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- "MY LIFE" as told by Mrs. Elizabeth GRESL PRITZL, Christmas 1978 My grandchildren begged me to write a history for them, of how it was when we were young. I'll try... I was born eighty five years ago at Andale, Kansas, on November 24, 1893. I was my parents first daughter. My older brother Frank, was four years old. I understand I was a spoiled baby. Even later, I remembered my father always saying, "you're a big girl, and you can do that, etc.." So, I was always ready to try everything once (even now I try to write history). When I was fourteen, I was 5 ft. 10 inches tall. When I was five, we came to visit Wisconsin. At age six, we came to Wisconsin to stay. I don't remember much about Kansas. One incident from Kansas is clear in my mind. One day, brother Frank hitched the dog to the baby carriage. He told me to hold the dog while he put Sophia in the buggy. But the dog had a mind of it's own and started to run. The faster the dog ran, the more the buggy rattled. There was a ravine nearby, with a culvert just big enough for the dog to crawl in, but not the buggy. I can still hear my mother say, "thank the Lord the baby wasn't in the buggy." Mother always told this story: One spring morning she went to the root cellar to sprout the potatoes. She sat on the potato pile and soon had an odd feeling, so she got up, and there was a big snake wiggling around in the potatoes. I visited Kansas several times. My cousins still live there. Then, train fare was two cents a mile - trunk and suitcase free. In Kansas, you would find root cellars. A root cellar is a hole dug in the ground and covered with boards and a pile of ground. There were steps and a trap door. Also, I found when I visited there in 1915, people had dug wells. They had baskets with ropes on, to lower food into the water. During Prohibition times, most wells were hiding spirits or home brew. There were no refrigerators then. When we came to Wisconsin, we lived in rent, while dad had several jobs. When I was about eight years old, my parents bought an eighty acre farm, a half mile south of Cato. I then started to go to Catholic school in Whitelaw. My parents had good land, but most of the buildings had to be replaced, so I missed many school days. Workman ate and slept at our place, so I had to help mother. I walked two and a half miles to school through the neighbors' fields, or three miles around the road. Still, I was in the highest class,- the fourth reader in English and German. When I was twelve, I received my First Communion and quit school. Sundays, we drove to church with two horses in the "surrey with the fringe on top" as the song goes. In the winter, we went with the big sleigh and two horses or the one seat cutter with one horse. Mass always lasted two hours, ending with the Angelus and Solemn Benediction. In May, there were May devotions in honor of Mary. In October, we honored the rosary and there were a number of Holy Days a year. At home, children all helped. Cows were milked by hand, butter made in a butter churn and there was a vegetable garden. In fall, we made a barrel of sour kraut and a big crock jar of pickles. Everybody burned wood, so the wood box had to be filled, the oil lamp filled and the chimneys cleaned. Every bedroom had a chamber pot or slop pail to empty every day. There was a little out-house about one hundred feet from the house, with Sears Roebuck catalogs for paper, (there was no indoor plumbing), and no furnace, so the cellars were cold. Water had to be carried to the house. Dish water and garbage was saved to be mixed with the grain for hog's feed. In winter, trees were cut down for fire-wood. Men and women who were able, all worked. I remember mother spinning wool. We knit our winter stockings and mittens by hand. There were quilting bees (neighbors would get together and make quilts). Neighbors never expected to get paid for their help. It was a case of "I'll help you and you help me". We had neighborhood parties. There was a dance once in awhile, within a distance a work horse could take you, or we might walk three miles, to and from a dance. But all your friends were at the dance (no cars then). At our house, we all loved music and singing. Mother and Dad could sing well. I remember the first phonograph. Our neighbor bought that round roller with music coming from the big horn. Those days we washed our clothes on a washboard, in a tub of water with homemade soap. The white clothes were boiled in a copper washboiler, on the wood burning kitchen stove, to be sterilized. When I was about ten years old, the first automobile came through Whitelaw. It was an engine on wheels and you could hear it about a half mile off and smell it a half mile past home. The horses were really afraid when you met one. You'd have to jump off the buggy and hold the horse by the bridle, so it wouldn't run or turn over the buggy. Weddings were celebrated at the bride's home. The neighbors would polish up their washboilers to cook potatoes, sour kraut, dumplings, etc. There were plenty of pies and cakes. We danced on the barn floor to the tune of the brass band. I was a bridesmaid in the spring of 1912, for my cousin's wedding. I wore a white dress with hand embroidery. The skirt length was just above my sixteen-button, brown leather shoes and cotton stockings. Babies were born at home and midwifes were called in. We seldom called a doctor. There were home remedies of castor oil, turpentine and goo-grease, or mustard plasters, etc. About three years before I was married, my dad bought an automobile (a Maxwell) with a hard top and leatherette snap-on curtains. Our family had increased by then to six brothers and four sisters. My sister Mary died of Hodgkins disease, six months after I was married. She was twenty-one. Robert and I met several years before, at the wedding of his cousin, who was our neighbor. He came to see me several times a year, for three years. His home was thirteen miles northwest. He either drove with a work horse and top-buggy or he walked three miles to Brillion where he took the train and then walked a mile from Cato to our house. He took the train back again. There was no telephone at his house, but we had a telephone by then and my dad had carbide lighting put in. Robert and I were married May 9, 1916 at Whitelaw, Wisconsin. That night we had the worst thunderstorm that I ever remember. But it must have been real love, as it endured sixty-two and a half years of joy and hardship. The Lord blessed us with twelve healthy children and a nine-hour old daughter, now in Heaven. With God's blessings, we hope to all enjoy everlasting happiness in the Hereafter where Robert went January 19, 1978. Robert often told about when he went