SRHS
Steamboat Rock Historical Society
THE 1880’S IMMIGRATION AND OUTLAWS
IMMIGRATION STORIES (Part I)
An example of one of the early German settlers who arrived prior to the railroad is A. B. Jaspers and his wife Foektje who came separately and married in Steamboat Rock. They were among the earliest German immigrants to make their home in Steamboat Rock.
Abraham Berand Jaspers was born in Laquard, Ostfriesland, Germany in 1845. He came to America with his mother in 1864. They came as far west as Freeport, Illinois, and he took a job in a bakery, which had been his father’s trade, and he had apprenticed in Germany.
In 1865, at age 19 Abraham’s mother sent him “out West” with cash to purchase land. He traveled by stagecoach, and arrived in Xenia (Secor), four and a half miles southeast of Eldora, on the Iowa River. From there Abraham walked north to the Hardin City area. The next day he crossed the Iowa River and went east into Clay township. Northeast of Steamboat Rock, he found an 80 acre tract of land for sale at $9.00 an acre.
Abraham married Foektje Eertmoed who herself had immigrated from Germany in 1865. The Eertmoed’s had come by sailing vessel to America, and by train as far as Cedar Falls, where the line ended. They walked from Cedar Falls, to Steamboat Rock with their belongings hauled by team and wagon from the rails end. Abraham and Foektje, were true German immigrants, and true pioneers.
It wasn’t just families or single men that came, women came too, and came without being accompanied by a man. Gretje (Kate) Hansen, came with two sisters before she married George H. Folkerts.
The Gast family story is a very interesting one particularly in connection with the German heritage of the community. It is the story of one widow lady and her eight children. How the oldest son made his way to America and Steamboat Rock. How he later was instrumental in bringing the rest of the family (with exception of one sister) to America. How all the descendants of this one lady became successful in America.
Four family names descended from this one stand out in Steamboat Rock. All important for their contribution to our town and still well represented here; the Gasts, Hartmans, Kramers, and Butlers.
The information that follows is taken from “The Gast Family Scrapbook” compiled in 1977 by Birdie Hartman Standish, the granddaughter of Emilia Gast and daughter of William (Bill) Hartman.
Her grandfather was John Gast, (who lived and died in Germany) her grandmother Emilia Gast. They, John and Emilia, had eight children. Johannas, Minnie, Maria, Bertha, Herman, Ernetina, August and Paul.
All but Maria came to America following their older brother Johannas who helped them make their way. Maria did not come to the United States. She was married, had a husband and 14 children and it probably was not feasible to bring the entire Warmbier family to this country.
Birdie’s mother was Ernistina Gast who married William Hartman, a promeninent business man and one of Steamboat Rock’s more colorful characters as you will see later in our story.
Birdie begins her story with her grandfather John Gast who died in Germany leaving her grandmother Emilia to some very difficult times, especially for a widow with eight children.
“John Gast, my grandfather, was born and died in Germany, dates unknown. Ethel May Gast Butler believes her father, Herman Gast, was about five years old (making it 1878) at the time of Grandfather’s death. He died of a respiratory ailment, probably pneumonia. The usual treatment at that time in that place was to place leeches on the chest. I presume the idea was that the leeches would draw out the infection. My mothers Tena (Enristina), thought she remembered, faintly, climbing onto the bed during her father’s illness and straddling his body while he talked with her.”
“After Grandfather’s death, Grandmother Emilia, being very superstitious, had the children pile cord wood in front of the door of the room in which Grandpa lay, to keep his ghost or spirit from getting outside that room.”
“In the villages of Germany at the time my mother lived there, there were only two social classes, the serfs and the overlord. The word “overlord” is my mother’s so I will use it. The only apparent reason for the existence of the serfs was to serve the pleasures of the overlord. The serfs or peasants for most practical purposes, were slaves.”
“Hunger was a way of life with them. The family had a storm cave or cellar with a dirt floor, The floor was kept dug to a depth of about two feet. Vegetables harvested in the fall were buried in the floor of this cave. They could not freeze there and being buried in soil kept them edible for months. When the family had absolutely nothing left to eat the children would dig frantically in the cave floor hoping against hope to find a vegetable, even just one vegetable, which might have been overlooked before.”
“There was an irrigation ditch (or maybe It was a drainage ditch, I don’t remember) near the Gast home. Occasionally an eel would inadvertently wander into this ditch. The children watched the ditch diligently and when they found an eel in it, it was indeed a great day. An eel is all flesh and made a meal for the entire family.”
