Mathias family moves to Texas

Mathias and Dorothea move to Texas

After Joe was called into service in the Great War (WWI), Math and Dora decided to move to Hidalgo County, Texas.  Matt had several parcels of property in Charleston so he began to sell them off.  A property belonging to Mathias and Dorothea Willems and George Lumpp was purchased by the German American Bank.  This land is now part of the present site of the Franklin County Courthouse. In September 1919 Mathias and Dorothea sold the block of land adjacent to the Catholic Church. November brought the sale of the last of their property, on South Vine Street in which they owned a half interest.
Why exactly they moved, I do not know. Maybe it was in want of warmer winters that might help Math's skin condition, but by the time the 1920 census was enumerated Mathias, Dorothea, and three sons were settled on a farm outside Mission, Texas.   The record shows them as "Williams" and mangled other names as well, but it is them.  The third son was Daniel, age 12, born in New York, so most likely another orphan train rider.  Both "Matthew" and "Kotalora" as the names read, were 56 years old, Joe was 25, Charles (this would be John, Charles could be his middle name), was 24.  All the adult males worked on the farm.  "Matthew" claimed to have filed naturalization papers in 1906, but still was not a citizen.

September of 1925 brought a family reunion of sorts to Math and Dorothea's farm in Texas.  Not only did Mathias brother Phillip, and sister-in-law Katherine, arrive for a visit, but his youngest sister Katherine arrived from Streator, Illinois with her husband John Klever, and their two children Marie, who was almost 10, and Charles, age 8, who was known as Chuck.  The Klever's visit lasted about a month during which time the children enjoyed farm life, got into mischief for which they received spanking and got to know their cousins, aunts, and uncles.  (Thanks to Marie Klever Kolesar who wrote of this event, a bit of family history was preserved.)