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an}ia volf story the fallowing was told by anna volf ifland to il vendell black about l-gsg or so she talked whlle i typed out what she sald i trave edlted the followlng arthough 1t st1l contalns some of the flavor of her narratlon saxony at the tlme of trer 1lfe therer apparentry extended farther east than 1t does nclw the area she mentlons ls near elsenach she mentloned unterellen and obererren of rnaybe uberellen posslbly these vlllages 1f they were that were llke north dearbarn and south dearborn sle probably r1ved 1n one and john ifland 1n the other posslblv a few miles apart i n germany the sraal i v1llages vrith houses on onty one slde of the street are ca]ied dorfs in one of these dnrf e ttnf arol i on .jsr e j savnnrr together on a one-acre lot goats were 1n the barn the goats were m1lked and the m1lk was used for household purpases and for feedlng grass t{as cut and brought 1n to the goats by the women carrying it 1n a sack on thelr backs fuel was llkewlse carrled on the backs of the men long stlcks were gathered ln for the flres flres were lalc1 ln a large flreplace and adjolnlng oven prunes were d rled in the huge oven where the baklng was done the oven was abcrut twelve feet by elght feet and was bulld of brlck potatoes lvere the maln crop this crop was lald out by the worren and chlldren who llkewlse 6atherecl the crap 1n the potatoes were bo1led wlth the sklns od then poured lnto a basket for the water ta draln off then tbey were lald on the table by a crock of sour milk and everyone helped hlmself peellng the potato wlth a knlfe and eatlng 1t wlth sour m1lk flve meals were served each day and beer was drunk at each meal on thls smal-1 place 1n thls slnrple llfe 11ved the volf faml1y three chlldren ernest anna and august vrith thelr parents ccnrad volf the father was a weaver he raised hls own flax bought some from h1s neighbors and wove l1nen towels sheets and shlrts the flax stalk yras taken the pulp was knocked out and the outside of the stark was used for the weavln6 the skln of the stalk carue to pleces in a bunch of srnall threads these were put together cln the splnrrer lnto a long thread thls thread was wound onto a i l au116 l^rr juur 1 cuuul thefe vlas a bouse and baf-fr one d.y volf got slck wlth a sort of neuralgla one of the nelghbors came and sald to h1m conrad 60 out lnto the ltllls and flnd an oak tree and pray to 1t anc you vr1]l get well conrad went out found a large oak tree and knelt down orr the ground to pray it sudd.enty came to hi:l that th j-s tree could not he ip hlm so he said i l l pray ro god he dld so and then he bcrt wel1 one nlght the f am1 }y were ai i asleep when l lrs volf wcke up mrs volf was sleeping wlth anna and august and i -h er61rl f^hac rltlirlcb nna rurt6 ana atru enrrn spurr i ntn tlrt/rj al nf j-rjl

