Klein’s Introduction

Mary Elizabeth (Atkinson) Klein (1916-2001)

The information gathered for the “Klein Tree” is quite skimpy. Most of it was acquired from listening when family members assembled and a bit from “Eureka, 1887-1974”. This book was published for the observance of the city’s Golden Jubilee. It was a project of the state’s WPA. (Works Progress Administration)

The following is copied from page 162 of that book.

“Johannes Klein came to Eureka in 1893 with the ebb tide of the great immigration from Russia. He had come to America in 1875 from Teplitz where he was born in 1855, settling on a homestead a part of which is now occupied by the city of Tripp, South Dakota. On his arrival in Eureka he purchased a blacksmith shop operated by Johannes Stickle. Together with his son John, he conducted a general blacksmith business in Eureka until 1900, when he moved to Artas, engaging in the same business. Three years later he removed to a farm four miles west of Eureka, which was home until 1908, when he moved to Eureka again, entering the plumbing and heating business, and continuing until his death on August 9, 1920.

Johannes Klein was married in 1879 to Regina Isaak, a native of Kulm, born in 1856. Six children were born to this union, five of whom survive. They are Jacob J., Gottlieb, John, Theresa (Mrs. Andrew Stickle), Maggie (Mrs. Ed Stickle), all residing in Eureka and Ed Klein of Aberdeen, S.D.

Johannes Klein, while a modest and unassuming man, will long be remembered by the generation who knew him. Not only was he an ardent churchman and a faithful member of the Lutheran church, but also as an amateur musician, early in life he may have had a desire to develop an innate musical genius, but also circumstances of his life made this impossible. When he reached middles age, however, he went to work in earnest. From the Reverend H. Reinhardt, who was pastor of the local Lutheran church, he learned the rudiment of music, being entirely ignorant of the art of reading a musical score. It was not long until he was able to play simple music on the organ. Natural genius and faithful practice enabled him in a short time to play church music and he served the church as organist and choir leader for a period of years. And anvil, but whose ambition, natural gifts and industry opened for him a new world of pleasure and accomplishment.”

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 Mary Elizabeth (Atkinson) Klein (1916-2001)

      For years after we moved to the Bristol area, going to the State B High School Tournament was one of the highlights of the year.  We faithfully followed Bristol High School football and boys basketball programs.  The latter started in elementary grades and from time to time developed some well rated teams.  All the Bury boys played both sports and Jim played varsity football starting in eighth grade.  He was captain of the team in his senior year.  While we were on the farm I didn’t get to go to the tourney, as there were chores to be done and being a season of uncertain weather one couldn’t count on someone else coming in and taking care of things.  Barney and Jim would go, filling in all the car seats with friends.  When we moved to town I usually got to go too if I could get someone to fill in for me at the Manor.  An added incentive for going was to visit and stay with Ruth and Herb Frey who were our closest friends when we lived in Eureka.  Ruth was a co-worker with me in the hospital and one of Barney’s closest friends had been Herb’s older brother.  The Freys moved to Sioux Falls not long before we went to the farm.

      Several weeks before the 1978 tourney Barney was hit with pneumonia.   He became ill the evening of Ash Wednesday I recall.  He had run the projector at church, showing a film for the first Lenten service.  When we returned home I noted that his face was flushed so checked his temperature.  It was 104 degrees so we headed for the emergency room.  He told the doctor he had to be well by the first week in March when the tourney was scheduled.  By then he was improved but had a persistent cough.  When we returned he checked with the doctor again and was given another set of a different antibiotic.  After going another round of a third one his lung x-ray did not clear up and the doctor knew we were dealing with more than pneumonia.  He gave us a choice of referrals and we chose Rochester again.  He went through a battery of tests and on May 26, 1978 received a diagnosis of inoperable cancer of the lung.  It was as if the rug had been snatched from beneath our feat.  On the ride down to Rochester I ask Barney if he had considered that he might lose a lung.  He said he had but added, “If the Duke can live with one so can I”.  One of his favorite western actors, John, “Duke” Wayne had lost a lung not long before as a result of cancer brought on by a long history of smoking.  It had not occurred to us that there wasn’t a solution to this problem.  Chemotherapy and radiation were the offered treatment at that time and nothing was guaranteed.  We didn’t question it.  When life is threatened one grabs for whatever gives a glimmer of hope.  We made the trip to Rochester each month for 5 months hoping for the cure and praying God would see fit to restore his body to health.  It was not to be.  However he had several more months than he would have had without the treatment.   It took a heavy tool on his body and completely destroyed his immune system.  The insidious disease invaded his bones and his brain Thankfully it did not affect his thinking or speech.  Another bout with pneumonia in a body with its natural defenses gone ended his earthly journey.  He was buried on Ash Wednesday 1979.

