I heard many of the same stories from my dad, and Aunt Nettie. Aunt Maude often joined the family conversation. In the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s, "the girls" spent some time with my mom and dad on the farm, and spent a lot of evening hours on the front porch reminiscing.
Dad served as the source for a lot of the old Spitzer Ziegler legends, and should probably be taken with a grain of salt. Winifred (Wright) Nicholas always claimed that Dad provided "dirt" on the family; her mother never would say anything but good things about the ancestors. As an example, we had a relative of our grandparents' generation who was a farmer in the Mayland area. He and his wife were buried in the Linville Creek cemetery. One Sunday, at a family get together, Winnie, my sister Dot and I noticed that the husband and wife died on the same day. Aunt Maude spoke at length of the "tragedy" and how such nice people suffered such misfortune. My dad told us, after Aunt Maude had left the conversation, that the woman had been a very mean spirited person, "nastier than anyone since Eve", and truly needed killing. One day her husband came home, she argued about something, and he took out his gun and killed her, then committed suicide. Winnie told me later that she had heard some rumors of this, but her mom and the others of the family, tended to gloss it over. Amazing, isn't it? But we've all got horse thieves in our family trees somewhere.
My dad did, indeed, buy the homeplace from Uncle Bob, Uncle Amos and Aunt Maude, but the mechanics were a bit different. The sibling relationships among the boys were a little complicated. Dad and Aunt Nettie told stories that indicated that Grandfather and Uncle Samuel didn't get along at all. As I understand it, Uncle Samuel was quite a stubborn youth, and outspoken. The old Dunkard preachers counseled parents to rule the family with an iron hand. This apparently caused a great deal of difficulty between Samuel and Grandfather. According to my dad, Samuel was sort of the black sheep of the family, although not involved in anything criminal, and the "fair haired boy" was Uncle Bob (a bit of jealousy?) In any event, Grandfather's will (which I saw a copy of), left Aunt Nettie his interest in the Nokesville farm, left Uncle Samuel with the small neighboring farm which Grandfather owned, the sum of $5,000 to Uncle Bob, and the homestead to be divided between Aunt Maude, Uncle Bob, Uncle Amos and Dad. As you may know, Kathleen was adopted by Samuel and Isabel, and, although Grandfather apparently thoroughly enjoyed her company as a child, he didn't consider her a real "Spitzer". The conveyance of the title to the adjacent farm to Samuel and his wife forbade the inheritance of the farm by Kathleen. At the reading of the will, according to Dad and Aunt Nettie, the other siblings had a codicil amended to the conveyance to remove this restriction. (This turned out to be a moot point, but the intentions were interesting). The inheritors agreed to let my dad continue to farm the homeplace and to sell it to him. I don't know the details of the agreement in 1929.
My dad had worked in Washington, DC, as a streetcar conductor after his graduation from high school in 1917. In the 1920s Grandfather's health began to fail and Dad, a bachelor, returned to the farm to work it for his father. Upon Grandfather's death in February, 1929, all of the value of the farm was put into the estate for distribution as noted. I don't know if my dad made payments to his siblings or not, but, in the late 1930s times were hard and the siblings, who were raising families, wanted their share of the inheritance. Dad had married in late 1929 and, in the early 1930s, started his own family. Dad maintained the family by selling produce at at farmer's market in Washington during the very depths of the depression, but things were not good.
According to dad, the siblings decided that they wanted their money and arranged to meet to sell the farm. Dad said that, as (Uncle Bob),your father, and Uncle Amos were on their way to Virginia, he learned of a new agency called the Farm and Home Administration that would make loans on farms. He was able to obtain a loan on the farm sufficient to pay off the other inheritors. He was delighted to be able to give the cash to the siblings and assume the mortgage on the farm. It worked out well, apparently, because it gave his brothers a badly needed chunk of money at a time when it was very much needed. In its early days the FHA evaluations were quite high, and no bidder for close to the approved loan was found.
Things were tight for Dad's family for quite a while. Finally, in the 1940s he was able to retire the mortgage and take ownership of the homeplace. Maybe a little different perspective, huh?
You probably have very little knowledge of our Uncle Samuel. I don't have a lot of memories, but he and his family lived next door, so to speak, so I knew a little. He married Isabel Wilcox of Oakton, Virginia, and brought her to his place in the Valley. He was a barber, and had a shop in Mayland, Virginia, for many years. So far as I know, he was fairly successful at barbering, but his farm, at about 50 acres, was way too small to make a living. He charged 10 cents for a haircut and a shave! He did some small, what we would call hobby farming, with my dad providing the machinery for harvesting, etc. Unfortunately, he developed some mental problems and, sometime during the 1940s he was committed to Western State Mental Hospital in Staunton, where he spent the rest of his life. Dad farmed his farm for his wife for several years, but there was not enough income. Her health failed and she lived with us for some years. Dad bought the farm from her so that she would have a little money to rely on, and then farmed the expanded farm until the 1970s when he began to slow down. Aunt Isabel spent the end of her life in the care of daughter, but she lost all of her memory lived almost as a vegetable for nearly a decade. Not all family stories have happy endings.
A little grist for your mill.
Dan
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
The Bavarian Influence on the Spitzers
Thanks to Kathy Ross Ingraham for this information.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Kathy wrote:
"The Bavarian influence is clear back in 1689. Molly (Catherine) Ziegler) and Charles Ferdinand Spitzer were married by her father the Reverend Samuel Ziegler. His mother was Elizabeth Klein (1789-1870) Elizabeth Klein's great great grandfather was Georg Johann Klein (1715-1783. Georg was born in Zweibruker, Bavaria. His father was Jacob Klein (1689-??) Born in Zweibruken,Rhenish, Bavaria). The source I traced has Zweibruker (with an "r") listed in Germany and Zweibruken (with an "n") listed in Bavaria."
Kathy also said, "Been 'putzin' around in some Pennsylvania Genealogy archives trying to get a lead on Mary Hershey (Elizabeth Klein's mother). Can't seem to find her parents. But found that there is matching time-line and location for her in a Pennsylvania Quaker Genealogy archives. I have already ordered "Egle's Notes and Queries of Pennsylvania 1700's-1800s: Fascinating articles on Pennsylvania's Bygone Times. So, will wait till I wade through that one.
Any knowledge of Quaker history?????"
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Kathy wrote:
"The Bavarian influence is clear back in 1689. Molly (Catherine) Ziegler) and Charles Ferdinand Spitzer were married by her father the Reverend Samuel Ziegler. His mother was Elizabeth Klein (1789-1870) Elizabeth Klein's great great grandfather was Georg Johann Klein (1715-1783. Georg was born in Zweibruker, Bavaria. His father was Jacob Klein (1689-??) Born in Zweibruken,Rhenish, Bavaria). The source I traced has Zweibruker (with an "r") listed in Germany and Zweibruken (with an "n") listed in Bavaria."
Kathy also said, "Been 'putzin' around in some Pennsylvania Genealogy archives trying to get a lead on Mary Hershey (Elizabeth Klein's mother). Can't seem to find her parents. But found that there is matching time-line and location for her in a Pennsylvania Quaker Genealogy archives. I have already ordered "Egle's Notes and Queries of Pennsylvania 1700's-1800s: Fascinating articles on Pennsylvania's Bygone Times. So, will wait till I wade through that one.
Any knowledge of Quaker history?????"
Augustus Spitzer and The Donner Party
(Ginger is the one that brought this to my attention. Augustus Spitzer may have been a relative as he reportedly was a Jewish immigrant from Austria. He also may be an uncle of Lewis Spitzer.)
