For more information, contact Sherrie (Gettman) Stahl, 4189 NW Spoon Pl, Portland OR 97229, USA - Email: sherriestahl@comcast.net / Updated 3/2006 ============ Tape 7 & 8: Marie: OK....and then another word that we were having trouble with----"sauer noble" for aspargus. What did they call aspargus? Mrs. Becker: We had no aspargus...there in my time. Marie: No they had the word "sauer noble"?? Mrs. Becker: Oh...they mean "sauer rampfel"...that's sour grass. They went and picked in the spring and people cooked soup and eat it. That's "sauer rampfel"---it's not aspargus. Marie: OK.... Mrs. Becker: That is like spinach----just like spinach, you know, but it got sticks and seeds on they call it-----it stengle, you know. And they pick those and chew....realsour... Marie: Yeah..."sauer rampfel"....I know we had some that were little leaves Mrs. Becker: Ya.... Marie: That were growing out there where we lived on 67th, and Mama said that's "sauer rampfel", and we used to eat it. Mrs. Becker: Yeah....and we used to eat it, too...on our place----we had no aspargus out there. Marie: So tell me about the fish that you had in Brunnental. Mrs. Becker: Oh yes....we callit sunfish. Maybe that was a carp....it was a flat fish and they were real good. My brothers always catched them. Marie: You called it sunfish? Mrs. Becker: We called it "sumpfish".... ------------------------ Interview at a later date: Mrs. Becker: My father [Konrad Loebsack] was born---he was one of the first ones...born in about 1862. My mother in 1863. On the west side [of the village of Brunnental] where we was living. Marie: It was right where you were living....the Strecka Rau? Mrs. Becker: No...the "Strekarau" was 7 miles west from us. They all went over that bridge. Marie: Oh yes...and it was called the Frankiera Brueke.(#1 on the Map of Bridges) Mrs. Becker: Well, they called it the Frankera Eck. Marie: The Frankera Eck? Mrs. Becker: But we call it the Heina brueck. (#1 on the Map of Bridges) Marie: The Heina Brueck? Mrs. Becker: Hein lives right by the bridge, and we call it the Heina Brueck. Marie: OK...and all those from Frank lived in the neighborhood? Mrs. Becker: Ya.... Marie: And Mrs. Hein....tell me that again....about after Mr. Hein died...by the Heina Brueck, she stayed? Mrs. Becker: She stayed with Henry Stroh---he bought the place and she stayed with the people. Marie: Right where she had always lived....because they felt it wasn't good to move her? Mrs. Becker: She was from the town of Anton on the west side, and she didn't want too go over there, you know. Brunnental was her home and she helped to build it, you know--- you know how people feel? Marie: Sure... Mrs. Becker: And old Mrs. Hein----we use to call her the Heina Grandmother----she had a daughter, Amalia who married an Antona boy----a boy from Anton. She worked for my mother for years---stayed with us and then she got married. Marie: OK....then that Heina Bridge was then later called the Frankera bridge... Mrs. Becker: After say 1884...something like that. When Mr. Hein died. But it was still called the Heina bridge when I was there in 1911. Marie: The other bridge on the north side [of Brunnental]...went to the Russian village of Krosenski [Krisinska???]---it was straight up (north) of the church? That is where our land was, right by Krisinska---just by where their Frucht garten was---our land start in there. Our land was 10 miles from the town of Brunnental. Mrs. Becker: Yes, that was the Weber's brueck (#3 on the Map of Bridges). Mr. Jacob Weber lived right there, and Johann Adam Baum loved close by,and across the street from Jacob Weber was Konrad Hamburg, and Johannes Hohnstein...and then there was another brueck....that was the Aschenbrenner's (#2 on the Map of Bridges)...people went over that when they went to Warrenberg. Marie: Uh huh.... Mrs. Becker: Was one---two---three---four----then was the Franza brueck----was father east. People went over when they went to-----what was that Russian village?