“During the winter the family was not only hungry but also cold, On one occasion, when grandmother had absolutely no fuel of any kind, she became desperate and took some wood from the overlord’s abundant supply. The wood was stamped with the overlord’s insignia so it was easily identified. Grandmother became a resident of the village hoosegow for an entire week.”
“The countryside was overturn with rabbits. Not the small rabbits with which we are familiar, but with great, large hares. These were allowed to multiply so the overlord and his guests could hunt them. During the summer the peasant children were herded into the fields and meadows to beat the bushes and frighten the rabbits into the open where they were shot by the hunters. At this time of year the rabbits were not edible but it was considered great sport to slaughter them. Ironically, the serfs were forbidden to kill even one rabbit although they came in droves and stripped the gardens. In the winter the children were still commanded to chase the hares from cover, the overlord and his guests Still shot them but the serfs were never allowed to use the rabbits for food although they were edible during the winter.”
“The family realized that life in Germany would never improve for them and that their only hope lay in America.”
“Johannas (Honas) was the oldest child of Emilia Gast. According to his son Alfred Gast, Johahnas came to the United States when he was about 25 years of age (1883). He was responsible for bringing the other members of the Gast family to this country. He was naturalized in 1888.”
“Eventually, after he arrived in Iowa, he worked hard, saved his money and was able to send for the next oldest son. When Uncle Honas and the latest arrival had saved enough money, they sent for the next oldest son. There were two reasons why they sent for the sons: (1) So the son would escape conscription into the German army at age 16 years; and (2) he would be old enough to go to work immediately in the United States and help earn passage for another member of the Gast family.”
Johannas (Honas) Gast
“In time all members of the family came to the United States except Maria.”
“Emilia Gast, my grandmother, was also born in the vicinity of Stockoh Pomerin, on April 2, 1844. She came to this country in 1892 at the age of about 48 years. Her maiden name was also Gast.”
Widow Emilia Gast, along with her daughter Ernistina, the youngest daughter (16) immigrated from Germany, and made their way to Steamboat Rock. They were the last to follow her son Honas who arrived 9 years earlier and made it possible for the rest of the family members to follow.
Three years after her arrival Emilia married an older gentleman named John Wilts on June 21, 1895.
Birdie recalled the marriage of her grandmother to the older Mr. Wilts as being more of an arrangement than a marriage at first, “John Wilts must have been a smart old codger. Before he and grandma were married, they entered into a prenuptial agreement. It provided briefly that they relinquished all interest in each others property except that Mr. Wilts was to pay Emilia the sum of $200 per year, annually on June 2lst. I’m sure it wasn’t Grandma’s idea, However, he mellowed with the years and his will provided:
“I do hereby revoke a certain Antinuptial Agreement made and entered into by my said wife and myself before our marriage on the 21st day of June A,D. 1895. It being now my desire for the benefit of my said wife to relinquish all benefit upon me conferred by said anti-nuptial contract.”
“I give, devise and bequeath to my beloved wife Emelia Wilts now living with me one third of all my property both real and personal.”
John Wilts, was born Sept. 16, 1826. and was Emelia’s second husband. He was about 20 years older than his wife. He was very well to do so Grandma no longer needed to worry about money. I do not remember John Wilts as I was about five years old when he died. I do remember a large photograph of him possibly five feet high, in a wide frame resting on a large easel in grandma’s parlor. I have the impression of a very fierce much bewhiskered face. I was afraid of that picture especially because It was housed In the parlor which was dark, cold and never opened or aired, with window shades drawn, He died Sept, 5, 1908, about 16 years before Emelia did.
Grandma and Grandpa Wilts lived on the same street we did two or three blocks west of us. The rear of their property bordered on the south edge of the Baptist Church property, The Church is still in existence so the location of my grandparents’ home is easily found.
When Grandpa Wilts died he owned 15 different parcels of real estate amounting to a total of 1000 acres. He also held promissory notes including principal and Interest in the total amount of $21,731 made up of 52 different items. Interest ran as high as 6%.”
“The executor of his estate was Henry Luiken; the executor’s attorney was Ed Lundy.”
“Mr. Wilts’ legal heirs were. Otto and Henry Wilts, sons by a previous marriage and one daughter Margaret Santen. I don’t know her relationship but think she was Lizzie, Lena and Susie Santen, grandmother.”
