HTML: 6B 1887-1888
Mr. K.G. Wünsche, Schönbach near Löbau in Saxony.
May 27, 1887.
After I received the "Evangelical Lutheran Community Newspaper," your welcome letter arrived also. If your handwriting weren’t always the same, I would think that your letters were composed by different people. While some of them seem quite free-thinking, others are back in darkness; but I still value your letters, whether they express firm belief or free thought. You are very much mistaken if you think that reason will gain the upper hand here in America. Here more than anywhere else, I think, the ministers try hard to keep the people in ignorance. Also in political matters we have a good comparison to your Gypsies—the black population. They were slaves a few years ago but can now be found in Congress as legislators.
I have read about your big snow blockade. We had something similar in Dakota, where houses and stables were buried under the snow, so that people had to climb out of their roofs and dig holes into the stables from above to keep the cattle from choking. Here in Wis. we had the nicest winter, with little snow and good sledding tracks, so that the farmers were able to work in the woods all the time. Spring planting time was also very good, but the good weather is still continuing and it is so dry that many seeds aren’t coming up at all. There will be little or no hay.
As you will have learned by reading this, I am still alive, and I still enjoy quite good health. In spite of this, I am not making any calculations as to how long I still have to carry the <T280> burden of life. Here in America, everything goes at a fast pace: red today, dead tomorrow.
With friendly greetings, your friend F.A.M.
If it has given you as much pleasure as it did to me, then let us continue our exchange of ideas as long as we can hold a pen.
P.S. I think the climate here is much the same as in Schönbach. We have been eating lettuce from the garden for the past two weeks. The peas are in bloom. Fruit trees blossomed without a frost and promise a rich crop, but many garden seeds have not come up because it is too dry. The cattle feed themselves on the pasture. A pound of butter sells for 50 pfennigs, and for twice as much in the city; a dozen eggs, 30 pfennigs.
<Written in English.> Adolph F. Meissner, Waldo, Josephine Co., Oregon.
24 Jul 1887 [excerpt].
… How far are you from Ernest? We hardly understand how you can manage such a big farm. Kiss Dillie and Albert for Grandpa …
<T280, cont.> August Schlomann
July 24, 1887.
Dear Children. I am writing to find out how you are doing. How are Emma and the little prince and the other children? We would surely be happy if you could send Louise to us for this summer, but I am not sure the child could make the trip alone, and besides Emma might need her there to rock the little prince to sleep. How is your business coming along?
We are having a very dry summer and high temperatures, 100 degrees and more. For many farmers, everything has burned up—that is, dried up. Things are quite good with us. We have a cool spring that never fails right at our door. Many farmers have to carry water for two miles and their cattle are starving on the pasture.
Grandmother’s leg has improved enough so that she can do light housework. Carl is also better, but has not yet recovered his strength.
We have not heard from Kummerfeld nor from Karoline (is she still in England?) for a long time, nor from Ernest Gerstenberg. Our boys in Oregon were still well, the last we heard. If you don’t have time, Schlomann, have Emma write a long letter to us.
<Written in English.> Ernest F. Meissner, Kerby, Josephine Co., Oregon.
28 Jul 1887 [excerpt].
… Adolf [sic] by hiring [renting] that farm has gained an easier existence. Loretta will not need to starve any more on pork and beans, but in the end I think you will come out best. I have seen no one yet who works farms on shares, getting well off. How is it? Mrs. Haskins has written home your claims were railroad land, you could not hold the same. Is Adolf’s claim as good as yours, and how can he hold the same if he doesn’t live on it? …
<T281> August Schlomann
Aug. 6, 1887.
Dear Children. We received your letter of July 28, and we are glad to hear that all of you are well except the little prince, and that he is better too. We were also glad to hear that your business is going well. We cannot tell you of any improvement since my last letter. The drought continues and is getting worse every day. All hope for a good rain is abandoned, so that we lose all our courage.