*******************************************************************************
Donner Party Bulletin No. 11. June 2003
Donner Party Bulletin is edited by
Kristin Johnson
Salt Lake City, UT
E-mail: Kristin Johnson
Website: www.UtahCrossroads.org/DonnerParty
Augustus Spitzer
Little is known about many of the single men who set out with the Donner Party on its fateful journey and it has been a real challenge to research them. In the second (1994) edition of Winter of Entrapment, the late Joseph A. King published an extract from a letter sent him by a reader of his first edition:
When I visited Donner Memorial Park not long ago I was astonished to see the name of Augustus Spitzer on a plaque. My great grandfather had a brother of that name and my uncle often talked about him. He was the family black sheep, the one who didn’t like to work and couldn’t find a job and who had grand plans for adventure. The family thought it best to pay his way to America. In his last letter to the family, he mentioned that he was about join a wagon train for California. That was the last he was heard from.
King’s informant also told him that her Spitzer ancestors were Jewish and from Austria. Although the identification of this Augustus Spitzer with the Donner Party member isn’t definite, the story is very plausible, and I was pleased to learn of a possible identity for one of the Donner Party’s more obscure members. (See Augustus Spitzer on the Teamsters page.)
There was, however, a complication: at the 1946 celebration of the Donner Party centennial, a Miss Pearl Adair Pearson had represented Augustus Spitzer’s family. How did she fit into the picture? My attempts to find out led nowhere.
Moses Augustus Spitzer
Some time ago, however, a new candidate brought to my attention when I received e-mail from Nick Brisbois. He wrote me of his family’s tradition that Donner Party’s
Augustus Spitzer was a distant relation of his, Moses Augustus "Gus" Spitzer, a German-American gunsmith from Virginia. The information Mr. Brisbois sent and the additional sources it led to have allowed me to piece together the following:
About the middle of the 18th century, John Andreas Spitzer and his family emigrated from Baden, Germany, to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. John married there about 1765. His son Henry married Catherine Vance (or Wentz) in 1793 and shortly thereafter moved to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, settling near New Market in Rockingham County. In the early 1800s the area was home to many German emigrants; German was spoken on the street, schools were taught in German, and the first newspaper in New Market was published in the German language.
Henry and Catherine Spitzer had several children, including Moses Augustus (born 23 May 1805) and Charles (born 22 Aug 1807). In 1833 Charles married Elizabeth F. Amiss; they were to have four children, including Lewis Amiss Spitzer (of whom more below). The same year Moses left Virginia for Ohio. After a few years he returned to Virginia, then went West again in "1837 or 38." His relatives next heard of him in St. Louis. On December 2, 1838, Thomas Amiss wrote a letter to his brother-in-law, Charles Spitzer, adding in a marginal note, "Moses Spitzer left this place in February and I do not know where he went. His family went with him."
The reference to his family is particularly intriguing, as it implies not only that Moses Spitzer was married but also that he had at least one child, otherwise Amiss would no doubt have written only "his wife went with him." Whatever the case, this information went unremembered in Moses’ family, for another source states that he "was never known to have been married." The LDS Family Search database lists a Moses Spitzer who married Euphama H. Butler on January 3, 1837, in Warren Co., Missouri. Could this have been "our" Moses Spitzer? The date fits the approximate time frame, and the location is not far off, for Warren County is only about 50 miles west of St. Louis.
After this 1838 note, Moses Augustus Spitzer simply disappeared from his family’s knowledge. It was not until many years later that they discovered (or thought they discovered) what had become of him. In 1857 Lewis Amiss Spitzer, Moses’ nephew, left home and headed west. Ten years later, after various adventures, he eventually settled for good in Santa Clara County, California, the home of several Donner Party survivors. It was apparently here that Lewis Spitzer determined to his satisfaction that the Augustus Spitzer of the Donner Party was his long-lost uncle, Moses Augustus Spitzer of Virginia.
We don’t know the details of how Spitzer arrived at this conclusion and it is consequently impossible evaluate its accuracy. Patty Reed Lewis may have contributed information, for she knew of the identification and recorded it as a fact. Her endorsement is not particularly compelling, however, as she told many unreliable stories in her later years. The only major objection to the identification is that Donner Party Spitzer is always said to have been German, but this discrepancy can be explained by the fact that Moses Spitzer evidently grew up speaking the language and may well have been taken for a foreigner.
At any rate, Lewis Amiss Spitzer passed the information on to his relatives back in Rockingham County, who also repeated it, for Moses Augustus Spitzer has been identified as a Donner Party member in some local histories. The mysterious Pearl Adair Pearson who attended the Donner centennial in 1946, it turns out, was a granddaughter of Lewis Amiss Spitzer and a great-grandniece of Moses Augustus Spitzer.
That answers one question, but leaves another: who was the Augustus Spitzer of the Donner Party really? Was he the German-American Moses Augustus Spitzer from Virginia, the Jewish Augustus Spitzer from Austria, or a third, as yet unidentified individual? As of this writing it’s still impossible to say. Hopefully more information will come to light and solve the mystery.
Strange Coincidence
The hand of death, by strange coincidence, fell yesterday at about the same time upon two of the few remaining figures of one of California’s most stirring historical episodes.
While the news was being received of the death of Mrs. Martha Reed Lewis, survivor of the Donner party, at her home at East Twin Lakes, Santa Cruz Co., a fellow member of that ill-fated party was breathing her last in her home at Elk Grove.
The second survivor to die within twenty-four hours was Mrs. Elitha C. Wilder, daughter of Robert [sic] Donner.
She was a friend of Mrs. Lewis, but because of her weakened condition could not be informed that the ranks of those who remembered the terrible journey in 1846 had shrunk again.
Mrs. Lewis was 87 years old and Mrs. Wilder was 91.
Mrs. Wilder is not only famous because she is the daughter of the leader of the Donner party, but because of her part in the early history of California.
She came to Elk Grove shortly after the living members of the party were rescued from the snow bound shores of Donner Lake, and has lived there for the past 50 years.
Mrs. Leanna App, a sister of Mrs. Wilder, makes her home in Jamestown. She is one of the few known survivors of the party who is still living.
–Sacramento Bee, July 4, 1923.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Teamsters and Others
[Donner Party Roster] [Rescuers and Others]
A number of individuals accompanied the wealthier families of the Donner Party as teamsters or servants, but little more than their names is known about some of them. Comprised mostly of young single men, this group had a high mortality rate.
Antonio Burger Denton Dolan Elliott Halloran Hardcoop Herron James Luis Miller Reinhardt
Salvador Shoemaker Smith Snyder Spitzer Stanton Trudeau Williams, B Williams, E
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Augustus Spitzer
Probably a driver for the Donners
Age: [30?]
Perished.
Although Spitzer is often said to have been Joseph Reinhardt’s partner, Eliza Farnham described him as "a hired driver," and in an 1879 letter to C. F. McGlashan W. C. Graves wrote that Spitzer "belonged with the Donners."
Nothing certain is known about Spitzer’s past, but he may have been a Jew from Deinzendorf, Austria. Alternatively, he may have been 41-year-old Moses Augustus "Gus" Spitzer, a German-American gunsmith from Virginia whose nephew identified him as the Donner Party member years ago. (For more about these candidates see Augustus Spitzer in Donner Party Bulletin No. 11.) Or he may have been neither of these individuals but a third, still unknown person.
Whoever he was, on December 9, 1846, Spitzer "came down the snow-steps of Mrs. Breen’s cabin, and fell at full length within the doorway." He was so weak he could not rise without assistance. He lingered for two months. As Patty Reed recalled, "Spitzer died... imploring Mrs. Breen to just put a little meat in his mouth so he could just know it was there and he could die easy and in peace. I do not think the meat was given him, but he gave up the ghost and was no more." He died February 8, 1847.