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anna i olf story mr volf was across ln the sarne room ln another bed wlth ernest mrs volf saw somethlng that moved across the room it was gray wlth a hat on 1ts head and was very small she woke her husband and 1n dolng so she woke the chlldren too splrlt trylng to get us mrs voif satd thls 1s ratcllffe s away from here and to amer1ca ratllffe had sold them the is the name ratcllffe house and had then gone to amerlca snm nnc ma r hawrr r,aq.q.f.l hw outslde shadcw onto tire vra11 hea or radcllffe her husband said ach gretchen that is nothin6 and the mclon cast hls business was poor 1n germany and conrad was in poor about s1x months later they left for amerlca 1th durlng the weavlng of the cloth john ifl-and used to he was about slxteen years old come to learn the weavlng a rl c ht rrmel rr rrnrrno r:han at chrlstmas he brought anna uurusrj a r r6ul j o some prunes the chldren had a b1g party somewhere but anna had been unwef l and had to stay 1n bed john played santa claus at the party but rememberlng anna at home he saved out some prunes for her each chl]d had to say a prayer before he bot a present presents were thrown out onto tl-re floor and the chlldren the 1-1 a r ei cruljeli lu 6el lharr cn id prayer rvhlle they grabbed else they would set a switch the hands with a stlck ln the hands of santa cl-aus +t ali thojr nrnnertw ancl nl r r-ailiie l vuqrq.d wiictu urrey ^ntr l thcw rrrej qa r hari f n j f.hr-l f rauq cln where radcllffe had located he pralsed the new country larrd coul-d be got for almost nothlng and the posslbllltles were alroos b l1mltiess for people rvhc rvould work and were r i l j nm ln uu riiirilrs tf l t.t i o orefn rr uies iruure lu su lu ruwat vhen they were ready to leave wlull -ra r t5t-j rrnrlpt-c n urrusras ha r^rlghlnq tr=mrlnrerl anna was dressed ln she hetd in hef lv j ni er:e nf bread wtth a scrambled e88 on top the mell of tbe village came to bld them good-bye crowdlng lnto the roon john ifland was elght years older than anna so she he was born ln 1852 5o tire year was would have been elght nrnbal r l w 1n68 if lands came to amerlca probably irr f869 hen ti:ey went through an lnspection the of f iu-er opeued up one of thelr bags and found sol}ed dlapersr much to the efobarrassment of tt-re group marw tfland and her brother casper came over 1rr the mary went to dubuque iowa and same baat wlth the volfs worked ln a house casper got a job vrorklng on a farm outslde of fulton iowa they rented an old shack 1n tlmber country snakes crawled outslde the house and the sometlmes lnslde as we1l conrad cut down tlrnber and orrrl hod strrmns and burned them so that the land could be l-rrnkr-n rrn and levelted off for farmlng r:her:ks a hand a arms and hls face r /r 1 l y/ul l udllua6eu lip arr-rrc nul usu -nf e-l l furrs s.rnal -1 he nny th dox wefe l r r llas he was very s1ck f nogpg r r116 so that gretchen mother not a1l ovef iils he cou}d scfatch hls face.

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anna olf etory errrest and anna started ta school they had to walk about a nlle the school was taught by a nran one d y one outslde cuttlng a plece of }razel bustr far a swltch the boy crammed sorne books lnto hls pants but the teacher found 1t out and whlpped hi:n down on hls legs anna and ernest went to school about four weeks there were blackberrles growlng all over the 1lttie farm ernest and anna plcked these and took them 1n buckets to town and sold them to people often ernest went wlth other boys around the area from other farms se11lng berrles the ifland famlly came to amerlca the next year 1909 the two famllies jolned up to 11ve ln town they had a large house wlth an upper story the iflands llved on the upper floor of the house and the olfs downstairs thlngs were not golng wel i ln fulton however tlmes mary was born here 1n fulton about a year were dlfflcutt as they left the town later they went to peorla iillnols john o f1xlng a fence on the place anna had a bls sunbannet on her head later john asked her why she never qa lrl onnd-l-rrro to h1rn she sald vhat did i knovr abaut 1t j you vlas a blg bo and i was l1tt ie conrad got a job ln the roundhcuse as one cf t}re nlght shlft men during the day he fixed and made shoes and l-rnnts r.ls l wa,b 5 l a lr f wlrf,pprrr5 uf !l rjrjyb llj f,7lrrwfrr rc thg teacher was for hls lunch it was just enough for hlm to take along ln tlie evenlng when he vrent to work they ]lved 1n an ol-d shaclc of a house gretchen nade here anna went to school fcr a while dresses out of flour sacks and dyed them for anna to wear to they had a goat to get inllk school and to sunday school hary for i1ttle for the ch1ldren especlally where after a year here they tnoved to peltln iil1nois j ved i n town anwthi ns her coul-d thew i voif worked out at v rre j get and made and fixed shoes comlng over to amerlca on the boat tbey got acqualnted f.vr-rv nav f.hev l,nrrc ht ten cr.nt.s worth or hardtack wlth a mr arnst arnst wrote to them from a farm a llttle way from pekln and told them that voif could get a i ob on a farm next to the one he worked on they left pekin and conrad went to work for the farmer they llved ln an old shack on the place as there was no water ln the house they had to c-rry 1t fro:r the stockyards about a half a mtle f rorn the house they stayed here about a year and then tloved to the other slde of arnst and worked for another inan here voif planted and cut and shucked corn ernest ancl anna had to help ln the farmlng of the corn ben anna was cuttlng the corn for the cattle uslng a corn knlfe she cut her toe wlth the knlfe every day when she eot home she wlped her toe off wlth a rag she used to get up at four and flve o ciock in the wlnter durlng october and november they had to shuck the corn anna was about twelve years old.

