A History of the Krieger Family from Norka, Russia
by Amelia Werre (née Krieger)
It can be assumed that the undue hardships, homesickness and the want of mood for writing, coupled with the lack of writing material and time were all contributing factors that no family history was kept from the time our forefathers left Darmstadt, Germany and founded Norka, Russia on August 15, 1767. What history has come down through the generations was all oral and repeated from one generation to the other; consequently much of the detail has been lost. It would be interesting to know how many Krieger families left Darmstadt and how they were related. We do know there were four distinct groups each designated by a nickname, but how they were related no one remains to enlighten one on the subject. Maternal grandfather Krieger was known as Lickei (Lechai) John Krieger; then there were the Becker (baker) Krieger's the Poste (postman) Krieger's and the Garte (garden) Krieger's. Gloria Krieger's relationship were known as the Becker Krieger's. So from that period (1767) to 1847, when our grandmother was married, we will have to look to historians as to life in the German colonies founded in central Russia on both sides of the Volga River.
The following are family happenings and customs as told the writer by her mother who was born in Norka on July 23, 1864, and passed away in Portland, Oregon, on January 21, 1951. Life was austere and frugal so only the hardiest survived. Children at an early age were given chores and duties so there was little or no time for play. Most everybody went barefoot from late spring until fall to conserve footwear. Clothing was all homemade, coarse home woven linen for summer wear and heavy woolen for winter. Flax was raised and home processed for linen and every family kept sheep for wool and meat. The women wore dark woolen shawls on their heads in winter and linen bandanas in summer.
Our grandmother Krieger, whose maiden name was Katherine Marie Helser (Hölzer), knew how to weave and she taught her oldest daughter Katherine Marie on their loom. However she swore off teaching the other two daughters as Katherine Marie married a George Ross, who was the only son in a large family of daughters and she had to work hard, long hours for days and weeks to weave material for clothing for such a large family. Every family had its spinning wheel, or wheels, to make yarn for knitting socks and mittens. Girls at an early age learned to knit socks and women's hosiery (which came to just below the knee.)
For overcoats heavy material was purchased and itinerant tailors went from home to home plying their trade. The skins of lambs and kids were tanned and coats, as well as caps, were made out of them. However, the wool side was worn on the inside for added warmth, while the leather outside served to protect against the penetrating cold winds. I can remember, as a child, sleeping in a bed made up of the remains of such a coat that came to America and the wool made a very warm bed.
Mother's job as a child was to herd the geese to keep them from wandering into gardens and grain fields where they were very adept at shearing off the precious heads of grain. She was terrified of the ganders but grandmother had no pity but chased her out to keep watch over the geese. Mother finally learned to coat with the ganders by grabbing by the head and going round and round with them until they were dizzy, then sitting on them; I can remember mother telling how grandmother sat plucking a goose when one got its head into her bosom and pinched the nipple of her breast. The feathers were a necessity for warm feather beds (quilts) and pillows. Feather beds and pillows were a part of a girl's dowry.
Since the winters were long and cold, with deep dry snow, the ideal footwear were felted wool boots, called feltstiefel. Goats hair, as well as wool, was used in making the boots and it was a laborious process of stearing, felting, and molding the wool into a well-fitted one piece boot. These were made by men who went from home to home making boots for the whole family. There were also leather shoes for the rest of the year, but these were used sparingly and the wearer went barefoot whenever possible.
The German women took pride in their homes and were neat and clean. The high four-poster beds were enclosed with a heavy curtain for which the need is quite evident when one considers that in a large room there was a bed in every corner. The cradles were pushed under the beds in the daytime and one can imagine the disturbance of wailing infants at night when there were two or three married sons in the family. The beds were made up with the feather beds and a bedspread on which was a wide, hand-crocheted lace and pretty pillowcases. All sewing was by hand as there were no sewing machines.
