The 1920s-John and Anna Willems Family in Logan County, Arkansas

A wine press once owned by John M. Willems,
 that in 2004 stood at the Cowie Winery in Paris.

The entire decade and then some was dry for some Americans what with the 18th Amendment to the Constitution --Prohibition. However,  Section 29 of the Volstead Act allowed 200 gallons of "non-intoxicating cider and fruit juice" to be made each year at home. Initially "intoxicating" was defined as anything more than 0.5%, but the Bureau of Internal Revenue soon struck that down and this effectively legalized home wine-making. For beer, however, the 0.5% limit remained until 1933.  Drinking continued uninterrupted at the John M. Willems farm.  He wasn't raising grapes, berries and an orchard of assorted fruit trees just to make juice and pies!  Apparently when the sheriff or revenuers visited, Anna would gather up the bottles of stronger illegal liquor in her apron and find a good hiding place for them.  If the visit was cordial and not too early in the day the sheriff would be offered a glass of wine even during those Prohibition years.  
Over 200 gallons of wine were made during years before and after Prohibition.  Sometime after Prohibition was over while making wine John M. and his sons found all of the wooden casks were being used.  Aloys Willems recalled his Papa went to the drugstore in town and bought some wooden casks that had previously contained Coca-Cola.  They were much less expensive than the brand new ones, so John M. Willems thought he'd save some money with the same result. Unfortunately that wasn't the case as the result was ghastly!  The wine had a distinct off taste from the Coca-Cola.  John M. Willems also made brandy and cognac for the adults, grape juice, apple cider, and pear cider for kids of any age. 
John Martin Willems, known as "Papa" to his twelve children and even most all of his grandchildren, enjoyed drinking immensely for about a week every year.  During this binge he did little work, just laid back and imbibed.  After sobering up at least a bit, he went to visit the abbot at St. Benedict's to whom he swore off liquor.  This oath lasted a year and Papa was back in the bottle for another binge.  

A census enumerator arrived at the John M. Willems farm on the last day of January in 1920 to count the home's inhabitants.  The family was recorded as to be living on the Paris and Scranton Road. Thirty eight year old John Willems owned the farm free of mortgage. Having arrived in the USA in 1884 he was a naturalized citizen, year of obtaining citizenship unknown.  John was a farmer on a general farm and employed others to assist with the work. John's wife Anna was 37 years old and was the mother of two daughters and six sons.  They were listed as: "Catharene", 15, Elizabeth, 12, Philip, 11, "Mathier", 8, and William, 6, who all had attended school.  Five year old "Fredie", Aloysius, 3 years and two months, and 7 month old Frankie Willems were all too young to attend school.  John's mother-in-law, Anna Guenther, then a 78 year old widow, was living with the family. She was incorrectly listed as having migrated in 1887, and was recorded as being naturalized in 1918.

Eight and a half months later Anna Guenther suffered a stroke and died on September 13, 1920.  She was survived by her daughters Margaret and Anna, and thirteen grandchildren.

Anna Gunther's death certificate

The younger children of John and Anna Marie Willems had no memories of their grandmother--four of them had yet to be born.  Aloys Willems had one memory of her--that of seeing his Grandma Guenther paring apples.  She gave him an apple peel to chew on.  Anna was buried in the family plot of St. Joseph Cemetery.

Anna Guenther's property was passed on to her heirs in the manner described below.
The bequest of $300 should read "John Klyne", who was 23 years old at the time of Anna Guenther's death. 

Matt Willems, Circa 1920, in his stocking feet!

The Guenther's had made St. Joseph's in Paris their home church with all of the family's baptisms, marriages, and deaths taking place there.  The John M. Willems family, however, primarily attended Mass at St. Benedict's in Subiaco, though some of the official ceremonies: funerals, weddings, baptisms, etc, were conducted at St. Joseph's in Paris.  Mass at St. Benedict's was held in what is now the basement until the present church was erected.  John M. and Anna's daughter, Anna Marie remembered the family's pew was the fourth pew from the front.  

Justin John Willems was born July 6, 1921 to Anna Marie and John.  He was their ninth child and seventh son.  Two years later Anna Marie was born-- her mama's namesake, and coincidentally the daughter who when grown would most closely resemble her. She arrived on May 4, 1923, and was the tenth child and third daughter.  Then on December 16, 1925 Margaret Johanna Willems arrived.  Anna truly had her hands full. Daughters Catherine and Elizabeth were a big help to their mother even taking their younger siblings into their beds to sleep with them.

