January 2015 Ancestral Newsletter #36 Happy New Year! Another year begins and I hope you've had a wonderful holiday. If you think back on your life you probably have had many interesting New Year's celebrations. I remember as a child, my parents would have friends over and there would be hors d'oeuvres such as shrimp, herring, sausage and cheese. Those were mostly for the guests but we kids were allowed to have some. In my 20's, it was dinning and dancing. Later in life it was often steak or lobster at home followed by a trip to the movie theater. In more recent years, I've created a new tradition of lighting candles at home...one for each year of my life. This new tradition is probably doomed though. I've noticed the curtains, walls and ceiling are turning black from the smoke. But this newsletter is not about me. It's about the lives of two of Ferry Rieder's brothers, George Jr. and Joseph. Before we delve into their lives, I would like to talk about what the New Year celebrations were like during their lifetimes. Winters, on the farm in the late 19th and early 20th century, were long, dark and cold. There were no cars or electricity. And there were not a lot of options for entertainment. However, if there was snow on the ground there was an opportunity to go sleigh riding. This was a popular New Year's Eve event. Taverns and inns would stay open long into the night. Sometimes a convoy of sleighs would join together in procession from one watering hole to another, usually with a fiddler in the lead. The problem with sleigh riding at night, especially in rural areas, was that you couldn't see the road. A full moon might help, but if the snow was deep, it was pretty much a guessing game. The roads were not paved; they were bumpy dirt roads that may have been full of rocks and ruts. If there had been rain prior to the winter freeze, the ruts from horse drawn wagons would become quite dangerous. Blowing winds could easily cause even more trouble with snow drifts and sleighs could topple over. All this got me to thinking about the song, Jingle Bells. Sing along if you'd like: A day or two ago I thought I'd take a ride And soon Miss Fanny Bright Was seated by my side The horse was lean and lank Misfortune seemed his lot He got into a drifted bank And Whee! We got upsot. So I decided to Google Jingle Bells and I found something interesting. The song was written in the 1850's by James Pierpont, a resident of Medford, Mass. In the middle of the 19th century, Medford was the home of a series of sleigh races. The competitors would race at top speed down the center of Salem Street. Those races are thought to be the inspiration for the song. There is a plaque at the site of Simpson Tavern where Mr. Pierpont supposedly wrote Jingle Bells. The story claims the song was not a jolly family song but rather it was a drinking song and perhaps some of his lesser known lyrics attest to that: A day or two ago, The story I must tell, I went out on the snow, And on my back I fell, A gent was riding by, In a one-horse open sleigh, He laughed as there I sprawling lie, But quickly drove away. Anyway, lets get back to George and Joseph Rieder. Unfortunately we don't know a lot about George and even though Joseph lived to be 88 there is not too much information on him either. My mother was in contact with Anne Rieder Huemmer, a daughter of Joseph, and the last 3 pages are from a letter she had written. Wishing you all the best in 2015! Debby Klug
George Rieder George Rieder The Rieder Family Back: Joseph, John, Ferry, Theresa and Margaret Front: George Jr., Michael, Georg Sr. and Margaret (Daschner) George was the third child of Georg and Margaret (Daschner) Rieder. He was born in Loewendorf, Bavaria in 1859. The two articles below are all we know about him. His older brother Michael emigrated from Germany in 1872.
Joseph Rieder Joseph Rieder Back: Joseph, John, Ferry, Theresa and Margaret Front: George Jr., Michael, Georg and Margaret Joseph Rieder was born on October 22, 1860 at Lowendorf, Oberpfalz, Germany. He came to America on the S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm I along with his parents, Georg and Margaret and 5 siblings: Theresa, George, Margaret, John and Ferry. The family arrived in Buffalo on July 12, 1873 and reunited with older brother, Michael, who had been living in New York for a year. In 1874, the entire family moved to Wisconsin and settled on a farm a few miles southwest of Plain. On May 5, 1884, Joseph married Justina Lins, 3 ½ years after Joseph's sister, Theresa, married George Lins, Justina's older brother. Joseph and Justina had 6 children: Louise, George, Leo, Alfred, Anne and Mathilda.
Joseph's brother, Michael and his family moved south to the warmer climate in Arkansas. Michael's wife, Mary (Brickl) Rieder died in 1887 and Georg and Margaret Rieder took their two youngest sons and down to Arkansas to help out. Joseph Justina Lins was born on June 10, 1862 in Grossteinlohe, on the Bohemian border, in Germany, near Waldmuenchen. Her parents were Georg and Barbara (Schwartz) Lins. They had four children: John, George, Joseph and Justina. Justina was 8 years old when she immigrated to America on May 13, 1871. Joseph and Justina Rieder were married for 65 years. Joseph died on August 28, 1949 at the age of 88. Justina died on December 15, 1952, age 90. Joseph and Justina Lins Rieder Joseph Rieder, George Lins, Theresa Rieder Lins, and Justina Lins Rieder Ferry Rieder, Ron Klaus & Joseph Rieder The Lins and Rieder Siblings Photo on the right---> Back: Joe Lins, John Lins, Ferry Rieder, Joseph Rieder Front: Justina Lins Rieder, George Lins, Theresa Rieder Lins and Margaret Rieder Miller
A Voice from the Past This letter was written in 1986 to my mother, June Klug, by Anne Huemmer, the daughter of Joseph and Justina (Lins) Rieder. Anne was living in Maine with her daughter at the time.