Family notes from my great-aunt, Madge Meyer Benton
My great-aunt, Madge K. Meyer Benton (1901-1985), wrote down the following family information:
Grandpa and Grandma (Carl and Ida Volck) Jacobsen came to the U.S. from Germany in 1866. Grandpa had been an overseer in Germany. He had several men and their families working under him. He was decreed by some of his grandchildren as rather strong headed. I remember my mother telling of the life in Germany. She was only six years old when they came to the U.S. She said the families all had small homes built around the area of the land owner's home. Every one in the family had to work. They had big cow herds and ever one had to get out to help at milking time! They had a large stove or oven which they all shared and took their bread to be baked on certain days of the week. This bread was called black bread, because of the grain that they used at the time. So it was that on the ship as they journeyed to the U.S., they served white bread and my mother - no doubt being a bit homesick for her old home - cried because she wanted black bread. It happened that she had a birthday while on the ship, so my grandfather bought her some black bread for her birthday.
After landing in New York, they traveled to Illinois as my mother's uncle lived near Rock Island or Moline, and he sponsored their journey to the U.S.
I was told that Grandfather got a job working in a saloon or bar, and his job was to keep order. He carried a club like a ball bat.
In 1882 or 3 they bought a farm east of Exira. A good many of their friends from Rock Island had come to this area and bought farms - also their daughters and husbands. Henry Foss, who had married Mary Jacobsen, bought a farm just across the road. John Palm and their daughter, Charlotte, bought a farm a couple of miles to the north. Another daughter and husband, Caroline, had an adjoining farm to the north, and another daughter, Augusta (Mrs. James Schlotfeldt) settled a farm a couple of miles south.
My grandmother was rather a frail woman, and she died about 1 -1/2 years after moving to Iowa.
My mother (Anna) had met my father (George J. Meyer) in Rock Island, and he came to Iowa in February to take her as his bride. They returned to live on the family farm near Port Byron, Illinois, where they farmed until about 1888, when they bought a farm about a mile south of my grandfather's farm. They had four children - Charlie, Walter, George and Nora at this time.
I remember my father talking about shipping the livestock by train from Port Byron, Illinois, to Exira, Iowa. He rode the stock train to take care of the livestock on the way. The cows had to be milked. Mother and the children (were) also coming by train. The family all spoke German at that time, and when my oldest brothers Charlie and Walter started to school, they could not speak English.
The diptheria (sic) epidemic struck the neighborhood and Lydia Hoecamp came down with the disease while attending school, and my oldest brother came down with the disease, and later my father and more of the family: Charlie, Walter, George, Nora. My brother, John, about 5 months old, and my mother escaped that terrible epidemic, but three of their children - Charlie, George and Nora died within a few days of one another. My mother said their throats were so badly swollen that they could not eat or drink, and of course didn't have the strength to combat the disease. My brother, Walter, continued to eat and take liquids and somehow survived. John was a nursing baby, and the belief was that nursing babies did not succumb so easily to diseases. So there was never any sign of him having the disease. Other families in the community lost several children also, including Lydia Hoecamp. I must relate here that I married a nephew, Gerald Benton, of Lydia Hoecamp about 30 (40?) years later. I was born about seven years after the diptheria (sic) epidemic.
My mother must have received strength from the Lord to have taken the grief of losing 3 children within a week and having to prepare them herself for burial. They were buried in Pleasant Hill Cemetery east of Exira. My father lived to be 70 years and my mother 96, both buried in the same family plot with the 3 children.
My uncle, Charlie Jacobsen, was the only son of my grandpa and grandma, and when he married, he brought his bride to his father's farm and took over this farm as his, after my grandfather passed on. The rest of the family never received a penny of the estate. A grandson of my uncle still lives on this farm.
A few years after my grandmother passed away, my grandfather did not care to live with his son and family, so (he) moved across the road to his daughter, Mary Jacobsen Foss. Then tiring of that arrangement, he decided to build a small house a few feet from my parents' home. The small house wasn't completely finished, although he was living in it when he died from blood poisoning. He was very active and (built?) against my father's wishes. He was chopping down a growth of volunteer trees to the west and north of the home. My father wished to have the trees for a wind brake (sic) during a winter storm, but grandfather persisted in wielding the ax. One day, he received a bad gash on his hand from the ax. Home remedies were applied to no avail, and blood poison set in. He was taken to the doctor, but died from this injury. He had been taken to Exira and stayed at his son's home, who at that time lived in Exira in the house now occupied by Don Rubel, so he could be near the doctor. Grandpa's funeral services were in the home of his daughter, Mary Foss.
My uncle had moved to Exira because his wife, Rosa, had become ill. She died a short time later from tuberculosis, and my uncle again moved back to the farm after her death with his 3 children, Ida, John and Emma.
One of my personal memories of my great-aunt, Madge, was that my parents and I were visiting her home in Exira on the night of the "Miracle on Ice", February 22, 1980, when the U.S. hockey team defeated the Soviet Union for the gold medal in the Lake Placid Olympics.
