The newspapers reported the events of local life. The barber shop and quilting bee spread the news even faster. There was good news, and there was bad news.
Bad news
The news wasn’t always rosy. There were accidents, illnesses, deaths, and a host of other misfortunes. The Maninger families had their share. Here are a few.
Good news
Fortunately, not all the news is bad. There are also the mundane, pleasant, and downright fabulous events that are reported. Like catching a 65 pound catfish! Or the school board eating ice cream.
There was other good news, too. Fifty friends and neighbors helped John Maninger celebrate his birthday.
Happy 40th, John
On June 2, 1907, John L. Maninger celebrated his 40th birthday. He was born in 1867 in Gridley, Illinois.
About fifty friends and relatives gathered at the Maninger home to help celebrate John’s birthday.
As she often did, Priscilla served a wonderful meal to the guests.
Important church visitors
A few weeks after John’s birthday, other festivities were on the calendar. Elders from the church in Germany visited Harper. They had been in the three county area of Illinois – Tazewell, McLean, Woodford. Several elders from Illinois accompanied the foreign visitors.
Val and Magdalena helped greet the visitors, probably offering lodging for one or two. There were several days of meetings, and then a trip to the Driftwood, Oklahoma church, where Gottlieb Kurz was the elder.
The Apostolic Church was still an important part of Val and Lena’s family life. On Sundays, most all the extended Maninger families attended services.
Sundays at church
Each Sunday all the boys and their families went to church – a German Apostolic Church was made up of Grandad’s family and a few families who lived there that were of German descent. I always loved going because we all stayed all day and the ladies and girls sat on one side and the men and boys on the other side of the church. We had no piano or organ and one of my uncles led the singing.
After church we all stayed for dinner that each family brought and I’ll never forget drinking coffee out of a tin cup and eating bread and butter with sugar on it. I don’t think I ever knew any one or played with any one other than my cousins before I started to school. The only time I saw my cousins was on Sunday and the grown-ups had church again in the afternoon and my cousins and I ran wild on the church grounds and had a marvelous time.
My Experiences Growing Up On Our Kansas Farm – Billie Maninger
The members of the church knew each other well. They celebrated each other’s life events – births, marriages, and funerals. When a church member died, they were buried in the cemetery on the Maninger farm.
Cemetery news
Since 1888, when Joseph and Barbara Smith’s daughter Nettie died, a plot in the northeast corner of the Maninger farm had become a cemetery. Besides family, members of the Maninger’s church were also buried there. It had become the de facto German Apostolic Church Cemetery.
In October 1908, Val and Lena made it official. They deeded the cemetery to the church for $1.00.
Goat news
My older brothers had a goat and they built a goat cart and drove the goat – his name was Billy. He was well-behaved at first but finally got very cantankerous. But my little sister and I used to drive him around the yard and he finally got tired of us and would run under the back porch with us only to be saved by the height of the cart. I don’t remember what became of him.
My Experiences Growing Up On Our Kansas Farm – Billie Maninger
Good or bad news?
In 1908, the San Luis Valley Land Company was opening a huge tract of southwest Colorado to individual investors. The Costilla estate had been a land grant from the Mexican government to the Costilla family. After several unsuccessful attempts, the land had been acquired by two investors from Kansas City – Robert Martin and Joseph Borders. Their San Luis Valley Land Company promised to build an irrigation system for all lots and a railroad. They intended to sell 65,000 acres. Martin and Borders did a huge advance promotion, spending $10,000.
Each investor could buy a lottery contract for $150. Then, on opening day, those with a winning lottery contract could bid on tracts of 5 acres or more. A winning bid included a free lot in the new town of Blanca. 6,752 contracts were sold to bidders, mostly in midwestern states from Kansas to Indiana.
The Maningers and others in Harper purchased 67 lottery contracts. Eighteen investors from Harper would attend the auction, including five Maningers, two Weyeneths, and one Barth.
The auction was scheduled for August 12. Tent cities were prepared, and temporary housing, tent hotels, and tent restaurants were set up. Over 3,000 people attended the auction. By all accounts, it was a big success.
The land sale wasn’t a scam. But the company couldn’t provide the promised irrigation infrastructure that it promised, and the railroad couldn’t make a profit.
What do you think? Did this turn out to be good news or bad news?
Good News!
Let’s end with the ultimate Good News. Christmas.
The only time we got a present was at Christmas and there was one toy, usually a doll that mother made out of gray sox and embroidered eyes and mouth and put yam for the hair. We always had oranges and nuts and that was a big part of our Christmas. We always had oyster stew on Christmas Eve with celery, which was a treat, and oyster crackers.
After we had oyster stew my dad would open the parlor door and we would see our Christmas tree for the first time. We children never went in the parlor, only on very special occasions – that was a no-no. Our tree, to me, as I remember it, was the most beautiful tree I had ever seen. We had real candles on it that were lighted and we always had a bucket of sand by the tree in case a candle might cause a fire. Then Santa Clause would come and give us each a toy, hard candy, and an orange and then we would have cookies and hot wassail.
My dad always got a gallon of fresh oysters and a gallon of maple syrup from some place; it always came through the mail. My cousins tell me they bought a barrel of oysters from the Atlantic coast and the family divided them. Christmas day we had a big dinner and I remember having goose some Christmases or duck that we raised on the farm. We also raised turkeys and to this day I do not care much for turkey, specially when it is hot, as it smells like turkeys used to smell.
My Experiences Growing Up On Our Kansas Farm – Billie Maninger
Timeline
Sources:
- Image – Central Barber Shop – Harper, Kansas – 1905 – Condensed History of the City of Harper, Kansas – 1977
- News – Various articles for bad and good news – Harper Sentinel and Harper Advocate – various dates – 1906-1908 – newspapers.com
- News – John Maninger 40th birthday – Harper Advocate – June 7, 1907 – newspapers.com
- Image – John Maninger and guests at birthday – The Maninger Family – F. Robert Henderson – 2000
- Quotes – My Experiences Growing up on our Kansas Farm – Billie Maninger – The Maninger Family – F. Robert Henderson – 2000
- News – German Apostolic Church visitors – Harper Advocate – June 28, 1907 – newspapers.com
- Images – Christian Apostolic Cemetery – Harper, Kansas – Mark Jarvis
- Deed – Valentine and Magdalena Maninger to German Christian Apostolic Church – Cemetery – October 1908 – Harper County Register of Deeds – Anthony, Kansas
- Image – Billie and Mattie Maninger and their goat – Maninger Family photos – Emily Maninger Cheney collection
- News – Harper investors in San Luis Valley Land Company – Harper Sentinel – August 7 and Harper Advocate – August 28, 1908 – newspapers.com
- News – San Luis Valley Land Company auction – The Rocky Mountain News (Daily), Volume 49, Number 236, August 23, 1908 – Colorado Historic Newspaper Collection – https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=RMD19080823-01.2.77&srpos=4&dliv=none&e=–1908—1912–en-20–1-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-costilla+development——-0——
- Family Tree diagrams – Ancestry.com and Mark Jarvis
- Music – Happy Birthday To You – Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Happy_birthday_to_you_(Zum_Geburtstag_viel_Gl%C3%BCck).mid#filelinks
Family Nibbles 