“The three granddaughters lived near us in Steamboat Rock, in the large, rather square-shaped house (now the home of Dan Gast) on the corner diagonally across from the old Lou Johnson brick house (the Rock Stop). These three ladies were our good friends. We kidded because their Grandpa Wilts was also our Grandpa Wilts but the Hartmans and Santens were not related. Susie Santen married Phil Ruppelts Lizzie never married and Lena married late in life but I do not know her husband’s name (Rebki Freese). This should all sound familiar to you Steamboat Rock folks.”
Birdie went on to describe her grandmother. “Emilia always wore voluminous skirts made of yards and yards of dark material gathered onto a band at the waist and falling to the ground. These skirts had deep pockets sewn into the side seams and usually contained rock candy or apples.”
“She wore her hair straight, parted in the middle and drawn back severely Into a little hard knot. She oiled her hair to keep It straight and flat and, consequently, we always thought her hair was black. During her terminal illness when she lived in our home, my mother shampooed Grandma’s hair and everyone was surprised to learn that it was a medium brown, similar to the color of my mother’s hair. There were very few gray hairs among the brown ones, even at the age of 80 years.”
“When I was 10 or 11 or even 12 years old I stayed with Grandma at nights, off and on for two or three years. I hated it then, but now that experience has become an interesting memory. The kitchen was a lean-to, with a low ceiling and a tin roof, so that when it rained the noise was terrific and frightening. There were always one or two apples baking on top of the kitchen range and as they baked they became smaller and smaller and wrinkled and more wrinkled but they tasted fine. Also, there was always a pan of sweet corn on the top of the ranges parching. She usually fed me milk toast and the toast, too, was made on top of the woodburning range. I had to go to prayer meeting with her on Thursday evenings; the service was always in German and I couldn’t understand German, so prayer meetings were a real ordeal for me.”
“Grandma Emilia never threw anything away. Paper sacks, boxes, cloth, tin cans, all found their way Into a vacant back room. It was one big mass but the mice loved it. Mice were all over the house. Sometimes at night I could hear and feel them playing hopscotch in the springs of my bed.”
“Emilia was always a religious person but grew more so as she grew older. She was a member of the Baptist Church which still exists in Steamboat Rock. At that time it was known as the German Baptist Church because most of the services were in German. Grandma donated to that Church a strip of land off the north edge of her lot which bordered the south edge of the Church property. On this land the Church erected a long shed-like building open on the south side, containing stalls. People attending Church services in those days, had only horses for transportation and the horses were housed in these stalls during inclement weather.”
“The time came eventually when Grandma could no longer live alone and It was decided that she should move Into our home so my mother could take care of her. We had no downstairs bedrooms so my parents had a bedroom built for Grandma. There was a small room off the bedroom which contained a chemical toilet. There was no running water In Steamboat Rock In those days.” “After Grandma died Lizzle Santon purchased the house and had It moved onto a lot on the opposite side of the same street but west diagonally across from the southeast corner of the school yard. Dr. Willard Caldwell then built a large house on the vacated lot, Both of these houses are still in existence.”
“Emilia and John Wilts are both buried in the Steamboat Rock, Iowa cemetery. Their plot is marked by the only black stone in the cemetery. It is a beautiful stone and unique in that when the moon shines on it, it becomes a great ball of fire.”
Johannas (Honas) Gast, was the first to arrive in Steamboat Rock is responsible for the Gast and Kramer names being present in Steamboat Rock. He married Louise Ruckwald and they had three children, John, Alfred and Josephine (Josie) Kramer.
Children of Honas Gast, John, Alfred & Josie
The story continues, “Uncle Honas was not a large man, weighed between 145 and 150 pounds when in his prime. He had very dark eyes and a thin face. He wore a mustache and smoked a pipe.”
“When he was about 65 years old he began to go blind due to cataracts. He did have surgery but it was not successful. He became totally blind and remained so the rest of his life.”
“He lived on the farm with Alfred and Jennie Gast. Once or twice a year Uncle Honas would come to our house for a few days. He was entirely blind and all of us Hartman kids still at home at that time, wanted to lead Uncle Honas around. He loved to tell stories which he made up spontaneously and which were to put it mildly, a little “far out”. These stories would last an hour or even longer.”
