MRS. GEORGE [CLARA FRISCH] HEGGEMEYER
[pg 263 PHOTO George and Clara Heggemeyer and family [from left]:
Richard, Helen, and Edward
Memories of Mrs. George (Clara) Heggemeyer, who was born to Mr. and
Mrs. John H. Frisch, go back to the farm located 10 ½ miles west and
1 mile north of Verdigre, called “Walnut” at the time.
Vivid are the school days at the Ruth School District 62 which was
nine miles west and one north of Verdigre. It was a one-room
building and there were usually about 30 children enrolled. All
lived ½ to 2 miles from the school. They all walked to school most
of the time except during severe weather when they were taken to
school with a team and wagon. The school was taught by one teacher
who was also the janitor - starting the fire, carrying out the
ashes, and sweeping and dusting. The teacher did have some help from
the children. One might think it a dull life for the pupils in such
a school; however, this was not the case. At noon and recesses, the
older ones played ball while others played drop-the-handkerchief or
anti-over the schoolhouse. These games provided good exercise for
them. There was also nice spring water coming out of a side hill
about ¼ mile from the school. The children took turns getting a
bucket of water each day, all taking a drink from the same dipper,
unlike modern days, but all seemed to be well and hearty.
The farming was all done with horses, using a walking-plow and
cultivator and doing only one row at a time. When the corn was ready
to be harvested it was shucked by hand with the use of a peg. This
consisted of a hard strip of leather about a half inch wide and
longer than the width of the hand. It was fitted against the inside
of the fingers of the right hand close to the ball of the hand and
held in place by a strap around the second and third fingers. The
end nearer the thumb came to a sharp point, which was used to rip
open the shucks. The peg was metal and was called a “husking hook.
A binder was used to cut and bind the grain after it had ripened.
The bundles were hauled and stacked til later when a threshing
machine was hired to shell the grain. Another asset was a sorghum
mill owned by Clara‘s father. Horse power was used to run the press,
and they would feed the cane by hand. Her father also had a large
fireplace, about 4‘x12‘ with a large pan over the top in which the
juice was cooked until syrupy. Several neighbors also brought cane
to be made into sorghum.
Haying was a more tedious process then than it is now. All the
mowing and raking was done by single implements, each drawn by a
team of horses.
The first top buggy that Clara ever saw was owned by the mail
carrier, F. E. Butterfield. They always enjoyed watching for him to
go by.
Perhaps the hardest work that the housewives had to do was the
family wash. The water had to be pumped by hand and carried to the
house. They heated it in a wash boiler on top of a cook stove which
was heated with wood that the family had cut and piled. Usually a
year‘s supply of wood was cut and stacked at a time. The clothes
were soaped and rubbed on a washboard until the dirt was loosened,
then they were boiled and rinsed. The washing was more difficult
because of the kind of clothes worn. Girls, and ladies as well, wore
long sleeves. In the winter, heavy underwear with both long legs and
sleeves added to the wash problem.
One might ask what they did for food. Nature provided them with such
fruit as sand cherries, plums, and grapes. Clara recalls the many
jars of fruit her mother made. Meat dishes included fish, quail,
pheasants, and squirrel. One could go to the river to fish without a
license and having to watch for the Game Warden. Keeping such meat
for any period of time was impossible since there was no
refrigeration. Each summer Clara‘s parents had a good garden on a
low spot close to a stream. There were plenty of potatoes, beans,
melons, squash, and turnips and crops that were stored for the
winter. These were used with plenty of cured pork.
For light at night, they had a small one burner lamp which required
filling and cleaning almost every day.
The blizzard of 1948-49 is well remembered. The roads were blocked
for several weeks. Then George (Heggemeyer) with several other
neighbors took wagons and teams of horses and went across country to
get groceries and coal. There was also a plane that flew over and
brought groceries to farmers in need.
Christmas was much different. The tree was decorated with strings of
popcorn and cranberries. The gifts under the tree were much
different from the toys of today. There were no bicycles, tricycles,
tractors or big dolls that could talk. There were usually caps and
mittens and maybe a knife for the boys, while the girl‘s gifts were
beads, hair ribbons, or a piece of goods for a dress. There were
usually sacks of treats for all.
The widespread use of horsepower for farm work and for
transportation made necessary various other kinds of business and
trade. They had to take hogs to market in the wagon and wheat to the
mill in exchange for flour.
George Heggemeyer and Clara Frisch were married March 1, 1936, by
Rev. Clarence Peters at St. Paul‘s Lutheran Church which Clara still
attends. The ceremony began at 10:30. The roads were not graded as
they are today and they were very muddy due to the thawing snow. It
was not until two o’clock that the newlyweds returned to her
parents’ home for dinner. The charivariers that evening all came by
team and wagon. Their first home was 15 miles southwest of Verdigre.
Their children are Richard, Helen, and Edward. Richard and Diane
Heggemeyer live in Eagan, Minnesota, and work in the real estate
business. Helen and Darell Grass live in Pueblo, Colorado, where
Darell works for Unisys. Edward and Marlene Heggemeyer live on the
home farm and seem to enjoy farming. In the middle 1980s, with the
high price of interest and low price of the farm products, a lot of
the young farmers lost their farms and machinery.
Clara says, “Verdigre is still my hometown.”
-Submitted by Mrs. Clara Heggemeyer.
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