      Before Barney’ illness we had purchased a Dodge van and Barney had customized it so we had sleeping quarters and a place to eat and cook as needed.  It was our “prairie schooner” and we planned to do some traveling in our retirement years.  The day he completed his last chemo treatment in Rochester, we headed south to visit relatives and friends.  We stayed in campgrounds and usually did our own cooking.  We visited Steve and family in Tulsa; Bob and family in Houston; my cousin Marge in southern Nebraska; the Schnabels in North Platte, NE; Richard and family in Yankton and the Freys in Sioux Falls.  When we got back to Dakota other relatives and friends came to see us.  How blessed we were!  In the last 5 months he lived he was able to share some time with all who he held dear.

Elizabeth (Freimark) Klein – Grandma Klein

Mary Elizabeth (Atkinson) Klein (1916-2001)

 

The description of a good wife in Proverbs 31 pretty well described Grandma.  Although her interests were pretty well confined to her family she served them well.  Her children indeed called her blessed and so did her husband.  She sewed most of the things she and her children wore and very little of anything was ever wasted.  Material scraps became warm quilts of various designs.  She would save the cotton sacks that salt and sugar came in and used them as the base for appliqued blocks.  She also crotcheted edgings on her household linens.  Her hands were rarely at rest.  She was always about some task or other and when she sat down to rest, she picked up her crotchet hook and listen to Grandpas radio selection.

Elizabeth or Lizzie as she was called came from a fairly large family. When the children were big enough they sought employment if they were not needed at home.  Lizzie had a rather unique job for a young woman.  She was a star route US Mail carrier.  She transported mail to and from Eureka.  She made the trip several times lately to two small towns in northern SD that no longer exist, one was named Sutley but I don’t recall the name of the other.  It was about a 50 mile round trip.  Her transportation was a sturdy buggy pulled by a pair of spirited lightweight horses.  Part of the maintenance program was re nailing or replacing the iron shoes the horses wore to protect their feet.  The trauma of stepping off the miles at a brisk pace over uneven and stony terrain could loose the nail, which held the shoe on.  Sometimes the shoe was lost completely.  Lizzie chose big John Klein blacksmith to keep her steeds’ feet in good repair.  Who knows?  Was it love at first sight or did it just “develop”?  Anyway they wed in the fall of 1910.

What a couple!  John 5 ft. 11 in. weighing around 300 pounds    and petite Elizabeth a foot shorter and weighing 98 pounds.  What she lacked in size she made up for in resourcefulness and endurance.  There was never much money to work with but her German heritage served her well.  It was amazing what she could do with basic ingredients.  Of course she baked everything from scratch until the last few years of her life.  She canned whatever was available from the garden and fruits in season.

At the time of her marriage she didn’t speak English, only German.  When the children went to school she learned “American” from them.  She also learned to write her name in English.  The only reading I knew her to do was occasionally she would consult a cookbook.  Most of the cooking and baking information she needed were stored in her mind.

Cleanliness and tidiness were priorities in her order of household tasks.  She didn’t leave a dirty spoon or cup in the sink.  It was always washed and put away.  We lived with Grandma and Grandpa for a brief time after we were married and I well remember washday.  They had no hot water heater at the time, the copper boiler, which held about 15 gallons of water, was placed on the two-burner kerosene stove   the night before and filled.  This stove was in the basement.  Early the next morning, which was usually Monday, Grandma lit and adjusted the stove burners.  By the time breakfast dishes were back in the cupboard the water was ready for the washing machine.  It was a wringer machine that is the clothes were put through rubber rollers to squeeze out the excess water and then we hung them on the line to dry.  No automatic washer and if course no dryer.  If it was a good drying day the clothes were in and folded before noon.  Those to be ironed were sprinkled or dampened in preparation right after lunch.  We ironed practically everything—dresses, shirts, aprons, sheets, pillowcases, and dishtowels.  Even the rags got a light going over so they would make a neat pile in the drawer.   Everything was untreated cotton in those days, no wash and wear and memory knits.  I was always glad when that day was over!  I favored the old song that went—Monday washday, Tuesday ironing, All American mothers we wish the same to you!               

