) dies on August 7, 1912.
Amanda’s brother, George, was killed in an acetylene gas tank explosion on his farm on January 9, 1918. (additional item)
Grandma’s mom (Margaretha) dies on September 30, 1918.
Aunt Molly (Amalia) & Uncle Art (Heide) marry in 1923. Uncle Art survived mustard gas attack in WWI.
Aunt Molly has TB in 1930.
Two of Art and Molly’s daughters die: Vernette in 1925 and Frances in 1940.
Mom (Emma) & Dad (Art) Orton marry in 1928. Their first child, James, dies. Dad gets sick and they move back with his parents.
In 1933 Ben & Erna Volkening divorce.

Amanda clearly did not lead an easy life. However, she persevered through the many familial difficulties and remained the center of her family until she passed away on September 4, 1944. She is buried in Greve Cemetery in Hoffman Estates next to her husband, Carl.

We are fortunate that her granddaughter wrote this account. Tracing Amanda and her family through Shirley’s personal details and first-hand knowledge does an excellent job of bringing Amanda’s story to life.

Jane Rozek
Local History Librarian
Schaumburg Township District Library
jrozek@stdl.org

—Next week look for the story of Amanda and Carl Volkening’s daughter, Amalia (Volkening) Heide.

CELEBRATING HERMAN SCHRAGE’S 100TH BIRTHDAY

When your father lives to be 94 and your mother 88, there’s a good chance you’re going to live a long time too. And local guy Herman Schrage did, indeed, confirm that adage. On October 31, 1987, Willhelm Friedrich Hermann “Herman F.” Schrage hit his 100 year milestone.

In celebration, not only did the Spring Valley Nature Center hold a birthday party, but they also presented him with a poster board that multiple people had signed in their lobby. There are probably about 300 names on the birthday card to Herman. Some of the names that were recognized are:

Dan and Alice Wochnick. Alice grew up in the heart of Schaumburg on Lengl Drive, daughter of Martha and Richard Gerschefske and was one of the German farm family descendants, just like Herman.
Bill, Jean, Billy & Julie Tucknott. Bill Tucknott served as a trustee for the Schaumburg Park District board and was on the Olde Schaumburg Centre Commission. Jean was president of the Spring Valley Nature Club as well as chairman of the Schaumburg Sister Cities Commission.
Helen Redeker Peace (from Centralia) Helen was most likely a relative of the Redeker family who were the original owners of the Spring Valley property.
Albert W. Kastning. Albert “Al” Kastning also grew up in Schaumburg Township as part of the German farm family contingent. Their farm was north of the Schaumburg Golf Club where Parcel B in Hoffman Estates is located.
Marge Connelly. Marge was a member of the Park District board and served as a trustee for the village of Schaumburg.
Mr. & Mrs. Louis Winkelhake. The Winkelhakes were descendants of the family who originally purchased their land from the government in the 1840s. Their farm was at Plum Grove and Higgins Road and they were the last farming family in Schaumburg Township.
Hugo & Minnie Gerschefske. The Gerschefske’s were also part of the German farm family contingent. Hugo was also the owner of the Schaumrose Inn.
The Johnson family: Dave, Carol, Jay, Darrin and Dayna. Dave serves as a commissioner on the Schaumburg Park District.
Pastor John Sternberg. Pastor Sternberg served as the pastor of St. Peter Lutheran Church for 30 years, founded the Schaumburg Township Historical Society and was a member of the Rotary.
Bill Reynolds. Bill was part of the extended Link and Reynolds families who lived on property on the east side of Plum Grove Road, south of the Schaumburg Road intersection that they purchased from the Redekers. The Reynolds family was active in the care of Mr. Schrage in his final years.
Werner & Irene Kastning. Werner was a brother to Albert Kastning who is mentioned above and also grew up on the family farm that is now Parcel B in Hoffman Estates.
Lee and Ramona Gieseke. Mr. Gieseke was also part of the German family contingent, though he grew up in Roselle, IL. Ramona was born into the Nerge family in Schaumburg Township. The Giesekes were longtime friends of Herman.
Herbert and Dorothy Mueller. The Muellers moved to Schaumburg in 1962 and were longtime members of St. Peter Lutheran Church. In his later years, Herbert was also a member of the Schaumburg Township Historical Society.
Ruth, Susan, Spencer Tresselt. Ruth was a trustee of the Schaumburg Township District Library and, later, an employee.
Adeline and Daryl Lint. The Lints were early residents of Schaumburg, having purchased and built a house on Pleasant Drive. They owned Roselle Medical Pharmacy.

