WITTE AND GERMANTOWN

More than a century ago,

 

when Dakota was not yet divided into two states,

when it was still one big territory,

when the town of Chancellor did not exist,

when the city of Lennox was just rising from the prairies

and was only a barren town site with a few wooden shacks and tents,

when there were yet prairie fires and Indian scares in the Dakota territory –

 

At that time, the country became settled with German people,

and the first East Friesian settlers began to arrive

in the part of the country now known as the “Germantown community”

located a few miles northwest of Lennox,

 and a few miles northeast of what is now Chancellor.

 

Back in 1886 and earlier, when the first settlers moved in, they attended the services of the German Reformed Church which was then located five miles south of the present church. Rev. Weiland came to hold services in a public school house, just 1/2 mile south of the present location.

Under present day conditions, it seems unnecessary to build churches within five miles of each other, but back in the 1880’s transportation was not such a convenient thing as today. Many of the people lived farther than five miles from any church and the only means of transportation was by “horse and buggy.” 

The Germantown Community had the desire and longing for a church near enough for them to attend regularly. The German Reformed Church through a committee sent from their church organization, decided that it was not advantageous for them to extend the amount of help needed to organize and build a church in the location requested.  The people of Germantown then turned to the Presbyterian Church (The Synod of the West) for help, which was granted.

A copy of the minutes from an early business meeting of the Germantown Community shows that a committee of three, consisting of Heere Heibuilt, George Heibuilt and Menne A. Plucker were sent to call upon Rev. Ludwig Figge (who was then the pastor of Turner County Presbyterian Church) for help. The committee's efforts were successful. 
 

Early Germantown Church and manse

As a result, on May 5, 1886, the church was organized and 21 persons were received as members. Among them were Menne and Engle Plucker (my great grandparents). Land for the church site was given by Engel and Menne as well as the land for the Germantown Cemetery across the road. Ernest P. Witte (later called Phillip Witte) served the new church as the Presbyterian Church’s “Stated Supply.” 

Services for the Germantown community had been held in a school house about one-half mile south of the church site for about a year, but by 1887 the first services were held in the newly constructed Germantown Presbyterian Church.  

In 1888, two years after the formal organization of the congregation, Rev. Witte was called to serve as pastor of the small group. He was the official pastor there for only about one year, but in that year, the first manse was built. Even though his pastorate was short, two of his daughters married men from the congregation. One of them was Christina Plucker (my grandmother), and the other was Lydia Hoogestraat (Mrs. John H. Hoogestraat).

Menne A. and Engel Pucker are seated in the second row center. John Poppe and Christina are seated second and third from the right - holding Alma and Lydia. In the top row, Wilbur is on the extreme left. Menne and Anna are seated directly below Wilbur. The year was around 1910.

John P. Pucker family.
Alma, Christina, Menne, Lydia, Wilbur, Anna, John.
The year was about 1916.

 

The treasurer’s reports of those days make interesting reading. In 1890 the entire budget of the church not including the pastor’s salary was $174.12. There are no records available to show what Phillip Witte was paid in 1888, but in 1890 the pastor received $350, paid semi-annually.

The following NEWS NOTES were gathered by Wiert Eekoff, pastor at Germantown Church in 1946. He wrote the text of the church’s 60^th anniversary booklet.

*  “On August 28, 1862, the residents of Sioux Falls fled to Yankton under cavalry escort for safety from hostile Sioux Indians. After the settlers had fled the Indians entered the town and burned all the buildings. In their escape the old settlers followed the “Old Yankton Trail” which” [was still visible in many placed in 1946].

*  “It was during the ninth session of the Territorial legislature at Yankton in the winter of 1870-1871, that a legislative act was adopted forming the new county of Turner. Under the territorial act the new county was formed by taking eight townships off the east of Hutchinson and ten off the west of Lincoln. The new county was named after John W. Turner, who was at that time a member of the senate from Clay County.”

*  “In 1880, 679 miles of railroad were completed in Dakota and 341 miles graded.”

*  “The year of 1863 was one of unprecedented drought in Dakota Territory. The Indians had burned off six hundred miles of prairie above Fort Berthold and navigating on the Missouri was fraught with many hazards.”

*  “Land in Dakota in the middle ‘80’s sold at from $5.00 to $10.00 per acre. Hundreds of families from the east came to settle on the low priced land in this new west.”