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anna wolf story they worked outslde 1n the early mornlngs when lt was very cold as sclon as the sun would come up anna would hold her hands up to the sun to warm them later 1n the fall they shucked for arnst one dry they had a race shucklng every day the volfs wauld beat the arnsts out to the fleld to oii one nornlng however the ar-nsts were alreaciy 1n the f leld and had started to work ccnrad said cctme chlldren w nust calch up wlth them arnst accepted tirls as a challenge so to work they went the corn flevr flnally the olfs caught the arnsts and then when the wagclns were ful1 the arnsts were slttlng 1n tbe wagon pulllng off the busks the i{olfs had thelr corn clean but the arnsts had to go over thelrs agaln and clean off the whlskers and pleces of husk after the corn was all put away the famlly llved 1n thls same shack of a house that wlnter there was snow on tha ornrrnrl d lots of cold weather they had j wlth a cook stove 1n the mlddle of the room the corner of the roclm wlth a l1ttle bed underneath some slept upstalrs 1n the attlc but the shlngles had warped and partly fallen off and they used to lle at nlght and look up through the roof at the stars durlng heavy storms the snclw would blow lnto the attlc and often anna would wake 1n the mornlng wlth her bed covered wlth snow sornetlmes they would all plle lnto the bed downstalrs anna would sleep across the foct of the bed wlth her parents and mary and olf had to wa}k tc town to 6et leatirer f or shoes a distance of slx mlles he left his wlfe and chll-dren in the house alone vhlle he was gone they burned up all the fuei it was wlndy and cloudy all day and the wlndows were all frosted over so they coul-d not see out ernest and anna went out to find wood but could flnd nothi:rg so they tore down some of the rails off the fence and tcok them home and spl1t them up for fuel anna held one end of the rails wh1le ernest sawed them lnto pleces so they could fit into the stove the f ood was scarce the chilciren were hurrgry and wanted to eat a11 they had to eat was bread nade out af cornmeal wlth some wheat flour thls bread was nade from grcund-up corn mlxed wlth some flour ther-e was some n1]k butter and molasses tirls was afl from the cow and a llttle they had to eat the bread was hanglng 1n a sack on the wall of the house the mother got down the sack and got the loaf out and 1t was hard they trled to cut 1t wlth a knlfe but it was frazen hard then they trled to break lt and ernest threw lt down onto the f loor wj-th a crash finally he sald vell here s the saw we ve sawed the wood now anna w can saw tlr.e bread so anna held the bread whlle ernest sawed lt into slices then the norher lald the qllr pq thawed frneqt nnrl [11e rrc r,rrrl r 1+en rtnflort rr bed ust one room .one bed was rn three o c1ock nntn nans and 1t was nrtt lnfn t r fine cornbread out lnto soft the oven soo i 1t was this was about two or

