My dad always
referred to Grandma Minnie as his “mean grandmother”. I feel that was a misnomer. Misnomer is from the French indicating a lack of fit
when it comes to naming according to Webster. So I am going to tell you why. I did not know Great Grandma Minnie. I think I only met her twice. However, I have researched her and talked to my Dad's cousin Char and gained insight into Minnie's life and times. I gained great admiration and respect for her.
Minnie did not like my dad and
his sister talking at the dinner table or interrupting when she was visiting. Dad
said she always told Grandpa that “children should be seen and not heard.” Dad
and his sister, Lola, cowered whenever Grandma Minnie spoke.
One
remembrance that Dad told was when I was born: Grandma Minnie sent
Dad’s uncle Leonard to Copley Memorial Hospital that day.
“Robert, are you going to raise her
Catholic or Lutheran?”
A long silence ensued. No answer.
Leonard raised his voice. “Are you
going to raise her Catholic or Lutheran? Ma wants to know.”
More silence.
With his hands clasped on his lap
and head staring down at the floor, Dad mumbled, “I guess, Catholic.”
Leonard yelled, “That’s it then!”
and stomped out of the room.
Mom just sat there holding me and
staring at Dad.
Not everyone saw Minnie in the same
way. My Dad’s cousin Charalways described Grandma Minnie as
warm and gracious. She spoke fondly of Minnie and loved her dearly. After Minnie’s death, Char rescued Minnie’s
set of Lenox fine china, which surely would have been tableware for her sister,
Nettie’s cats otherwise.
Char was raised Lutheran. Maybe that made a difference. Grandma Minnie taught
Bible studies, worked the women’s annual boutique, and sewed quilts and
blankets for St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. Char’s husband and Grandpa were
deacons in the church. Grandpa raised my Dad and Lola as Catholic, only because Grandma was Catholic but he was not anti-Catholic, like Minnie. Grandpa used
to transport the nuns to the grocery store and shopping in his old Packard, but
he never
Figure 1: Grandpa’s car
converted to Catholicism out of
respect for Minnie.
Wilhelmina Elisabeth Pluecker was the
daughter of immigrant Germans who came from the village of Kohlgrund in Fulda
area of the Hesse, Germany.
Figure 2: Kohlgrund, Germany is 40 miles north west of
Kassel, Germany.
Hessians. The Pluecker’s settled in Aurora, Illinois in 1868, 40
miles west of Chicago. In 1885 Minnie married Charles Fermazin who was an
immigrant from Popowo, Posen, Prussia in1876. He arrived at age 9 and met and married Minnie when he
was 20 years old. She was 18. They made their home in Aurora for four years. He was raised on a
farm so in 1889, when the opportunity presented itself for the family to farm
in Minnesota, they took it. Charles’ half-sister Caroline Steingraber was
living in Lakefield, Minnesota so this paved the way for them to settle there.
Lakefield had many things to offer. It
was a German Lutheran community with rich
farmland at cheap prices. Lakefield had electricity, a dentist office, a
hospital, a grain mill, a train station, and in 1897, telephones and a high school, which would give the older
children the opportunity to receive a high school education. The children
received their primary education in a one-room schoolhouse.
Figure 3: Lakefield, Minnesota. One room schoolhouse.
Figure 4: Lakefield, Minnesota 1900-1905. Coutesy of
Jackson Historical Society.
Figure 5: Lakefield, Minnesota 1900-1905. Courtesy of
Jackson Historical Society.
Relatives, German culture, and a
Lutheran community may have been the
reason for moving with the chance to farm and raise their children in the open spaces of Lakefield. German families that moved from
Illinois to Minnesota also moved because of economic reasons. Their families
were growing and they needed more land. In many cases the land they had in
Illinois was more valuable so they could sell off the land there and buy more
acres with the same amount of money. Minnie and Charles took the opportunity to lease a 215-acre farm and moved with
their three children. Four more children followed.
Working the land and being a
farmer’s wife was new for Minnie. She wasn’t a big woman. She was about 4’11
inches tall weighing 100 pounds soaking wet. Like many nineteenth-century women, she
dedicated herself to her family. Her experience may be understood only when we
give full credit to the respect she herself gave to her role as a wife and
mother. And like other frontier women, she believed that hard work, religious
faith, and land ownership were prerequisites for family prosperity.
The family attended church on Sunday in town at Immanuel Lutheran. I pictured Minnie on most days, waking up before four, making breakfast of eggs sunny side up, fried potatoes,
and toast with coffee and fruit. I
imagined that every morning upon awakening she dressed, donned a hairnet to
pull her blond hair back, and put on her large flowered apron with a big
pocket on each side. She skimmed milk, churned butter, did large washings, and
tended her garden. On some days she baked
as many as six loaves of bread, and seven pies. While baking and doing the
ironing she made supper, and tended the chickens. Besides washing all the
dishes, making the beds, and sweeping floors. she sometimes made 100 pounds of
butter, sold eggs and canned.
All of this was done in addition to caring for
her seven children, four boys and three girls ranging in age from two years to
fourteen years. Despite days filled with varied activities and surrounded by
her children, Minnie missed her mother and sisters. She wrote letters to them,
which still exist, where she described her busy life and mentioned her loneliness. Winters in southeastern Minnesota were harsh. In 1894, the average temperature
was 4.5 degrees, sometimes dropping to 15 degrees below zero with six feet of
snow. One of the coldest recorded years was 1907 when the temperature was minus
15 degrees with six feet of snow on Easter Sunday. The fifteen years Minnie and Charles spent in Minnesota were difficult. Besides
mild to severe winters, they endured economic to lean years.
They were taxed on their personal property. The value ranged from $
139.00 to $ 321.00 with taxes from $ 1.17 to $ 2.88 per year. The value of their taxes reflected the amount of their livestock. They owned
twelve head of horses, four geldings, four
mares, and four colts and four head of milking cows. Other equipment they owned
were a buggy, a lumber wagon, two cultivators and a McCormick saw.
Figure 6: Bill of Sale Fermazin selling equipment and
stock.
Why do I think my Dad misunderstood Minnie. I don't think he knew how harsh life was for her on the prairie and how difficult it was to raise seven children after her husband died in 1913. How lonely she must have been after the love of her life passed away. Minnie never remarried but she stayed involved with life and her church. Her boys became deacons in the Lutheran Church. That must have been a wonderful feeling for Minnie. She truly is one to be admired. I admire her so much for all she gave us: family, religion, work ethic, love, and our heritage.
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Copyright 2014 Nancy Fermazin Peralta
