Faces From the Past -- A Picnic in Kiowa County

Once when I was very young, my grandmother, Beatrice Schmidt, and her sisters, Vi Dirks and Edna Schmidt, decided we should all go on a picnic out in the field near where they grew up. The group included those three and my Aunt Judi, my mom, my sister, Nancy, my brother, Arlin and I. We walked in a shallow creek bed for a good while and I think the reason the whole event sticks with me so well, is because we all found ourselves covered in leeches and had to peel them off of ourselves. Anyway, I found a few old slide photos of that day. My guess is it was the very early 1960s.

This one is one of my all-time favorite pictures.

Tuesday's Tip - Small Town Blogs and Websites

Some time ago I found a really interesting blog. I was googling for an obituary when this blog popped up. It is called "Too Long in the Wind"  and it is part of  Pawnee Rock.org. This blog has years of interesting tidbits about the area of Kansas that many of my ancestors lived in. While I never lived in Pawnee Rock, I have visited there on numerous occasions and have visited the cemeteries and taken many photographs. (see Find A Grave for my contributions in Barton County, Kansas).

The Mennonite settlement near Pawnee Rock has long been a part of my research and I've found I have a connection to almost everyone in the Bergthal and the Dundee Cemeteries.

This blog, by the website creator Leon Unruh, is both historical and contemporary and makes the community come alive. He links to other articles and obituaries and adds comments and stories for the people and places he is familiar with.  He includes photos - old and new and often includes letters and emails from other people. He talks about the town and how it has changed over the years. And of course he blogged about the Bergthal Mennonite Church closing.

The whole Pawnee Rock website is interesting and they even have scanned the entire 1950 yearbook from the high school!

Perhaps such a blog exists for your family's town! It is worth searching for. And if not, maybe it would be a great blog to start!

Thanks, Leon, for bring Pawnee Rock, Kansas to life for me.

Those Places Thursday - Kansas MCC Relief Sale, Hutchinson, Kansas - "The Junk Man"

The Mennonite Relief Sale in Hutchinson at the State Fair Grounds has been a part of my family for many, many years. I remember going when the auction was in the old sale barn. My grandparents, Beatrice and Harvey Schmidt, were almost always there. It was a time to see people from all around the state and even outside the state that you hadn't seen in awhile.

The sale is a charity sale - with all proceeds going to MCC - the missions branch of the Mennonite churches. There was always a quilt auction with quilts made and donated by churches and individuals. Plenty of other things get auctioned off as well, but the quilt auction has been a big draw for some time. But maybe even more of a draw than the quilts, is the food. Because, while not everyone can afford to bid on a quilt, everyone can enjoy the food.

We attended and enjoyed the sale during the years my grandparents were alive, but after they died, the sale took on a new meaning. My dad had worked out an agreement with his dad, Harvey, regarding the years and acres of accumulation of stuff. Grandpa Harvey loved auctions and there was more than a little stuff piled up on his farm. Someday I'll write more about that.

One of the first years

But for now, it is enough to say that Dad and Grandpa came to an agreement that what the family did not want, could be sold at auction with the proceeds going to MCC. So after Grandpa died, Dad took on the project of taking several trailer loads of stuff to the MCC sale in Hutchinson every year and selling it. Dad was fondly known as the "junk man" at the sale and people looked for him and his stuff every year.

He sold old tools, wheelbarrows, buckets, wagons, tractor seats, pumps, jacks . . .the list goes on and on. Any number of things in just about any condition. Many people used these rusty items as yard art. Occasionally someone would find something they'd been looking for - a particularly collectible tool or hood ornament.

These pictures were taken in some of the last years and by the looks of it, they were taken at the end of the two-day sale.

One year they made the news in the Hutchinson paper's coverage of the sale.

The sale was always a great place for family from all over the country to meet up and have fun. There are lots more stories and pictures from years of going to sales but I'll save those for another time.

Wordless Wednesday - Kansas Harvest Years Past

BIRTHDAY BIO - Ken Schmidt 1932-2011 - The Early Years

Kenneth 1936

I started Dad's bio blog in 2013 on his birthday, and continue here . . . .

Kenneth 1935

Kenneth was the oldest child. His brother was two years younger and the two of them were constant companions as they grew up. They worked together on the farm, they went hunting and fishing and they went to school in a one room schoolhouse up the road from where they lived.

Ken and his brother, Lee, on bicycles

Harvey and Kenneth

Kenneth - first duck

The back of this photo says that Ken skipped school to go quail and duck hunting with his dad south of Coldwater.

 

1932 Chevy, Ken and Fred Smith

Ken liked cars. His early letters often mentioned that he had stopped at a dealership to look at the new cars.

Harvest - the boy in center is Ken

Ken with his sister, Judi and their dog

Kenneth's sister, Judith, was several years younger than her brothers. They thought the world of their adorable little sister, although I know they teased her as well.

One of Ken's school papers tells what he like to do . . .