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anna l/olf story about flve o clock conrad the father came home wlth a huge ro11 of leather over his shoulder are you llvlng yet he asked hls nose was red and hls ears were white they were frozen they dtpped rags lnto kerosene and held them up to hls ears and thawed them out a rrr6uu wlth hot water and took rar+eq nu thpw f j l l ert bottles !rrej these lnto the bed and they put hot brlcks and rocks lnto the bed anna had to help wlth the boots she washed them so her father could f1x them she olled and rubbed them off i meal or he would get some money enough to buy a llttle f lour to rnake f ood f or the chlldren about the next sprlng voif moved about twenty miles away to another place whlch he rented he so.wed oats and they had a large bunch of chlckens but the chlckens ate the oats and got cholera and they all d1ed they had nothlng then in the fall anna walked about two mlles to get to tne school ernest went wlth her he wore boots and anna irad blg beavy hobnalled boys shoes with heavy stocklngs they had to bo through a stough or brook and rather than wad-e through the water anna cllmbed the fence but the fence broke and doln she went into the water up to her knees she got to the school and wrung out her stocklngs and then put them back on agaln the famlly moved agaln to another farm and pald 500 dollars cash rent for the place they plowed the land and planted corn here they bougbt three horses and a planter they had a wagon too they pald some down on the rnaterla olf got up at three every mornlng and fed the horses at four anna bot up and eot breakfast and mllked the cows anna drcve charley an then they went out lnto the fleld old war horse that had seen service ln the clvl ar heriever they went to town and heard a band play cld charley would march gailantiy down the streel lteeping tlme to the muslc they had to cross the anna plowed 1n the fleld rallroad track to get to the fleld where they worked anna ran over the tracks for fear a b18 traln would run over her before she bot across one day she saw on the ground near the tracks a pecullar orange colord peellng she picked 1t irr and smr-l led of lt and thought my how i d like to eat sr e of these thlngs she took 1t to her fatber and he smelled of 1t and sald that lt was an orange once about thls tlme anna 8ot dlarrhea there was not d.octor around thls area her father got an old shoe and took off the eole and burned 1t 1n a flre tn the stove vhen 1t was real black and burned up he took lt out and wlth a harnmer beat lt lnto powder and mlxed about a teaspoonful wlth water and sugar and anna drank j-t she got well lilth the dlarrhea nothlng but blood would pass vcrvj vsr nf tr.n ueit ui rie snl he 6 nr yraw f ny j h c fqvur 1afnr i but once tn a whlle

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aii la riolf story 6 through worked contlnually out in the flelds the corn brew f1ne and they bought two wagons now thls was tbe best year the corn crop was abundant and they had ten crlbs full of corn wlth the help of only one blred man ernest and the hlred man shucked together and anna and her father shucked thprw hafi ^nne6farrloe and r-aq.nlrerrl.es afrd clfet-1.les rrrt r hr-w wfrr sn htrq,w nn the fafm that fhar l ad -ive these away to people who came and picked them on shares there was no schoof near thls place so the chlldren lots of people dled of lt around they stayed on thelr farm durlng the wlnter and }ald up some rrore morrey in march they went tc indlana v1ii mever arf old f rlend f rom get-many and a f rlend of arnst had told them to come to indlana here they bought elghty 3 r rq uuleo -irryheu uuey mlnnle had thelr belonsrl arfu +r rode 1n ttre caboose o-rrtj5 taken s1ck they gave her molasses and lard and molasses and alum and she was better volf was rather sick thls wlnter and stayed indoors and cobbled shoes they had a couple of cows they ralsed cclr n flax oats there rvere lots of rocks on this farm ernest had asked about them and asked how blg are they together tlonrad went to kansas to look around the if land.r were there now and he thought perhaps he cuuld bry some ground the grasshoppers were but he dld not flnd anythng sultable so bad that he thouqht he could not do much there vtlth them nfar ilcql rr r clulffe;uurr a 1 6 r illey hinn d qif 1l the cattlg and there ttrey found the rocks were burled in the ground and some of them were huge boulders they drg them out with a crowbar they told gretchen that they srew rocks ln indiana they d.g thern up and used them to rnake fences the house ln indlana had two rcloms downstalrs and two cave by roons upstalrs wlth ncl ce1}ar voif bullt a little the smokehouse the flrst sprlng they had about tlo l-eet of 1d tl ra ^a176 rtrra when the water sieerred i n f rom a heavy rain 6 lvlarch it ralned f or several days the weii was only fourteen feet deep so the water levef was pretty foiv ha rre waq wqs fnlr uulut rr^l nuuuu a5 l{uf6 -dc v-rlr q yuur flqt lfou but duu wuelr when lh urre trnf 6ut they began to break the elghty acres tirey planted corn with a round stlck l1ke a broom handle they nade a hole wlth the stlck and lald three kernel-s 1n each hole thon thprr atn r ull +l 6 9fte s ualupcu urrej -round to cover clver the seeds ullell once anna ernest and august were plantlng corn ernest told au6ust that he wasn t plantlng the corn right 6u6u5l ie ^rr rr bul d and threvr ttre stlck and just mlsseci arrna errrest scolded hlra after the corn was planted a rain calne and made the qn jl f lrrr fw tlrorr alcn hand then went over the groutrd wlth the harrovr vtre:r tliey viere talilng out the boulders on-chls -f lrarr urre.y wed f la tlfe enr ad f ha qeed bv l ma.l a luuue,1 u qtnrro e uelre l naf u t uru a s cnrtnle euuhle nf ur nlarr-yruria r i aeu 1-r 1f1 et-her uube ulls iarm,