Emma must have been overjoyed by Anna Gerstenberg’s arrival. I would surely like to know which great-grandmother she resembles (you surely mean grandmother!). Did Lina make a good choice in England? Maybe she married a rich man. She seems to have completely forgotten about us, and so has Ernest, who never writes. It is the same with Kummerfeld. Since I sent them the receipt for 1,000 Mk, of which I did not actually receive even 1,000 pfennigs, they no longer care whether I am still alive or dead. Have you ever been to Kummerfeld, August?—I built a beautiful house and planted beautiful fruit trees. I left all this behind so that I could finish my life in peace. But I had better close; I feel so depressed today. With our best regards, your Grandfather.
<Written in English.> Adolph F. Meissner.
11 Sep 1887 [excerpt].
… I see by your letter that you not only had to give up working the great farm and making your fortune, but that you also have given up your homestead claim and are now again without a home and live from hand to mouth like you did in La Crosse. You talk of your little hut you had on your claim—why didn’t you build a bigger one when you had plenty of nice big timber. But we feared from the beginning that Loretta was not made for a farmer’s wife. …
<Written in English.> Ernest F. Meissner, Kirby [Oregon].
11 Sep 1887 [excerpt]. from your Father.
… Loretta writes Adolph and Mr. Brey are going in the fishing business. … ["Mr. Brey" would be a relative of Loretta’s mother, but which one was in Oregon in 1887?]
August Schlomann
Sept. 11, 1887.
Dear August. We received your letter of Aug. 31, and we were glad to hear that all of you are well. We are all well too, except Carl who had to stay in bed for two more weeks. He was so weak all summer long that he could only do some light work or none at all, which put us so far behind.
The drought and high temperature has ended, and it has been raining almost every day. The cattle have plenty of grass on the pasture and the garden is full of flowers. Everybody says, "What a nice place you have." The best spring water, good soil, good pasture, enough wood for the stove, good butter, milk, and cream, good bread, eggs, chicken, vegetables—we live like the king of France. Apples and melons are so abundant that we can’t sell them, <T282> can’t even give them away free, as everyone has plenty.
Last week was the county fair. We got prizes for: best 3-year-old mare; best bushel winter wheat; best bushel White Dent corn; best jar butter; the biggest and best variety of vegetables; the biggest and best variety of apples and grapes; 12 prizes for flowers. Altogether about $30.
With regards to Emma and Anna. Your Grandfather.
August Schlomann
Nov. 2, 1887.
Dear August. Although you have not yet answered my letter of Sept. 11, I still believe that you are alive and doing good business. We are all well too. Because of the dry summer, feed is scarce this winter so I had to sell off some of my cattle. Couldn’t I sell you two barrels of salt beef, and how much could you pay per lb.? About a week ago we had some wintry weather and got 1/2 foot of snow. Now we have very nice weather again. The cattle go to pasture and have plenty of grass.
We have not heard from Ernest Gerstenberg all summer long, but yesterday we got a letter from him saying that he now wants to start for himself, but he did not say what he wants to start. If Emma might like to write to him, his address is: E.G., Eldred, Cass Co., Dakota. Answer soon. With greetings to all, Your Grandfather, F.A.M.
Ernest Gerstenberg, Eldred, Cass Co., Dakota.
Nov. 2, 1887.
Dear Ernest. We received your letter of Oct. 24. You wrote that you are going to start out for yourself, but did not say what. Do you have a homestead claim, or what else?—
If you will send me my note I will send you the money for it. What’s the name of the closest town to you where there is a money order office?
We have had a very dry <T283> summer. Many farmers had no crop at all. We threshed 18 bu. wheat from six acres.
Adolph is still in Oregon. He left his homestead claim because he did not want to starve there. How could you expect the poor devil to have $40 to spare in such a short time? He is now working in a lumber yard, and lives with his mother-in-law, who has remarried. His address is: Adolph F. Meissner, Grants Pass, Josephine Co., Oregon. Your sister Anna is now living in J.C.H. with Schlomanns. Lina in England is married. We are now pretty well; however, Carl has been sick all summer and so has been unable to do hardly any work at all. Your little Aunt Dora is sitting next to me and knitting stockings. Your Grandfather.