Much of the text of this post was taken from

The Sixtieth Anniversary,

The Seventy-Fifth Anniversary, and

The One Hundredth Anniversary

Booklets of

Germantown Presbyterian Church,

Chancellor, South Dakota

 

Below are several pages reproduced from the actual Anniversary books of Germantown Church:
 

 

PHILLIP WITTE BEGINS HIS MINISTRY



This is the church (Zion Presbyterian Church, Fosterburg, IL) from where Phillip Witte began his quest for the ministry.
Photo from 1902.

On March 28, 2005, on our trip to Dubuque, Iowa, we found old records in the Archives of the University of Dubuque Library. We found a book identified as “Minutes of the convention of German Presbyterian Preachers (Ministers) and elders of the Northwest 1862-1889”  listing Phil Witte several times. 

A Certificate of Incorporation of “The German Presbyterian Convention of Ministers and Elders in the West” dated August 14, 1868 was handwritten in this book.  Most of the minutes were written in German, but the wording of this certificate is in English.  One of the things that stood out was that German, Dutch and English would be used, but the minutes would be “chiefly in the German language.”

Trustees of the incorporation were Rev. Gottfried Moerz, Jacob Conzett and Conrad Knackstedt.  A. VanVliet was the first signer.  Then a listing of all the ministers and elders present at that time showed Phil Witte on line #52.  (He must have been an elder.) 
 

Early picture of the Presbyterian Church in Prairie Dell, IL.

Phil Witte must have been an ordained minister by 1883 because his name is listed as being from Prairie Dell, Illinois in May of that year (ostensibly as a minister in that Presbyterian Church).  We saw monetary amounts listed by each name on this page ranging from the $100’s down to almost nothing.  After Philipp’s name was the amount of $32.50.  It might have been the amount of money given by his church to the Convention. (There was no official indication as to salary paid to each pastor.)

An April 30, 1885 entry shows Phil Witte as attending the Convention, but no church was identified. 

I believe this was the time that Phillip Witte moved his family to South Dakota - the Lennox/Chancellor area where he assisted in the organization of Germantown Presbyterian Church .

 

PHILLIP WITTE'S SECOND FAMILY

Phillip Witte's second wife was Henrietta (Harriet) Voss. She was born on September 8, 1858 and died on March 19, 1935 (according to a "descendants' chart" put out by Joe & Judy Adamski - in 1989). Apparently, the Adamskis are descendants of one of the children of Phillip and Henrietta. They shared the survey with my cousin, Eleanor Poppens of whom I have spoken elsewhere in these blogs.

 

I haven't been able to find a marriage date for either of Phillip's wives and the dates of births, deaths or marriages of other members of the Witte family are also suspect. However, with that in mind, I shall continue...      

 

        

Children of Phillip & Henrietta: 

            Infant son                                         No birth date            (The obituary notes five children, but family records show only four, with birthdates available for only the two girls.)
 

            Anna Witte Tellinghuisen     Born: April 22, 1884.     Died: April 16, 1910

            Lena Witte Hippen                 Born:  2/7/1890              Died:  7/27/1984

                                       Lena had nine children and many descendants.           

            Carl Fredrick William (Bill) Witte     No birth date             Died:  1955    

                        Married 2/22/1910  to: Mary Johanna Handwerk  Born:  5/10/1894   Died:  3/1/1985

                        Children of Bill & Mary:

            Ernest Witte – No birth date.     Died in 1955.

            Elma Witte – No birth date.      Married Lee Mabee.  She died 9/29/99.

            Ellory Witte - Born in 1914. Died in 1961. – Married Mercedes (no last name)

 

            Eunice Witte – married Raymond Ries who died on  1/14/2000

                         Eunice and Ray lived in Marian, SD many years but after his                                        death she moved to Sioux Falls, SD.

Uncle Bill and Aunt Mary with their grandchildren.
Circa 1950.

NOTE from Jean Straatmeyer:  Uncle Bill and Aunt Mary (my father’s aunt & uncle) lived in Marion, South Dakota and when I was young, we would visit there quite often.  Eunice, although older than me, would pay a lot of attention to me.  They had a lovely home and a beautiful garden with a fish pond in the back yard. 

Evelyn Witkop, age 84, of Sioux Falls, SD, on Thursday, March 16, 2000, tells that “no one ever talked of Henrietta’s beginnings.”  She said her mother - Lena Rosina Witte Hippen - nor her grandmother ever discussed Henrietta’s family, how she met Phillip or how she got from Louisiana to Illinois. Evelyn Witkop said she was 16 or 18 years old when her Grandma, Henrietta Witte, died.