*****************************************************************************
Donner Party Bulletin is edited by
Kristin Johnson
Salt Lake City, UT
E-mail: Kristin Johnson
Website: www.UtahCrossroads.org/DonnerParty
**************************************************************************
*******************************************************************************
Donner Party Bulletin No. 11. June 2003
Donner Party Bulletin is edited by
Kristin Johnson
Salt Lake City, UT
E-mail: Kristin Johnson
Website: www.UtahCrossroads.org/DonnerParty
Augustus Spitzer
Little is known about many of the single men who set out with the Donner Party on its fateful journey and it has been a real challenge to research them. In the second (1994) edition of Winter of Entrapment, the late Joseph A. King published an extract from a letter sent him by a reader of his first edition:
When I visited Donner Memorial Park not long ago I was astonished to see the name of Augustus Spitzer on a plaque. My great grandfather had a brother of that name and my uncle often talked about him. He was the family black sheep, the one who didn’t like to work and couldn’t find a job and who had grand plans for adventure. The family thought it best to pay his way to America. In his last letter to the family, he mentioned that he was about join a wagon train for California. That was the last he was heard from.
King’s informant also told him that her Spitzer ancestors were Jewish and from Austria. Although the identification of this Augustus Spitzer with the Donner Party member isn’t definite, the story is very plausible, and I was pleased to learn of a possible identity for one of the Donner Party’s more obscure members. (See Augustus Spitzer on the Teamsters page.)
There was, however, a complication: at the 1946 celebration of the Donner Party centennial, a Miss Pearl Adair Pearson had represented Augustus Spitzer’s family. How did she fit into the picture? My attempts to find out led nowhere.
Moses Augustus Spitzer
Some time ago, however, a new candidate brought to my attention when I received e-mail from Nick Brisbois. He wrote me of his family’s tradition that Donner Party’s
Augustus Spitzer was a distant relation of his, Moses Augustus "Gus" Spitzer, a German-American gunsmith from Virginia. The information Mr. Brisbois sent and the additional sources it led to have allowed me to piece together the following:
About the middle of the 18th century, John Andreas Spitzer and his family emigrated from Baden, Germany, to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. John married there about 1765. His son Henry married Catherine Vance (or Wentz) in 1793 and shortly thereafter moved to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, settling near New Market in Rockingham County. In the early 1800s the area was home to many German emigrants; German was spoken on the street, schools were taught in German, and the first newspaper in New Market was published in the German language.
Henry and Catherine Spitzer had several children, including Moses Augustus (born 23 May 1805) and Charles (born 22 Aug 1807). In 1833 Charles married Elizabeth F. Amiss; they were to have four children, including Lewis Amiss Spitzer (of whom more below). The same year Moses left Virginia for Ohio. After a few years he returned to Virginia, then went West again in "1837 or 38." His relatives next heard of him in St. Louis. On December 2, 1838, Thomas Amiss wrote a letter to his brother-in-law, Charles Spitzer, adding in a marginal note, "Moses Spitzer left this place in February and I do not know where he went. His family went with him."
The reference to his family is particularly intriguing, as it implies not only that Moses Spitzer was married but also that he had at least one child, otherwise Amiss would no doubt have written only "his wife went with him." Whatever the case, this information went unremembered in Moses’ family, for another source states that he "was never known to have been married." The LDS Family Search database lists a Moses Spitzer who married Euphama H. Butler on January 3, 1837, in Warren Co., Missouri. Could this have been "our" Moses Spitzer? The date fits the approximate time frame, and the location is not far off, for Warren County is only about 50 miles west of St. Louis.
After this 1838 note, Moses Augustus Spitzer simply disappeared from his family’s knowledge. It was not until many years later that they discovered (or thought they discovered) what had become of him. In 1857 Lewis Amiss Spitzer, Moses’ nephew, left home and headed west. Ten years later, after various adventures, he eventually settled for good in Santa Clara County, California, the home of several Donner Party survivors. It was apparently here that Lewis Spitzer determined to his satisfaction that the Augustus Spitzer of the Donner Party was his long-lost uncle, Moses Augustus Spitzer of Virginia.
We don’t know the details of how Spitzer arrived at this conclusion and it is consequently impossible evaluate its accuracy. Patty Reed Lewis may have contributed information, for she knew of the identification and recorded it as a fact. Her endorsement is not particularly compelling, however, as she told many unreliable stories in her later years. The only major objection to the identification is that Donner Party Spitzer is always said to have been German, but this discrepancy can be explained by the fact that Moses Spitzer evidently grew up speaking the language and may well have been taken for a foreigner.
At any rate, Lewis Amiss Spitzer passed the information on to his relatives back in Rockingham County, who also repeated it, for Moses Augustus Spitzer has been identified as a Donner Party member in some local histories. The mysterious Pearl Adair Pearson who attended the Donner centennial in 1946, it turns out, was a granddaughter of Lewis Amiss Spitzer and a great-grandniece of Moses Augustus Spitzer.
That answers one question, but leaves another: who was the Augustus Spitzer of the Donner Party really? Was he the German-American Moses Augustus Spitzer from Virginia, the Jewish Augustus Spitzer from Austria, or a third, as yet unidentified individual? As of this writing it’s still impossible to say. Hopefully more information will come to light and solve the mystery.
Strange Coincidence
The hand of death, by strange coincidence, fell yesterday at about the same time upon two of the few remaining figures of one of California’s most stirring historical episodes.
While the news was being received of the death of Mrs. Martha Reed Lewis, survivor of the Donner party, at her home at East Twin Lakes, Santa Cruz Co., a fellow member of that ill-fated party was breathing her last in her home at Elk Grove.
The second survivor to die within twenty-four hours was Mrs. Elitha C. Wilder, daughter of Robert [sic] Donner.
She was a friend of Mrs. Lewis, but because of her weakened condition could not be informed that the ranks of those who remembered the terrible journey in 1846 had shrunk again.
Mrs. Lewis was 87 years old and Mrs. Wilder was 91.
Mrs. Wilder is not only famous because she is the daughter of the leader of the Donner party, but because of her part in the early history of California.
She came to Elk Grove shortly after the living members of the party were rescued from the snow bound shores of Donner Lake, and has lived there for the past 50 years.
Mrs. Leanna App, a sister of Mrs. Wilder, makes her home in Jamestown. She is one of the few known survivors of the party who is still living.
–Sacramento Bee, July 4, 1923.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Teamsters and Others
[Donner Party Roster] [Rescuers and Others]
A number of individuals accompanied the wealthier families of the Donner Party as teamsters or servants, but little more than their names is known about some of them. Comprised mostly of young single men, this group had a high mortality rate.
Antonio Burger Denton Dolan Elliott Halloran Hardcoop Herron James Luis Miller Reinhardt
Salvador Shoemaker Smith Snyder Spitzer Stanton Trudeau Williams, B Williams, E
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Augustus Spitzer
Probably a driver for the Donners
Age: [30?]
Perished.
Although Spitzer is often said to have been Joseph Reinhardt’s partner, Eliza Farnham described him as "a hired driver," and in an 1879 letter to C. F. McGlashan W. C. Graves wrote that Spitzer "belonged with the Donners."
Nothing certain is known about Spitzer’s past, but he may have been a Jew from Deinzendorf, Austria. Alternatively, he may have been 41-year-old Moses Augustus "Gus" Spitzer, a German-American gunsmith from Virginia whose nephew identified him as the Donner Party member years ago. (For more about these candidates see Augustus Spitzer in Donner Party Bulletin No. 11.) Or he may have been neither of these individuals but a third, still unknown person.
Whoever he was, on December 9, 1846, Spitzer "came down the snow-steps of Mrs. Breen’s cabin, and fell at full length within the doorway." He was so weak he could not rise without assistance. He lingered for two months. As Patty Reed recalled, "Spitzer died... imploring Mrs. Breen to just put a little meat in his mouth so he could just know it was there and he could die easy and in peace. I do not think the meat was given him, but he gave up the ghost and was no more." He died February 8, 1847.