Home life was quite simple. Food was generally served on the table in the pots in which it was cooked and each member dipped into the pot with a wooden spoon from which they ate. There were few, if any, metal knives or forks. Stoves for baking were made out of brick and stoked from the outside. Some indoors cooking area was provided. Mother used to tell of uncle Carl climbing on the roof and dropping straw down the chimney which landed in the porridge cooking on the stove, much to the annoyance of the cook. Water for home use was brought in wooden barrels from the springs in the outlying canyons surrounding the village on a cart drawn by a horse. In winter all travel was by sleigh as the snow lay on the ground for months.
Bread was all homemade, and rye bread was the staple food. White bread was considered a luxury and was had only for Sundays or special occasions, when coffee cake was also baked. Sugar and candies were seldom-had luxuries. Potatoes were a chief food crop, as was cabbage which was made into sauerkraut. All kinds of vegetables were grown and the root crops were stored for the winter. They never heard of vitamin C, but they got their share in dill pickles and sauerkraut. Small watermelons were pickled whole in a spiced salt brine. Sunflowers and two or three other seed crops were grown for their oil content and these were processed for their cooking oil and linseed; then there was lard and butter. Hersha brei, a porridge, was cooked from millet and wheat was parched, ground and "coffee" was brewed from it. Various dough recipes often provided the main meal. One mother used to prepare was called "gleas" and was made from a soft egg dough; small portions were dropped into boiling, salted water and cooked. Later on they were drained and fried a light brown in sunflower oil and served with mashed potatoes. Of course large quantities of raised dough doughnuts were made, as well as bread dough dumplings steamed done in a large pot of boiling pork and sauerkraut and served with mashed potatoes.
Each family made a number of different kinds of cheeses which was a staple in their meals while camping out doing their field work. Then there was red sausage, liverwurst, and some people made blood sausage. Father tells that the stomach of pigs was stuffed with sausage meat and cooked and this he called ginder. Of course there was ham and bacon. Nourishing soups were made from split peas, lentils and china peas. This was all simple fare but it served to provide them with the necessary elements for strong bodies and sound teeth. Had they not been so vigorous and healthy, they never could have survived the hardships that they encountered.
Each family had enough livestock for their meat, milk, wool, and transportation and farming. Grandfather had three yoke of oxen. These were always sheltered for the night as in the winter hungry packs of wolves raided the villages and woe that family who neglected or forgot to lock and bar their barns. Father often told of their large black family dog, Sultan, who used to climb a ladder to sleep in the haymow. One night the ladder wasn't in its usual place and the next morning all they found of their dog was a patch of black hair and a piece of bone. Thievery was also quite common, carried on by Russian Cossacks or Kalmuk tribes roaming the villages.
All the women had to help in the farm work, plowing, planting and harvesting, and mother was no exception. She had to drive the oxen while her brother, Peter, did the plowing. With the spring plowing and seeding and fall harvesting, there was an exodus to their acreages which most often lay some miles (versts) from the village. They camped out till they had their spring work and the fall harvesting completed. The aged women stayed home and took care of the small children while the elderly men did the chores. The pregnant women were not pampered, but were out in the fields working with the men. All the grain was cut by hand with a scythe and bound with a bind, made of knotted strands of grain, into a bundle. These binds were made up after supper so they would have enough on hand to begin the next day. The workers arose in the grey of the dawn and they put in long, hard hours in the field. The grain was spread on a clean, hard spot of ground and threshed by dragging a heavy object over it with a team of horses. After the straw was removed, the chaff was winnowed out by hand in large sieves.
Fuel was ever a problem. Wood was scarce and in the late spring, the winter's accumulation of manure was hauled out on a hard spot of ground, more straw scattered over the leveled-off manure and worked into the manure by the tramping of horses. This was then marked off into squares with a spade and left to dry. Later on it was stacked in a shed to dry thoroughly and be available as fuel. Each family was allowed to cut only a small allotment of wood, and woe him who was caught stealing wood in the forest.