As the wife of her only living son I was blessed with her helpfulness, not the least of which was   assistance with the mountains of laundry which faced me in the weeks after the birth of our son.  No disposable diapers.  It was outing flannel or bird’s eye. (A tightly woven patterned material.)

        I had had a difficult labor and recuperated rather slowly.  My mother came and stayed with me for a couple of weeks then Grandma Klein was my mainstay for several months.  During my first year of marriage she taught me how to dress a chicken.  I’m not sure how I managed to reach adulthood with out mastering that.  However, I was a self-affirmed out door person.  I would kill and pluck the fowl but never willingly dress it out.  After being away from domestic chores for a number of years I was a novice.  After my mother-in-law dressed quite some number of birds for our table I was overcome with shame and embarrassment and asked that she teach me.

            Loretta and Barney enjoyed reminiscing, about Christmas especially, with all the baking and candy making, the tree and all the gifts.  They were not expensive gifts but there was an abundance of boxes, much love and sharing.   Barney said the highlight of Christmas Eve for him was going to the church for the traditional Sunday school program.  Right after the Christmas treats were distributed he would grab his outdoor clothing and start running to his grandpa’s house slipping into his outer garments as he ran.  His grandparents lived about two blocks away.

Grandpa John Sr.’s annual gift to each child was a stocking filled with nuts, candy and a piece of fruit.  In the toe of the sock was a gift.  The instructions as Barney left was to take it home before he explored the contents.  Anticipation and fulfillment always triumphed.  He would run a short distance toward home then stop and dump everything out on the snowy ground to find the “prize “ at the bottom.  When his curiosity was assuaged he re-stuffed the sock and continued on home.  When he was about eight      his gift was an Ingersol pocket watch, which he truly treasured.  It was probably one of the last gifts he would receive from this special man who passed away in 1920.

Grandma wasn’t the only one who quilted.  It was the pass time for many of the women of this German-Russian community. During the eventless couple of months following Christmas there were always a number of quilting parties.  A hostess who had her pieced top ready for the quilting frame would call four or five neighbors or friends with like interests to meet at her home on an appointed day.  Sometimes the quilt would be   stretched on the frame the night before with the help of a neighbor or perhaps the husband was drafted to assist.  Other times a couple of ladies would arrive early the day of the party and help with the mounting.  The group would usually assemble shortly after the noon meal.  They threaded their needles, donned their thimbles and began the stitching.  As the afternoon progressed the layers of material and batting was transformed into a thing of beauty and utility.  As needles flew so did the chatter and laughter as they caught up on family doings and community gossip.  The language was primarily German or a German-Russian dialect.  At mid afternoon the hostess served coffee and a sweet snack such as kucken, pie or cake.  One favored offering was chocolate cake served with a large dill pickle, which was highly spiced with garlic and red pepper.  It was a delicious combination.  

An iatrical part of preparation of the larder for winter was butchering.  Butchering was an EVENT. Everything must be done in one day.  Grandpa decreed it and it was an old family tradition.    It had always been thus in his family.  One recruited near by relatives to help.  In an out building a large amount of water was heated on the kerosene stove.  When it was boiling hot it was transferred to a large barrel or vat and the hog carcass was dipped unto it then put on a makeshift table where the skin was scraped with knives to remove the bristles.  Prior to this som, e one had the task of shooting the pig and cutting its throat to facilitate a good blood let which is essential for a good end product.  No skinning was allowed as some did.  Skin was part of the gourmet German touch.  Nothing was wasted save the squeal!  Hams and bacon pieces were put in brine until ready for the smoke house.  A few chops and roasts were cut but the bulk of the carcass went into sausage.  Two parts pork to one part beef and well seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic juice.  No sage, onion etc. for this special German sausage.  The next step was smoking it carefully –not too hot, not too long but long enough.  It was delicious.  While all the cutting and sausage grinding was going on the liver was boiled and made into liver sausage, another gourmet treat.  The head was cleaned and cooked then scraped of every bit of flesh it would give up and that went into headcheese.  If I remember correctly the ears and tongue also went in and Grandpa’s secret ingredient, small chunks of skin.  Occasionally there was a small black bristle that missed the scraper’s eyes.  Both types of sausage were pushed or fed into commercial casings, which could be purchased at the local store.  In the pioneer period they were prepared by salvaging the intestine of the butchered animal and cleaning them thoroughly!  I’m not sure they got it all done in one day then.  A heavy iron hand operated machine designed for the purpose (a sausage press) making the produced these firmly packed fat fingers that gave promise to good eating.  The encase mixture was turned or twisted as the desired amount or length emerged (about 12-15 inches).  Then they were separated with a knife at every other division, leaving two segments hooked together.   These pairs were place on a rod or bar and then put into the smoke house.  The smoking was one thing that was put off until the nest day.  It was a delicate operation.  One must produce much smoke but little heat so that meat would not cook but be only smoke flavored.  Only the German sausage was smoked.  Barney learned the technique well.  One of his Christmas preliminaries was butchering the week before the holiday sausage and the delivering this smoked delicacy to family and friends.