*****************************************************************************
Donner Party Bulletin is edited by
Kristin Johnson
Salt Lake City, UT
E-mail: Kristin Johnson
Website: www.UtahCrossroads.org/DonnerParty
**************************************************************************
Thursday, April 8, 2010
LEWIS A. SPITZER
(Thanks to Fred Spitzer for this link to santaclaratrsearch.net)
Louis A. Spitzer
Lewis Spitzer may be a descendant of John Andrew Spitzer, the brother of our ancestor,Johann Heinrich Spitzer. New Market is only 8 miles from Broadway.
THE VALLEY OF HEART's DELIGHT (The original name of Santa Clara County)Not sure of the date of this entry, my guess is the late 1800s)
HON. LEWIS A. SPITZER
Bio- Pen Pictures
SURNAMES: WENTZ, AMISS, RUPP, BRYANT, HUDSON, EASTERDAY, DAVIS,
County Assessor, comes from an old family and one that has made good citizenship a rule through all its branches. The paternal line is as follows: Henry Spitzer and Catherine (Wentz) Spitzer, his grandparents, had seven children, viz.: Moses, Charles, Samuel, Mary, Nancy, William, and Elizabeth. Henry and Catherine Spitzer were of German descent, and both were members of the Lutheran Church. Henry Spitzer was a German and came to America more than a century ago and while he was a young man. He located at Newmarket, Virginia, where he established a rifle factory. He lived to an old age, and on his death the factory was carried on by his sons Charles and William. Charles died November 4, 1862, and the business was conducted by William until August 25, 1884, when he too died. The rifles manufactured by this house were noted throughout the West and South, and whoever had a Spitzer gun had the best that was then known.
Charles Spitzer, born 1807, married Elizabeth Frances Amiss, October 29, 1833. Their children were: Mary Catherine, Lewis Amiss, Sarah Ann, and Robert Henry. Mary Catherine was born at Newmarket, January 21, 1838, married Wm. F. Rupp, of that place, and is still living. Lewis Amiss is the subject of this sketch. [Error in this sentence - not appropriate.] Sarah Ann, born in Newmarket December 22, 1844, died in Newmarket August 11, 1849. Robert Henry, or Henry (as he was always called), enlisted in the Confederate army when he was sixteen years of age and served under Stonewall Jackson until that officer was killed, and then under A. P. Hill until the close of the war. He came to California in 1872, locating at Hollister, where he was married to Miss Alice Bryant. On the eighteenth of August, 1882, while out hunting, he was shot and killed by a friend, through mistake.
The father, Charles Spitzer, died in Newmarket, November 4, 1862, and the mother, Elizabeth F., died in Wyoming Territory October 25, 1881, while on her way to California to visit her sons, Lewis and Robert. Lewis, who had gone out on the road to meet his mother, whom he had not seen for twenty five years, found on reaching Ogden that she had died twenty-four hours before his arrival ! He was only in time to perform the last sad rites over the remains of her whom he had loved so dearly and reverenced so highly. With the assistance of kind friends, he laid her to rest in the Ogden Cemetery.
The maternal ancestry of the subject of this sketch, who were Scotch, is as follows: Thomas Amiss and Philip Amiss came to America as soldiers in the English army at the time of the war of the Revolution. Arrived here, they deserted and joined the Continental army, with which they served through all the campaigns of Washington until peace was declared. At the termination of the war, they settled in Westmoreland County, Virginia, about two miles from the home of General Washington. Thomas Amiss married a Miss Hudson and removed to Rappahannock County, where they founded the town of Amissville (55 miles east of Broadway). They had a large family of children, of whom one son, Gabriel, married his cousin, Margaret Amiss, daughter of Philip Amiss. From this marriage came John Amiss, a soldier of the War of 1812, and for more than thirty years County Clerk of Albemarle County; Philip, a resident of Rose Hill, Kosciusko County, Indiana (Philip's son, James M. Amiss, M. D., is now successfully practicing medicine at Silver Lake, Kosciusko County, Indiana, and the other children are equally well placed); Lewis, who died in St. Louis, Missouri; and Elizabeth F., the mother of the subject of this sketch.
Louis Amiss Spitzer was born in Newmarket, Shenandoah County, Virginia, February 10, 1840.(note: Lewis was 10 years older than my grandfather, Charles Ferdinand Spitzer) His early years were spent at home. He passed the winter of 1856 with relatives in Pocahontas County, Virginia, returning home in the spring of 1857. On the twenty-sixth of April of that year he started West, arriving in St. Louis in May; went to Minneapolis; back to St. Louis; thence to Vicksburg, returning again to St. Louis; spent a few months in Belleville, Illinois, after which he obtained a position in the clothing store of Morris D. Myers & Co., opposite the Planters' Hotel in St. Louis. He remained there till the spring of 1858, when he started for Leavenworth, Kansas, and after arriving fell in with one of Majors Russell and Waddell's freight trains, Col. A. R. White wagon-master; joined the train and drove an ox team to Camp Floyd, Utah, arriving there September, 1858; went to Salt Lake City, and with five others bought four horses and a wagon and started south through the Utah Valley. The day before the party arrived at Fillmore City, the capital of Utah Territory, the Indians mistook two Mormons for soldiers and killed them within a few miles of Fillmore, and after finding they had killed their friends, they threatened to kill the families also, thinking thus to remove all danger of revenge being taken. On the arrival of the party in Fillmore the Mormons begged them to remain and help protect the families. They did so, remaining until the Indians were made to understand that they were not going the right way about it to undo the wrong done by them. This act of protection on the side of the party secured them constant good treatment as long as they remained in the Mormon settlements. After getting out of the Mormon settlements they had several skirmishes with the Piute Indians, but arrived safely at San Bernardino, California, in November. A few weeks later he went to the Gila River mines, in Arizona, but, not finding them as represented, returned to Los Angeles and went to the Kern River mines. Learning of an expedition being formed to establish a wagon road from Fort Tejon, California, to Fort Smith, Arkansas, under command of Col. E. F. Beal (now General) and Mr. S. A. Bishop (now of San Jose), Mr. Spitzer joined the party, being the youngest member of it, and spent the summer in Arizona and New Mexico. Came to Visalia in the fall, and in the spring of 1860 went to Mono Lake, where he engaged in teaming, mining, keeping restaurant, etc. On one of his prospecting tours he and his party camped during a snow-storm for several weeks under a quartz ledge twenty-five or thirty feet high. This was afterward located, and, as the old Esmeralda mine, has given millions of wealth to the world.
Leaving the mines he went to Fresno County, and worked for the Overland Stage Company. From there he went to Monterey County, in March, 1861, and in 1862 to San Luis Obispo County. He came to Santa Clara County in the spring of 1863 and worked in the redwoods, felling timber for Fremont's mill. In the fall, with W. T. Brown, of this county, formerly of Louisiana, he started for the East, intending to join the Confederate army. In Austin; Nevada, Spitzer was laid up all winter with inflammatory rheumatism, and the trip was abandoned. He prospected and worked in Nevada until 1865. He came to Santa Clara County the fall of that year and then went on to San Luis Obispo County to engage in farming and stock-raising, until the spring of 1867. His next venture was with Thomas McGreal, in Oregon, where they bought 400 head of stock cattle. They brought them to California and sold them. Mr. Spitzer then engaged in farming in this county.
For four years he served as Deputy County Assessor under Henry Phelps, from 1875 to 1879, and continued to farm until he was elected County Assessor in 1882, on the Democratic ticket. He then sold his farm and moved to San Jose. At the conclusion of his term of four years he was re-nominated by acclamation by his party, and re-elected by a good majority.