Portion of the Thrifts Press plat map of Schaumburg Township. 1926

How did Herman come to have this honor bestowed on him? It began when he was born on October 31, 1887 in Schaumburg Township. His family owned a farm in Section 14 on the northeast corner of Higgins and Plum Grove Road. He lived there with his parents, Friedrich and Sophia, and his siblings Martha, Emil, Martin and Louis.

The Schrage house where Herman grew up and lived. Photo credit to Volkening Heritage Farm.

It is probable he spent many years living on the family farm with his parents since he never married. According to Sandy Meo, volunteer with Spring Valley, Herman also spent a number of years working in the oil fields in Oklahoma in his youth. This is confirmed in an August 10, 1910 issue of the Cook County Herald was home on a visit from Blackwell, OK.

He eventually moved back to the area and, according to his obituary, spent a number of years working as a landscaper and laborer at the Arlington Park Race Track. According to local resident Sandy Meo, he also played his concertina at local dances.

Herman Schrage in 1913 at around age 26, posed with is concertina. Photographer was J.B. Collins, Palatine, Illinois. Photo credit to the Volkening Heritage Farm.

The family’s property was eventually sold for development to J. Emil Anderson & Sons, Inc. around 1964 according to a December 3, 1964 issue of the Hoffman Herald. At this point, it seems Herman’s good friend, Herman Redeker, who lived on the Spring Valley property with his mother, Mina Redeker, allowed Herman to move into the large Boeger house that currently serves as the office and Visitor’s Center for the Volkening Heritage Farm. (Mina’s maiden name was Boeger and she grew up on the property.) The house had been the home of Mina’s daughter, Eleonore and her husband Earl Ackerman until shortly after Eleonore’s death in 1960.

After moving into the Boeger house (that eventually became known as the Schrage house amongst early Spring Valley volunteers) he helped take care of Herman’s mother, Mina (Boeger) Redeker, for the last two years of her life until she died in 1966. Local resident Sandy Meo said that, while living there, he planted huge gardens in the pasture south of the large barn that is currently on the Volkening Heritage Farm. Her husband, Tony, helped him plant potatoes for a few years after they moved to the area.

Herman Schrage on the left with Herman Redeker on the right. Photo credit to Volkening Heritage Farm.

The two Hermans stuck together and Herman Schrage eventually wound up taking care of Herman Redeker too–even though he was 10 years older than Mr. Redeker. Their friendship lasted until 1985 when Herman Redeker passed away.

By this time, Herman Schrage had moved in with the Mary Lou and Bill Reynolds family who lived nearby on the east side of Plum Grove Road, south of the intersection with Schaumburg Road. Kathy Reynolds said that Mr. Schrage was still mowing his own lawn until he moved in with her parents. The family also recalls that a common phrase that Herman often used after talking to someone was, “Glad I met ya.”

The family took care of him until it was necessary for him to move to a nursing home where he died on December 9, 1989, having achieved the age of 102 and outliving all of his siblings. He was a longtime member of St. Peter Lutheran Church and is buried in their cemetery with other family members.

In a Daily Herald article from December 12, 1989, Village President Al Larson said, “The best story I ever heard about Hermann Schrage is when you touch him, you touch someone who touched someone who was alive when Abraham Lincoln was president.”