Ken - school assignment "What I Like To Do"

Wordless Wednesday - Snow day with Grandma Bea about 1962

Sibling Saturday -- Edna Schmidt Cooper 1887-1964

The Benjamin Schmidt and Catharina Siebert Schmidt family have had an annual reunion since the 1930s. Children and grandchildren and great grandchildren keep up the family news. But sometimes there is a sibling who for one reason or another gets left behind, usually because they didn't have a family. I feel that way about Edna.

Edna Schmidt Cooper

Edna was the eleventh child and youngest daughter of Benjamin and Catherina Schmidt. She was born on 4 October 1887 in Barton County, Kansas. She is the only one of their children who lived to adulthood and did not have children of her own.

Edna lived at home with her parents most of her life. She cared for them until they died.

She is found in their home in the 1900, 1910 and 1920 censuses.  Her mother died in 1919 and her father died in 1927. In the 1930 census, she is found in the home of her brother Abraham and his wife, Lena, in Kiowa County, Kansas.

The 1940 census shows her living with her new husband, widower Charles Cooper, and three of his six children. Edna and Charles were married in January of 1940. Edna was 52, Charles 51. They lived on Maple Street in Greensburg.

Edna died in June of 1964 at age 76 and Charley in January of 1973. They are both buried in Fairview Cemetery in Greensburg.

  

       

CHARLEY COOPER FAMILY:

Charles Cooper was born to Oliver Cooper and Ella Baker on the 16^th of June 1888. He married a woman named Martha and they had the following six children: 

(listed with an approximate birth date; they were all born in Oklahoma)

Ruth            1913

Beulah         1915

JW               1917

Charles W    1920

Dirl             1922

Dale            1924   - who is buried in Fairview Cemetery by his dad

Martha died sometime prior to 1930.

Wedding Wednesday -- Cornelius Smith and Katie Unruh -- married in 1904

Cornelius Smith (Schmidt), son of Tobias and Luvantina (Decker) Schmidt

married

Katherine Unruh, daughter of Peter B.  and Anna (Frey) Unruh

on

August 18, 1904

at

the Office of the Probate Judge in Marion County, Kansas

Those Places Thursday -- Bergthal Mennonite Church, a final visit

A few weeks ago I posted about this church as a “SentimentalSunday” post and mentioned that I would be attending the memorial service for the church on May 26. I did attend that service and want to share some of that with you.

Sunday morning I arrived early and was able to walk around the church admiring the beautiful woodwork and windows but also noting that the building was suffering from mold damage.  There were two rooms full of things being auctioned off in a silent auction. Shelves, pictures, offering plates, windows, dishes.  Great photos can be found on a blog called Life in Claremont.

There were also quite a few books that were free for the taking. I was excited to find a German hymnal and also a shape-note hymnal.  I bid on several things but at the end of the day, I ended up with a small box and one of 7 large stained glass windows! I must say I am very excited to get it later in the summer.

Published by:
Mennoniten von Nord-Amerika 1893

The church filled up quickly and even to overflowing.  The Bergthal Facebook page says about 350 people were there. The service began with singing.  Beautiful harmonies of familiar hymns.  But it was hard not to feel the pain in knowing that it had been sometime since this many voices rang in these walls. And it will not ever be so again.

Charlotte (Life in Claremont blog) also made a great video that includes singing and put it on YouTube. 

But one of the most beautiful moments of the day was the message that Pastor Lynn Schlosser gave. I have spent many hours trying to write about her sermon and find myself quoting nearly the entire sermon.  Her words seem to echo all our feelings and answer all our questions.  Lynn seemed to know the questions everyone was asking themselves.

“If it feels like you’ve come to a funeral today, well you have, kind of. People often talk about how given the choice they hope their loved ones might come to see them one more time while they’re still living rather than wait and come for the funeral. That’s what we’re doing here today. I am thankful so many of you have come home, one more time, to tell this people, this place, this church how much you have loved her and what she has meant to you. . . .

And as is often the case at funerals, I want to talk about resurrection this morning. . . .  Resurrection is woven into the very structure of who we are and how we are. Resurrection is the very essence of life. . . .

Look around you and see evidence of resurrection. . . . And know this. We represent but a drop in the ocean of lives Bergthal Mennonite Church has reached out and touched in her 138 years. Our brothers and sisters circle this globe. Bergthal’s influence ripples out, with a never-ending gentle touch that shapes and nurtures.”

She goes on to give a touching recount of the final events of the movie “Les Miserables” and how the story impacted her as she thought about her beloved church, Bergthal Mennonite. She reads the lyrics of the triumphant song “When Tomorrow Comes” and then comments:

“In a similar way, I can hear those original founding ancestors from 1875, their children and grandchildren, your parents and grandparents, I can hear them singing.

We’ve dealt with such a mix of emotions these last few years - grief, anger, shame, disappointment, relief, confusion. In the book of Philippians Paul says, “ I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.” This sounds like truth. We take it on faith. But sometimes it’s hard to really believe it. How can a church’s death be a victory? How do we celebrate the loss of someone so dear. Surely we’ve let all those good people who labored hard to build this church, surely we’ve let them down. We see through a mirror but dimly.