In July, 1865, Mr. Spitzer was married, at Austin, Nevada, to Miss Elizabeth H. Easterday. Mrs. Spitzer is the daughter of Francis and Sarah (Davis) Easterday, who were married October 27, 1842. Her father was born in Carroll County, Kentucky, and her mother in Franklin County, of that State. Mrs. Spitzer's parents had eight children, as follows:‑ William Thomas, born July 27, 1843, married Nannie T. Baird, of Carroll County, Kentucky; Margaret, born May 6, 1846, married Simon S. Higginbotham; Elizabeth Hardin, born August 5, 1848, married Lewis A. Spitzer, July 4, 1865; Lewis, born June 29, 1851, died March 23, 1854; James, born October 20, 1853, died April 10, 1854; Sarah. Frances, born January 16, 1856, married Thomas W. Whitehurst; John Davis, born November 15, 1858; Lucy Ellen, born November 1, 1862, married William T. Blake. The last two children were born in Clinton County, Missouri, and all the others in Carroll County, Kentucky. The old folks are now living seven miles southwest of San Jose, where they have a fine vineyard of fifty-six acres.
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis A. Spitzer have had nine children, all born in Santa Clara County, as follows: Mary Ellen, born February 11, 1867, just one day after her father's birthday; Francis Easterday, born August 6, 1868, just one day after his mother's birthday; Maggie Lee, born December 12, 1870 ; Sarah Elizabeth, born September 23, 1872; Charles Henry, born March 21, 1874, died July 17 of same year; Lewis A., born. February 27, 1881; William S., born October 16, 1882, died April 29, 1883; Florence Virginia, born December 8, 1883; Ethel Lorraine, born March 10, 1888. The eldest boy is now upon the ocean, somewhere in European waters; the others who are old enough are attending school or college in San Jose.
Mr. Spitzer had an uncle who left home before he, the subject of this sketch, was born, and who has never been heard from; but there is evidence that the Spitzer of the ill-fated Donner party who died at Breen's cabin in 1846 was this uncle.
Mr. Spitzer is one of the best products of America and her institutions—a self-made man—one who, by pluck, perseverance, honesty, and honorable dealings with all men, has placed himself in the front rank. Whether with him or against him politically, all are his friends personally, and he is universally considered a diligent, capable, and trustworthy public officer. He is not a member of any church, but he is a believer in the Christian religion. He is a member of several fraternal societies, viz.: Friendship Lodge, No. 210, F. & A. M.; Howard Chapter, No. 14, R. A. M.; San Jose Commandery, No. 10, Knights Templar; San Jose Chapter, No. 31, O. E. S.; and Enterprise Lodge, No. 17, A O. U. W.
Louis A. Spitzer
Lewis Spitzer may be a descendant of John Andrew Spitzer, the brother of our ancestor,Johann Heinrich Spitzer. New Market is only 8 miles from Broadway.
THE VALLEY OF HEART's DELIGHT (The original name of Santa Clara County)Not sure of the date of this entry, my guess is the late 1800s)
HON. LEWIS A. SPITZER
Bio- Pen Pictures
SURNAMES: WENTZ, AMISS, RUPP, BRYANT, HUDSON, EASTERDAY, DAVIS,
County Assessor, comes from an old family and one that has made good citizenship a rule through all its branches. The paternal line is as follows: Henry Spitzer and Catherine (Wentz) Spitzer, his grandparents, had seven children, viz.: Moses, Charles, Samuel, Mary, Nancy, William, and Elizabeth. Henry and Catherine Spitzer were of German descent, and both were members of the Lutheran Church. Henry Spitzer was a German and came to America more than a century ago and while he was a young man. He located at Newmarket, Virginia, where he established a rifle factory. He lived to an old age, and on his death the factory was carried on by his sons Charles and William. Charles died November 4, 1862, and the business was conducted by William until August 25, 1884, when he too died. The rifles manufactured by this house were noted throughout the West and South, and whoever had a Spitzer gun had the best that was then known.
Charles Spitzer, born 1807, married Elizabeth Frances Amiss, October 29, 1833. Their children were: Mary Catherine, Lewis Amiss, Sarah Ann, and Robert Henry. Mary Catherine was born at Newmarket, January 21, 1838, married Wm. F. Rupp, of that place, and is still living. Lewis Amiss is the subject of this sketch. [Error in this sentence - not appropriate.] Sarah Ann, born in Newmarket December 22, 1844, died in Newmarket August 11, 1849. Robert Henry, or Henry (as he was always called), enlisted in the Confederate army when he was sixteen years of age and served under Stonewall Jackson until that officer was killed, and then under A. P. Hill until the close of the war. He came to California in 1872, locating at Hollister, where he was married to Miss Alice Bryant. On the eighteenth of August, 1882, while out hunting, he was shot and killed by a friend, through mistake.
The father, Charles Spitzer, died in Newmarket, November 4, 1862, and the mother, Elizabeth F., died in Wyoming Territory October 25, 1881, while on her way to California to visit her sons, Lewis and Robert. Lewis, who had gone out on the road to meet his mother, whom he had not seen for twenty five years, found on reaching Ogden that she had died twenty-four hours before his arrival ! He was only in time to perform the last sad rites over the remains of her whom he had loved so dearly and reverenced so highly. With the assistance of kind friends, he laid her to rest in the Ogden Cemetery.
The maternal ancestry of the subject of this sketch, who were Scotch, is as follows: Thomas Amiss and Philip Amiss came to America as soldiers in the English army at the time of the war of the Revolution. Arrived here, they deserted and joined the Continental army, with which they served through all the campaigns of Washington until peace was declared. At the termination of the war, they settled in Westmoreland County, Virginia, about two miles from the home of General Washington. Thomas Amiss married a Miss Hudson and removed to Rappahannock County, where they founded the town of Amissville (55 miles east of Broadway). They had a large family of children, of whom one son, Gabriel, married his cousin, Margaret Amiss, daughter of Philip Amiss. From this marriage came John Amiss, a soldier of the War of 1812, and for more than thirty years County Clerk of Albemarle County; Philip, a resident of Rose Hill, Kosciusko County, Indiana (Philip's son, James M. Amiss, M. D., is now successfully practicing medicine at Silver Lake, Kosciusko County, Indiana, and the other children are equally well placed); Lewis, who died in St. Louis, Missouri; and Elizabeth F., the mother of the subject of this sketch.
Louis Amiss Spitzer was born in Newmarket, Shenandoah County, Virginia, February 10, 1840.(note: Lewis was 10 years older than my grandfather, Charles Ferdinand Spitzer) His early years were spent at home. He passed the winter of 1856 with relatives in Pocahontas County, Virginia, returning home in the spring of 1857. On the twenty-sixth of April of that year he started West, arriving in St. Louis in May; went to Minneapolis; back to St. Louis; thence to Vicksburg, returning again to St. Louis; spent a few months in Belleville, Illinois, after which he obtained a position in the clothing store of Morris D. Myers & Co., opposite the Planters' Hotel in St. Louis. He remained there till the spring of 1858, when he started for Leavenworth, Kansas, and after arriving fell in with one of Majors Russell and Waddell's freight trains, Col. A. R. White wagon-master; joined the train and drove an ox team to Camp Floyd, Utah, arriving there September, 1858; went to Salt Lake City, and with five others bought four horses and a wagon and started south through the Utah Valley. The day before the party arrived at Fillmore City, the capital of Utah Territory, the Indians mistook two Mormons for soldiers and killed them within a few miles of Fillmore, and after finding they had killed their friends, they threatened to kill the families also, thinking thus to remove all danger of revenge being taken. On the arrival of the party in Fillmore the Mormons begged them to remain and help protect the families. They did so, remaining until the Indians were made to understand that they were not going the right way about it to undo the wrong done by them. This act of protection on the side of the party secured them constant good treatment as long as they remained in the Mormon settlements. After getting out of the Mormon settlements they had several skirmishes with the Piute Indians, but arrived safely at San Bernardino, California, in November. A few weeks later he went to the Gila River mines, in Arizona, but, not finding them as represented, returned to Los Angeles and went to the Kern River mines. Learning of an expedition being formed to establish a wagon road from Fort Tejon, California, to Fort Smith, Arkansas, under command of Col. E. F. Beal (now General) and Mr. S. A. Bishop (now of San Jose), Mr. Spitzer joined the party, being the youngest member of it, and spent the summer in Arizona and New Mexico. Came to Visalia in the fall, and in the spring of 1860 went to Mono Lake, where he engaged in teaming, mining, keeping restaurant, etc. On one of his prospecting tours he and his party camped during a snow-storm for several weeks under a quartz ledge twenty-five or thirty feet high. This was afterward located, and, as the old Esmeralda mine, has given millions of wealth to the world.