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.i 1 i 1 .3 a:3sl they walled the vrell up wlth stone in the lr er in the =no ernest took the boat and went rlght aci-css the flelds to town to 8et coal before they 8ot the coal they sawed the tops of the fences off to about two a feet and rnade fuel out of tbe wood apparently there was wooden fence around the barn or the pens there got tcl be too much water on the corn so they not bu1lt a dltch to draln off the water the nelghbor dld make any dltch and hls corn was rulned annahad.tomtlkthecowslnthewlnterandtoeet iost through the rsud she wore her father s boots she stuck her 1n they boots several tlmes stepplng out of them as the mud 111 meyer had ambltlons to be a preacher hen tbe fo1fs flrst arrtved l,leyer held churcb meetlngs ln hls hone the olfswentforatlme ernestsald hecanpreachto flnally no to us his own boysi he doesn t need to preachto glve the project one calre to these servlces and he had up he had a b18 long beard hls hlred man henry i 11 iler was clearlng the land of rocks he dug a hole and ln trylng to pu1 i the rock over lnto 1t got hls i s lnto the hole and pui led the rock onto hls }eg breaking 1t anna and ernest worked for meyer after cuttlng thelr own wheat they earned 25 cents a day they cut the wheat 1t wlth a scythe and then tled lt 1 nto bundles volf cut sterns ernest tled 1t by uslng long anna gathered lt up and of wheat she rvashed clothes all anna was flfteen ln the sprlng rn -ald 25 cents f or her work 6u t ua_y arlu schoof in ihe fall they shucked corn ttren went to cut out for they cultivated a 11ttie wb1le in the sprlng slze of weeds wlth a hoe this was lrcrn weed about the had iarge 11ke 1t it sunflower wlth a flower somethlng roots ln the ground wlth a sort of reddlsh stem in the wlnter anna tnfttea spun cloth and sewed the if land.s wrote and urged them to come to kansas jchn wrote and sent a plcture of hlmself therewas otsofmudhere.theylivedabouttwomlles fromtown.oncetheysotstucklnthemud buttheyhltched the horses out on the t d f the wason tongue and thus pull the horses got thelr feet out of th mud hole and could wa8on i get a conrad sald i n golng to sell thls farm 1f and left farm ff,ey d 1d sell the span of torri t fot 1t:i and the new year for kansas there they between chrlstmas llved wlth the lf1ands for awhlle then vaif bullt a one-roclm house on forty acres he bought next to the iftands a11 the boys homesteaded 1 hereareannavo]flfland.gwordgagltypedthemor rt as she talked