Photo credit to Gina Mooney on findagrave.com

Amazingly enough, Herman’s father, himself, had been born in Schaumburg Township in 1849. Imagine these two men, between the two of them, spanning almost 150 years of continual living in Schaumburg Township. Will that ever be achieved again?

Jane Rozek
Local History Librarian
Schaumburg Township District Library
jrozek@stdl.org

THE HISTORY OF BODE ROAD

1842 Map of Subdivision of Township 41, Range 10, East 3rd Principal Meridian by Jos. C. Brown

In this earliest 1842 Schaumburg Township map that was a result of the U.S. Government surveying the township in 1837 and 1840, we can see that Bode Road has not yet come into existence. In fact, there is no road to be found on the map. The surveyors simply took notes of various landmarks such as groves of trees, marshes and low-lying areas.

1851 Schaumburg Township Map by James H. Reese

By 1851, a mere nine years later, roads had sprung up all over the landscape. One of them was Bode Road. It can be seen on the Schaumberg [sic] Township portion of the map, branching off of Higgins Road and traveling directly west until it reached a dead end at Irving Park Road in Hanover Township.

L.S. Valentine states in her document, Early Schaumburg Township Roadways, that can be found on the library’s Local History Digital Archive, “As we know it today, Bode Road is north of the roadway that existed in 1851 and runs through the middle of sections 18 and 16. There are no contemporary roads to duplicate this old Bode Road. Even the southern bend section of the Bode Road is not near the 1851 placement of the road. It could, however, be that the 1851 map is inaccurate when it refers to the placement of this roadway.”

Looking east down Bode Road at Woodlawn in Hoffman Estates. Photo credit to Jane Rozek

Despite the discrepancy in the 1851 placement of the road and what we know the road to be today, it is interesting to note that its only jogs in 1851 were at its beginning at Higgins Road and its ending at Irving Park. As can be seen above, it still largely moves in a straight line, though additional curves were added near its intersection with Springinsguth Road to accomodate wetlands that existed in the topography.

According to Edgar Rossiter’s 1947 book, Schaumburg Atlas, Cook County, Illinois, he states that the road was, “laid out in the early [18]40s. Was the original Chicago-Elgin Road.” Another reference says it was “the main road between Chicago and Elgin. 4-rod road surveyed on June 5, 1857 by R.G. Clough, Surveyor.” (This information was “from original plat, ante-fire record.”) In other words, the information was noted before the 1870 Chicago fire.

In the early plat maps that show property layout in Schaumburg Township, it isn’t until the 1926 Thrift Press map, that the road is actually identified as Bode Road. This was the case for all of the township’s road. Those roads most traveled were identified on the maps but the names were not drawn in. In fact, after doing a check for Bode Road in the Daily Herald between 1900 and 1920, that name as an exact phrase, is not mentioned at all.

This photo was taken on Braintree, looking west down Bode Road. We can almost get an idea of what the road looked like before development took over. Photo credit to Jane Rozek

Over time though, the people who lived in the area gradually gave the roads easier monikers. Bode Road is first mentioned in a May 1925 issue of the Daily Herald. This time frame aligns with the Thrift Press map. Do we think, though, that farmers in the area and/ or those who traveled it, weren’t already calling it Bode Road? No. At some point in time, the road eventually went from being called the Chicago-Elgin Road to Bode Road as it is known today.

Snyder’s Real Estate Map of Cook County, Illinois. 1886

But, where did that name come from? We can find that answer on this 1886 L.M. Snyder & Co. map of Hanover Township. Notice the R. Bode name written vertically where Bode Road intersects with Bartlett Road, and where Poplar Creek runs through the property. A Hotel and a Cheese Factory can be found on the same parcel of property. It is possible, too, that the property to the north, with a school on it, is also Mr. Bode’s and the name “R. Boele” is just captured incorrectly by Mr. Snyder. Because there seemed to be so much happening on that property, it is truly no wonder that the road was named for him.