 

[As a grandmother, I am determined not to be close-mouthed about my ancestors to my grandchildren! It will be here for them to peruse or continue to research whenever they wish.] 

The Witte grave marker.

See tombstone information below.

On Phillip’s tombstone in Germantown Cemetery, there is a loose square of cement with the word, “Anna” on it.  According to Mrs. Witkop, this is the name of his daughter, Anne Tellinghuisen, who died when she was young, although already married and had a child. Anne married Andrew Tellinghuisen and bore him a daughter, Ethel T. Tellinghuisen on March 31, 1909. Ethel died on September 17, 1935. 

Mrs. Witkop said that both of Philip Witte’s wives and his daughter are buried with him at Germantown.  (We believe that is not true since his first wife's (Anna) grave marker was found in Fosterburg on March 24, 2005.) However, Henrietta Voss Witte may be buried at Germantown since we could not find her obituary due to a fire at the courthouse in Marian, SD.

Evelyn Witkop on 3/16/2000 said she remembers John & Christina Plucker very well and that they would often come to visit. She said Grandma was (in her estimation) “The best example of a real lady.” She would always be wrapped in a blanket. She would get out of the old Marquette, bring her blanket along with her and wrap herself up in it (her legs) during the visit. Mrs. Witkop said that Christina Plucker had such a “kindly face.”

 

*** 

Henrietta Voss was 76 years old when she died.  She married two more times after Phillip Witte. She was Mrs. Van Gerpen and Mrs. Ben Cornelius – in that order, but nothing is known of those unions.  She is said to be buried in the Germantown cemetery with Phillip Witte and that Bill Witte was put in charge of getting her name on the tombstone.  He never did.  In March of 2000 it was still a “sore subject” with Evelyn Witkop, his niece.

It is obvious here that Phillip's information was put on the right side and the left side is empty.
Was Henrietta's name to be put there?
The tablet with the word "Anna" is loose between the pedestals.

It is interesting to note that I seem to have more information about Phillip Witte's second family than his first. However, the closer proximity in time has made the information more accessible. Most of the information above came from research done since the year 2000.

The next posting will show what I know about Phillip Witte's beginnings as a Presbyterian minister.

 

PHILLIP WITTE 1860-1880

What did Phillipp Witte do between 1860 and 1880?

 

Ernst Phillipp Witte, 23 years old at the time of his arrival in the United States, was born in Detmold, Germany in 1837. He came to New Orleans in 1860, made his way with his family to Fosterburg, Illinois and joined the Zion Presbyterian Church there on March 28, 1861. As his time in the United States went on, Ernst Phillipp became Phillip instead.

        
Phillip and  E. Anna Wiemers who was born August 2, 1943 were married in Fosterburg. The date is unknown, but she joined the Zion Presbyterian Church in Fosterburg on August 4, 1864. Her death occurred around the same time as the death of her fifth child, May 19, 1878.
            
(The date of their marriage must have been around that same time – at least between 1864 and 1869 when their first child was born.  Since she didn’t arrive with the Witte’s at the same time, she may have lived in or near Fosterburg for quite some time, but it is doubtful that she was born there since so many Germans came to the U.S. during that time.)

Phillip and Anna's Children:

Lydia Witte Highstreet                        Born:  1/26/1869

Baptized as “Lidia Karolina” Witte in Zion Presbyterian Church, Fosterburg, Illinois on February 28, 1869.  “Philipp Witte and Anna” as parents. (Found in Session records of Zion Church on March 24, 2005)

             
Christina Rebecca Witte Plucker              Born:  12/1/1872   (Grandmother of Jean)

Emma Witte Coleman                                    No birth date

Martha Witte Ludwig                                     No birth date

Anna Witte                      Born:  3/2/1878                 Died:  6/19/1878

There is speculation that Phillips’s wife, Anna, died in childbirth and the baby, Anna, died just a month later. Note from 3/24/2005:  The Witte grave site was found in the Fosterburg cemetery.  The cemetery records show “Phil Witte” owning 10 plots, but visible is only one large stone with two small stones on each side.  It looks like mother (Anna) and baby (Anna) were buried together. The sandstone marker has worn away quite severely, but some of the lettering is still visible. 

Here is a picture and a partial translation of the wording.  Translation was very difficult since it was written in Platt Deutsch, not High German.  No other Wiemers names were found in the community and no one remembered the name other than to say that “they must have moved away.”



Two Anna's
The wording on the stone is very faint, but speaks of  Anna's righteousness and faithfulness
so that when she stands before God she will get into Heaven.