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k hen i got rnarrled 1t was lrr elghty john s brother and sis came along wlth us f rom gerrnany and we l1ved in iowa fcr about a year they llved wlth us awhlle and then they rnoved on a dlfferent piace ve went to peorla illinols i can see yet when we went by hlm john was flxlng the fence i had a sunbonnet on and he sald later you never sald good-bye clr a boo when you left i sald vhat dld i know about 1t you was a b1g bo1r and i was litt1e at peoria i went to schoo for a while she made a dress out of flour sacks and i must go to sunday school i had that old bonnet ofl an old black thlng i can see lt yet i sald hy land what a bfg clty to eo to school 1n wlth such a dress father worked ln the roundhouse at worth of hardtack for hls lunch every day it was just enough for h1m to take along ln the evenlng vhen we were in indlana john had gone to kansas father went to kansas when we were 1n i11lnols ltlother sa1d don t go to where the if lands are after a while t{e got a letter from grandrna ifland to my father john wrore a couple of letters grandma ifland asked about me then he a olcture of hlmself in the afternoon father was out rt ln the barn and got that letter out and pulled out the plcture father sald mana who ls thls she sald oh the blacksmlth 1n tclwn father laughed and i }aughed i knew who lt was it was john she knew too every once 1n a vrhlle we got a letter they wanted us ro come to kansas father sald f m golng to get out of here 1f i have to sell thls farm for a span of monkeys ve llved there flve years couldn t do anytirlng 1n the wlnter so we sol-d out and went to kansas between chrlstmas and new year hen i flrst saw john he had on a jacket wlth a belt on it and had tan and yellow strlpes in 1r and he had a beard clear down to hts chest casper was all rlresseci ltrtt qa j rl r asf st rr tnhn n m rlr6rru 5ha qrrq {rlt t.he uars qqj urtue dawf mre hc !e {i i eu 5ttue5 -l 7 we buu uetl cgnts t 1:ne he sa1d ell 1f you dldn t i1ke ne thls way you woul-dn t have liked me any other way i sa1d vhat 1f i had rnarrled casper he saldf i wouldn t stay here i d have gone ernest wanted me to narry adam adam teases me yet i thou6ht abr:ut betng afrald of the boys i was afrald f lrorrl rl aa h6 i whrr trllj ri-i rlnt urstl tr nrr juu ci ur raqq so rrn?rl u}j e l1ved there with them for awhlle ln the same house father bought forty acres next to thern and built a house there was r ernest august mary and minnle father and mottier besldes all the iflands in that bouse ve l1ved 1n the basement and cooked dorvn there in a couple of weeks we moved and jotr,n came down several tlmes it wa6n t far they always watched rne even up.

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9 e 3 preacher dld he wanted hlm to narry hls sls:e in-law drl old mald dasn t even talk a word to each otner they all watched us ln all dlrectlons just ltke we here steallng something casper got mad started to haul rocks to hls forty acres and was gclng to bu1ld a house after he found out we were golng to 6et marrled he qult father asked me whlch one i wanted and i sa1d i want the one what wrote not the other one e got rnarrled 1n j iarch sklnner narrled us lle was justlce of the peace the preacher wasn t ordalned and he couldn t marry us everyone was there dt gaylord.v casper was so mad that he couldn t eat any dlnner i had on a sray dress i made wlth flowers tn my halr john had a llttle bouquet vore a klnd of whlte flower on h1s coat a llttle a black-gray su1t a dark gray ve got rnarrled ln hls then we came back to our houee and had the rueals offlce grandrna slckler made some cocoa john called lt black slop the next day we had lots left yet e stayed at our house john had a farm already wlth just a dugout he unt1l fall could.n t bet any water on the place he worked hls farm in the fall he rented another place and put wheat out it wasnrt far from h1s place he got one dollar a bushel for the wheat that year i helped shuck and weed 1n the fleld after we were rnarrted ve bot along pretty good ve stayed there just one year and then the cow yard was a long w3ys at ay from the house and where the hogs were and vre had to carry the mllk ve were there one t:r two years then we back and fortir acres later on he got elghty acres from h1s dad then we left 2o0 bought elghty acres and sold forty the pasture where the creek was there was a place ld it bad tall oak clear around and rnade a sort of lsland that place i sure llked trees on 1t very pretty rented w bought a table four chalrs a y hen we flrst rocker and a bed ve had a pantry dlshes brown i had a little in the sprlng we had a btg raln and yellow dog and we put hln 1n the basement he began to ve went down and there lt was al i full of haller and howl water and he was slttlng on the steps the ceillng was full of bed.bugs lje took the bed out of the bedroom and put 1t 1n the front room flve years after they l.iere marrled they took 1n two youngsters loule and myrtle ve dldn t know ourself hovr old they was we had to guess vei1 they was about slx and seven one was about as blg as the other ve got tirem at the poor farm there ln atha myrtle wa.6 about thlrteen when she run avray we wa cooklng mol-asses and went down to get some roast na 6ar l-rrrnrrohf tho lire ljvt.jtl5ul f l-i5l r i prque -1 we had rented there were 160