R. Bode was, actually, Richard Bode who we first meet in the area in the 1870 census. His name is spelled incorrectly–or, maybe correctly– there, too, as R. Bude. He was born in Hamburg, Germany around 1830, was listed as a farmer and was married to Charlotte who was about 8 years older than him. (Their entries in findagrave.com list his birth year as 1831 and hers as 1821 so there was a larger age gap than the census suggests.) Their children were, from oldest to youngest, Caroline, Sophia, Emma and Henry. They ranged in age from 19 to 9.

In the 1880 census, Richard is still listed as a farmer so it was somewhere between this census and the 1886 map that he struck out into other ventures. At this point it is impossible to narrow down for sure that he was running a hotel, farming and operating a cheese factory. Maybe others were renting part of the property?

Looking east towards the curve in Bode Road that is just west of the intersection with Bartlett Road in Hanover Township. This portion of the Arthur L. Janura Forest Preserve was the exact site of the Bode Hotel and farm. Photo credit to Jane Rozek

With no 1890 census to refer to, the next time we can find any mention of the Bode family is on November 18, 1896 on findagrave.com, when Charlotte died at the age of 75. In the 1900 census the only members of the Bode family living in Hanover Township are Richard and his daughter, Caroline, who is 44. It is, finally, here where Richard is referred to as a “hotel keeper” and we can confirm that he was, indeed, involved in this line of business in 1886 when the map was drawn.

Photo credit to John W. on findagrave.com

Three years later, after the 1900 census, Richard died on March 25, 1903. He and Charlotte are both buried in the Immanuel United Church of Christ Cemetery on Old Church Road in Streamwood.

Caroline Bode, daughter of Richard and Charlotte, then took over the hotel or, what, inevitably, became a tavern. (Unless the word, hotel, was a euphemism for tavern on these early plat maps?)

The tavern is confirmed in a number of spots. In Hanover Township: Rural Past to Urban Present by E.C. Alft, it is stated that, “Not all of Hanover’s watering places catered to Elgin vices. Farmers and their hands could patronize Lena Bode’s saloon on Bode Road, about half mile west of North Bartlett Road…” By July 5 and 12 1907, the Cook County Herald was taking her to task for staying open on Sundays and operating without a liquor permit, thereby allowing fights to happen in the neighborhood.

Following these mentions, Caroline or “Lena” Bode’s name does not appear in the paper again except for various mentions about the farm itself. On March 19, 1909 it is stated that “Rudolf Schmoldt has rented the Bode farm and will move on April. 1.” It sounds as if this arrangement did not last long because the following year, the September 16, 1910 issue states, “Rumor says the Bode farm has been sold to a party west of Elgin for $82 an acre” and then on December 2, 1910, “The new owner of the Bode farm is making improvement, repairing buildings and tiling land which never was in right condition to be worked.”

One has to suppose that Caroline Bode, who was around 60 years of age by this time, decided to retire, get out of the business and sell her family’s property. It is unknown where she moved or when she passed away but, we can thank her family for the property they bought, next to the road that needed a name.

Jane Rozek
Local History Librarian
Schaumburg Township District Library
jrozek@stdl.org

AN 1848 LETTER FROM FRED BARTELS TO GERMANY (PART 2)

Last week we met Johann Friedrich Bartels who emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1847 and wrote a letter dated April 28, 1848 to his relatives in Schaumburg, Germany. Today, we pick up where he left off…

One to one and a half foot deep, the soil consists of black, very rich dirt with several feet of clay-like dirt underneath, then comes solid clay. A yoke of oxen or a pair of horses are sufficient to break up the soil the second time, and since working on the land is so easy, I’m sure you can imagine that a person can cultivate more here than in Germany.