When the Willems children were old enough they went to St. Benedict's School in Subiaco which was five miles east and south of their Papa's farm.  (That seems to be the case for the older children, while the younger one's received at least part of their education from the nuns at St. Joseph's school in Paris.)  The distance would have been too far for the little ones, so John M. Willems got some parts together and built them a buggy.  Aloys Willems recalled the same mule pulled the 2 bench buggy for many years.  The school year was adjusted to suit the agricultural area.  It began in the hottest months of July and August, then in September and October the children were off to help with the harvest.  Back to school in December through April, then recessed while the crops required cultivation. The children received religious instruction at the school in addition to learning the three Rs.  Chores were done before and after school and any child old enough to go to school was old enough to lend a hand on the farm. When school wasn't in session the field work began at 7 am and ended at 6 pm.  Chores were done before and afterward.  John M. Willems favorite saying was “Boys and young mules must be kept busy or they get into mischief.” Bedtime for many of the children was 8 pm in winter and 9 pm in summer.  The children minded well knowing it did them no good to complain and much easier to comply with Papa's rules.  When the clock struck the time for bed each got up and promptly went up the stairs to bed.

Anna Marie Willems

At home the instruction continued as meals were always prefaced with a prayer most usually said by John M. Willems. Sometimes grace was said in German, and at times after giving thanks for the family's bounty, Papa would lapse into a sermon, whose subject may have been decided by the children's transgressions.  At other times the children were quizzed as to what the priest at Mass said during the sermon. The children were supposed to be silent at the table unless they were spoken to by an adult.  Guests sitting at the enormous family table were frequent.  Most often guests were priests and brothers from Subiaco, or extended family members.  The house was large, but always full of people making one wonder where everyone slept when the time came.  Anna Marie Willems was known as a wonderful cook who passed her skills on to daughters Catherine and Elizabeth.
John M. Willems was always busy with his farm, with politics, or helping neighbors through hard times.  The farm had pigs, chickens, and cows, mules and horses, an orchard, bee hives, a blacksmith shop, and a sawmill. Crops raised were primarily cotton, also oats and barley, with some watermelon, corn, and other edibles. Near the house was a large kitchen garden with quite a variety of vegetables and herbs. John Willems was known to research new varieties of crops, then give them a try to see how they performed.
It was Anna Marie, called "Mama" by her children, who nurtured the them, who listened to their hopes and dreams, their silly stories.  Though she was firm with the children, she was blessed with an even temperament, and known for her sweet nature. Her children loved her as she loved them, and none was ever afraid of her as they sometimes were their Papa.  She prepared their meals, and made them sandwiches to take to school in a large bucket.  Depending on what was available they might have homemade bread and butter, or jelly bread.  Sometimes, though, they had ham or bologna sandwiches. Add an apple or other piece of fruit grown on the farm when in season and you could be sure the lard bucket used to haul these lunches would be empty on the return trip. Anna's life was her husband and children. Among other things she baked bread daily, canned produce for winter months, made preserves, mended, laundered, ironed, and attempted to keep the large house clean.  Since she almost always had a baby in diapers, she had motherhood down pat.  Anna Marie Willems didn't have the luxury of time to do fine needle work.  Her work was bringing up good children and putting their needs and those of her husband ahead of her own.

John and Catherine Schwartz

1923 William Willems Solemn Communion,
little brother Aloys holds the candle

The year 1923 brought the happy event of eldest daughter Catherine's marriage to John Albert Schwartz of Shoal Creek, Arkansas.  They married at St. Benedict's Church in Subiaco on November 20, 1923.  After the wedding they lived about a mile to the west of Catherine's father's farmhouse. John Schwartz farmed and for a time tried his hand at mining coal. 

John and Catherine's marriage license

John Martin Willems was good at keeping in touch with relatives, though often he was extremely busy.  Finally the opportunity arose for a trip.  On one occasion he asked Elizabeth, probably then a teenager, to accompany him to Streator, Illinois.  Not only were they visiting her Papa's aunts, uncles, and cousins, but John's brother Frank and family were visiting in Streator at the same time.  Eleanor, Frank and M. Louise's daughter, was about the same age as Elizabeth.  The cousins had much in common and enjoyed each others company so much that they continued to correspond.  Years later after both were married they found they had little in common as their lives had changed too much in the course of time.

On another visit to Streator, John M. Willems struck up a friendship of his own with his cousin Effie (Eva) Sauer, who was over twenty years his junior.  He invited her to come to his farm to meet the rest of his family. Effie accepted and John bought her train fare. 

In 1924 John decided to visit his siblings and their families in Canada and applied for a passport.  The passport contains an abundance of information including the fact that he intends to enter Canada via railroad from St. Paul, Minnesota. His trip is "for health and pleasure".  Note that the date of Phillip and family's immigration is off by at least a year.

John Martin Willems passport application-click on image to enlarge

When John brought home stories of his brother Alois hunting trophies and news of all the wild game, the Willems boys were green with envy.  Oh the boys trapped and hunted some, but as they grew they found they had so much work and little time for hunting or anything else.  