Since the manure was all used for fuel instead of its natural use as a fertilizer, the fertility of the soil was soon depleted as commercial fertilizers were unknown. This resulted in poorer crops from year to year. This, coupled with lack of sufficient rainfall some years, brought complete crop failures. But they were very frugal and enough grain was saved from year to year so there was seed for the next spring. Somehow they managed to prosper in spite of the lean years until the Russian Revolution in 1918. Our people left Russia in 1890. During this time, they were harassed, taxed, and assessed so much grain that all incentive was gone to plant, and drought came in 1921, there was hunger and starvation staring in the face. Countless thousands died during 1921-22 before the relief work and feeding kitchens were set up. Much of the relief money was donated by the American Volga-Germans for the relatives and friends left behind in Russia.
Getting back to the 1840 era, in the winter the livestock was sheltered in the farm buildings clustered around their courtyard. But come spring and available forage, they were driven to the edge of the village where a herdsman took over and herded the cows till even, the other stock till fall. So there was a herdsman for the cattle, one for the swine, and a shepherd for the sheep. One can imagine the dust at evening when the stock wound thru the village on the way home to their own owners.
If memory serves me right, mother told that their home was made of stone and thatched with straw. This was an ever fire hazard source, especially during the hot windy summers. And when a fire broke out in a village, it was a disaster since the houses and barns and other buildings were all close together. The women used to get white earth in pits outside the village and this was used to whitewash the walls of their homes to keep them clean and spotless. Washing was plain hard work, especially so in the cold winters when every river or stream was frozen. Clothes were soaked in wood ashes, then carted to a nearby stream and rinsed in the clear running water. In winter, holes had to be chopped in the ice. The clothes froze dry.
There was little or no medical attention to be had. Vaccination for small children against diphtheria was unknown, so consequently many infants never grew up. Grandmother lost several children which she bitterly bewailed, but in later years when her three married sons and grandchildren were all under one roof with the resultant noise and confusion, she was heard to remark that she was thankful that all her children hadn't lived to grow up. To understand this remark, one must remember there were 20 of them living in one house when they set out for the United States. Smallpox was also a dreaded scourge, as was typhoid fever, with few recoveries. Some quack doctors doctored with leeches and there was some schreffen. This was a small instrument with spring-triggered knives that plunged into the skin; an ointment was applied, and then bandages. This was supposed to draw out the poison and hasten recovery (a case of kill or cure).
Schooling was a haphazard affair held only during the winter months. The school master was generally a villager who had no education himself, so outside of teaching the children to read the Bible and catechism and memorizing hymns, little other education was to be had. Some of the boys were taught a very rudimentary sort of arithmetic. Father did his figuring on an abacus. This was a small wooden frame affair with several horizontal wires running across on which were strung wooden "buttons". The counting ran by units, tens, hundreds (Mrs. Vaughn has kept it).
Religion, however, was a serious part of their lives. They were all baptized as infants and at 14 or 15 years of age confirmed. Marriage at an early age was the rule and divorce was practically unknown. Traveling evangelists, who preached a warm living faith, soon established what were called Brüder Versammlung (Brethren prayer meetings), and much religious activity went on throughout the German villages. Mother often told of evangelist H. P. Ehlers who exerted great influence by his ability in speech and tactful leadership; his sane judgment, helpful influence wherever he labored, gained for him the supremacy of authority and his wise counsel was accepted by all. Pastor Christoph Heinrich Bonwetsch married my grandparents, and Pastor Wilhelm Stärkel, a local born German educated in Switzerland, was pastor of the church and officiated at the baptism and confirmation of my parents. The religious leaders held an exalted position in the villages. Maternal grandfather John Krieger (Lickei Johannes) was a deacon in the church for years. When the new church was built in Norka (from 1880 to 1882) he was overseer during its construction. It was a very large building that had no method of heating installed, so in the dead of winter, church was conducted in the school house. However, it did contain a large pipe organ which was played by the pastor. It was powered by manual labor with a gauge showing the pressure.