And that’s why a single person can cultivate 40 acres of land here. You will find this incredible, I’m sure, and it will also be hard for you to believe when you hear how a single person can take care of the harvest and threshing here. You will understand that when I tell you, that machines are used for this.

[In looking at the 1861 S. H. Burhans & J. Van Vechten map of Cook County shown above, it is clear that many of the landowners in Schaumburg Township owned an average of 160 acres. Considering it was about 14 years after Mr. Bartels first purchased his land, it is most likely that the hard work of turning over virgin prairie was behind him.]

Photo credit to The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles

For the mowing of the crops, a machine is used which is drawn by horses and operated by two people. By means of these machines, 20 acres of wheat can be mowed per day. For the threshing, a machine is used that is pulled by 4-6 horses, and 300 to 400 bushels of wheat can be threshed with it per day.

[We can’t be sure that Mr. Bartels was referring to the reaper or the threshing machine in these photos, but they are machines of that time. ]

Harrison Machine Works began in Belleville, IL in 1848. Note their first thresher in the upper left corner. Photo credit to steamcatalogs.com

Boger and I together already bought such a threshing machine, which costs 300 Dollars, and I am also planning on buying a mowing machine for 112 dollars this fall. You might say now, that for that much money, I could have had someone harvest and thresh a lot of crops for me, but keep in mind that, after having threshed my own crops, I am using the machine for other people’s threshing, and therefore will be able to retrieve the sum of initial costs within one or two years tops.

[Almost all of the Schaumburg Township farmers were part of a threshing group–both because the machine was expensive and because it took multiple people multiple days to move from farm to farm harvesting the grain. This continued into the early 1900s until the machinery was refined so much that one or two people could get the job done.]

The crops which are usually cultivated here are exactly the same as in Germany, except for the Turkish wheat which is not cultivated on fields in Germany, and rye, which is rarely cultivated here since one usually eats wheat bread only. The Turkish wheat is a very good type of crop that grows very well here and is predominantly used as feed for horses and cattle, and it is also excellent for fattening pigs. We always find a very good market and adequate pay for our homegrown produce in the nearby trade city of Chicago.

[It is interesting that he refers to Chicago as a “trade city.” But, then, Germany, like the rest of Europe, had merchant guilds and market towns where trade was traditionally conducted. Note that he is not using Elgin for trade as it was just beginning to grow. Chicago would continue to be the city where milk, animal products and produce was taken.

The prices for produce vary a lot, and since they are shipped overseas, the prices depend on the prices of the respective countries. But the prices are always such that the farmer will always earn a true profit for his work. The average prices in comparison with German currency is roughly as follows:

Wheat: 1 Thaler per Himpten [Thaler is a German coin and a Himpten is a mid 19th century volume of measurement for grain], Oats: 8 good Groschen per Himpten [Groschen is also a German coin], Barley: 16 good Groschen per Himpten, Potatoes: 8-12 good Groschen per Himpten, Turkish wheat: 8-12 good Groschen per Himpten, Beans: 1 Thaler per Himpten, Linseed: 1 Thaler, 6 good Groschen per Himpten, Eggs: 3 good Groschen per dozen, Butter: 4 good Groschen per pound. You might be of the opinion, that everything is quite expensive here, like farming equipment, clothes, household items etc., and this may have been the case in the past, but currently all those things can be purchased here equally inexpensive and better made than in Germany.

It is therefore foolish for people who want to emigrate to America to burden themselves with big, heavy chests full of clothes and other things. The German things are not appropriate here, unless they are made in city style. Bringing cash is best, preferably in double pistols, for one can get anything here for cash. It might be a good idea to buy fabric over there, and then have it made here, since fabric is a bit more expensive here.

[In the November 2005 issue of LANDSMANN where a translation of this letter was also given, it is explained that “double pistols” were 10-Thaler gold pieces. Clearly Mr. Bartels is emphasizing that cash was king in the United States. It is most likely fabric was expensive in 1848 Schaumburg Township because it had to be shipped into Chicago from other parts of the country where it was manufactured. Cotton was grown in the south and sheep were not yet prevalent in Illinois. It was a significant event when Horace Williams drove a herd of sheep from Ohio to Schaumburg Township in 1840.]