I cleaned the stone as much as I could on 3/24/2005, but the sandstone is so worn down that the dates are almost gone.

Kind is the German word for child.

 

I believe that between 1860 when the Witte’s arrived in the U.S. and 1878 when his wife and child died, Phillip was farming with his father – probably in Madison County, Illinois. But after that, he gave his life over to becoming a minister of the Presbyterian Church. He moved his family with him to Dubuque, Iowa where he attended Seminary. 

In 1878 his four remaining children were under the age of nine. They required full time care. He must have been hard pressed to find help. I’m sure his mother helped him during that time, but in her 70’s she could no longer find the energy it took to care for four little girls.  

In the 1880 census from Madison County, Illinois, the following information about the Witte family was gleaned:

                William Witte                     72

                Amelia                                 72

                Philip                                    42

                Henrietta (Voss)                 18

(No record was available for children under the age of 18). 

My speculation here, is this: I believe that Henrietta Voss was a young woman in the Zion Presbyterian Church in Fosterburg. Phillip may have hired her to be the “nanny” for the girls and a housekeeper for himself. There is no record of their marriage, but we can presume that some time between 1880 and 1890 when their first child was born, Henrietta married Phillip.

 

Stay tuned for more information coming soon...

 

 

On March 24, 2005, we (my husband and I) drove through Fosterburg, Illinois on our way to Dubuque, Iowa to find information about the elder Witte's in the churches and cemeteries located there. Much of the information in this posting was found at that time.

 

WITTE BACKGROUND QUESTIONS

Who was this Ernst Phillipp Witte?

Where did he come from?

Who were his parents?

Where was he born?

Did he have any brothers or sisters?

Who did he marry?

 *** 

Let us begin with what I have been able to glean from my meager attempt at research. First, his parents were Wilhelm and Amalie Witte from Lippe-Detmold in Prussia. See below:

 Wilhelm Witte

Born:   1808         Died:  ____?_____

He joined Zion Presbyterian Church, Fosterburg, Illinois on March 28, 1861

Married:  Amalie (Amelia) Witte on        __?__   in  ____?____

                Born:  1809          Died:  ____?_____

                Wilhelm and Amalie came to America on the ship “New Orleans” from the port of Bremen in Germany.  They landed in New Orleans, Louisiana on May 25, 1860 with their three grown children.

Witte, Wilhelm  Age : 52

        Country of Origin : Germany

        Arrival Date : May 23, 1860

        Final Destination : United States

        Port of Embarkation : Bremen

        Ship's Name : New Orleans

        Occupation : Farmer

        Gender : Male

        Captain's Name : H. Sanders

        Purpose for Travel : Staying in the USA

        Mode of Travel : Steerage

        Manifest ID Number : 00018565

The above information (along with the same for their three children) was found through Ancestry.com. Strangely, I wasn’t able to find the same information about Wilhelm’s wife. Perhaps it was there and I missed it. But none-the-less, the following information verified the family’s presence in Illinois in 1880:

Ship: New Orleans
From: Bremen
To: New Orleans
Arrived: 25 May 1860

Witte
Wilhelm 52 M Farmer Germany USA
Amalie 51 F Germany USA
Amalie 27 F Germany USA
Wilhelm 24 M Germany USA
Philipp 23 M Germany USA

The 1880 census of Fosterburg, Madison County, Illinois shows that the family came from the Lippe region of Prussia. Some of their neighbors in the census also specify the city of Detmold. And Detmold is the city our family always knew as their home city in Germany.

On March 24, 2005, we (my husband and I) drove through Fosterburg, Illinois on our way to Dubuque, Iowa to find information about the elder Wittes in the churches and cemeteries located there. But, again, we were foiled in our quest due to a huge tornado that took many buildings there in 1948. No records or evidence of their graves were found in any cemeteries in or around Fosterburg. Wilhelm (the son) and his wife, Henrietta have a very nice stone in the Woodburn cemetery (an open country cemetery), but no other Witte names are present there.

So, we are left with many unanswered questions:

·         What happened between 1860 when they arrived and 1861 when they joined the Fosterburg church?

·         Did the parents die in Illinois?

·         Did they leave Fosterburg?

·         Since Wilhelm (Jr.) and his wife are buried in Fosterburg, are the parents there, too?

·         Where are their stones?

·         Who did Amalie (Amelia) Witte marry? Where is she buried? What about her family?

·         Did Wilhelm (Jr.) and his wife have any children?

·         Where are their stones?

