Wilmette Public Library Local History Digital Collection

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

Description

Comments (0)

Track 11, Transcript p. 38-41: Track 11, Transcript p. 38-41
Transcription: Track 11 MS: And they all belonged to the band except Uncle Frank played the violin. Uncle Ed didn't play anything, but he was younger. AS: He was the young one. MS: All the others had their instruments. My dad played coronet. Her dad played the big tuba. Isn't that what its called - the big.... BM: The big horn. Yes, the big horn. AS: Yes, the big horn. He was the littlest of the bunch and he had the biggest instrument. (Laughter) That's really true. And when they had their parades and played, you know, he'd be the littlest - the shortest guy and have the biggest instrument. MS: And after that when the younger boys grew up, then they joined the band. BM: Um hum. MS: So at the end they had a great big band. BM: It must have been very musical because it's not that easy to learn how to play an instrument.... MS: No. BM: . .. .by yourself. MS: Some of my brothers still play. BM: Where did they get the instruments? Did the family have them or did they buy them? Do you remember? p.39 MS: They bought them. Maybe they bought them second hand instruments. Of course, at that time instruments were not as expensive as they are now. BM: But that's a great idea. That way the whole family got together. AS: That's how come it was called the Schneider's band. It really started with the boys. BM: But the music that you played was just for yourselves. You didn't - well, except that Shootie Schneider said he used to play for other occasions for other people. It was a business for him. It wasn't just family gatherings. AS: Yes. Yes, they played wherever they could and they would have a big dance up at the village hail. MS: Once a year they would have their own dance and they'd play for that. That was great because they used to draw quite a crowd. That was a masquerade dance. BM: Oh. AS: Everybody masqueraded. MS: And they'd pick out the best costumes and award a prize. BM: Oh, how cute. AS: I made my own one year and I got the first prize. BM: You did? What were you dressed as? AS: I went more or less as an American Legion girl. I had made my dress in white. I'll never forget - I put all stars on it and I put a cardboard band with the big star on the front. It was really pretty good. p.40 BM: Um hum. AS: So I got the first prize there and they usually wanted to be careful so they didn't want to give it to the people that belonged to the band. BM: Oh. AS: But when they don't know you and you're sitting behind that mask all night.... BM: Yes. MS: The judges don't know who they are. AS: That was great. That was up at Eddie's building today. BM: What's Eddie's building? What is that? AS: The old village hall right there. BM: Oh, the old Gross Point village hail. Oh, yes, that's where the ball was. AS: That's where the dance was. It was once a year they had the big dance. BM: Now, that's the village hail you said. Was that where you got your mail? AS: No. BM: You said you went to Bleser's to get the mail? MS: We went to Bleser's -- where the barber shop is. They ran the post office there. BM: Oh. MS: The Bleser's did. AS: And there was -- they were all boxes, weren't they? And they had us turn a certain number to get that box open. p.41 BM: Um hum. AS: And if you didn't know your - what do you call it - your number, you didn't get the box open. BM: Oh. AS: So we would stop in after school and pick our mail up and take it home. That was the only way we got the mail. BM: And then you had to bring the mail down to the post office to mail it? MS: Always. AS: I think you would remember Mrs. Bleser's post office. That was the very first post office around here and at that time it was -- well, we were so far away from Gross Point -- it was Gross Point as far as Schoeden's, where the sidewalk ended. That's how come we didn't get sidewalks. From Schoeden's on up to here -- that way the mail was listed. What was the way they called us? MS: New Trier Township. That's all it was. AS: Um hum. That's the way it was. Then Gross Point took us over and then Wilmette finally came over here. MS: We were annexed to Wilmette. I can't remember what year that was. AS: I don't know that either, but it was great when we were all by ourselves. BM: Um hum. You liked it that way. AS: Yes, great.
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