When it comes to the weather, there is not much of a difference between here and Germany. The last winter was mild, and this spring very pleasant. It is supposed to be–as I was told–somewhat warmer here during the summer. Life here is healthy and one rarely hears about illness.

[As mentioned in the LANDSMANN, Mr. Bartels might have spoken too soon as the analysis of the letter in that publication notes that the following summer, in 1849, Chicago saw a cholera outbreak that killed one in 36 residents. A few years later, Chicago AND Schaumburg Township experienced it’s own outbreak.]

I bought a ready-to-use place and some from Boger, who in return immediately invested in me. I have 160 acres of land surrounding my home; on one side are the areas of arable land and meadows, on the other side I am looking at my pasture. In addition, I have 7 acres of densely wooded timberland, mostly oaks.

[One has to wonder where his 7 acres of timberland was located. We have to assume that a woodlot in Busse Woods in Elk Grove Township was part of the farm that he purchased.]

I also received the complete inventory, among this farming equipment, horses, 18 cattle, 3 yoke draft oxen, 4 pigs etc. as well as the complete harvest. All of that for 2000 dollars. The rest of my money I loaned for 10 cents interest. Since we don’t have to torment ourselves with fertilizing and threshing here, we have comfortable days and the best food on top of it.

[Clearly, in purchasing the “ready-to-use place” he paid for the land as well as the equipment and animals. He doesn’t mention that a house or barn came with the purchase but we have to assume that is the case, however modest it might have been.]

And–thank God–we also don’t have to work ourselves into the ground for the government, since there is no king, earl or nobleman. “All people here are brothers–and one is as equal as the other.” The little tax we pay once a year is barely worth mentioning; it amounts to a few Thaler for the richest farmer.

The tithe and other unjust burdens are unknown here, of course, and everybody can do with his property whatever he wants and does not need to ask superiors whose business it isn’t anyway. There is no need to care for the poor, because–thank God–there aren’t any–I still have to come across the first beggar yet in America.

And we are not lacking in what is needed for salvation, because we have a Protestant-Lutheran parish here, consisting of 46 German families, mostly Hessians. We have a German and an English school, and services on Sundays and holidays just like in Germany. Last summer we built a new church which is not quite completed yet, but services are being held in it already.

1847 St. Peter Lutheran Church in Schaumburg

[Mr. Bartels was one of the members to sign the first constitution of St. Peter Lutheran Church in 1847. They began building a church that year but, as he said, it was not yet finished until later in 1848. Also, as part of the Schaumburg Township Historical Society’s Yellow Card file, it was noted that Mr. Bartels donated $50 towards the purchase of a bell for the church. He was obviously very engaged in the congregation.]

Needless to say, due to all these circumstances I am content with my emigration; I wish I had gone to America 10 or 20 years earlier. I would not go back to Germany for any money. I like it so much here that I would not change places with the largest farm in the land of Hesse.

Fare well now, and even if we are separated by the seas let us remain in brotherly and sisterly love to each other. I, my wife, and my children send lots of greeting across the ocean to you and your children as well as our mother, our brother-in-law and our sister and her kids in Reinsdorf and all our acquaintances and relatives as well as the remaining friends who remember me fondly. Please write us, the address on the bottom must be on the letter. Fare well! May God’s love be with you.

[It is interesting to note that this is the first mention of Mr. Bartels’ family. One has to think that the family back home was eager to hear news of his wife and children as well as details about their circumstances. Maybe his wife slipped a page into the letter as well? In any case, it is astounding the letter made its way to Germany intact.]