----they went to Inyenga. Marie: Oh... Mrs. Becker: And on east....that was open. There was no bridge. The canyons were apart- ---they was wider. They went up----they went to Gaschon [town to the east]--Gashon is the Russian name for Hussenbach. And I cannot say it now, where they joined together. I cannot say that, but over there, there was no bridge. You know, we could go through and the canyon was not so deep. People went through the canyons. But we had lots of snow in the wintertime, and when it thaws, and the snow and ice melt----lots of time our dam, they bust. Was too heavy, you know. The dam bust and the water---oh---so we didn't have no floods you know. We went in the gardens when we had that cloud burst, and we had a flood. We went in the gemeisa..... garten was all.....was swimming---tore loose. Water is strong you know. I could see when the cloud came down. I looked straight up and our street---- you could see it was just black. It just came down. The water rolled feet deep, down the street. Oh that was so much water, and then our bridge almost went away. Marie: Uh huh.... Mrs. Becker: Twice, I remember the spring water took the bridge. And then they made it stronger. Used iron bars, instead of wooden. Marie: Sure... Mrs. Becker: But when we had that cloud burst, it was just in threshing time---during harvest. I must have been about 17 years old...I think I was out of school. Yes, I remember now...all the people had to go help with the harvest....at least one out of the family, you know. So I went to the neighbors, Henry Grunwalds [my mother's oldest brother] and I worked with him. I give him the dirt and the straw and he fixed it....fixed the damn so the water couldn't come through. And the Hardt's, they had their Frucht garten too---on our side there. And they was gonna go home, and they had horses. And the men was sitting on the horses and they had to go......the water went on front....of the bridge and on the other side, too... Marie: Oh my!! Mrs. Becker: This side was a little wider and the horse slipped or something, and the horse almost went down in the stream, you know. And I remember it was the Caspar....he was a poor man. I runned in and grabbed the horse and pulled this way and saved it. Marie: Oh my Mrs. Becker: Otherwise the horse would have got in the stream, you know. All the people- --all was gathering and screaming [laughter]....it was lotsa fun! Marie: I believe it!--- ------------------------------- Conversation at a later date: Marie: Did anyone ever get divorced in Brunnental? Mrs. Becker: Just one divorce. And that man came over here [to the U.S.] and he visited us. His name was Groth....and his wife was a Steinmetz. Marie: Oh yes... Mrs. Becker: She wasn't right you know....the people couldn't understand why he married her in the first place, and then when he filed for divorce.....we had school master Schafer in that time and he helped him with the papers. And she found out and she took a knife and she had an apron on, and she put one skirt up and put a knife in. She was going to kill the schoolmaster for helping her husband with the divorce papers Marie: Oh my!! Mrs. Becker: But the schoolmaster was strong. She had the knife and was going to stab him...you know, on account he made the papers out for the divorce. She was sometimes alright...and sometimes terrible. Marie: Isn't that something? Mrs. Becker: Mean....you know. So he wanted to get rid of her. Marie: What was Groth's first name? Mrs. Becker: What was his first name??? I can't remember... Marie: What was his wife Steinmetz's first name? Mrs. Becker: They caller her Liss....I don't know her full name--could be Louise or Elizabeth. She was off....lotsa times, you know----got streaks. ------------------------- WINDMILLS: Marie: And the windmills are down here, and there were 3 of them? Mrs. Becker: South of the graveyard.... Marie: South of the graveyard...and they belonged to.....one was Mr. Ehlenberger's, one was Mr. Schauermanns and one was Moehlingers. Marie: The Moehlinger boys---OK...and then you said Ehlenberger had a mill? Mrs. Becker: He had to put an engine in, so he could make flour when the wind was not going...so he could work everyday. Marie: Right...and he always blew the whistle at noon? Mrs. Becker: Ya....at noon!! So the people knew when it was dinner time. Marie: Right, and then there was on th west side of town how many mills? Mrs. Becker: There were 3 millls on the west side. One was my Uncle Konrad [Konrad Gruenwald] and it was adapted with an engine, he had. They called it the "Fire Mill". And another mill was owned by Hart and one was owned by Schauermann. Marie: What was Hardt's name? Mrs. Becker: Henry.... Marie: Henry Hardt...and then HansKonrad Gruenwald and then Jacob Schauermann. Mrs. Becker: Ya.... Marie: And he had a tread mill