Anna L. Amborn Hanson was my mother. Her mother (Anna Marie Schulz) died shortly after giving birth in 1923. Mom’s sister Katherine told her that “the doctor who was attending the birth was called away to care for a farmer who was gored by a bull and was not present when Mother Anna hemorrhaged”.

Apparently it was felt that the Amborn family could not adequately care for an infant. Her sister Margaret reportedly had issues with her brother John and had lived on the Schulz farm until she finished 8th grade (which would have been about1921), so it is not surprising that responsibility for mom’s care was handed to the Schulz family. Mom remained in their care through the deaths of both grandparents, but returned to her fathers care on the Amborn farm in 1931, about the time Katherine married Andrew J Meyerhofer. She returned to Katherine’s care following the death of her father (George Amborn) in 1933 and remained until she graduated from High School and moved to Milwaukee.

The Schulz family had loaned George Amborn the money he used to purchase his farm. The farm was sold several years after his death in 1933 to the Curran family (cousins of Katherine and Mary). Mom’s brother John reportedly was angry with the Schulz family over the sale.

When Simon Schulz died in 1927 he divided his property equally between Mary, Katherine and Andrew. Mary and Katherine bought out Andrews share in 1933. Mary never married, and lived with Kate and Andrew until her death.

“Aunt’ Kate, “Aunt” Mary and “Uncle” Mike were like grandparents to my sisters and me. The farm was a frequent destination for mom and my sisters when dad was in the process of being transferred to a new base while he was in the US Army. During these visits my sisters attended the same school that mom had attended as she was growing up. After dad retired from the Army in 1960 we moved to Hinsdale (suburban Chicago) and made frequent visits to the farm in Lake Geneva. It was sold sometime in late 1960’s and Aunt Kate, Aunt Mary and Uncle Mike moved to a house in Lake Geneva.

Early memories related to Kathleen Murray by Anna Hanson in Largo, Florida, July 2018.

The Farmhouse

A cyclone knocked the original house [a log cabin that was built in 1832] off its foundation. We were all in there when it happened. Some family member, maybe a cousin, built the new house. While it was being built, Aunt Mary and I stayed with Mary and Kate’s sister, Aunt Minnie, in town. I’m not sure where Aunt Kate and Uncle Mike stayed.

The new house was bigger; a living room and a bedroom were added on the first floor. There were two bedrooms upstairs. There was a large porch o n theback. The porch overlooked the farm. Aunt Mary and I slept on the porch in the summer. Later, when a road was built nearby, it was noisy sleeping on the porch. Aunt Mary and I also slept in the kitchen at times.


Cows

I had the job of sitting at the end of the fence and keeping the cows off the road. The fence enclosed the fields and there was a strip of l and between the fence and the road. I knew how to move the cows.

The farm had two wet areas and one was deep enough for the cows to get into trouble. Each morning about 10 or so, we had to go make sure the cow s did not get into the first wet area and then in mid-afternoon, we had t o make sure they did not get into the other one. I was taught how to her d the cows in the right direction.

Horses

We only had work horses. I never road a horse.

Music

Our nearby neighbors – maybe a quarter or half mile away – playedin struments. The father played the violin and the kids played guitars mos tly.They had a girl about my age. They taught me how to play guitar.

School

The school was in Lake Geneva. After school the near neighbor girl and I would walk about four blocks down Main street and turn up a few blocks to Aunt Minnie’s house. We waited there until either one of my aunts o r the other girl’s family would come pick us up and take us home.

A group of us from school put together a band. We mostly played guitars . It was a lot of fun. We picked up songs from the radio mostly. My family had a wind-up record player.

Relatives

I remember my grandparents. They were very kind to me.

There were four girls (Aunt Kate, Aunt Mary, my mother, and Aunt Minnie ) and one boy, Uncle Andrew. Aunt Minnie lived in town (Lake Geneva) and her husband worked for the city parks. Sometimes when Aunt Kate went to shop in town, we’d stop by for a visit.

Clothes

Aunt Mary was a good seamstress and she made my clothes. Aunt Minnie’s husband would pick up clothes that people left in the parks. These were store-bought clothes and I and my sister would get clothes from him. Aunt Minnie had a girl a few years older than me and her clothes were store-bought. I got clothes from her too.

Sundays

After church on Sundays we generally visited with family or neighbors. Sometimes we went to their house and sometimes they came to ours. We ‘d play music with the neighbors. Sunday dinner was always chicken

Aunt Kate’s Recipes

Linda Kay Hanson Glover (daughter of Anna L. Hanson) recently discovered that she possessed several small notebooks that contained recopies apparently recorded by Katherine Schulz Meyerhofer. She provided them to me in November, 2023 so they could be digitized.

Book I

Book II

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Aunt Kate, Uncle Mike & Aunt Mary

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