The following is an excerpt of “To Grandmother’s House We Go,” written by Roger Huss and recently added to the SCHS Research Library. For the full text, visit SCHS or email rogerhuss@optonline.net. If you would like to write for the SCHS blog, contact us at info@scottcountyhistory.org.
This excerpt begins with the fourth generation of the Huss family.
Do you remember the words to the song: "Over the river and through the woods / to grandmother's house we go?" It began as a Thanksgiving song and soon was adopted as a Christmas song. Well, this is a story about generations of Huss families, and they all had grandmothers. I had a special one, Elizabeth (Lenz) Huss, the only one I remember. We lived together on the Huss family farm at Union Hill. That farm was owned by four Huss generations, and, if you count the children of the fourth, five Huss generations called that house home. And they all celebrated Christmas.
With the seven daughters married and away, the Huss house was a quieter place, but not for long–John and Martha Huss began having children, part of the fourth generation. There were 9 children in their family. The daughters of Mathias and Elizabeth, except for Anna, were also having children. And, so Grandpa and Grandma Huss were blessed with 43 grandchildren that became the fourth generation, born over a span of 41 years. With all the uncles and aunts and cousins visiting our house on the farm during the Christmas season, it was an exciting place. Grandpa Huss died in 1933, but Grandma Huss, who died in 1950, lived to see all of her grandchildren except one, who was born the year after her death.
So, what was Christmas like at that time at our house? It was fun being in a family of 9 children, and exciting with the visits of the uncles and aunts and their children, among them children of our ages. There was no limit to the fun we had and the trouble we could get into, especially the boys. In our home, and I think in the homes of our cousins, many of the customs handed down from previous generations were preserved. The Christmas season started with St. Nikolas Day on December 6th and ended on the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th. That is one month of celebrations, but it started even earlier, in a way, because the children were admonished to be good to avoid St. Nikolas leaving a piece of coal as a gift. He usually made a short personal visit to our house, riding into the dining room on a donkey (so strange with eyes that looked like buttons), followed by a helper who brought the gifts, and Black Peter who carried the coal. I don't remember Black Peter leaving coal, surely because we were good kids. Pa had a personal connection with St. Nikolas, making sure visits were made to other families in the area, sometimes even leading St. Nikolas from place to place so that no one would be missed.
The next big event was the school play involving all the students from the Union Hill School. Several times, the play was an operetta with orchestral accompaniment by a small group of local musicians. Christmas vacation began the day after the play.
We always had a Christmas tree, and when electricity became available in the late 1930s, we used electric Christmas tree lights. If one bulb failed, the entire string of lights would go out, and it was necessary to find the bad bulb and replace it.
Santa came to our house on Christmas Eve, but only after the farm chores were done and, in the house, after the dishes were washed and the house was cleaned. The children helped even more than usual because they were full of anticipation. Sensing the excitement, Grandma Huss would suggest to Ma and Pa that she would take the children to the basement to await the arrival of Santa. Of course, our parents liked the idea and said they would join us shortly, which seemed awfully long to us. We met in the furnace room, enjoying the warmth of a crackling fire in the furnace and the delightful smell of burning wood (our answer to a fireplace which we did not have). After praying and singing carols, many of them in German because they were the songs Grandma knew, the anticipation grew as we wondered where Santa might be. When the suspense got to be just right, Pa would say he thought he heard something upstairs and suggested we check to see if Santa had arrived, but not too early, since Santa did not want to be seen. And, so, one of the younger children would crawl up the stairs quietly, open the door a crack, and, surely, Santa had arrived, left the gifts, and was on his way to the next stop.
Gifts would typically consist of items of clothing (perhaps to be worn at Christmas Mass), toys and lots of candy, nuts, and fruit. Grandma would have gifts for grandchildren, not store- bought, but rather, handmade woolen mittens and stockings that she had been knitting all year long. The best toys I remember are the Christmas horses, the first one a toy, and the other one a real animal. The toy horse was a tricycle with reins used to turn the head attached to the front wheel, and pedals under the horse to provide the power. We must have driven it around the dining room table a thousand times, and not without a few arguments about "it is my turn." The real horse was a Shetland pony, only about four feet tall, that we found tied to the washing machine on the front porch. We also got a buggy for the pony and would use it to visit friends, and even Grandma would ride along, particularly to pick chokecherries along the fence lines.
We did not stay up very late on Christmas Eve because we had to get up early on Christmas morning to attend the first Mass of Christmas at 5 AM. Mass was preceded by a visit to the crèche set up at a side altar where a reading known as The Genealogy of the Crib took place. It consisted of scriptural writings about the nativity and the lineage of Jesus. Then, the priest, along with all the servers dressed in red cassocks and white surplices, processed to the sanctuary. The four active servers joined the priest at the altar while the other servers carried candles to their places along the front of the communion rail. The choir, which would sing at three Masses, would rehearse for several months for the occasion. Union Hill was noted for the quality of its male choir and in some years would have orchestral accompaniment to the choir. Since most of the instrumentalists in the orchestra were also choir members, a mixed choir of men and women was formed to bring the choir up to the desired number of singers.
By the time the 10 o'clock Mass, the last Mass on Christmas day, had ended, throats were dry and a visit to the tavern in Union Hill was in order, especially because there was free beer until noon when the tavern closed for the day. This was a time for the men in the community to meet, socialize, and avoid being in the way at home while the women were preparing the Christmas dinner. Because all were having such a good time in the tavern, frequently the free beer flowed beyond noon, and it was not unheard of to receive a telephone call at the tavern suggesting (or demanding if it was the second call) that it was time to come home, that dinner was ready.