Pastor Wilhelm Stärkel gave organization to the Brotherhood (Brethren) movement. Born and reared on the Volga and converted in one of the revival meetings there, he received his theologian training in the Basel Missionary School, a pietistic institution in Switzerland.
Henry P. Ehlers was born March 2, 1845, in the village of Dinkel, the only son of village peasants. His parents vowed that he should become a servant of God in the Christian ministry. His father died when he was two years old and left his mother with Henry P. and a sister in extremely meager circumstances.
On Sunday afternoons, the Brethren gathered in homes for prayer meetings and Bible discussions. Following the close of meetings, the Brethren often discussed local happenings and sometimes even the Royal family came into discussion. At one of these meetings, one of the Brethren made an uncomplimentary remark that every time a Princess was born, a large sum of money was settled on her. One of the Brethren reported this disloyal remark to the authorities who came to investigate and question all the Brethren who had attended the meeting. When grandfather Krieger was questioned, he being on the alert and not wishing to put anyone into a grave situation, replied that the Prophets in the Old Testament had been discussed. The informer being discredited was sentenced to exile in the salt mines in Siberia. He was so enraged that grandfather "let him down" that he wished that he would go blind. In Sutton, Nebraska, grandfather plied his trade of a cobbler. Working with poor lighting facilities (candle or kerosene lamps), he eventually became blind and sat in darkness for thirteen years till his death in 1910. One cannot help but wonder in those long years, sitting in darkness, whether the curse wished on him did not often come to grandfather's mind.
It was the custom in a household that the sons married and remained under their father's roof, but the father ruled over the whole household, no matter how old the sons were. Only in homes where there were no sons was this rule reversed. This was the case of my paternal grandfather, Nicholas Krieger. He married a Katherine Schneider and made his home with them. They had a flour mill and my father and his two younger brothers and two sisters were born and raised in its living quarters. My father learned to operate the flour mill at an early age, and at the death of his father in April 1885, took over the operation of the mill and the farming likewise as he was the oldest. The large wings of the mill came close to the ground, and when the mill was in operation, close watch had to be kept over younger children. Even so, the baby of the family, Elizabeth, wandered too close and was struck in the side forehead. This serious injury finally healed with pieces of chipped bore working their way out of the wound. Aunt Elizabeth carried a hideous scar all her life.
Since most of the strong winds arose in the early evenings and often continued all night, the miller took advantage of it to grind grain for feed or flour. Living on the outskirts of the village, a clear view of the sky-was to be had; thus father told of seeing a blood red dog-like object in the heavens and said what a terrifying sight it was. With a full moonlight shining on the glistening snow, the range of vision was a considerable distance. One night he saw what appeared to be two men coming, but on close watch it turned out to be wolves. He let them come close then cupped his hands and clapped them together. The unexpected noise sent the wolves fleeing. The next morning they discovered that someone had forgotten to lock the sheep shelter for the night and they came close to being slaughtered. Father learned the art of sharpening the mill stones. This consisted of chipping out with a chisel a series of curved lines from the center of the stones to the edge in a graduated depth. He often sharpened the mill stones for Knight Packing Company in Portland, Oregon.
Father (Heinrich Krieger) was married January 27, 1887 to Katherine Marie Scheideman. Christine was born January 10, 1888. August 16, 1889, Elizabeth was born. The next year they decided to sell out and immigrate to the United States. Uncle John was nearing military age and with the other factors taken into consideration they left Norka in May 1890 and settled first in Sutton, Nebraska. Later on they moved to Grand Island, Nebraska, where father worked in the sugar beet factory. It was while living here that sister Mary was born on February 3, 1892. Besides his own wife and children, father had his brothers, sisters, aged grandmother Dorothea Schneider (née Nolde) and his widowed mother. They came to Portland, Oregon in 1893, and the aged grandmother died on April 16, 1894. This was the year of the highest water on record and the beginning of hard times. His first wife died December 19, 1895. On July 31, 1898, he married a distant cousin, Katherine Elizabeth Krieger. Pauline was born June 11, 1900, and Amelia August 15, 1902.
