Wilmette Public Library Local History Digital Collection

Anna Schneider Schuett (1903-1980) and Margaret Schneider Schoenbeck (1904-1992) oral history

Description

Comments (0)

Track 10, Transcript p. 33-38: Track 10, Transcript p. 33-38
Transcription: Track 10 AS: That was county money because that was all county. And I p.34 remember one time we had a terrible storm and, I'm telling you, they had to shovel for days before we got out of there. And we could never - the snow was so high that you could never see anybody coming through the road no- how. And they had to throw this up very high - over the top.... BM: Yes. AS: .. . . just to open up those streets. BM: Um hum. MS: And days it was sometimes and they would open up short distances. AS: We were snowed in then. We thought that was great because we could play in the snow. BM: Yes, but there aren't any hills around here that you could - did you go sledding? Were there enough hills? AS: Um hum. That hill up there where Mother lived was a lot higher. They took that down now - where Mother's house is - up there and that was really high. And we used to sled - go down on the hill on that and we'd have a lot of fun there with the sleigh. BM: Um hum. AS: .. . .because it was great. It was a great hill, but they took. it down eventually. I guess it was too high. BM: Yes, probably. How about things like - you said - Fourth of July? Did you have any particular kind of celebration on the Fourth of July? p.35 MS: Yes, we always had some kind of a picnic. What was that? AS: The Schneider's picnic? MS: No, this was like a community picnic. AS: I don't remember that, Margaret. MS: Oh, don't you? That was when my dad always told us, "Get your work done and then you can go to the picnic." BM: Um hum. MS: And that was up there on Lake Avenue, wasn't it? On Father Netstraeter's property? AS: Oh. Oh, that was that old grove. MS: Yes. AS: What was the name of that grove? Can't you remember? MS: Culver, Culver. AS: I forget the name of it. Anyways, I remember going up in that grove. Oh, dear, I can't remember the name of that now. BM: Did everybody just sort of bring their own picnic and just got together and met at this one place? AS: Yes. Um hum. MS: Yes. Um hum. And then they had dancing. BM: Yes. MS: And regular booths there where you could buy like lemonade and ice cream, crackerjack and things like that. BM: Um hum. MS: That was a great day. Those were days we looked forward to for a whole year. And on Labor Day, they always had p.36 the Old Settler's Picnic. BM: Oh, and where was that? MS: And I think that was up there, too. BM: Um hum. MS: I'm trying to think of the name of that grove. Was it Goldblatt's - Goldberg's? Goldbar's? Goldbar's - I think it was. AS: Weren't they the ones that had that little store when we went to school. We always could buy candy there across the street from St. Joe's. MS: Yes. Goldbar's. AS: Yes, I think it was their grove. It was in the back now where Jewel stands. MS: They had a dance floor there and.... AS: It was beautiful. Big trees were there. It was really a nice grove. BM: Um hum. AS: And then once a year they had the Schneider picnic where everybody had to - like your daddy and my daddy.... MS: That was generally in our pasture though. AS: Yes, they kept it. BM: How many people -- if all the Schneider's were there - how many people came to that picnic? MS: You should see the picture I have of the Schneider picnic. BM: Oh, you have a picture? MS: Yes, I've got a real old one -- your dad and my dad and p.37 all those who had the teams and wagons. They would go up into the.... AS: Up to Gross Point. MS: .. . .village and pick everybody up and bring them down - put benches in the wagon and bring them down to the grounds. AS: And they all sang and had flags and they drove along. BM: Great. AS: It was great. BM: What kind of songs did you sing? Do you remember? AS: I don't know, but we had to stay home because they would pick a load up over in the town, you know, what is Wilmette now. They'd pick up all the relations there and there were three teams. There was your daddy and my daddy and Uncle Johnny. There were four wagon loads. They'd go and get people and we'd go down in their pasture. MS: Everyone would bring their instruments and they'd play music. AS: Oh, it was great. BM: Oh, great. AS: And then they had the barrel of beer. BM: Well, you have to have a barrel of beer. AS: And their lunch. Definitely. BM: How did they learn to play the instruments? Were these things that they just learned by themselves? AS: By themselves. MS: All of them. There were eight brothers in my dad's family p.38 and all played instruments, didn't they? AS: Yes, every one.
Creators: Schuett, Anna Schneider, 1903-1980, Interviewee; Schoenbeck, Margaret Schneider, 1904-1992
, Interviewee; Maselli, Briggs
, Interviewer; Schuett, Anna Schneider, 1903-1980
, Interviewee
Media Type: Audio; Image; Text
Item Type: Audiocassettes
Description: Interview with cousins, Anna Schneider Schuett and Margaret Schneider Schoenbeck by Briggs Maselli on July 19, 1976 in Wilmette, Illinois.