 We may never find the answers to these and other questions. However, if anyone reading this posting has information on this family, I would be very happy to get it. You can leave a message at this site.

Found in the Woodburn Cemetery near Fosterburg, Illinois.

 

PASTOR ERNST PHILLIPP WITTE

     For some time now, I have wanted to dig deeper into my family history [on this blog] by posting information about my grandmother Plucker's family. This story, along with information about our family's home church should be of interest to other family members who knew or knew of them.

     Don't be put off by the spelling of his name which has changed over the years, or indeed, as you will see as I progress in the information I have of his history, colorful and flowery language, which belies the mystery, flaws and imperfections in the story.

     Stay tuned!

WITTE

PASTOR ERNST PHILLIPP WITTE

 

This is his obituary:

 

            “Oh to us becomes the heart so empty in the ringing world, and we all long for the Father’s House so very much.”

             On Sunday evening, just as the sun disappeared in the west, Pastor Phillipp Witte died on the 11^th of September (1909) in his house in Marion, South Dakota.  Long days of bitter suffering were left behind, although he still believed that he had to do something still here on earth so that his death would have meaning.  Through innocent beliefs in Jesus Christ, he exhaled his life at an age of almost 73 years.

            Pastor Witte was one of the pioneers of our German undertakings in the west.  He had seen the same small beginning and was permitted to still rejoice and see how the work of God’s success grew and how beautiful it spread.

            On December 1, 1837, he was born in Lippe-Detmold.  When he was 23 years old he came to America and settled in the vicinity of Fosterburg, Illinois.  There he married Fraulein Antje Wiemers.  They had five children, four of whom are still living.

            Already for a long time he felt the pressure inside that the Lord wanted to make use of him in the ministry.  But he was against it.  Then came a hard belt.  The Lord took away his wife in the year 1878.

            In this time of darkness, he saw the Lord’s hand and in the same year he entered the seminary in Dubuque, Iowa.  Through hard studying and love of his work he decided to finish his years of studying.  During this time he had again gotten married to Fraulein Henrietta Voss.  There were given five children.  His first field of work was in the area of Prairie Dell in Illinois.  He worked there several years until he took the train and followed the German immigrants to the west.  He took over a small field in the vicinity of Chancellor, South Dakota, a field which is now such a blooming community.  In the year 1888 he came further west to Marion, South Dakota and there became established through him our present community in the year 1889 where he spent the decline of his life.

            For about 15 years the community was building a church which unfortunately before they were finished, burned to the ground. On the ruins stood Pastor Witte with the discouraged community.  Still with trust in God, they agreed to begin building again.  So, he spent his time in the middle of the work which he had started, until God took him on the above mentioned date of time. Rest after the work!!

 

 

Translated by

Cynthia Jean Straatmeyer [Karns], great, great granddaughter of Phillipp E. Witte,

on June 26, 1979, 69 years after his death.)

 

Phillip Witte’s daughter, Christina Rebecca Witte, married John Poppe Plucker.  Their son, Menne Elvin Plucker married Dena Margaret Thaden, whose daughter, Jean Ellen Plucker married Henry Gene Straatmeyer. Their daughter, Cynthia Jean Straatmeyer was the translator.

1917-1918 – LETTERS FROM CHICAGO

My grandparents Plucker (John and Christina) sent their eldest child, Anna, off to Chicago with her new husband, Peter Poppens. The distance was very far – only traveled by train – and these letters sound like Anna is quite homesick.

Anna sent a letter to her mother on October 28, 1917. It says:

“You just want to [get?] up mother. Get strong so you can make a trip with me or you [two] together. I just know you can stand it.”

“Mother, I wish you would write me all about how you are feeling. Don’t use to (sic) many pills, if you have trouble with that just use the syringe, but know (sic) pills. Not even for headache, if possible to get out of it.” [It sounds very much like Christina was dependent upon those “hipos” as she called them. It may be confirmation that Christina (Grandma) Plucker was quite a hypochondriac.] [Or if Eleanor's right, she had arthritis][Or if Cindee can blame her celiac disease on Christina.....]

*******************************

This is a picture of what was found in the attic of the old farm house, when current owners Larry and Nancy Parsons were adding insulation. 

I googled it (Cindee) and saw that it is a medicine for menstral cramps.  Could THIS have belonged to Christina???  Mystery continues.  

The question as to how Wilbur Plucker died is corroborated again by his sister, Anna:

Anna Poppens (as told to her daughter, Eleanor) “always said that Wilbur fell off a horse, as is stated in his obituary.”