The following are family happenings and customs as told the writer by her mother who was born in Norka on July 23, 1864, and passed away in Portland, Oregon, on January 21, 1951. Life was austere and frugal so only the hardiest survived. Children at an early age were given chores and duties so there was little or no time for play. Most everybody went barefoot from late spring until fall to conserve footwear. Clothing was all homemade, coarse home woven linen for summer wear and heavy woolen for winter. Flax was raised and home processed for linen and every family kept sheep for wool and meat. The women wore dark woolen shawls on their heads in winter and linen bandanas in summer.
Our grandmother Krieger, whose maiden name was Katherine Marie Helser (Hölzer), knew how to weave and she taught her oldest daughter Katherine Marie on their loom. However she swore off teaching the other two daughters as Katherine Marie married a George Ross, who was the only son in a large family of daughters and she had to work hard, long hours for days and weeks to weave material for clothing for such a large family. Every family had its spinning wheel, or wheels, to make yarn for knitting socks and mittens. Girls at an early age learned to knit socks and women's hosiery (which came to just below the knee.)
For overcoats heavy material was purchased and itinerant tailors went from home to home plying their trade. The skins of lambs and kids were tanned and coats, as well as caps, were made out of them. However, the wool side was worn on the inside for added warmth, while the leather outside served to protect against the penetrating cold winds. I can remember, as a child, sleeping in a bed made up of the remains of such a coat that came to America and the wool made a very warm bed.
Mother's job as a child was to herd the geese to keep them from wandering into gardens and grain fields where they were very adept at shearing off the precious heads of grain. She was terrified of the ganders but grandmother had no pity but chased her out to keep watch over the geese. Mother finally learned to coat with the ganders by grabbing by the head and going round and round with them until they were dizzy, then sitting on them; I can remember mother telling how grandmother sat plucking a goose when one got its head into her bosom and pinched the nipple of her breast. The feathers were a necessity for warm feather beds (quilts) and pillows. Feather beds and pillows were a part of a girl's dowry.
Since the winters were long and cold, with deep dry snow, the ideal footwear were felted wool boots, called feltstiefel. Goats hair, as well as wool, was used in making the boots and it was a laborious process of stearing, felting, and molding the wool into a well-fitted one piece boot. These were made by men who went from home to home making boots for the whole family. There were also leather shoes for the rest of the year, but these were used sparingly and the wearer went barefoot whenever possible.
The German women took pride in their homes and were neat and clean. The high four-poster beds were enclosed with a heavy curtain for which the need is quite evident when one considers that in a large room there was a bed in every corner. The cradles were pushed under the beds in the daytime and one can imagine the disturbance of wailing infants at night when there were two or three married sons in the family. The beds were made up with the feather beds and a bedspread on which was a wide, hand-crocheted lace and pretty pillowcases. All sewing was by hand as there were no sewing machines.
Home life was quite simple. Food was generally served on the table in the pots in which it was cooked and each member dipped into the pot with a wooden spoon from which they ate. There were few, if any, metal knives or forks. Stoves for baking were made out of brick and stoked from the outside. Some indoors cooking area was provided. Mother used to tell of uncle Carl climbing on the roof and dropping straw down the chimney which landed in the porridge cooking on the stove, much to the annoyance of the cook. Water for home use was brought in wooden barrels from the springs in the outlying canyons surrounding the village on a cart drawn by a horse. In winter all travel was by sleigh as the snow lay on the ground for months.