But if we listen closely, we might just hear their voices raised in a song of triumph. I believe they stand together this day singing a song of hope and faith. They see what we can only intuit. They are enfolded by a resurrection we long for, their vision unhindered. I believe they see Bergthal’s good, long life, the many ways in which God’s Kingdom has been revealed in our midst. They see also the many ways in which Bergthal will continue to move and live, there in the realm of resurrection.”

Yes, I realize I quoted almost her entire message. But not quite. I am putting it all on a page "Pastor Schlosser's Message." It is worth reading in it's entirety. She gave me permission to use it "however you see fit."

Tombstone Tuesday -- Cemetery Marker for Bergthal Mennonite Church 1875-2013

This isn't really a tombstone but at first glance in the cemetery, it looks like one. It is a memorial marker to commemorate the Bergthal Mennonite Church that will soon be torn down as I wrote in a previous post. After it is torn down, they will use the cornerstone and some of the bricks to build a base for this marker.

This is what it says:

DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF THE BERGTHAL* MENNONITE CHURCH, 1875-2013

In 1874, Mennonite immigrants from Karlswalde, Russia, seeking religious freedom and military exemption from service, settled on land in the Dundee area which was obtained through the Homestead Act and from the Sante Fe Railroad. The only shelters available to the immigrants that first winter were railroad box cars. The first buildings, including a church, were erected in 1875. This first church, a limestone building, was used as a school. Education was afforded a high value throughout the lifetime of the congregation. A larger wooden church was built in 1897. The final building, a brick church dedicated in 1915, was situated one mile north of this cemetery. Like thousands of rural churches across the country, the membership declined rapidly in its later years. Bergthal Mennonite was known for its emphasis on peace and service and was an active member of the Western District Conference until it officially disbanded in 2013.

*Hill and Valley

Bergthal Mennonite Church, Pawnee Rock, Barton County, Kansas

Tombstone Tuesday - Benjamin Schmidt and Catharina Siebert Schmidt - Dundee Valley Cemetery

Benjamin P. Schmidt - son of Peter Schmidt and Katherine Voth - and his wife,  Catharina Siebert - daughter of Abraham Siebert and Anna Jantz - are buried in the Dundee Valley Cemetery in Barton County Kansas. They were married in Karlswalde, Russia 27 November 1864 and immigrated to the United States in 1875. They had twelve children.

 

Sentimental Sunday - Goodbye to an Old Church - Bergthal Mennonite

Church dedication 1915

This almost feels like it should read "Sunday's Obituary." It makes me sad. Some of my cousins called me today because they saw an article in USA Today and the Wichita Eagle about a small church closing in Kansas.

It was the church that our Mennonite ancestors helped start in Pawnee Rock, Kansas.

I looked the article up online and then followed the link to the original article that was in the Great Bend Tribune.

"Landmark Bergthal Mennonite Church closing its doors"
[this link now requires a subscription to see all of it but you can still see a photo as of May 22]

You can read some of the story there - it has some great photos -  but let me just add to it.

I did not grow up in Pawnee Rock. My grandfather, Harvey Schmidt, was born there. His parents grew up there. His father immigrated when he was a year old and they settled in this area with a group of immigrant Mennonites from Russia.

I never attended the church in this story - Bergthal Mennonite. But it has always been a part of the family story. When we lived in Kansas, it was a frequent road trip to go to Pawnee Rock for an afternoon of family history.

The first church was the stone church:

The old stone church that my ancestor Benjamin Schmidt helped build.

In later years, a monument to this church was built and placed at the side of the highway. It was a small model of the building made from the stones of the original building.

Plaque on the monument naming the immigrant settlers

Aunt Judi at the monument around 1960

Arlin and Nancy by the monument - around 1960

Later the roadside monument was damaged by vandals and moved to the basement of the church building.

The congregation built a frame church in 1899 and then a brick building in 1915.

Frame church 1899

 The brick structure won't make it to it's centennial year. Like many rural congregations it has been dwindling in size and currently only 14 people regularly attend. They have decided to close and to tear down the building.

A few years ago - 2004 I believe - I went to Pawnee Rock and met with the church historian and distant cousin of mine by marriage, Ruth Deckert. Ruth had many stories to tell and gave me a tour of the church and the town of Pawnee Rock. The church is a ways outside of town - to say it is a rural church is more than accurate. It has a cemetery with it and I think I am related to almost everyone in it! I took lots of pictures and lots of notes. Ruth was a great guide. She has since passed away and I know the community of Pawnee Rock misses her.

I do know that small rural churches have a difficult time. It makes me sad that it will be torn down but I understand their decision. Watching it fall down would be even harder.

Perhaps I will be able to make it to their memorial service on May 26 - or sometime in June before it is torn down. I have a feeling that the history shared in these last days will be worth the trip.

June update: [See the new memorial marker here and my follow-up blog here, regarding the memorial service in May.]

Faces From the Past - Family Reunion?

My parents found this photo in some old junk from an auction. These people are not related to me in any way, but the picture is so fun to look at. This was probably taken in Kansas somewhere.

Here is a couple of zoomed in shots . . .