Nauvoo, Illinois The Germans and Swiss came to America. They were not the military-minded Germans. Crossing the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico they came up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, to the very heart of the new country. After three months on a sailboat they were anxious to get settled on land of their own...

Log cabin on an Island in the Mississippi River at Nauvoo. Date unknown.

Characteristic of the Germans and Swiss was providing for old age, saving for a rainy day, and respect for their parents and elders. They were economical, their adage was "waste not, want not." Their attics and back porches had strings of red peppers, braided ropes of onions, garlic, dried sage, parsley, thyme, marjoram, and schnitlauck for seasoning; peppermint and chamomile for tea; hops for yeast and medicine; and many strings of dried apples.

Stored in their cellars one would find apple butter in large stone jars (with a dash of alcohol on top to prevent mold), stone jars filled with sliced turnips covered with vinegar, pickles in brine, boxes of sand in which carrots and beets were stored. There was also a place for the wood tubs that had to be kept moist to prevent their drying and falling apart.

There were bins for potatoes and apples, a shelf for homemade soap, a stone butter churn with its wood dasher, an iron kettle for cooking soap, a 10-gallon stone jar for kraut, a vinegar barrel, a wool carder, homemade wicker baskets and candle molds. Each home had its well and cistern plus a rain barrel full of soft water. On the back porch might be found an extra cowbell, a hemp rope and a log chain.

Anna Kuerner skittling up the back stairway of her weathered German homestead. © March 1983, Glenn Cuerden

Butchering was a big event. The neighbors came in to help usually staying until late at night, in making kophkase, braatwurst, blutwurst, leberwurst, and phanhass.

The fresh pork was a change from the menu which included eingemachtes kalbfleisch, schmierkase, gefilte noodeln, sauerbraten, wine brie, gebrenda mael suppe, kneffeln, hasenpfeffer, handkase, phanna keuchlin, pumpernickel and kartoffel puffers. Following the butchering there was plenty of sauer kraut and "spheck."

They had a special day for cooking apple butter over an outdoor fire in a 40-gallon copper kettle, a day for making pretzels, a day for making hominy, and a day for cooking sorghum, often a neighborhood affair.

Newborn calf. © December 1973, Glenn Cuerden.

Old Times in Appanoose Township by John W. Bertschi - Early 1860's. People had to live in log houses or other homes of temporary construction. Live stock, if it was sheltered at all, it was in log stables or straw sheds. I remember one time Mother had a basket of eggs ready for market and Father being busy with some farm work, she asked me if I and brother Herman, who was two years younger than I, could carry those eggs to Charley Frank's store in Niota. We did carry the eggs--nine dozen--three miles and received 3 cents per dozen for them. Of course Mrs. Frank could not make the exact change so she paid us 25 cents in cash and four cookies. We brought home the cash but ate the cookies. To View Rural Stock Photos