Leaving the mines he went to Fresno County, and worked for the Overland Stage Company. From there he went to Monterey County, in March, 1861, and in 1862 to San Luis Obispo County. He came to Santa Clara County in the spring of 1863 and worked in the redwoods, felling timber for Fremont's mill. In the fall, with W. T. Brown, of this county, formerly of Louisiana, he started for the East, intending to join the Confederate army. In Austin; Nevada, Spitzer was laid up all winter with inflammatory rheumatism, and the trip was abandoned. He prospected and worked in Nevada until 1865. He came to Santa Clara County the fall of that year and then went on to San Luis Obispo County to engage in farming and stock-raising, until the spring of 1867. His next venture was with Thomas McGreal, in Oregon, where they bought 400 head of stock cattle. They brought them to California and sold them. Mr. Spitzer then engaged in farming in this county.
For four years he served as Deputy County Assessor under Henry Phelps, from 1875 to 1879, and continued to farm until he was elected County Assessor in 1882, on the Democratic ticket. He then sold his farm and moved to San Jose. At the conclusion of his term of four years he was re-nominated by acclamation by his party, and re-elected by a good majority.
In July, 1865, Mr. Spitzer was married, at Austin, Nevada, to Miss Elizabeth H. Easterday. Mrs. Spitzer is the daughter of Francis and Sarah (Davis) Easterday, who were married October 27, 1842. Her father was born in Carroll County, Kentucky, and her mother in Franklin County, of that State. Mrs. Spitzer's parents had eight children, as follows:‑ William Thomas, born July 27, 1843, married Nannie T. Baird, of Carroll County, Kentucky; Margaret, born May 6, 1846, married Simon S. Higginbotham; Elizabeth Hardin, born August 5, 1848, married Lewis A. Spitzer, July 4, 1865; Lewis, born June 29, 1851, died March 23, 1854; James, born October 20, 1853, died April 10, 1854; Sarah. Frances, born January 16, 1856, married Thomas W. Whitehurst; John Davis, born November 15, 1858; Lucy Ellen, born November 1, 1862, married William T. Blake. The last two children were born in Clinton County, Missouri, and all the others in Carroll County, Kentucky. The old folks are now living seven miles southwest of San Jose, where they have a fine vineyard of fifty-six acres.
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis A. Spitzer have had nine children, all born in Santa Clara County, as follows: Mary Ellen, born February 11, 1867, just one day after her father's birthday; Francis Easterday, born August 6, 1868, just one day after his mother's birthday; Maggie Lee, born December 12, 1870 ; Sarah Elizabeth, born September 23, 1872; Charles Henry, born March 21, 1874, died July 17 of same year; Lewis A., born. February 27, 1881; William S., born October 16, 1882, died April 29, 1883; Florence Virginia, born December 8, 1883; Ethel Lorraine, born March 10, 1888. The eldest boy is now upon the ocean, somewhere in European waters; the others who are old enough are attending school or college in San Jose.
Mr. Spitzer had an uncle who left home before he, the subject of this sketch, was born, and who has never been heard from; but there is evidence that the Spitzer of the ill-fated Donner party who died at Breen's cabin in 1846 was this uncle.
Mr. Spitzer is one of the best products of America and her institutions—a self-made man—one who, by pluck, perseverance, honesty, and honorable dealings with all men, has placed himself in the front rank. Whether with him or against him politically, all are his friends personally, and he is universally considered a diligent, capable, and trustworthy public officer. He is not a member of any church, but he is a believer in the Christian religion. He is a member of several fraternal societies, viz.: Friendship Lodge, No. 210, F. & A. M.; Howard Chapter, No. 14, R. A. M.; San Jose Commandery, No. 10, Knights Templar; San Jose Chapter, No. 31, O. E. S.; and Enterprise Lodge, No. 17, A O. U. W.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
New Trier
I went to New Trier High School in Winnetka, IL, from 1949-1953. Bob was a junior when I was a freshman. He had managed to land on the Librarian's shit list . The first time I went to the library, the Librarian took me aside and let me know that she was keeping an eye on me and I better stay away from "That Spitzer bunch." I never much liked Library after that. Although I never knew what had set her off.
Mostly I would walk to the North Shore station and take the train to Winnetka. Then walk the few blocks to school. My father had arranged an employee family pass for me so that I could ride free.
In the winter, the station house had a small cast iron stove that burned coal So, I'd stay in that end of the waiting room. In nice weather, in was fun to stand outside on the platform enjoying the weather. Sometimes our next door neighbor would give me a ride in his truck. That was more like door-to-door service. Len Hoffman was a house painter, and WWI US Marine Veteran, who would often drive to Winnetka for jobs.
I played baseball in my freshman year but never made the varsity. The curve ball did me in. I was a pretty good batter until pitchers learned how to throw curve balls. Then I was dead meat. I was a good fielding shortstop. But with my anemic batting average, could never make the team.
I was an indifferent student except for certain classes that really got my interest. I loved American History and consumed the entire year's book in the first month. I tried to take the final exam right then and there. But, rules were rules and I had to sit through the rest of the year, being bored. The teacher wasn't aware of my interest enough to give me extra work to broaden my knowledge and I just lost interest and finished with a 'C'.
I liked the literature part of English. But hated the rhetoric and the diagramming of sentences. That came back to bite me in my senior year when I flunked English and had to make it up in summer school after graduation, in order to finally get my diploma in August. At the June Graduation Ceremony, I was given a folder, like every other Graduate. Except mine didn't contain a certificate.
I did fairly well in Math but never progressed much past Algebra. I took two years of Algebra and one of Geometry, which was all I needed to graduate. The odd thing was that when I entered the U of I, I was granted a waiver from further Mathematics requirement.
My friends were mostly the guys I had grown up with in Wilmette and a few that I met at New Trier. Some of them were from the stagecraft group. I loved singing and acting and being on the stage crew for the plays and musicals that were put on. Every year, New Trier would put on a self staged show called 'Lagniappe.' It was a musical that was a lot of fun. Not being in the "favored few" at school, I never did get to be on stage for Lagniappe. But, I did work on the stagehand crew and the lighting crew. At least I was on the team.
We formed our own acting company, outside of school and put on several plays that we had written. That was a lot of fun and I got the lead in several.
One of my friends, Dick Schultheis, "Shorty", had a Crosley car. The Crosleys were probably smaller that a Mini Cooper. Shorty's was a 4 door sedan that was light enough that four of us could pick it up--and did. Dick would never know where his little car would wind up. One day we set it at the top of the stairs to the Assembly Hall. He always had a yen for odd cars.
Later in life, he had several MG TC and TD roadsters in various levels of running condition. And several Ford Edsels long after they were out of production.