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p. 10

10 l y ie take care of the other wclrk hen i =3:1 s r as gone i asked the hlred men see ct:e ali i llyrtle that s li i saw a red cap 80 through the cornfleld r at e ing sa1d she went up to smlth center and bought sone stuff for a c es t nen sbe come back i asked wbere she was and she sa:i 3h l d.rove up here and asked me to 80 along ve that was the flrst wenr cur and couldn t flnd any tracks u !flc i sbe was scl nervous i sald there s somethlng wrong wlth that she threw her clothes down and sklpped away glrl the next day they brought her home 1n a waeon had her tled up 1n there had a rctpe on both sldes of her hands our renter run around all day and coul dn t f lnd her john sald thls 1s the last tlme l m golng to run after you the next tlme i 11 put you some place where you canr t sa ld the second tlme was on a sunday myrt ie lf i had a beadache and rnaybe i f ee i better you comb my halr run away ve put her down ln the reform school and she stayed there i d.on t know how rnany years and tben ber ovln dad took her out and she got marrled to an old bachelor and you know the worst thlng was tbat she got rnarrled to that nan and then she run away after a couple of years and left her i don t know how long after that a klds left everythlng down by the scales and a ]tran talked tc john buggy stopped and i looked and sald is that l iary g and when john game back i asked is that mary she john sald no you can t guess it was l iyrtle was wlth her second husband vel1 she could n t 8et al0ng wlth the f trst one that s the last i ever saw of her loule stayed there qulte awhlle jotrn 8ot h1m a team and he rented a d.lfferent place ln the neighborhood and batched a couple of years then he got marrled he lvent up to athol and bought a whole bunch of thlngs from the store annle tclld me i to ld j ohn you better watch out he wi 1i you borrow and borrow and then you 11 have to pay for lt i dont reme:lber what better tell hlm not to do that happened to hlm i guess he 8ot inarrled the second time too that sure was a bunch after john dled he came around and wanted some money they told hlm he had hls share and he went to nebraska and i never he d.idn,t get none elther heard f rom hi:n af ter that on the north farrn we had a hlred boy he l1ved 1n a log cabln on the farm the boy was about thlrteen years old and he was just as sklnny as he could be after we 11ved 1n the dlfferent house we had another nan there were some dogs snooping around and i sald august what s the matter