Bread was all homemade, and rye bread was the staple food. White bread was considered a luxury and was had only for Sundays or special occasions, when coffee cake was also baked. Sugar and candies were seldom-had luxuries. Potatoes were a chief food crop, as was cabbage which was made into sauerkraut. All kinds of vegetables were grown and the root crops were stored for the winter. They never heard of vitamin C, but they got their share in dill pickles and sauerkraut. Small watermelons were pickled whole in a spiced salt brine. Sunflowers and two or three other seed crops were grown for their oil content and these were processed for their cooking oil and linseed; then there was lard and butter. Hersha brei, a porridge, was cooked from millet and wheat was parched, ground and "coffee" was brewed from it. Various dough recipes often provided the main meal. One mother used to prepare was called "gleas" and was made from a soft egg dough; small portions were dropped into boiling, salted water and cooked. Later on they were drained and fried a light brown in sunflower oil and served with mashed potatoes. Of course large quantities of raised dough doughnuts were made, as well as bread dough dumplings steamed done in a large pot of boiling pork and sauerkraut and served with mashed potatoes.
Each family made a number of different kinds of cheeses which was a staple in their meals while camping out doing their field work. Then there was red sausage, liverwurst, and some people made blood sausage. Father tells that the stomach of pigs was stuffed with sausage meat and cooked and this he called ginder. Of course there was ham and bacon. Nourishing soups were made from split peas, lentils and china peas. This was all simple fare but it served to provide them with the necessary elements for strong bodies and sound teeth. Had they not been so vigorous and healthy, they never could have survived the hardships that they encountered.
Each family had enough livestock for their meat, milk, wool, and transportation and farming. Grandfather had three yoke of oxen. These were always sheltered for the night as in the winter hungry packs of wolves raided the villages and woe that family who neglected or forgot to lock and bar their barns. Father often told of their large black family dog, Sultan, who used to climb a ladder to sleep in the haymow. One night the ladder wasn't in its usual place and the next morning all they found of their dog was a patch of black hair and a piece of bone. Thievery was also quite common, carried on by Russian Cossacks or Kalmuk tribes roaming the villages.
All the women had to help in the farm work, plowing, planting and harvesting, and mother was no exception. She had to drive the oxen while her brother, Peter, did the plowing. With the spring plowing and seeding and fall harvesting, there was an exodus to their acreages which most often lay some miles (versts) from the village. They camped out till they had their spring work and the fall harvesting completed. The aged women stayed home and took care of the small children while the elderly men did the chores. The pregnant women were not pampered, but were out in the fields working with the men. All the grain was cut by hand with a scythe and bound with a bind, made of knotted strands of grain, into a bundle. These binds were made up after supper so they would have enough on hand to begin the next day. The workers arose in the grey of the dawn and they put in long, hard hours in the field. The grain was spread on a clean, hard spot of ground and threshed by dragging a heavy object over it with a team of horses. After the straw was removed, the chaff was winnowed out by hand in large sieves.
Fuel was ever a problem. Wood was scarce and in the late spring, the winter's accumulation of manure was hauled out on a hard spot of ground, more straw scattered over the leveled-off manure and worked into the manure by the tramping of horses. This was then marked off into squares with a spade and left to dry. Later on it was stacked in a shed to dry thoroughly and be available as fuel. Each family was allowed to cut only a small allotment of wood, and woe him who was caught stealing wood in the forest.
Since the manure was all used for fuel instead of its natural use as a fertilizer, the fertility of the soil was soon depleted as commercial fertilizers were unknown. This resulted in poorer crops from year to year. This, coupled with lack of sufficient rainfall some years, brought complete crop failures. But they were very frugal and enough grain was saved from year to year so there was seed for the next spring. Somehow they managed to prosper in spite of the lean years until the Russian Revolution in 1918. Our people left Russia in 1890. During this time, they were harassed, taxed, and assessed so much grain that all incentive was gone to plant, and drought came in 1921, there was hunger and starvation staring in the face. Countless thousands died during 1921-22 before the relief work and feeding kitchens were set up. Much of the relief money was donated by the American Volga-Germans for the relatives and friends left behind in Russia.
Getting back to the 1840 era, in the winter the livestock was sheltered in the farm buildings clustered around their courtyard. But come spring and available forage, they were driven to the edge of the village where a herdsman took over and herded the cows till even, the other stock till fall. So there was a herdsman for the cattle, one for the swine, and a shepherd for the sheep. One can imagine the dust at evening when the stock wound thru the village on the way home to their own owners.