Mostly I would walk to the North Shore station and take the train to Winnetka. Then walk the few blocks to school. My father had arranged an employee family pass for me so that I could ride free.
In the winter, the station house had a small cast iron stove that burned coal So, I'd stay in that end of the waiting room. In nice weather, in was fun to stand outside on the platform enjoying the weather. Sometimes our next door neighbor would give me a ride in his truck. That was more like door-to-door service. Len Hoffman was a house painter, and WWI US Marine Veteran, who would often drive to Winnetka for jobs.
I played baseball in my freshman year but never made the varsity. The curve ball did me in. I was a pretty good batter until pitchers learned how to throw curve balls. Then I was dead meat. I was a good fielding shortstop. But with my anemic batting average, could never make the team.
I was an indifferent student except for certain classes that really got my interest. I loved American History and consumed the entire year's book in the first month. I tried to take the final exam right then and there. But, rules were rules and I had to sit through the rest of the year, being bored. The teacher wasn't aware of my interest enough to give me extra work to broaden my knowledge and I just lost interest and finished with a 'C'.
I liked the literature part of English. But hated the rhetoric and the diagramming of sentences. That came back to bite me in my senior year when I flunked English and had to make it up in summer school after graduation, in order to finally get my diploma in August. At the June Graduation Ceremony, I was given a folder, like every other Graduate. Except mine didn't contain a certificate.
I did fairly well in Math but never progressed much past Algebra. I took two years of Algebra and one of Geometry, which was all I needed to graduate. The odd thing was that when I entered the U of I, I was granted a waiver from further Mathematics requirement.
My friends were mostly the guys I had grown up with in Wilmette and a few that I met at New Trier. Some of them were from the stagecraft group. I loved singing and acting and being on the stage crew for the plays and musicals that were put on. Every year, New Trier would put on a self staged show called 'Lagniappe.' It was a musical that was a lot of fun. Not being in the "favored few" at school, I never did get to be on stage for Lagniappe. But, I did work on the stagehand crew and the lighting crew. At least I was on the team.
We formed our own acting company, outside of school and put on several plays that we had written. That was a lot of fun and I got the lead in several.
One of my friends, Dick Schultheis, "Shorty", had a Crosley car. The Crosleys were probably smaller that a Mini Cooper. Shorty's was a 4 door sedan that was light enough that four of us could pick it up--and did. Dick would never know where his little car would wind up. One day we set it at the top of the stairs to the Assembly Hall. He always had a yen for odd cars.
Later in life, he had several MG TC and TD roadsters in various levels of running condition. And several Ford Edsels long after they were out of production.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Uncle Mick's Farm
The Spitzer farm was located in Rockingham County, Virginia, near the town of Broadway.
It remained in the family from it's founding until my Aunt Reba's move to a nursing home in 1996(?). An auction was held to dispose of many of the furnishings that the family members did not claim. My family heirloom was the bed that my father was born in. The "Spitzer Bed" is currently (2010) in Ginger's condo in Chicago.
Uncle Mick had a 'General Farm' a few cows for meat, milk and cream, chickens for eggs and meat, a few lambs and sometimes a flock of turkeys. During the war (WW II) when so much food was rationed, they'd send us some canned meat and vegetables. What a treat that was.
We visited Uncle Mick and Aunt Reba shortly after the war was over. That was before we owned a car and my father would get the family passes on the Northwestern RR and the C&O(Chesapeake and Ohio RR) and we would take the train to Washington, DC. Mother would fix a picnic basket of food for the trip including some home made fried chicken and "American Legion" eggs (Deviled eggs). We would have to change trains in Cincinnati, There was a layover. But, I don't recall how long.
When we arrived in Washington, my cousin, Mariel and her husband Eugene Flory, picked us up at the station and took us to their farm. Eugene milked a small herd of 60 or so Holstein cows. And shipped milk to the Washington area. One year, we visited in August as Eugene was ready to harvest corn for silage. This was about 1950. The Flory farm was located just outside of Manassas, VA and in the midst of Mennonite farms. All of the farmers in the area got together to help the harvest, going to one farm after the other. There were a few tractors and many teams of horses. At that time, silage corn was cut off at the ground level and the stalks were bound together with twine. The bundles of stalks were carried on a conveyor and dropped on a wagon pulled alongside. A man would catch the bundles as they came off the conveyor and stack them on the wagon much as hay is stacked. Then, the finished wagon load would be brought to the silo where a separate crew of men would feed the bundles into a chopper/ blower and the chopped corn was blown into the silo. Eugene had a Ford 8N tractor that pulled the cutter/bundler and a team of draft horses, "Pete" and "Barney" who would pull the wagon and haul it to the silo. Pete was blind and would follow Barney's lead.
I was given two great thrills. One I was allowed to ride on Pete when he and Barney were put out to pasture. Bob rode Barney. Pete would go wherever Barney went as though they were hitched together. They walked everywhere, side by side. Neither Bob nor I had any real control over the horses, But we were thrilled just the same. One other time I was told to drive the team to the barn. "Just remember, when you get to the road, they will stop and wait for you to say the road is clear and they can go. They'll do the rest by themselves." That was the big thrill of my fourteen-year-old life. I felt like a real teamster. I was on top of the world. Of course the team could have done it all by themselves, except for the OK to cross the road.
Another cousin, Elson Summers lived in Arlington, VA and we would visit with him and his wife, Louise. Louise was from South Carolina and had the most delightful southern drawl. Elson had been a submariner during WW II and was working for the Navy, after the war on some secret new sub project.
At Uncle Mick's we stayed in the 'new' house, where my father and Uncle Mick were born. The house had five bedrooms on the second floor, Dan and Dorothy each had their rooms Uncle Mick and Aunt Reba had one and My parents had one. Bob and I slept in Dan's room and Ginny with Dorothy, as I recall.
Uncle Mick would rise before dawn and start his chores. He miked four or five cows by hand, selling the cream to a local dairy. Then, he'd feed the chickens, gather the eggs, feed the lambs and, finally come in for breakfast. I'd laugh at the way he'd shoot a stream of milk into the open mouth of a barn cat.
Aunt Reba would be preparing breakfast, using a wood burning cook stove. She was masterful in putting in the right combination of pine to make the fire hot, elm to cool it down, oak for long lasting fire, etc. Breakfast would consist of bacon and sausage and perhaps ham or chicken. Plus pancakes and eggs and toast with butter an jam. I'm sure that Uncle Mick was ready for a hearty breakfast after being outside doing chores for three or four hours.
Aunt Reba would bake pies and cakes in the wood stove's oven as well as bake bread. In the summer, they would move the wood stove to the porch or "Summer Kitchen" so the stove wouldn't heat up the house unnecessarily. It seemed like every meal was a feast with two or three meats, plenty of garden fresh vegetables mashed or fried potatoes and dessert. I'm not sure how much of that was their every day table or how much was there because they had had guests.
Bob and I would try to catch one of the half-grown lambs to pet them. But we didn't have farm sense and the lambs knew it. Try as we might, we never did catch one. We did catch a couple of chickens for dinner and Aunt Reba butchered and dressed them. We had wonderful fried chicken and milk gravy that night for dinner.
It remained in the family from it's founding until my Aunt Reba's move to a nursing home in 1996(?). An auction was held to dispose of many of the furnishings that the family members did not claim. My family heirloom was the bed that my father was born in. The "Spitzer Bed" is currently (2010) in Ginger's condo in Chicago.
Uncle Mick had a 'General Farm' a few cows for meat, milk and cream, chickens for eggs and meat, a few lambs and sometimes a flock of turkeys. During the war (WW II) when so much food was rationed, they'd send us some canned meat and vegetables. What a treat that was.