Yours,
Dearest son, brother and brother-in-law
Johann Friedrich Bartels

Finally let me tell you that Friedrich Hansing got married to Kollings sister from Groβhegesdorf, and that he bought 80 acres of land for himself.

[He is referring to Friedrich Hansing and Sophia Kolling who married March 22, 1848 at St. Peter Lutheran Church. It happened a little over a month before Mr. Bartels sent this letter.]

Address: Fred Bartels, Schaumburg, Wickliffe P.O. Illinois, Northern America

[Note the Wickliffe address of Mr. Bartels. In Illinois Place Names by James N. Adams, Wickliffe was a Post Office established on July 16, 1842. The Palatine Centennial Book of 1955 stated that “Gustavus W. Southworth… kept a tavern called the “Wickliffe House.” The location was in Highland Grove in Palatine Township which was near the corner of Roselle and Algonquin Roads.]

Sadly, for the Bartels family, they lost Mary, Fred’s wife, on September 16, 1865 in Schaumburg Township. According to St. Peter church records, she is buried in the cemetery but no headstone can be found. Less than a year later, on March 29, 1866, Sophie Bartels, his daughter-in-law and wife to his son, Conrad, died of childbirth complications. The next time we meet Fred, he is recorded in the 1870 census living in Todd Creek in Johnson County, Nebraska.

[These photos are of various Bartels siblings and their spouses, and were posted by LonnaBeth on the findagrave page of Christoph Bartels. Six of Fred and Mary Bartels’ sons lived to adulthood as well as their only daughter. ]

He had moved there with his son Christoph (who was born in 1846 while the Bartels family was still in Germany) and Christoph’s wife Caroline (Lena) and Fred’s other sons, Henry, William and John who were born after the family came to Schaumburg Township from Germany. By the 1870 census Christoph and Caroline had a daughter, Caroline, who was one year old, who was born in Nebraska and was also living with the family.

In an obituary for Henry who died in 1921, it states that the family came to Johnson County, Nebraska in 1868. They left Fred Jr., Sophie and Conrad (who kept the Schaumburg Township family farm) behind. Did they leave because of the sad events in the family? Were they looking for brighter prospects in Nebraska? Was Fred seeking a place where all of his sons could purchase land more easily? If only we had another letter home to Germany that could give us the answers.

Jane Rozek
Local History Librarian
Schaumburg Township District Library
jrozek@stdl.org

This blog post relied on the assistance of:

Larry Nerge and his deep genealogies of the Schaumburg Township German farm families as well as his account of the letter from the November 2005 issue of LANDSMANN.
Howard Piepenbrink and his newsletter, the LANDSMANN, that is dedicated to promoting the genealogy and history of German immigrants in Crete and Washington Townships in Will County.
Spring Valley and their copy of the letter that was translated by Friedemann Stuebing of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at Northern Illinois University.

THE WEDDING OF THE CENTURY: PART 4

Emma Rohlwing and Fred Pfingsten on their wedding day
Photo courtesy of Gail Panzer Wilson

It seems that the wedding of the century is the gift that keeps on giving. Over 10 years ago I wrote about the September 3, 1903 wedding of Emma Rohlwing and Fred Pfingsten that took place at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Schaumburg Township. It was a huge wedding that took over a year of preparation with the celebration lasting for three days!

A detailed account of the wedding was published in The Inter Ocean newspaper in Chicago a few days after the wedding on Sunday, September 6, 1903. Until a month ago, I’d never seen the actual newspaper but, here, thanks to Gary Biesterfeld, is the issue itself! Because the details are so fascinating, I will be reprinting the entire article. All spellings and lower case/upper case elements have been left intact.

The article gives you a good idea of how intense the preparations were for such an event. It was not today’s “rent a hall and call a good caterer” sort of thing. This wedding was a year in the making and had to have taken countless hours, lists and conversations. Today we can only imagine…

This is the third, and final, portion of the article.