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p. 11

1,l lre e s a wolf bere il that rvolf run rlght between the tree caueat him he tled a rope around h1s and the fence neck and hung rll uf on the tree i sa1d august someone wl11 come after that wolf yet and want h1:a so he cut the rope and tbrew 1t 1n the barn the wolf was dead i was ln the house and he was 1n the barn cuttlng wood a marr came along and asked about the wolf and he sald nlcht verstehe ,l i sald ryou see august if 1t wasn,t for me you wouldn t have that worf they d have got h1m i guess he bot two dolrars for the ears as proof that t.he wotf had been kllled ve used the hlde to cclver the seat of the sprlng wagon y e had seven cow6 to m1ik the worker rnllked four and i rnllked the rest he had to pump all the water for the cattle too august dld for the cattle ve had a dog named rlng vhen i got my milk pa1l and was ready to mij-k i would salr ring go get the cclws l and he would go way up ln the pasture and get the co rs down he always brought 1n every one of them too he was sure a 6ood dog ve had hi.m a long tlme somebody kllled hlm and took the skln and sold lt i sure hated to part with hlm vhen we flrst bought the place we llved ln d.own at gaylord west of jute s place nclw ve had that three years no we dldn t elther have tt three years ve had to pay 300 dorlars a year that was 1t cash rent hen we boug}rt the prace they sald germans we don t want germans in here ve put the posts ln the fence and they came at night when we were bone and pulled up tb.e pclsts and put them 1n upslde down they shot out all the wlndows 1n the house too vrhen we were gclne and hadn t moved ln yet he just let them alone and never sald anythlng after wh1le they were clur best frlends they sa1d john 1f you want anythlng just let us know.i there wa6 clne f ellow ratcl lf f e who sald to the kld.s oh you don t have to do everythlng llke that and he talked to the hlred men too and sald not to d.o what ifland f o l i c one day john saw hlm and he was mad vhat s the matter henry rrhlr tus you pray and oh harry you l-1 f 1nd 1t all rlght i 11 pray and tomorrow i li cclme down and help you find 1t in the mornln6 john went down and they started to look from the flrst and then found 1t henry held t4he purse up to hls breast and sald l,iow the people in germany wi]l have somethlng too he dldn t teii john how much money he had he was always talklng about how poor he was and people were helplng hlm out all the tlne later x lost hts pocketbook pocketbook oh people can steal or rob or anythlng t l ne mlt

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p. 12

l2 i:u,l_l flnd 1t i found mlne and i had a in m1ne now that was some fellow -3 :r church i f ound henry s wlf e 1n the church =3 i know lt aln,t your fault he a rhat walr 1t atn,t your fault 1t,sif hls r,t to s sa 1d v1 l f you f org 1ve me en she calre up he r ace but mad.e her to see us the wourdn,t let her come by walk down creek ve helped hlm :ald i aln,t going to hlre anybody any more they alvrays aik to them and gei them worked up against us once men were shlngllng the norti barn and were nn rnn :i the barn .i wanted io ile chicken s head of f andbet chlcken f or d.inner _rrd i i threw hlm d.own and ran away tbe men laughed i had to run aft,er the chlcken 1t then through the creert and everythlng and the mer had to come and help rne catch 1t then here f ollow some notes i took d.own keller was the flrst preacher vasn,t ordalned yet held church 1n grandpa s house slx m1les to the church used to eat wlth forks clr ernest brlckrnan next preacher good preacher old:nan good wrlter rlte yor name 1n big flourlshlng retters s1eck not so hot iuout forty years o1d durnb ludwlg pretty good smart but ha women on hls mind had been narrlec1 abcut ten years paur was bcrn in september mrs fraser came had when doctor had a harder tlme wlth jute as he fraser agaln glad for boys in julv was heavler i,tr-s conrad next in june sena 1n march had long black halr on head about a half lnch long t1lda john doctor broke hls arrn tur.lng hlm had bent down to get rarn water out of burreci barrels she scl the ch11d was hard to be d.el1vered adam ifland got narrted about a year after anna no weddlng 1n partlcul_ar mary volf got rnarrled about elgbt years after anna gerhardt lndscheffe dldn,t want to it,r her husband but volf sald you marrled hlm now you eotwlth stay wlth to d y anna saw horses around the horrse nf marrr 6nd told 9t they went over and l,tary i voif tlater dled 1n chlldblrth cut the baby up gettrng it out gerhardt unrrled aga1n mlnnle marrled loule vlndscheffer brother of gerhard.t paul her son dled of append lcltls about f john dled of ptornalne poi=orlng at trvo years.our years olll hlm

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p. 13

7 a}ina ifolf story 13 mother o1f d1ed bronchltls vas zs mother if land d1ed on her wedd.ing day dropsy she came 1n when folf was 111 to borrow kerisene a ilght she was shaklng l{olf sald she would be next for dle to olf dled j.ust a llttle before she d.td

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