 

John Klein, Jr. – Grandpa Klein

Mary Elizabeth (Atkinson) Klein (1916-2001)

I have been told that often in ethnic groups each family has an identifiable head.  For instance in the Norwegian family circle there is usually a matriarch.  Her influence often extends beyond the immediate family.  Among German families there is supposedly a patriarch.  This was manifest, at least in his later years, by my father-in-law, John Klein, Jr.

After grandpa’s retirement much of his time was spent in   his large wooden rocking chair, puffin on his pipe, listening to the radio and frequently dozing off.  His grandson, then three years old, was entranced by his grandpa’s “sleep show” and would break into chuckles as he stood and watched and listened.  It was quite a production!  First there was a period of heavy but regular breathing followed by a period of apnea, then several short breaths followed by an explosive burst of air.  Little James was completely fascinated with this overture and would stand in front of grandpa’s chair anticipating the next climatic ‘sneezure’. Work in the garden.” And they did!  In the winter judgment was pronounced on which day the ashes were to be carried   or at what point the furnace should be stoked.  It was difficult for him to maneuver stair steps so these chores fell to the hausfrau.

To get back to the garden, it was a picture to behold!  Straight well kept rows with luxuriant foliage and well trained vines and caged bushes.  Irrigation ditches were directed between the rows and hilled plants and could be shut off as desired.  No self-respecting weed would dare raise its head.  It would have been suicide!  The whole plot reflected loving care, commitment and sweat.  

 

Grandpa had a gruff voice and piercing eyes but his heart was like soft butter, at least in the years I knew him.  However if he took a stand he was immovable.  Barney and Loretta told stories that painted a different picture.

 

John worked hard in the blacksmith shop, shoeing horses, forging tools, making and sharpening plowshares, making machinery parts etc.  One of Barney’s prized possessions was a potato planter, which his dad designed.  It had scissors action handles with small platter sized shovels that were pushed into the ground, and then opened up to receive the potato portion, closed and withdrawn.  This    placed the “seed” about 5 or 6 inches deep.  As the planter was withdrawn the soil rolled into the hole and covered the potato.  It was also used to plant sweet corn.   Another product from his shop was a boot hook, which Barney used almost daily.  He favored a low cut boot sans zipper.  The boot had a loop of leather on the back and near the top.  The hook was inserted and used to pull the boot on.

On the way home from work, John would stop at one of the several local pool hall-taverns to lift a few glasses of Seagram or facsimile with his cronies.  By the time he got home for supper life was often out of focus.  The kids were often the brunt of his fogged perception.  If he thought some one might be out of line he cleaned house on all so as not to miss the culprit.

Loretta recalled the time when they raising ducks in the back yard.  They were destined to be part of the family food supply. (In those days, 1920s     or there about, there were no ordinances in small towns to prohibit this)  One particularly hot day she had been instructed to the fowl’s water pan filled.  She was just a little girl and she said she ran her legs off carrying many, many pails of water, which she had to pump by hand from a shallow well near the garden.  She felt she had done the job well but when her dad arrived home tired and bleary eyed the water pan was once again empty.  He was not receptive to any explanations or excuses.  She was the prime target for his anger that evening.  I found it difficult to reconcile this image with the gentle man I knew.