1923 Alois poses in the center with his children 
Angela, Arnold, Evelyn, Ray, and Hillaria Willems. 
Note the enormous woodpile behind the subjects.

1924 Alois Willems with friend Pete Skalicky -- bear, moose, and wolf trophies.

The 1920s likely was when John M. Willems first bought a car.  He is known to have had one of the first cars in the area.  Granddaughter Hermena Werner Pinter remembers it purred loudly. Travel for trips of great distance was likely done by train since the highway system wasn't up to snuff.  In the county a car would be ideal except when the roads were muddy and using horses and mules made more sense.

The following interview was conducted during the week of July 4, 1991, by Danny and Kathy Hodnett. It was recorded on video at the longtime home of Anne and Aloysius "Ollie" Willems at 1509 N 57^th Street, Milwaukee, WI 53208, and later transcribed to print.

OLLIE:

About 1925, it rained, and that was one time we got off work on the farm.  So we hitched up the wagons--cause when the roads got muddy, we seldom used the car —and the circus was in town!

So we all piled in and went up to the circus, and we watched the clowns and the tightrope walkers and the sideshows.  One of the sideshows I saw had a great big hand belt and on the side a hopper came down in a V-shape.  They had a bunch of dogs they ran in the hopper and on the other side a sausage mill was running with great big hotdogs coming out!  I wondered about that for a long time…That actually happened! 

Of course we also saw the stilt walkers, and when we got home, we had to try that out.  We went to the shop and cut up some poles and whittled them down and made some stilts.  Everybody learned to walk on stilts.

Then my brother Fritz, who is 2 years older than I am, decided he could walk a rope so we got a plow line.  If you don’t know about a plow line, it’s about a half-inch sea grass rope.  Anyway, we crawled up in the hay barn and across there, about 20 feet high, we stretched that rope across.  Fritz went and got a bamboo fishing pole about eight feet long, like the tightrope walker’s.  He got on one side and I said, ‘kinda keep the rope tight…watch him.’ So he gets on, walks barefooted—walks one foot --and balances. He gets over halfway and all of a sudden—“KABUNK!”—He was down!

ANNE:

Was the barn empty?

OLLIE:

No. That was in a hallway 16 feet wide and there was nothing below except some hay we fed the calves. 

Anyway, I said ‘Fritz, are you hurt?’ 

‘Heck no!’ he said. ‘I just wanted to fall down and see how it’d feel!’

That ended the tightrope walking for a while.

There was another incident about how tough Fritz was—how he liked the battle.  We were coming home from school one day and this group of boys would like to throw rocks at the buggy.  We had a buggy—there would be 4 or 5 of us in it at a time—pulled by a mule—old Jack at that time. 

I was reading my book one evening going home from school, and all of a sudden I hear rocks hit the buggy.  Fritz hands the lines over to me and I don’t even know what happened.  I grabbed the reins and he’s running back down the road.  I say, ‘Fritz do you need some help?’ and he hollers back, ‘Heck no! There’s only five of ‘em!’ 

He did the job too.  He was quite a fighter.

Clem Schwartz was a young man at that time and he’d egg the other boys on to tease him because he knew how Fritz was.  We were ‘Full of sauerkraut’ because we’re German, and we called them ‘Blue bellied Yankees’. More than once the rocks were thrown at us when we went to school.  That (mule) was the same Jack.  He went to school for 8 years.  He never did get a diploma, and I don’t think he learned a thing.  He was just as smart the last day as he was the first.

-------------------------------------------------

1925 Matt Willems 8th grade graduation.  Matt is in the back row 2nd from left.

Elizabeth and Herman about 1925

Herman and Elizabeth on their wedding day.

On November 23, 1926 there was the occasion of another happy wedding for John, Anna, and family to attend. Elizabeth Ann Willems met a young man named Herman Joseph Werner at a dance where  Herman was playing violin as a paid musician.  They dated and were wed at St. Benedict's in Subiaco.

Circa 1927, Elizabeth holds her little sister 
Margaret, Anna Marie stands on right

Circa 1926, Anna Marie who was the girl who arrived after the births of seven brothers in a row.

Circa 1925 Abbot Edward Burgert and the parishioners of St. Benedict's
Father Peter Post is the priest holding his hat on the front, right.
John M. Willems stands behind him. Phillip Willems is at the right side top of the stairs smoking his pipe.