Food was an essential part of the Christmas celebration. Midnight Mass eventually became popular, and it became customary after returning home to have a snack, a liberal portion of homemade sausages: bratwurst, leberwurst, and blutwurst. The sausages might also be served for breakfast on Christmas morning or, instead, rings of delicious, warm baloney made in a meat market in Jordan. Christmas dinner served at noon (or a little later if the men were delayed at the tavern) would usually have as its main course chicken or ham and sometimes, but rarely, duck or goose, with mashed potatoes and gravy provided in liberal quantity. Vegetables would be those harvested from the garden in the summer: canned beans, peas, carrots, corn, and sauerkraut taken from the stone crock in the basement. It was considered acceptable to serve sauerkraut regardless of the type of meat being served. The meal was topped off with Ma's special dessert, lemon meringue pie - heavy on the filling and light on the meringue. Beer was the preferred type of libation, but always drunk before the meal, not with it. Usually, Pa would buy a gallon of sweet wine for use during the Christmas season and what was left might not be touched until the next Christmas. Interestingly, the term “cholesterol” was not part of the vocabulary at that time.
Lots of visiting was done at Christmastime while we were on vacation from school, back and forth between our house and that of others. With Grandma Huss living with us, of course there were visits from her seven daughters, their husbands and families. Those who lived far away, the Krieglmeiers and Kaisers who lived in St. Paul (considered far away), sometimes would stay with us for several days or with other relatives in the area. With our household of nine children plus Pa, Ma, Grandma, and the hired man, adding uncles, aunts and cousins made it an exciting place. And, even if at the last moment guests would accept Ma's offer to stay for dinner or supper, it seemed to be no problem (at least to us children). It merely meant going to the basement for more potatoes for the kettle, some jars of canned meat, canned vegetables and fruit, and the addition of more plates at the table. And, for Pa, perhaps a trip was made to the tavern at Union Hill for a jug of beer.
The 27th day of December was a special day of celebration, the feast-day of St. John the Evangelist, the patron saint of the church at Union Hill, and of Pa, as it was for his grandfather, Johann Huss. While not a Christmas event, it fit nicely into the holiday season. At the church there would be a Solemn High Mass requiring three priests - celebrant, deacon and subdeacon - with the two extra priests coming from the Franciscan Monastery in Jordan. In a custom Johann brought over from Germany, in the evening there would be a name's day party at the Huss home. The guests would give the greeting: "Heilige Johannes Tag," or “Holy St. John's Day.” There would be card games and usually a pony of beer (four gallons in a wooden keg), and at the end of the evening, a lunch would be served.
The next event in the season was important to me but was given little attention. It was my birthday on December 29th. Birthdays were quiet affairs, maybe there would be a special cake, but there were no elaborate parties nor lavish gifts. New Year's Eve was a non-event for children; they went to bed. Pa might take his shotgun and visit a neighbor where they would fire a shot at midnight to announce the arrival of the new year. The festive season was winding down. The Christmas season ended on a religious note on the feast of the Epiphany on the 6th of January. While it was not a holy day of obligation to attend Mass, most of the parishioners in Union Hill did so.
And, so, while the days of the Christmas season were exciting for children, the days that followed were the dreary days of winter. But there was school, farm and house work, and games that were received at Christmas time, that kept children occupied. Eventually it would be spring, followed by summer and fall. The yearly cycle was complete and it was time once again for the wonderful and exciting season of Christmas.
And that is what Christmas was like for the fourth generation. Some things new, but many still the same–the customs Johann and Elizabeth Huss brought with them from Germany, the traditions of their ancestors.
Fifth and Future Generations
Time passes and things change! Now, into the seventh generation, most of the old customs have died out and are a matter of history rather than practice. I treasure them, and my reason for writing this article is to preserve and share that history with those who have an interest in it.
The last Huss that was an owner of the same farm Johann and Elizabeth Huss owned at Union Hill was my brother Linus, and his wife, Theresa (Shaughnessy). With six children on a working farm it was a lively place, leaving fond memories with our children who enjoyed vacationing there and got a bit of appreciation of what farm life was like. And, now, a large electrical power line is being built that runs along the road running through the farm, with an enormous substation standing on the hill to the east. I guess you can't stop progress; the power line must run through somebody's property.
I am saddened by the power line, but I am glad I have memories of those earlier times on the farm. How awesome, standing on the outdoor porch on a summer's day, looking east over the creek meandering through the pasture and seeing the beautiful landscape for almost a mile in the distance. The sun shone on the fields of green hay, tall corn in neat rows, and oats and barley turning from green to yellow, soon ready to be harvested. The dog was there too, anxiously waiting for the signal to run to the pasture to herd the cattle under the stone bridge and into the barn for evening milking. At 6 p.m., the Angelus bells at St. John’s were rung, and it was time to go into the house, recite the Angelus Prayer, and eat supper.
Thoughts
Drawing on my 8 years of memories of her while she was alive, I thought a lot about my Grandma Huss as I was writing this article, "To Grandmother's House We Go." Grandmas are always special, but she was extra special. While there are lots of endearing qualities that could be mentioned to describe her, when my brothers, sisters and I get together to talk, what we agree is most striking is that we do not remember Grandma and Ma ever having a cross word between them. They were saints.