If memory serves me right, mother told that their home was made of stone and thatched with straw. This was an ever fire hazard source, especially during the hot windy summers. And when a fire broke out in a village, it was a disaster since the houses and barns and other buildings were all close together. The women used to get white earth in pits outside the village and this was used to whitewash the walls of their homes to keep them clean and spotless. Washing was plain hard work, especially so in the cold winters when every river or stream was frozen. Clothes were soaked in wood ashes, then carted to a nearby stream and rinsed in the clear running water. In winter, holes had to be chopped in the ice. The clothes froze dry.
There was little or no medical attention to be had. Vaccination for small children against diphtheria was unknown, so consequently many infants never grew up. Grandmother lost several children which she bitterly bewailed, but in later years when her three married sons and grandchildren were all under one roof with the resultant noise and confusion, she was heard to remark that she was thankful that all her children hadn't lived to grow up. To understand this remark, one must remember there were 20 of them living in one house when they set out for the United States. Smallpox was also a dreaded scourge, as was typhoid fever, with few recoveries. Some quack doctors doctored with leeches and there was some schreffen. This was a small instrument with spring-triggered knives that plunged into the skin; an ointment was applied, and then bandages. This was supposed to draw out the poison and hasten recovery (a case of kill or cure).
Schooling was a haphazard affair held only during the winter months. The school master was generally a villager who had no education himself, so outside of teaching the children to read the Bible and catechism and memorizing hymns, little other education was to be had. Some of the boys were taught a very rudimentary sort of arithmetic. Father did his figuring on an abacus. This was a small wooden frame affair with several horizontal wires running across on which were strung wooden "buttons". The counting ran by units, tens, hundreds (Mrs. Vaughn has kept it).
Religion, however, was a serious part of their lives. They were all baptized as infants and at 14 or 15 years of age confirmed. Marriage at an early age was the rule and divorce was practically unknown. Traveling evangelists, who preached a warm living faith, soon established what were called Brüder Versammlung (Brethren prayer meetings), and much religious activity went on throughout the German villages. Mother often told of evangelist H. P. Ehlers who exerted great influence by his ability in speech and tactful leadership; his sane judgment, helpful influence wherever he labored, gained for him the supremacy of authority and his wise counsel was accepted by all. Pastor Christoph Heinrich Bonwetsch married my grandparents, and Pastor Wilhelm Stärkel, a local born German educated in Switzerland, was pastor of the church and officiated at the baptism and confirmation of my parents. The religious leaders held an exalted position in the villages. Maternal grandfather John Krieger (Lickei Johannes) was a deacon in the church for years. When the new church was built in Norka (from 1880 to 1882) he was overseer during its construction. It was a very large building that had no method of heating installed, so in the dead of winter, church was conducted in the school house. However, it did contain a large pipe organ which was played by the pastor. It was powered by manual labor with a gauge showing the pressure.
Pastor Wilhelm Stärkel gave organization to the Brotherhood (Brethren) movement. Born and reared on the Volga and converted in one of the revival meetings there, he received his theologian training in the Basel Missionary School, a pietistic institution in Switzerland.
Henry P. Ehlers was born March 2, 1845, in the village of Dinkel, the only son of village peasants. His parents vowed that he should become a servant of God in the Christian ministry. His father died when he was two years old and left his mother with Henry P. and a sister in extremely meager circumstances.