Ernest Gerstenberg, Eldred, Cass Co., Dakota.
Dec. 4, 1887.
Yesterday I received your letter dated the 21st and mailed Nov 28. We will send the money right away. Write at once. If you are in such a hurry, why did you wait almost a month before you answered my letter of Nov. 2? I enclose a Postal Money Order for $28.50; that is $25 plus $3.50 for two years’ interest. This should surely be what you wanted.
August Schlomann, J.C.H., N.J.
Dec. 6, 1887.
Dear August. I would have answered your letter of Nov. 13 sooner but I still did not know what to do. Now I have sold my beef here at a pretty fair price. Potatoes did not do well this year, and they are as expensive here as where you are. We get our apples from Michigan and Ohio. The hens do not lay many eggs in winter, and it’s the same with butter.
I got another letter from Ernest Gerstenberg a few says ago. He says he took up a homestead claim of 160 acres and bought two horses and a wagon. We have very unsettled weather, alternating between winter and summer almost every week. I have had a lame back for the past few days and I am hardly able to write. The others are all well.
<T284> Greet Emma and the children, and Anna if you can. If you have a picture of Anna, please send me a copy.
Mr. K.G. Wünsche, Schönbach near Löbau in Saxony.
Dec. 14, 1887.
As I have not heard from you since last spring, I don’t know whether you are still walking in this vale of tears, as I am—poor man., or whether you went to eternal heavenly bliss and are looking down from there mercifully to me—poor man of reason. But I will assume the first case and stop to converse with you a little.
Recent times are bursting with many important events. The illness of the German Crown Prince, the events in France, the execution of the anarchists in Chicago, and the newest and most important for us—the speech by the President of the U.S. [Cleveland, elected 1884] during the opening of Congress. The death of the German Crown Prince would probably have many important consequences. The movements and changes in France seem to indicate to me that France—a country divided within itself—will not be a strong opponent of Germany. The execution of the anarchists in Chicago is a shame for mankind: Murder was punished by murder.
However, the President’s speech is a bright masterpiece. I and many others feared that he, like Bismarck who now [?] with the Pope, would hang his coat into the wind to keep from spoiling things with the opposition party for his re-election. But he had the courage to speak out freely. Our common laws are made so that we will soon have only rich people and poor people. The Government collects 100 million dollars more in tariffs every year than it is able to spend. The government’s vaults are overflowing with money and with silver, so they have to keep building more. The Democratic Party wants to reduce tariffs; the Republican Party wants to keep tariffs because they are the means to enrich the <T285> manufacturers and the big corporations. The Eastern or manufacturing states become rich, while the Western or agricultural states become poor. The farmers are nearly all in debt. My paper says that the farms in the West owe to the rich people in the East $1,000 million, for which they pay $80 million a year in interest.
But my letter is getting too long; I had better finish. If there are not too many scoundrels among our representatives, we might get some relief. Your friend, F.A.M.
P.S. I forgot something important. The U.S. Supreme Court decided that the temperance laws that have been passed by some states are valid.
We had a very dry summer, and the winter has been mild so far.
<Written in English.>
21 Dec 1887 [excerpt].
… I think there is no healthier or more nourishing drink than Beer made of Barley and Hops, but them Saloons are a nuisance and a curse to the people and the beer that we get now is not much better than poison …
<T285, cont.> August Schlomann, J.C.H., N.J.
Jan. 10, 1888.
Dear Emma & August! We received your friendly wishes for my birthday and the New Year, and we return your good wishes. But we don’t have such beautiful silk cards to send to you. You ask how your brother Ernest is doing, and you would like to have his address.
In my letter of Nov 2, I wrote to you: "I just received a letter from E. Gerstenberg, saying that he now wants to start for himself, but he did not say what he wants to start. If Emma might like to write to him, his address is: E.G., Eldred, Cass Co., Dakota." In my letter of Dec. 6, I wrote: "I got another letter from Ernest Gerstenberg a few says ago. He says he took up a homestead claim of 160 acres and bought two horses and a wagon." Did you forget about all of this, or did you not get my letters?