Grandpa and Grandma (Carl and Ida Volck) Jacobsen came to the U.S. from Germany in 1866. Grandpa had been an overseer in Germany. He had several men and their families working under him. He was decreed by some of his grandchildren as rather strong headed. I remember my mother telling of the life in Germany. She was only six years old when they came to the U.S. She said the families all had small homes built around the area of the land owner's home. Every one in the family had to work. They had big cow herds and ever one had to get out to help at milking time! They had a large stove or oven which they all shared and took their bread to be baked on certain days of the week. This bread was called black bread, because of the grain that they used at the time. So it was that on the ship as they journeyed to the U.S., they served white bread and my mother - no doubt being a bit homesick for her old home - cried because she wanted black bread. It happened that she had a birthday while on the ship, so my grandfather bought her some black bread for her birthday.
After landing in New York, they traveled to Illinois as my mother's uncle lived near Rock Island or Moline, and he sponsored their journey to the U.S.
I was told that Grandfather got a job working in a saloon or bar, and his job was to keep order. He carried a club like a ball bat.
In 1882 or 3 they bought a farm east of Exira. A good many of their friends from Rock Island had come to this area and bought farms - also their daughters and husbands. Henry Foss, who had married Mary Jacobsen, bought a farm just across the road. John Palm and their daughter, Charlotte, bought a farm a couple of miles to the north. Another daughter and husband, Caroline, had an adjoining farm to the north, and another daughter, Augusta (Mrs. James Schlotfeldt) settled a farm a couple of miles south.
My grandmother was rather a frail woman, and she died about 1 -1/2 years after moving to Iowa.
My mother (Anna) had met my father (George J. Meyer) in Rock Island, and he came to Iowa in February to take her as his bride. They returned to live on the family farm near Port Byron, Illinois, where they farmed until about 1888, when they bought a farm about a mile south of my grandfather's farm. They had four children - Charlie, Walter, George and Nora at this time.
I remember my father talking about shipping the livestock by train from Port Byron, Illinois, to Exira, Iowa. He rode the stock train to take care of the livestock on the way. The cows had to be milked. Mother and the children (were) also coming by train. The family all spoke German at that time, and when my oldest brothers Charlie and Walter started to school, they could not speak English.
The diptheria (sic) epidemic struck the neighborhood and Lydia Hoecamp came down with the disease while attending school, and my oldest brother came down with the disease, and later my father and more of the family: Charlie, Walter, George, Nora. My brother, John, about 5 months old, and my mother escaped that terrible epidemic, but three of their children - Charlie, George and Nora died within a few days of one another. My mother said their throats were so badly swollen that they could not eat or drink, and of course didn't have the strength to combat the disease. My brother, Walter, continued to eat and take liquids and somehow survived. John was a nursing baby, and the belief was that nursing babies did not succumb so easily to diseases. So there was never any sign of him having the disease. Other families in the community lost several children also, including Lydia Hoecamp. I must relate here that I married a nephew, Gerald Benton, of Lydia Hoecamp about 30 (40?) years later. I was born about seven years after the diptheria (sic) epidemic.
My mother must have received strength from the Lord to have taken the grief of losing 3 children within a week and having to prepare them herself for burial. They were buried in Pleasant Hill Cemetery east of Exira. My father lived to be 70 years and my mother 96, both buried in the same family plot with the 3 children.
My uncle, Charlie Jacobsen, was the only son of my grandpa and grandma, and when he married, he brought his bride to his father's farm and took over this farm as his, after my grandfather passed on. The rest of the family never received a penny of the estate. A grandson of my uncle still lives on this farm.
A few years after my grandmother passed away, my grandfather did not care to live with his son and family, so (he) moved across the road to his daughter, Mary Jacobsen Foss. Then tiring of that arrangement, he decided to build a small house a few feet from my parents' home. The small house wasn't completely finished, although he was living in it when he died from blood poisoning. He was very active and (built?) against my father's wishes. He was chopping down a growth of volunteer trees to the west and north of the home. My father wished to have the trees for a wind brake (sic) during a winter storm, but grandfather persisted in wielding the ax. One day, he received a bad gash on his hand from the ax. Home remedies were applied to no avail, and blood poison set in. He was taken to the doctor, but died from this injury. He had been taken to Exira and stayed at his son's home, who at that time lived in Exira in the house now occupied by Don Rubel, so he could be near the doctor. Grandpa's funeral services were in the home of his daughter, Mary Foss.
My uncle had moved to Exira because his wife, Rosa, had become ill. She died a short time later from tuberculosis, and my uncle again moved back to the farm after her death with his 3 children, Ida, John and Emma.
One of my personal memories of my great-aunt, Madge, was that my parents and I were visiting her home in Exira on the night of the "Miracle on Ice", February 22, 1980, when the U.S. hockey team defeated the Soviet Union for the gold medal in the Lake Placid Olympics.
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