On Sunday afternoons, the Brethren gathered in homes for prayer meetings and Bible discussions. Following the close of meetings, the Brethren often discussed local happenings and sometimes even the Royal family came into discussion. At one of these meetings, one of the Brethren made an uncomplimentary remark that every time a Princess was born, a large sum of money was settled on her. One of the Brethren reported this disloyal remark to the authorities who came to investigate and question all the Brethren who had attended the meeting. When grandfather Krieger was questioned, he being on the alert and not wishing to put anyone into a grave situation, replied that the Prophets in the Old Testament had been discussed. The informer being discredited was sentenced to exile in the salt mines in Siberia. He was so enraged that grandfather "let him down" that he wished that he would go blind. In Sutton, Nebraska, grandfather plied his trade of a cobbler. Working with poor lighting facilities (candle or kerosene lamps), he eventually became blind and sat in darkness for thirteen years till his death in 1910. One cannot help but wonder in those long years, sitting in darkness, whether the curse wished on him did not often come to grandfather's mind.
It was the custom in a household that the sons married and remained under their father's roof, but the father ruled over the whole household, no matter how old the sons were. Only in homes where there were no sons was this rule reversed. This was the case of my paternal grandfather, Nicholas Krieger. He married a Katherine Schneider and made his home with them. They had a flour mill and my father and his two younger brothers and two sisters were born and raised in its living quarters. My father learned to operate the flour mill at an early age, and at the death of his father in April 1885, took over the operation of the mill and the farming likewise as he was the oldest. The large wings of the mill came close to the ground, and when the mill was in operation, close watch had to be kept over younger children. Even so, the baby of the family, Elizabeth, wandered too close and was struck in the side forehead. This serious injury finally healed with pieces of chipped bore working their way out of the wound. Aunt Elizabeth carried a hideous scar all her life.
Since most of the strong winds arose in the early evenings and often continued all night, the miller took advantage of it to grind grain for feed or flour. Living on the outskirts of the village, a clear view of the sky-was to be had; thus father told of seeing a blood red dog-like object in the heavens and said what a terrifying sight it was. With a full moonlight shining on the glistening snow, the range of vision was a considerable distance. One night he saw what appeared to be two men coming, but on close watch it turned out to be wolves. He let them come close then cupped his hands and clapped them together. The unexpected noise sent the wolves fleeing. The next morning they discovered that someone had forgotten to lock the sheep shelter for the night and they came close to being slaughtered. Father learned the art of sharpening the mill stones. This consisted of chipping out with a chisel a series of curved lines from the center of the stones to the edge in a graduated depth. He often sharpened the mill stones for Knight Packing Company in Portland, Oregon.
Father (Heinrich Krieger) was married January 27, 1887 to Katherine Marie Scheideman. Christine was born January 10, 1888. August 16, 1889, Elizabeth was born. The next year they decided to sell out and immigrate to the United States. Uncle John was nearing military age and with the other factors taken into consideration they left Norka in May 1890 and settled first in Sutton, Nebraska. Later on they moved to Grand Island, Nebraska, where father worked in the sugar beet factory. It was while living here that sister Mary was born on February 3, 1892. Besides his own wife and children, father had his brothers, sisters, aged grandmother Dorothea Schneider (née Nolde) and his widowed mother. They came to Portland, Oregon in 1893, and the aged grandmother died on April 16, 1894. This was the year of the highest water on record and the beginning of hard times. His first wife died December 19, 1895. On July 31, 1898, he married a distant cousin, Katherine Elizabeth Krieger. Pauline was born June 11, 1900, and Amelia August 15, 1902.
Source
Story written by Amelia Werre (née Krieger) on May 8, 1958. Amelia's father was Heinrich (Henry) Krieger, born July 30, 1865 in Norka. He came to the United States in May 1890 and settled in Sutton, Nebraska. Later, he moved to Grand Island, Nebraska, and then to Portland, Oregon. Amelia's mother was Katharina Elisabeth Krieger, born July 18, 1864 in Norka, the daughter of Johannes and Katharina Maria Krieger. Amelia was born on August 15, 1902 in Portland. In June 1903, the family moved to Felida, Washington (near Vancouver, Washington). Amelia married Gottlieb Werre in 1930. Amelia's sister, Pauline, is the mother-in-law of Apollo 15 astronaut James B. Irwin.
Last updated December 18, 2016.