Standing outside of St. Peter Lutheran Church after the wedding ceremony.
Photo courtesy of the Pfingsten family

Schaumberg is a prosperous community. All the people own their own property. John Rohlwing owns several fine farms and Mr. Pfingsten lives upon a tract of 240 acres that his stubborn German industry has paid for and improved. The German is an unwilling renter. When he digs a dollar out of the soil he wants it all for his own. [The following sentence is illegible.] When he celebrates, he goes into it with his whole heart, voice and pocketbook. Neither the Rohlwings nor Pfingstens looked at their expense accounts when preparing to unite the families. They had plenty of money, and it was lavished wherever could be found things that are good to eat and drink. The two families divided the expense of the feast, and it cost the price of several acres of Cook county land to provide it.

When the German feasts he wants his friends with him. There wasn’t a man, woman, or child in Schaumberg, or in sight of Schaumberg, that wasn’t welcome. And there were no strangers there, for in a German community no man can be a stranger. Every newcomer knows everybody at once, and there is no restraint, no formal introductions, no waiting to be invited to “help yourself.”

Standing outside of one of the tents at the wedding.
Photo courtesy of the Pfingsten family.

In Schaumberg nearly everybody is related to everybody else. The sturdy people respect the ties of blood even in the third and fourth cousins, just as they do in their own brothers and sisters. Both the bride and groom claim as their kith and kin most of their neighbors.

More than fifty years ago several German families settled there. Their children married and the children of their children married. Supervisor Rohlwing–he has been elected supervisor many times–and Professor Pfingsten are cousins, and even the bride and groom are second cousins. Schaumberg is a community where family is ever visiting family, and where everybody refers to everybody else as “My Cousin Hans” or “My Uncle Jacob.” And that is what makes of Schaumberg a community rather than a settlement.

“Is everybody here?” asked all the uncles and aunts and cousins.

“No; some couldn’t come,” said Professor Pfingsten. There are families in Nebraska and a few in Minnesota and in Washington that haven’t put in an appearance.”

“I wonder why?” ask the relatives.

If a newcomer from Hanover or Hessen or the Rhine region had struck the Pfingsten farm last Thursday he would have sworn that a corner of some German state had been blown away and dropped down in Cook county. He would have heard his own tongue spoken by everybody there; he would have heard the old songs and the old stories of the siege of Strausberg and the old tales of the Black forest. He would have been in the Fatherland and at home.

At Schaumberg the guests danced all night. These were the dances of the old home, and apparently when dawn broke none of the dancers was any the worse for the innocent diversion.

Of the 3000 people estimated to have been present at the wedding celebration many came from Elgin and other Kane county cities and towns, and others from parts of Du Page county. They were made as welcome as were the nearer neighbors and relatives, and the correspondent of the Du Page County Register, who was “among those present,” were moved to observe in his veracious account of the wedding:

“This was the most gorgeous spectacle of a private nature we ever beheld; rural wealth and natural beauty combined with true innocent happiness. Had all the turnouts which came heavily loaded been lined up the processions would have been two miles long. The Germans can’t be beat when they attempt to do a thing, but this affair will long remain a record breaker. The occasion was a proud day for Schaumberg and Elk Grove and the multitude of relatives and friends who attended. Everything passed off lovely and serene.”

This is the end of Part 4 and is a wrap up of the wedding day festivities. Below are some items that struck me as I typed the article.

In small communities like the German farm families of Schaumburg Township, it is true that everyone was related to everyone else. Many people married those who lived within the confines of the township or, those in equally close knit townships like Elk Grove, Hanover and Palatine.
That being said, in doing years of Schaumburg Township familial research, I did not come across anyone who was born here who was named “Hans” or “Jacob.” This might be the reporter stretching the truth a bit.
What is most interesting is that the reporter didn’t write his own ending to this large story but used the ending to the wedding story that appeared in the Palatine Enterprise-Register the day before!

Jane Rozek
Local History Librarian
jrozek@stdl.org