ABSTRACT:

Grew up on farms in Grosse Point — fathers were brothers Schooling at St.
Joseph in original school building - present building is the third building on the
corner (NE) Ridge Rd. and Lake Ave. — names of early Sisters — Sister Judith,
Sister Urseline, Sister Alisetta, Sister Loretta, Sister Modesta, Sister Beatina
Original Schneider farm on Old Glenview Rd. was divided among ten children -
eight boys and two daughters of Joseph and Katherine Schneider
Corpus Christi Day - celebration with baskets of flowers strewn along parade
route (a German custom) by the whole parish - discontinued later because
automobile traffic became too heavy — May of each year after last mass on a
Sunday
Roller skating to school - long days with mass at 7:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. - all
classes taught in German — took lunch from home as it was an hours walk to St.
Joseph from 3100 Old. Glenview Rd. — if lunch forgotten, child was sent over to
kitchen at the convent and the “cook” sister would make them a sandwich —
picked apples that hung over a fence and ate on way to school - all subjects
taught in German for first two grades - from third grade only English was taught
— at home. German was used - transition was difficult - classes were 50—55
children per class — discipline strict
Pastured everyone’s cows near Lockerbie Lane before leaving for school and
upon return in late afternoon had to drive them back home
Truck farmed — had to drive produce from farm to South Water Street market on
Chicago River in Chicago - left 9:30 p.m. to arrive there before 4 a.m. — returned
home by 11:30 a.m. - produce was:. corn, tomatoes in boxes made at Morton
Grove (box factory) , carrots, beets, beans, celery
Kept cows to give milk — produced own butter and cottage cheese — chickens
produced eggs - bought sugar and salt but little else
Great grandfather Joseph Schneider had a brick bake oven in back. yard where
bread and coffee cakes were baked
Sundays went to church twice — mass in a.m. — dinner at 12 noon — vespers in
afternoon — walked from 3100 to church and back twice — weekdays began
with breakfast at 6 a.m. -plow the fields — 9:00 a.m. a little lunch - 12:00 noon
dinner - 3:00 p.m. lunch — 6:00 p.m. supper
Winter storage of vegetables in cellar and in heaps of sand and manure in yard
Livestock consisted of a team of horses, cows and pigs — butchered and made
pork—cured sausages and hams and bacon in “smokehouse” — traded at
Bleser’s and Hoffman’s — ice—boxes and ice man but in earlier years stored
milk and butter in the deep well — cellar (dirt floor) stored root vegetables -
canning from large orchard of apple, pear, cherry and peach trees with grape
vines and currant bushes
Flooded fields — barn burned, horses killed — purchased a new team of horses -
father did landscaping for Mallinckrodt and Bahai Temple and “teaming” for
Doetsch Brothers - mother a Doetsch — Mother and Anna did the farming with a
single temperamental horse — winter father worked for Cook County with his
team
Picnics at Goldbar’s Grove - July 4th, Labor Day, Old Settlers and Schneider
Family Picnic in pasture - Schneider Band played for all events.. — six of the
eight brothers were in the original band - Masked Ball - Village Hall - Grosse
Point - post office at Bleser’s store — mail picked up there
Move to “Grandfather’s house” — four unheated bedrooms — out hoUse - well
water until the 1930’s - washing in winter in shed in yard — home-made soap —
lye and lard
Place of Publication: Wilmette, Illinois
Date of Original: 19 July 1976
Subject(s): Oral histories
Gross Point (Ill.) — History
Wilmette (Ill.) -- Residents
Personal Name(s): Schoenbeck, Margaret Schneider ; Schuett, Anna Schneider
Local identifier: R 977.31 Sch
Language of Item: English
Copyright Statement: Protected by copyright: Uses other than research or private study require the permission of the rightsholder(s). Responsibility for obtaining permissions and for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Copyright Date: 1976
Copyright Holder: Wilmette Public Library
Copyright Holder Contact Information: 1242 Wilmette Ave.
Wilmette, IL 60091
U.S.A.
Contact: Wilmette Public Library
Email:refdesk@wilmettelibrary.info
Website:
https://www.wilmettelibrary.info/

Agency street/mail address:
1242 Wilmette Avenue
Wilmette, IL
60091-2558
U.S.A. Phone: 847-256-6930