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This is Aunt Helen’s story as told to her niece, Beth Tolfree:
“My father, Simon, was apprenticed to a baker in 1882 at age
thirteen by his mother. However, he wasn’t kept on because he
ate too many of the bakery’s goods like any growing thirteen year
old boy might.
“His mother apprenticed him out to a fisherman when he was fourteen.
He had to stand hip-deep in water all night to keep the Serbs from
stealing the fish from his nets. Later his mother bought him
his own boat. He married in 1893 and supported his family as a
fisherman. Eventually it was becoming fished-out and he had to
take a loan on the boat. He fell between two boats and his
shoulder was crushed. Unable to repay the loan because of that
and the poor fishing, he lost the boat.
“It was quite a disgrace to fail at your trade, so he left Apatin
and went to Dortmund in Germany to work, save and send for his
family. My mother, Rosina Seiler, stayed behind with me and my
sisters, Maria and Rosina. I remember Papa being away for long
periods of time. In the evenings all the women would place
chairs outside their fences and sit and watch people pass by.
I was very little and I saw my Papa coming. I ran to him and
threw my arms around his legs, but it wasn’t my Papa.
“Papa worked in the building trade for two years to get enough money
to send for us. After we were together again he worked as a
miner to support us. Some of our relatives had immigrated to
America and had written to say how wonderful it was. So, when
American farming companies began to recruit families to work in the
sugar beet fields, my parents decided to go to America, too.
Passage in steerage class for the whole family, now including baby
Katharina, was paid for by the farming company and we would have to
work in their fields to repay the cost.
“Mama packed lots of food of every sort for the trip and it is
surprising we didn’t get food poisoning. When our food ran out
we had to eat what was provided for everyone in steerage, which Mama
scornfully called “stone soup”.
“I remember climbing to the upper decks with my sister Rosina and
hanging our heads over the rails to watch the waves. A ship’s
officer scolded us, but he also gave us some dried fruit. We
pestered him whenever we saw him after that and I think he began to
hide to avoid us. We also had a terrible storm and everyone
became terribly seasick. Everyone except Papa and another man.
They looked after everyone and cleaned up after the sick passengers
in steerage.
“Papa was a very talented musician, playing both the violin and
accordion. He only had to hear a piece once in order to play
it. Someone on the upper decks heard him playing his accordion
and he was invited above-deck to play for the first-class passengers
several times a day. Mama always went with him.
“The shots they gave us at Ellis Island made me very sick and they
wouldn’t let me enter the country. After a while my parents
began to talk about sending me back to my grandmother, but a kindly
doctor examined me and said I was fit to be released. I will
never forget how kind he was.
“My uncle Josef Palinkas (married to Mama’s sister, Katharina
Seiler) had sponsored us for immigration and so we came to Swan
Valley outside of Saginaw, Michigan. There we all worked in
the sugar beet fields all day, everyone except my sister Rosina who
watched baby Katharina. Several times a day Mama had to walk
through the fields and climb fences (the gates were always locked)
in order to go home to nurse the baby. I remember my parents
saying that they had worked hard in Germany, but never as hard as
they had to work in the sugar beet fields in America.
“My little sister Alfrieda, your mother, was born in Swan Valley
with the help of a midwife. And when the contract was paid up
with the farming company we moved to Saginaw where Papa worked in a
glass factory and then a foundry. We attended St. Peter and
Paul’s Catholic Church and lived in the German-speaking part of
town. There were quite a number of people from Apatin in
Saginaw already.
“In 1921 there was still anti-German/Hungarian sentiment lingering
because of WWI, so Papa and some other men decided to found The
Washington Society Club to express their patriotism to their new
homeland. The Club used George Washington’s profile as their
emblem and met in our basement until they could buy property and
build the clubhouse. We always thought they liked to meet in
our home because Papa made his own wine and beer. The Club
members held dinners and dances every week and had various patriotic
activities during the second World War.”
(end of Helen’s
remembrances)
* * * * *
My Aunt Helen was born in 1903 and died in 2002. She never
married. It is because of this story she told, and my
grandparents’ passports and a few pictures she gave me that I have
been able to trace my family’s roots in Abthausen (Apatin) back to
the 1740’s. I also came to appreciate the struggle they faced
in providing for their family; the changes forced on them by
necessity; and the courage they showed in leaving behind all they
knew and loved to start over again in a strange land. My
grandfather’s crippled arm never interfered with his musical ability
or prevented him from a lifetime of hard work.
* * * * *
B.
Tolfree
Oct. 2004
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