 

The following letter dated November 6, 1918 from Anna Poppens to Christina Plucker includes information about the flu epidemic in 1918: (Anna was living in Chicago and had only been married about one year at the time she wrote this letter.

“Dear Folks and all. I should have written before this, but just kept putting it off. I’m feeling pretty strong again now, and it seems like I can’t eat enough now. You don’t care to eat during the “Flu” period. Pete [her husband] was pretty well until Sunday night. He got a terrible pain in the left side of his chest, and we think it’s his heart that is weak from the “Flu.” He felt real well today, so he went to school and when he got back he was all in, and this afternoon he didn’t feel near as well, had a headache and his chest hurt him so badly, but his headache and chest pain are gone again tonight, so we hope he will soon get over this. It’s terrible – the “Flu” gets a person down in no time. And you don’t get a warning either – you just have it all of a sudden. Where Pete got this from again we don’t know, because his temperature was down four days before he went out of the hospital, so you see it wasn’t because he got out too soon.

This picture of Anna was taken in 1917. She was 23 years old.
Perhaps it was just prior to her wedding.

[Peter and Anna Poppens were married on September 25, 1917 and moved to Chicago, Illinois, where Peter went to medical school. By 1920, they moved to Princeton, Illinois, where they lived out the rest of their married life. Peter died in 1945; Anna died in 1988.]

“I’m glad you got your teeth pulled but I don’t see how you could stand it without taking anything. Tell me all about how you feel otherwise. I’m so anxious to know. It seems like I have to hear from you every day. Of all things take good care of yourself all of you. I hope you don’t go out very much, because I’m so afraid you might get exposed. It’s pretty bad in Parker now they write from Pete’s home. The way the paper writes here now it’s going down in Chicago now. I think that rain was very good. They think these bugs are in dust mostly.

“I will send your shoes some day soon. I was going to bring a box today but had to forget again like always. I suppose you miss them very much now.

“Well next week is Daddies birthday [John Poppe Plucker was born on November 11, 1869] and I don’t know what else to give him as a great hug and congratulate him. I told Pete, I feel as tho I want to pick corn, now that I can’t. It must be dreadful lonesome in the corn field.

“I suppose girlie [Lydia] thinks she is some girl to help Daddie pick corn. I suppose the schools are all closed yet, well it’s just as good because the “Flu” sure is no joke. Pete’s heart is still going too fast, but he has no temperature. But he will have to rest I’m afraid. I have been very much worried since Sunday, but I hope God’s hand will help us thru this trouble. I don’t see why it is that Pete had to get so weak.

“My dear folks, don’t worry too much about the war because everybody thinks it’s going to stop soon, which we all hope. We don’t think they care [to] fight very much longer. They just have to give up, and they are still losing on the west front I see in the paper. Well, I’m getting tired so will finish in the morning.

[As the Allied forces broke the German lines, Prince Maximilian of Baden was appointed as Chancellor of Germany in October in order to negotiate an armistice. Because of his opposition to the peace feelers, Ludendorff was forced to step aside and he fled to Sweden. Fighting was still continuing, but the German armies were in retreat when the German Revolution put a new government in power. An armistice was quickly signed, that stopped all fighting on the Western Front on ARMISTICE DAY (11 NOVEMBER 1918).]                                                                                                                                                            (From Wikipedia)

“Well this is afternoon, and Pete is so much better, but he gets very tired yet. He is home all day, we think he better be careful for a while yet.

“Well the whistles have been blowing for two hrs. and the papers say the war is ended. I hope it’s all true. It sure makes a person feel good to think it’s over with.

“I will send your shoes today. I have a box now and I know you want them badly.

“Mother, I hope you will take good care of yourself, because it pays to be careful right now. Do tell me all about how you feel, I’m real anxious to know. Don’t worry about us, because I think we will both be well soon.

‘I washed this morning, and I sure had a lot of dirty things. I’m afraid I can’t send the shoes because it’s raining, and it’s better for me to stay in, so I will mail this letter so you will get it Sat. It’s too bad about Uncle Wessels, but what can we do? I should have given Miss Doyle the right address, but I didn’t think.

“Well, I must close now and what a blessing it is to think the war is over.

“With Love, Your daughter, Anna”

And that is the way it was, in 1918 in the Poppens and Plucker families. These letters were sent to me by Eleanor Skoog (Anna’s youngest daughter) to help to fill out the memories of the Plucker family.

Jean E. Plucker Straatmeyer