When Barney was about fourteen his Dad quit drinking.  He told it thus:  “For some reason, watching my Dad trying to keep his balance and having difficulty getting food in his mouth at the supper table struck me as being funny and I would get the giggles.”  Evidently Grandpa was cognizant of what was going on and he quit stopping at the pool hall.  When his friends questioned him about it he replied, when the big boy starts laughing at you it is time to quit.”  He would have a small glass of wine on special occasions but that was it.

He loved his family dearly and his grandson was the apple of his eye.  James’ natal gift from him was a very small pair of cowboy boots.  He came to see him nearly every day.  We lived a half block away.  After James was walking and could go by himself, he returned the calls.  As soon as he was dressed and had his breakfast he would ask to go see Grandpa.  When he arrived at Grandpa and Grandma’s house one of them would ask if he’d had breakfast and he invariably said no and he would sit at the table with them.

Holidays were special to the family and Grandpa spent more than he probably could afford to bring smiles and joy to his family.  There were always gifts piled high under the Christmas tree and Loretta told about the Easter baskets, which were made from shoe boxes and hidden within the house for the children to find on Easter morning.

In his prime John stood 5 ft. 11in. and weighed around three hundred pounds.  He has a football player physique due to the daily work out with hammer, anvil and forge.  Shoeing horses was a frequent service.  Horses or horses and buggy were the main means of transportation at the beginning of the 1900s for traveling short distances.  It was while plying his horseshoeing skills that he met his future bride.  (refer to GRANDMA)

I have alluded to Grandpa’s strength.  Barney related two stories that bore this out.  Both events happened prior to his marriage and were passed on by relatives and friends.  In his younger days John reportedly had a short fuse, temper wise.  One day he was shoeing a horse and the animal would not cooperate.  After some wrestling with its upturned foot which he tried to hold between his knees as he secured the shoe with nails and hammer, he’d finally had it.  He dropped the foot, stood up, and clenched a fist.  Picture if you will the size of this potential missile; a bit larger than softball, more like a steel ball.  He swung his fist at the horse’s head and the beast collapsed.  At that moment his dad appeared at the door of the shop.  He appraised what had happened and turned around and left, He was quoted as saying, “and it is best to stay away when John starts killing horses with his bare hands.”

The other manifestation of his super strength had to do with a promotion by John Deere Implement, Inc.  The company came out with a new two-bottom plow, which was toted to be very easy to pull.  Horses were the source of power for farm machinery at that time.  To enhance the image of this latest model, John was enticed by a rep from the manufacturer to don a harness of sorts and was hooked to the plow.  He did indeed pull and cut a respectable double furrow through sod.  An opportunist who was part of the delegation present from the John Deere headquarters in Chicago tried to talk John in going back with him and become a professional boxer.  I am so thankful he declined; otherwise I probably would not have met his son.

There came a time when blacksmithing was no longer lucrative.  Automation supplanted equine power and plowshares eventually became a disposable item.  Grandpa John got into a new trade.  He turned to plastering (no dry walls in that era). He also stuccoed houses and did related brick, stone and cement work.  He hired his two bother-in-laws and another man to assist him.  In the years just before and after WW11, his son Barney worked with him.  Some of his work is still visible in Eureka and surrounding area.  The stonewall around Eureka City Park and the gateposts and other stonework at Lake Eureka were done under his supervision.  The native stone Veterans of Foreign Wars building on US 12 on the west edge of Roscoe, SD was erected under Barney’s supervision about 1940.  It was an NYA project. (National Youth Administration)  The program was designed to provide employment for young people in economically depressed areas and to teach them a trade.

In the late years of Grandpa’s life he developed   a congestive heart and although he took medication it eventually claimed his life.  Much of the later years he spent listening to the radio serials.  Not many homes had television.  He and Grandma visited Loretta and her husband, Elmer Lutz, at their farm home from time to time.  They had spent this particular Sunday there.  Elmer and Loretta had gone to do the chores following the evening meal.  They would take their guests back to town and home when they finished. (Grandpa never mastered the art of car driving).  Grandmas was doing up the dirty dishes and Grandpa was resting in the big easy chair.  She noted the time and saw it was nearly time for one of his favorite programs, “Jack Armstrong, the All American Boy”.  She called a reminder to him.  He did not answer so she went in the living room where he apparently had fallen asleep.  She shook his arm to rouse him and realized that he was not breathing.  He had gone quietly, without a sound.