Johann and Sara Klassen

A few remarks of the immigration to this country, and the pioneer years of our parents. Johann and Sara Klassen.

We arrived in Newton on July 29, 1875, late in the evening and spent the night in Lehmans Hardware Store. As a mattress, we spread on the floor in the store a felt blanket, about 8 by 10 feet and � inch thick, which we had brought along from the old country and slept for the first time in this, our beloved country--just as good as we do today on our modern spring mattresses.

Newton at that time was rather small. As I recall, it had the Lehman Hardware Store, the Peter Lunn Dry Goods Store, and the Dickey Drug Store.

The next morning my uncles, Cornelius Unruh and Johann Schmidt came to get us to their home which was about thirteen miles north of Newton. They had immigrated the year before and had established their homes already. As the section roads were not established at that time, we followed the Texas Trail over the prairie, passing by their watermelon patch, planted in sods which were broken that spring.

Hardships began as soon as they had arrived. On the third day of August, only four days after our parents had arrived, they had to part from their youngest child. My sister Anna, five and one-half months old, died.

The next thing was to establish our own home, which was bought from John Wenger--160 acres for $400.00 with a shack 12 by 16 feet which he had erected on it. No wonder that little Peter had no room in that small shack with the rest of the family, being eight in the family. So the five-year old boy had to stay with grandma and uncles the first winter.

The next problem was to provide for a larger house, as the small shack was too uncomfortable. The youngsters had to climb into a large box, 5 by 6 feet, which our father had put up in one corner of the house, just above the lower bedstead, perhaps 5 feet above the floor, which served as a second story sleeping place. So the sods were plowed up and a sod house, about 28 by 50 feet was built. This building, being partitioned, one end served as house for the family, and the other end as barn for the horses. The walls were about 18 inches thick, smoothed off on the inside and plastered with mud. The roof was made of blue stem grass which was abundant all over the country as thick as a lead pencil and 4 to 6 feet long. This blue stem grass was cut and tied into small bundles, about the size of a fist, and then laid one on top of the other similar as we lay our shingles, and tied with grass to the sheathing which were only three inches wide and laid about 12 to 18 inches apart. Such a sod house was for the pioneers a cheap house, as the only material that had to be bought was lumber for the joists, rafters, doors, window frames, and glass for the windows. The building lumber was cheap at that time--one cent to one and one-half cents per foot. So a house as described could be built for about $50.00 to $75.00.

Such a house was cool in summer and warm in winter. The homemade brick furnace was built in the center of the house. It was heated with corn stalks, straw, hay, or even dry cow chips in the morning, noon, and evening, keeping the temperature about even for 24 hours. There were no trees or wood to burn. The floor, of the house, of course, was a dirt floor and had not to be painted or varnished as our modem floors of today. They were sprinkled with wet sand almost daily, especially for Sunday, to give it a neat and attractive appearance. We had no electric bills to pay as we made our own candles of tallow, about a foot long. The form to make candles was brought along from the old country.

The claimer of the land had planted some trees, but as the trees were from 4 to 5 feet, the blue stem grass was from 5 to 6 feet, covering up the trees. The old settler had to look for the trees among the grass to show them to us, which was not satisfactory to our father. So he plowed the ground during the winter two times for the new orchard. There was no fruit in the country until we picked fruit from our own trees in our own orchard. Then we learned to know how pie tasted.

Wild game was plenty, especially prairie chickens and quails. As we had a trap to catch prairie chickens, besides a gun to shoot them from our house window, we had plenty of chicken dinners.

It was nothing new to go visiting or to church on a farm wagon hitched with oxen. Of course, we did not exceed the four-mile an hour speed limit. It was a common custom for boys and girls to do visiting 3 to 4 miles on foot, and also older people too, while now the boys and even father will take the car to get the mail from the box at a very short distance.

I recall the time when we as children played. As we had no tractors or cars to imitate, we took our model from the ox team; and so my brother and I made a yoke for two little calves. We trained them, hitched them to a two-wheeled childrens cart and drove all over with the younger brothers and sister, Abraham, Helen, and Jacob. But the fatal part for us came afterwards when those calves had grown up, Our father made a larger yoke to fit those steers and also a small harrow. Then father spoke to us about going to the field, and so our playing ceased and it was no joy for us when those oxen went their own way, Not listening to their master, who barely could reach the plow handles, plowing through fence and prairie, snapping the big chain, to get to their destination. Is it a wonder to see the master crying after such an experience, as his growth had not kept pace with those which he used to master. Today people are complaining about hard times, hard work, and low wages. People do not know what hard times are. Our parents have experienced hard times when they sacrificed for us in the pioneer years by not having comfortable facilities for farming and transporting, since they had to get along without the things we have today. Thinking of the first harvest, how we had an old styled machine, similar to a grass mower, dragging a platform where the grain was collected until enough for a bundle and then a mechanical fork threw the grain on the ground where it had to be picked up by men and tied into bundles. In the early years the grain was thrashed with threshing stones. The ground was cleaned from weeds; the bundles spread in a circle; and the thrashing stone dragged over by horses or oxen. Two of these thrashing stones are setting in front of the Science Hall at Bethel College. Later, horsepower threshing machines were bought by a group of neighbors, and they thrashed in company. We should be more thankful in honor of our parents for all the blessings we share as they emigrated to this country on our behalf and not for their comfort. Much more could be said in honor of our parents but will close with these few notes from one of the youngsters at that time, and the oldest at present living.

P.J. Klassen