Please ask Anna if she knows whether Ernest’s mother received the picture of him that I sent to her. Is Anna living with you again, or is she still working in Hoboken? If it is at all possible, please send me a picture of Anna.
Mr. Ferd. Kaiser, Eisleben, Germany.
Jan. 1888.
I received your catalog, as well as three others addressed to Schlomann, <T286> Crouse, and Gerstenberg. You can save the postage for the latter three in the future, because we all belong to one family.
I enclose a small order which I want you to send me as "Sample without value." I also enclose a money order for 16 Mk, for the amount of 10 m 25 pf plus five m 75 pf for seeds from last year. Order list …
August Schlomann, J.C.H.
Jan. 14, 1888.
Dear August! We all got drunk, and it is your fault, because what was in the bottle tasted so good we drank all of it to your health. Also the cake was so sweet that we stuffed our stomachs. But there were the Altmaner [?] drops, and a dose of these made us OK again. August is enjoying the cigars (Carl and I do not smoke!) What Mother and I like best are the chocolate and the cocoa. Little Aunt Dora is sick in bed; the rest of us are well. We have two feet of snow and severe cold, but we have enough good dry oak wood to keep us warm.
Greeting all of you, I remain your Grandfather.
Anna Gerstenberg, Hoboken, N.J.
Jan. 14 [1888].
Dear Anna. A. Schlomann gave me your address, so I will write a few lines to you. I admire your courage to come to America. Your brother Ernest, who now lives a few hundred miles to the west, is doing well so far as I know. He has not yet picked up a letter that I wrote more than a month ago, from the post office. He has probably moved again. When I hear from him, I will send you his address.
Can’t you tell me whether your mother received my letter with Ernest’s picture? Have you heard from Kummerfeld lately? How old are you, and how many of your sisters and brothers are still at home? How do you like it here? Have you found a nice place? Haven’t you heard from your sister Lina? If you have time, answer my letter soon. Your brother Ernest is a very negligent letter writer. With my greetings, your Grandfather.
<T287> Karoline Gerstenberg, Kummerfeld near Pinneberg near Hamburg, Germany.
Jan. 23, 1888.
Dear daughter. Your letter that you mailed Jan. 2 arrived here on the 18th. So it made the long trip in 18 days. I can’t tell from your letter whether you received my last letter that I wrote on my birthday a year ago. Ernest’s picture was in that letter. We are quite well so far. My wife and children can understand [spoken] German but don’t know how to write it. We often receive letters from Emma and Schlomann. They are all well. Anna is working in Hoboken, not far from J.C. where Schlomanns live.
I got a letter from Ernst dated Oct. 24 saying: I want to start for myself. Up to that time he had been working for farmers. I asked him in my reply: What do you want to start for yourself? Then he wrote on Nov. 28: "I claimed a homestead of 160 acres and bought two horses and a wagon." I answered him on Dec. 4. A few days ago my letter was returned and the Postmaster writes that Ernest left the place and he does not know where he is now.
We had a very dry summer. Many farmers on the high plains had no crop at all. We live in the valley, but have some land on the hills also. We have a good spring and a small trout lake. The farmers on the high plains had to go two or three miles for water. As we had no late frost in spring, we had fruits in abundance, corn also was good, but I had little or no garden seeds and vegetables at all.
Up until Christmas we had beautiful winter weather and good sledding tracks, but then followed a severe cold spell and heavy snow. Dakota, where Ernest was living, is about 200 miles northwest of here, along the big railroad to Oregon. That country is a big prairie with no hills or trees, has good soil for wheat, and can be cultivated without much trouble. On Jan. 14th or 15th they had a terrible blizzard (that’s a snowstorm) and the wind blows so hard that nobody can stand against it or keep their eyes open. Farmers on the way home with <T288> horses and sleds had to unharness the horses and crawl under the sleds. The cold was so severe (55 deg.) [negative?] that many people froze to death. 22 have been found so far. School teachers returning home with their children froze on the way. Farmers who went from the house to the barn to feed their cattle never came back. This was in South Dakota. In North Dakota, where Ernest was, it was not quite so bad.