to school, that his mother gave him a nickel to buy his lunch. He bought four or five inches of baloney for three cents at the butchers, and a handful of crackers from the cracker-barrel for two cents and had a good lunch. After we were married, we lived at Robert's homeplace for over three years. There, Ray and Julius were born. We owned sixty-nine acres. Robert came very close to being called for military service during World War I, which ended November 11, 1918. Then came a land boom. We sold to our neighbors, at a profit, and bought eighty acres in Greenville for $17,000. When the depression came in the 1930's, we asked the government for a loan. We could only get $4,700 from them. If we sold the farm we could only expect to get $8,000 for the $17,000 farm. In 1944, we bought forty acres from a neighbor for $3000. In 1965 we sold our 120 acres for $30,000. Is land the best investment? It was a nice place for the children, with their pets and the wide open spaces. During the depression, we had milk, eggs, vegetables, meat, etc, but no money. Our products didn't sell. Doctor bills, taxes, and interest had to be paid. We had poultry of all kinds, so we started to supply a restaurant in Appleton and also sold farm products house to house. We could buy 200lb hogs for six dollars. We'd dress them and sell the best cuts, and prepare the cheaper cuts for our family. It took many steps to the cellar (no refrigerator). We rendered the lard, - put it in one pound squares for seven cents a pound, delivered to the house. Men's overalls and blue denim shirts sold for twenty-nine cents. Young men came and asked for a job on the farm, just for room and board, and a little spending money. Some people in town were out of work too, and offered us a sweater or other clothing for a chicken, goose or products from the farm. Robert worked for the thrasher to pay our thrasher bill, for $1.50 a day. He'd work early morning until 9 o'clock at night. Well, those years passed,-- Very few country children had high school education. Ours went eight years to school and later to vocational or night school. Our older sons started working in the construction trade. There were eight lunch buckets to pack every morning. There was much laughter and tears. There were fourteen at the supper table. Then Ray and Julius were married in 1940. Lucille at age 17, joined the Convent in Milwaukee, after she was bridesmaid for Ray and Julius' weddings. My mother died in 1942 and dad came to live with us over four years. The United States entered World War II in December, 1941. Robert and Richard were called to service. Ray and Julius were doing defense work at several places. Then through a mix-up in records, Ray was in service for nine months before the war ended. George was deferred from service, as he was needed on the farm. The war ended. Robert, Richard and George were married. Victor stayed on the farm with us until we moved to Appleton in 1957. The girls had a variety of office jobs after High School. Harold had six months of military training and six years in Reserves between the Korean and Vietnam wars. All our children were over twenty one years old when they were married and now we have fifty-two grandchildren. All of our daughters' husbands spent time in the service. Seeing our seven sons are now in the building trades, they built us a nice home in town, where we lived the last twenty-one years. In 1947, Robert and I and some of the children, visited Kansas. In 1950, we took a trip through the Badlands, Yellowstone National Park, Black Hills, Salt Lake City and toured some copper and gold mines. In 1953, we visited Canada and St. Anne de Beapre Shrine. We saw the Statue of Liberty and toured New York City in the glass top bus. Also toured Washington, D.C. and saw the changing of the guards at the grave of the Unknown Soldier. In 1952, Robert and I drove to California where Eldora lives. On the way we visited Carlsbad Caverns, shopped in Mexico, drove along the scenic highway of the Pacific Ocean, visited Capistrano and also saw the floats from the Rose Bowl Parade. In 1959, we went to visit Marie in Westernport, Maryland. We went to Michigan, over the Mackinac Bridge, saw the steel mills in Pittsburgh, etc. We also visited Bernice several times in Illinois. Lavern lived in a number of different cities in Wisconsin so we saw her often. In 1963, once more we visited California. Robert was seventy-three years old, but he always enjoyed driving. He didn't want me to drive. We left the farm because Robert had doctor's orders to stay away from dust, etc. His health became gradually worse. Living close to church, we attended daily Mass for some twenty-five years. We also had our hobbies. Robert loved to unravel sweaters and I would crochet afghans from the yarn. He also made woven rugs (we recycled things). We enjoyed our garden here. Last Thanksgiving, Rev. Thomas Irupuzhickel, a missionary from India, visited us. He calls himself "your Priest Son" as we paid part of his education. Those were the happy days never to be forgotten. Robert was in the hospital December 5th to the 19th. He died on January 19, 1978 at our home, which was his wish. Robert believed in prayer. He said three Hail Mary's every day, since he received his First Holy Communion. He loved to say the Rosary and could say the Blessed Virgin Litany from memory. When he was not able to attend Mass anymore, our pastor asked a Deacon to bring him Holy Communion every morning. On January 18, I could not leave Robert alone, so he brought us both Holy Communion. We said the Rosary and received Communion, side by side. Robert thanked the man, leaned back into his chair and went into a coma until he took his last breath, the next day January 19, 1978. The children were all here except Eldora and Bernice. Eldora spent two weeks with us at Christmas and Bernice was unable to come because of illness. There was a big funeral with five priests at the Alter. Two of the priests were his cousins. We feel Robert is happy now and I am ready to be with him again when the Lord calls me. I always hope and pray, sometime all our children will be with us forever, with all the Saints and relatives in the Hereafter. And now, I wish to thank everyone in our big family for coming to the funeral and for the help when I needed them. Also thanks for all the beautiful flowers and many Mass Stipends, etc, and food, and remember it's later than you think. As it says on your grandfather's remembrance card: Remember me as you pass by, As you are now so once was I, As I am now so you will be, So think of death and pray for me. A Joyful Christmas and Blessed and Happy 1979 to all. With Love, Grandma Pritzl
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1893 - 1988 (94 years)