We visited Uncle Mick and Aunt Reba shortly after the war was over. That was before we owned a car and my father would get the family passes on the Northwestern RR and the C&O(Chesapeake and Ohio RR) and we would take the train to Washington, DC. Mother would fix a picnic basket of food for the trip including some home made fried chicken and "American Legion" eggs (Deviled eggs). We would have to change trains in Cincinnati, There was a layover. But, I don't recall how long.
When we arrived in Washington, my cousin, Mariel and her husband Eugene Flory, picked us up at the station and took us to their farm. Eugene milked a small herd of 60 or so Holstein cows. And shipped milk to the Washington area. One year, we visited in August as Eugene was ready to harvest corn for silage. This was about 1950. The Flory farm was located just outside of Manassas, VA and in the midst of Mennonite farms. All of the farmers in the area got together to help the harvest, going to one farm after the other. There were a few tractors and many teams of horses. At that time, silage corn was cut off at the ground level and the stalks were bound together with twine. The bundles of stalks were carried on a conveyor and dropped on a wagon pulled alongside. A man would catch the bundles as they came off the conveyor and stack them on the wagon much as hay is stacked. Then, the finished wagon load would be brought to the silo where a separate crew of men would feed the bundles into a chopper/ blower and the chopped corn was blown into the silo. Eugene had a Ford 8N tractor that pulled the cutter/bundler and a team of draft horses, "Pete" and "Barney" who would pull the wagon and haul it to the silo. Pete was blind and would follow Barney's lead.
I was given two great thrills. One I was allowed to ride on Pete when he and Barney were put out to pasture. Bob rode Barney. Pete would go wherever Barney went as though they were hitched together. They walked everywhere, side by side. Neither Bob nor I had any real control over the horses, But we were thrilled just the same. One other time I was told to drive the team to the barn. "Just remember, when you get to the road, they will stop and wait for you to say the road is clear and they can go. They'll do the rest by themselves." That was the big thrill of my fourteen-year-old life. I felt like a real teamster. I was on top of the world. Of course the team could have done it all by themselves, except for the OK to cross the road.
Another cousin, Elson Summers lived in Arlington, VA and we would visit with him and his wife, Louise. Louise was from South Carolina and had the most delightful southern drawl. Elson had been a submariner during WW II and was working for the Navy, after the war on some secret new sub project.
At Uncle Mick's we stayed in the 'new' house, where my father and Uncle Mick were born. The house had five bedrooms on the second floor, Dan and Dorothy each had their rooms Uncle Mick and Aunt Reba had one and My parents had one. Bob and I slept in Dan's room and Ginny with Dorothy, as I recall.
Uncle Mick would rise before dawn and start his chores. He miked four or five cows by hand, selling the cream to a local dairy. Then, he'd feed the chickens, gather the eggs, feed the lambs and, finally come in for breakfast. I'd laugh at the way he'd shoot a stream of milk into the open mouth of a barn cat.
Aunt Reba would be preparing breakfast, using a wood burning cook stove. She was masterful in putting in the right combination of pine to make the fire hot, elm to cool it down, oak for long lasting fire, etc. Breakfast would consist of bacon and sausage and perhaps ham or chicken. Plus pancakes and eggs and toast with butter an jam. I'm sure that Uncle Mick was ready for a hearty breakfast after being outside doing chores for three or four hours.
Aunt Reba would bake pies and cakes in the wood stove's oven as well as bake bread. In the summer, they would move the wood stove to the porch or "Summer Kitchen" so the stove wouldn't heat up the house unnecessarily. It seemed like every meal was a feast with two or three meats, plenty of garden fresh vegetables mashed or fried potatoes and dessert. I'm not sure how much of that was their every day table or how much was there because they had had guests.
Bob and I would try to catch one of the half-grown lambs to pet them. But we didn't have farm sense and the lambs knew it. Try as we might, we never did catch one. We did catch a couple of chickens for dinner and Aunt Reba butchered and dressed them. We had wonderful fried chicken and milk gravy that night for dinner.
Memories
I remember once when I was about 7 or8 years old, I was sent to Cazel's store to get a gallon of milk. Milk came in glass containers and a gallon of milk was heavy. As I went home, carrying the milk, I started swing the gallon in tine with my steps. Well centrifugal force finally took over and the gallon flew out of my hand, smashing on the sidewalk. It was quite a mess. I walked home, empty-handed, sure that I was in big trouble. I told my dad that I dropped the milk. He asked where I dropped it and did I clean it up? I told him I had not. Dad got a broom and dust pan and a pail of water. He said "Let's go clean it up". No harsh words of hoe could I do such a thing. Just "Let's go clean it up". After we (really, just Dad) swept up the broken glass, he washed the milk away into the grass and the mess was taken care of. Then, he asked me if I thought I was strong enough to carry a gallon and I said I could. He gave me some money to buy a second gallon and sent me back to Cazel's. I felt redeemed. You better believe that was very careful toting that gallon home.
Speaking of Cazel's store. it was an old-fashioned corner grocery store. There were shelves along the walls with canned goods, a butcher counter where various cuts of meat were on display and a cashier's counter where you would bring your purchases to be rung up. Next to the front door were wooden barrels with bulk items including dog kibbles. My brother, Bob, had a fondness for the dog food and each time we went out he would grab a handful and eat them on the way home. I guess he liked the taste. It was a treat for him.
Football
When Bob was in high School,and I was still in Jr. High, he played on the football team. One spring, he broke his collar bone. In those days, he was put in a plaster cast from mid chest to the wrist of the affected hand. (I don't remember whether right or left.) That meant that he was unable to lie down or get up without assistance. So, I became his care taker. Of course, I reminded him of all the times he had bullied me and made him ask politely and say 'please' and 'thank you' before I would help him. When anyone was around, I was the soul of caring when he needed help. My reign was short-lived and Bob made me pay, many times over, when he healed up.
Summer on the porch.
During the summer when it was hot and humid, my parents set up two bunks in the pack porch on the second floor where we could open the windows and catch the evening breezes. We would lie in bed and watch as thunderstorms grew in the distance. The lightning flashes, bright in the darkening sky to the west. We could smell the approaching rain and loved the cooling breezes and wait until the last moment to close the windows. More than once, we got wet before we got the windows closed. If we were still awake when the storm had passed, we'd rush to open them again and breathe in the fresh cool air.
Speaking of Cazel's store. it was an old-fashioned corner grocery store. There were shelves along the walls with canned goods, a butcher counter where various cuts of meat were on display and a cashier's counter where you would bring your purchases to be rung up. Next to the front door were wooden barrels with bulk items including dog kibbles. My brother, Bob, had a fondness for the dog food and each time we went out he would grab a handful and eat them on the way home. I guess he liked the taste. It was a treat for him.
Football
When Bob was in high School,and I was still in Jr. High, he played on the football team. One spring, he broke his collar bone. In those days, he was put in a plaster cast from mid chest to the wrist of the affected hand. (I don't remember whether right or left.) That meant that he was unable to lie down or get up without assistance. So, I became his care taker. Of course, I reminded him of all the times he had bullied me and made him ask politely and say 'please' and 'thank you' before I would help him. When anyone was around, I was the soul of caring when he needed help. My reign was short-lived and Bob made me pay, many times over, when he healed up.
Summer on the porch.
During the summer when it was hot and humid, my parents set up two bunks in the pack porch on the second floor where we could open the windows and catch the evening breezes. We would lie in bed and watch as thunderstorms grew in the distance. The lightning flashes, bright in the darkening sky to the west. We could smell the approaching rain and loved the cooling breezes and wait until the last moment to close the windows. More than once, we got wet before we got the windows closed. If we were still awake when the storm had passed, we'd rush to open them again and breathe in the fresh cool air.
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