I sent you four pictures: In one I am sitting and my wife is standing next to me; one is of our daughter Dora, and the two others are Carl and August. I would have liked to have your picture very much, but I begged for it in vain.
Ernest can be glad that he is no longer in Germany. I think around spring you will have a new king. I will write to you again as soon as I hear from Ernest. I would have answered sooner, but as you had not answered my last letter I thought you did not care much about me. Give my regards to your husband and children. Your Father.
August Schlomann, J.C.H.
Jan. 23, 1888.
Dear August and Emma. You probably received my letters of Jan. 10 and Jan. 14. A letter was returned to me from the post office that I had mailed to Ernest Gerstenberg on Dec. 4. The Postmaster says that Ernest left the region and he does not know where he went. They had an awful blizzard in Dakota on Jan. 14th and 15th, which extended from there down to Texas, more than 1,000 miles. In Texas a lot of cattle were frozen by [negative?] five deg. temperature and in Dakota more than 200 people froze to death by [negative] 55 deg. temperature. The blizzard was worst in South Dakota; Ernest lived in N.D.
I got a letter from your mother a few days ago; she wrote that they are all well. I enclose a package with our pictures, four items: Father and Mother together, and Carl, August, and Dora each alone. Let us know whether they arrived. The cold weather continues. Dora is quite well, and so are we. Greeting all of you, I remain your Grandfather.
<Written in English.>
24 Dec 1887 [excerpt]. To: Loretta Meissner at Grant’s Pass, Oregon
<T289> Mr. K.G. Wünsche, Schönbach near Löbau in Saxony.
Jan. 25, 1888.
Dear friend. I missed getting a letter from you, which would have completed my birthday celebration. It came this morning, and so I will have a little post-celebration, and I will use it to converse with you.
First, I want to correct a few errors. The primeval forests have been gone for a long time, and with them the deer, because everybody can hunt freely here. I never smoked tobacco, as we children believed that excessive smoking caused our father’s early death. Wisc. is 1500 Engl. miles west of N.Y. A daughter of my daughter (who is still in Germany) lives there. It takes four days for a letter to go to N.Y. and six days to Oregon, and it costs only two cts. per ounce.
The big N.W. Railroad goes through Minnesota, Dakota, and Montana to Oregon, and was built only a few years ago. Minnesota was already quite cultivated, but Dakota has only been inhabited since the railroad was finished. The region is a big prairie without hills or trees, and as the land can be cultivated without much trouble and the best wheat can be raised there, it has been fully claimed admirably [?]. But the region has its disadvantages. Like the Sirocco in Africa, they have the Dakota blizzard. This is a snowstorm as fine as sand and so strong that nobody can stand against it. On Jan. 14th and 15th, following a period of beautiful, comfortable winter weather that had charmed people out of their houses, suddenly a blizzard came. Farmers returning home with their sleds had to unharness their horses and crawl under the sleds, where they were found dead the next day. Others went to the stables to feed their cattle and never returned. School teachers trying to take their children home froze on the way. The temperature was 55 deg. below freezing [below zero?]. Two hundred people have already been found dead so far. The blizzard went south from Dakota through all the prairie states to Texas, where a lot of cattle froze to death at only [negative?] five degrees temperature. The worst of the storm passed about 30 miles west of us. We had [negative?] 40 degree temperatures. <T290> On the 19th, the temperature fell to 55 deg. below the freezing point [below zero?] but we aren’t feeling it so badly here. First, we live between mountains or hills, then we are also better prepared and have plenty of fire wood. The houses in Dakota are built very weakly, as the materials have to be transported 100 miles by rail. A ton of pit coal costs $12 there. Many young people who are starting out right now, and who were seduced by the misrepresentations of speculators to go there, now have no wood, no money, and no bread.