1927 
Aloys Willems Solemn Communion

Willie Willems second row on right with his 8th grade graduation class, Circa 1928

The last baby born in the Willems family at the homeplace was John Stephen Willems. He was delivered by Mrs. Otten, the local midwife, and baptized immediately as he showed signs of stress.   John, not a junior since his middle name differed from his Papa's, was born February 28, 1928.   Johnny, as he was usually called,  was the twelfth child and eighth son of Anna Marie and John Martin Willems.  
Anna's health began a downturn, resulting in terrible headaches.  She was diagnosed with Bright's disease, which now in her case would be called chronic nephritis. There were many symptoms of the illness with fatigue and severe headaches being most pronounced in her case.  To combat the pain in her head she would wrap a cold towel around her head, and when she was very sick spent most of the day in bed.  The older girls pitched in with laundry and other chores, but had families of their own to look after.  

An old German Atlas, once the property of John M. Willems

John M. believed most things could be learned in a person's spare time by reading books. After all, it worked for him!  He had an extensive library and encouraged his children to read and improve their minds.  His collection of books included volume after volume of law books, manuals on agriculture, and assorted reference books. There were also biographies and many great works of literary fiction in his library including those by James Fenimore Cooper, Charles Dickens, and William Shakespeare.  Frank was sitting at the table in the family's kitchen one afternoon reading a cheap cowboy novel when, to his dismay, his Papa asked to see the book, looked it over, and unceremoniously threw it into the fire.  Frank's sister Anna Marie once said the children weren't allowed to go to the public library so contented themselves with books from school or home. 

John M. Willems signatures in atlas

It was John Willems opinion that his sons should not go to school, but remain on the farm to do the work of a man once they reached the age of fourteen.  He made an exception for his son Willie and allowed him to continue his education at St. Benedict's.  This exception was granted since Willie seemed inclined to join the priesthood and as a result also freed William to pitch in as cook when needed. 
The atlas pictured, turned up in a used book store in Kentucky where by strange happenstance a member of Aloys Willems family happened upon it. 
Teaching by example was Papa's way of life.  Though he had much help, between his sons and hired help, his hands were rock hard and leathery from shoeing mules, working the sawmill, driving mules and bringing in crops.  The young ones, both children and grandchildren liked to watch Papa work but knew to stay out of his way.  Papa was fearless, had a great business sense, and was much admired.  
At the age of 14 John's sons were considered men and worked alongside their brothers and hired hands on the farm throughout the seasons.  Papa talked with each son as he came of age making him understand they were to be out ahead of the pack while working in the family cotton fields.  Most did this as well as they could. 

The family had bees in a meadow and an orchard. Several times a year the hives would require tending where Papa required help to remove honey combs which were sold for 15 cents each.  Queen bees were replaced as needed.  With as many as 26 hives this amounted to plenty of contact with the bees.  As a teenager Aloys had a bee fly down the back of his shirt collar and sting him near his spine.  He became very ill, certainly an allergic reaction, and from then on relinquished bee tending to other family members.  Papa, of all the family was probably the only one who didn't mind tending the beehives.  His sons when enlisted to rob the hives of honey approached the job with trepidation, dreading the few stings they might receive even though Papa smoked them with a billows.  

Circa 1928, Frank Willems Solemn Communion

One of Frank Willems favorite stories was telling how his Mama sent him and several of his brothers to St. Benedict's Church in Subiaco one day for holy water. The boys hitched the mule to the buggy and set off the four or five miles to church.  It was a hot day and the mule didn't make very good time.  By the time the boys had arrived at church, filled a jar with the holy water, and set off for home it was even hotter.  They became increasingly thirsty and finally one of them took a drink--yes, of the holy water.  Well, by the time they arrived back home it was all gone, but as Frank said, Mama was a forgiving sort and who's to know if they were better boys for the experience.  While I can't imagine why the holy water wasn't brought home after Sunday Mass, it seems that maybe Anna Marie was giving her boys something to do away from home so she could mop the floor or have a few moments without rowdy boys underfoot. 

John S. "Johnny" Willems tells of another story on the same vein that occurred in the 1930s.  At times when a phone call was received, Papa would claim he couldn't hear the caller clearly and send his son out to water the phone line so he could hear better. Johnny did as he was told.  Papa knew how to get his little boy with big ears out of the house to have a private conversation.   

1928-1929 Student and their teachers at St. Benedict's School in Subiaco-Click image to enlarge

The roster of students 
- look for Justin, Frank, Alois, and Fred Willems

Frank Willems, late 1920s or early '30s

Phillip and Katherine were  living with their eldest son John Martin Willems when Katherine became ill. Apparently they'd not made it to Canada that summer as Doctor Smith, who signed her death certificate, stated she was under his care from July 11 until the day of her death on September 10,1929.  Katherine is recorded as being age 77 years, 10 months, and 25 days at her death.  John M. Willems was the informant for the document.  He stated that his mother's parents were Mary Yunk and Clemens Neisius.

Katherine was laid to rest in Subiaco at St. Benedict's Cemetery.