Until Christmas we had nice weather and good sledding tracks, but since then a lot of cold and snow. The summer was so dry around here that many farmers living on the high plains had no crop at all and had to lead their cattle many miles to water. I live in the valley and have an eternal spring, and a small trout pond near the house. I had a good crop of corn, but not much wheat or rye. The worst thing is lack of winter feed for the cattle. Many farmers had to sell or give away all their cattle.
If I am not mistaken, I am the only member of the Meissner family still alive [who lived in Schönbach]. My brother who lived near Hamburg is dead, and his wife and children are dead. My daughter in Kummerfeld near Hamburg, married Gerstenberg, has nine children [? I know of 11, of which four died before 1880—LPM]. One of her sons [Wilhelm] lives in Berlin, another [Otto?] in Hamburg, another [name ?] in Altona, a daughter [Karoline] is married in England, another one [Emma] lives in N.Y., and an unmarried son [Ernest] is in Dakota [also Frieda at home?]. Two of my sons live in Oregon, on the Pacific Coast. They are married and have several children. Two of my boys and a daughter are still at home.
What you call progress in my old homeland, I would rather call regression (so different are our points of view). It is only a pity that Minister Rade is not a member of the Catholic Church, or else the Pope would make him a saint for his great efforts to make the people pious (ignorant), and his name would be displayed in bright red letters on all our calendars.
Now, my dear friend, let me hear from you again soon. Your …
<Written in English.> To: Martha
11 Mar 1888 [excerpt].
… I also have got Ernest’s letter of Feb. 11 wherein he tells of the safe arrival of No. 3 … another little son [George Albert MEISSNER b: 7 Feb 1888 in Kerby, Josephine, OR] … I remember when August was born …we were contented and happy. When two years later another little girl [was born feet first and died] … , in consequence for about a half year my wife was very sick and has never regained her health and so notwithstanding that she has many comforts now she could not have the first years she never enjoys life and neither can I, hearing her complain all the time. …
<T290, cont.> Karoline Gerstenberg, Kummerfeld near Pinneberg near Hamburg, Germany.
April 22 [1888].
Dear daughter. I received your letter postmarked Febr. 17, 1888. I am sure that it was only because of your worries about Ernest Gerstenberg that my <T291> that you answered my letter more quickly than usual. I would have already answered you sooner, but just a short time ago I got a letter from Ernest from Eldred, Cass Co., Dakota. He wrote, "I have spent the winter in Minnesota, and now I am back." That is all the news he gives, so it is all I can tell you. If you want to know anything more, you will have to write to him yourself.
We have had a very long and cold winter. Yesterday was the first reasonably warm day, so that I could start planting my garden. There is still some snow in shady places.
I hope these lines reach all of you in good health. Your Father.
Mr. Karl Gottlieb Wünsche, Schönbach near Löbau in Saxony.
May 8, 1888.
Dear friend. You know as well as I do that the spring is a very busy time for farmers, and especially for gardeners. Besides, the winter lasted until late April. So you will excuse my delay in answering your letter. But we have had a rainy spell for the last two weeks and it is impossible to work in the fields or in the garden, so I got out my unanswered letters and busied myself with them.
I read your letter several times with interest, but I find that you are so far ahead of me in history and logic, so I won’t even try to debate with you. I’ll just enjoy our friendship that you have proved to me in many ways. The Bible verse you quoted in your letter, "The sins of the fathers will be avenged on their children," seems to be coming true in your King’s family.
You mention the dreadful Trichinosis disease in Cunewalde—I would not have believed that American pork travels as far as Cunewalde. Bismarck should know all about it. There is nothing nice to be said about politics. Our newspapers are all full of truth and lies about our next Presidential election.
We had a very long and hard winter, a lot of snow and severe cold. Spring is late, but it seems to be promising a good summer. Anyway, one must not give up hope.
Hoping that these lines may still reach you in the bliss that the good Lord bestowed upon you, and hoping that you won’t forget your Atheist friend, I remain your …
<Written in English.> To: Adolph, Grant’s Pass, Oregon
8 May 1888 [excerpt].
… We all rejoice about your good luck. Look out that you have a clear title so that it doesn’t turn out again as before when you went to work the big farm. Schlomanns … arrived from Jersey City. … They had sold out their grocery business. …
<Written in English.> To: Ernest at Kerby, Oregon
8 May 1888 [excerpt].
… A letter from Loretta tells us that they sold their house and lot in Grant’s Pass and entered a homestead on which is a house, … which an old German had built and planted. …
<T292> August Schlomann, J.C.
July 3, 1888.
Dear August. We received your card saying that you are back in the Promised Land again, and that you want to send us your address soon. Later we got a big package of newspapers, but no address. Yesterday I opened one of the papers, and a letter fell out, but there was no address on it either. I will send this letter to J.C. again, and when you receive it, please send me your new address.
We are glad to hear that all of you are well. We have had very hot weather and a lot of rain. If you had known the region before, you would hardly recognize it now, it is so green and beautiful.
Carl is quite well now. August has cut and peeled all his logs. The rest of us are the same as usual. I have not heard from [Ernest] Gerstenberg again. His last address was: Eldred, Cass Co., Dakota. We hope to hear from you soon. Greetings to all of you. Your Grandfather.
<Written in English.> To: Ernest at Kerby, Oregon
4 Jul 1888 [excerpt].
… Schlomann has two girls and two boys between one and seven years old … I am getting old [83]; my strength is nearly gone. If I work a half a day that is all I can do. … I am a Rationalist that is a man who doesn’t believe anything that is against reason. … Your mother is as much of a freethinker as I am; so is Dora. I would like to know what you are. …
<Written in English.> To: Martha at Kerby, Oregon
5 Aug Jul 1888 [excerpt].
… [Dora and Carl are sickly.] August is the only one I can rely on with my work but he has such a bad temper. …
<Written in English.> To: Loretta Meissner at McAllister, Josephine County, Oregon 5 Aug 1888 [excerpt].
<T292, cont.> Aug. & Emma Schlomann, J.C., N.J.
Sept. 16, 1888.
Dear Children! Please let us know whether you are still alive, and how you are doing. All of us are well except Mother, who has a bad leg. Our wheat is already threshed and put away. A few days ago we had the first frost, which did quite a lot of damage to the corn. In Dakota, near where Ernest Gerstenberg lives, they already had frost in August and damaged the wheat a lot. We have not heard from Ernest lately. Our boys in Oregon are well and they write that everything is fine.
As I have no other address, I will mail this letter to J.C. and hope that you will answer soon, when you get it. Greetings to all. Your Grandfather.
August Schlomann, Railroad Ave., Corner Elm Street, West Hoboken, N.J.
Oct. 15, 1888.
Dear Children. We finally heard from you. Unfortunately we heard from your letter that you have been sick a lot, and we hope that little Fritz is better now. I sure would have liked to <T293> keep Hans here, but I was always afraid that an accident would happen, because he always followed the horses. Mother has a bad leg all the time, and Carl is still sick. Father and Dora are the same as usual. August’s has built his barn, but he still works on it every day. It is 40 feet long and 20 feet wide. It took 13,000 shingles to cover it. Today we are having the first raindrops in four weeks. Our potatoes are very poor because we had a big flood during summer that washed them out. The corn is good; so is the wheat. We had a very good second crop of hay that we got in the barn during the last dry spell. Potatoes sell for 25 cts. per bushel here. But I think easier ways could be invented. The freight from Cashton to Chicago is 13 cts. per 100 lb. I could not find out how much it costs from Chicago to N.Y. Oats sell for 20 cts., corn 40 cts.
We have not heard from Ernst Gerstenberg, nor from Hasse or Kummerfeld.
I have faith in Cleveland and tariff reform. You surely must have received my last letter by now. My greetings to Emma and the children. Your Grandfather.
Mr. Louis Runkle, La Crosse, WI.
Oct. 27, 1888.
I will send you samples of herbs and prices today … I would like to know by next week whether I can sell you anything, and how much. Respectfully …
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