“Aunt Lizzie was sick a great deal. Some relatives say she suffered from gall stones but no one seems to know just what ailment caused her death. She was in her 40s when she died, and Uncle Honas was a widower for at least 20 years or more.”
“All of us Hartmans loved Uncle Honas. He was, to use a trite but very appropriate phrase, “the salt of the earth.”
The firstborn son of Honas was John Carl (Johnnie) Gast. “I don’t remember much about John before he went into the Service. He was older than I was and about the only thing that impressed me was the fact that he was one of the best looking men around. He enlisted in the Army on Sept. 18, 1917. He was a PFC, serial No. 1412130, first assigned to Det. Dem. Group, but later assigned to the 205th M.P. Co. From Sept. 18, 1917 to Oct. 13, 1918 he served on the Mexican Border; on Oct. 13, 1918 he was sent to France and while stationed there he met Marie Therese Chadat who would later become his wife. He was discharged Aug. 20, 1919.”
“In 1920 he returned to France. He and Marie Therese Chadat were married on March 29, 1920 in Tours, France and he brought her back to Steamboat Rock, Iowa.”
“Johnnie has been a carpenter all his life, working In and around Hardin County. He has always been a quiet man, maybe just a little bashful. He hasn’t made a big noise nor set the world all aglow, but he has been a good, solid citizen and a fine family man.”
“John and Marie had four children, Roger Eugene, John Charles (Dallas), Frances Louise (Hoffman), and Maurice Arnold. All three sons served in the armed forces in an heroic manor (to be covered later). Daughter Frances was a first team player on the famous 1943 girls state basketball champion team.”
“Uncle Honas purchased the Gast farm from Anna L. Schultz on Feb. 26, 1896, so It has been In the Gast family for about 88 years (in 1977, now 104 years).”
Alfred Gast was Honas’ middle child. He married Jennie Hoffman and they had 14 children. Elmer, Irvin, Russell, Iva Mae (Crosser), Marjorie (Knight), Laverne, Duane, a daughter that was stillborn, Ronald Dean (died age 3 weeks), Ralph, Kathleen Kitty (Hemmen), Judith (Calloway). Joan (Havens), Eloise (Willems).
“Alfred took over the farm after Uncle Honas’ death and has had It since May 27, 1937.”
After Alfred and Jennie retired, the farm was taken over by their son Laverne, and today it is grandson Terry Gast who has taken charge.
Honas Gast’s only daughter Josephine Married George Kramer a Carpenter from Ackley. It is said that Johnnie Gast learned the trade from his brother-in-law George.
Like brother Alfred, Josephine had a large family of 9 children. Herald, Helen (Luiken), Ruth (Moon), Esther (Bunger), Lester, Kenneth, Gerhardt, Darlene (Taylor), and Merle.
“I remember Josie as a petite lady, small and pert and lovely to look at. She was quick in action and In speech… a saucy (not sassy) gal. Now that I think about it, she reminds me of a wren, only not brown and not drab.”
“Her daughter, Ruth, remembers that her mother hummed a lot as she worked; that even though she worked hard, gardening and canning, and sewing, her mother still found time to do embroidery, go fishing occasionally, and take the younger children to Sunday School.”
Honas’s sister Minnie Gast married John Blossi, in Germany and their first four or five of nine children were born there. When they came to Iowa they first lived in Radcliff, then Eldora and later in Ackley.
Sister Maria Gast as mentioned earlier did not come to America.
Bertha Gast, married a man from Denmark, Martin Hansen. They had four children. The first, a son, Viggo, born in South Dakota. The second a daughter, Lottie, who’s birthplace is unknown.
“Bertha Gast Hanson died giving birth to twins. The twins lived and were cared for by a neighbor. I have no information on where Viggo spent the next few years but Lottie was cared for by the Herman Gast family and Tena Hartman family. In due time Mr. Hanson returned to the “old country” to select a new wife. During his absence, the neighbor took a trip East and took the twins with her. When she returned, she did not have the twins and said that they had died. However, there was no proof of this and it is a conjecture that she either sold them or gave them away for adoption.”
“In the meantime, little Lottie became ill with pneumonia and died. Martin Hansen died and is buried in Canada. Bertha and daughter Lottie are both buried in the Steamboat Rock cemetery.”
“Herman Gast was born in Germany on April 21, 1873 and came to this country when he was 16 years of age. He was naturalized when he was 21 years old.”
“Herman was about 5 feet 9 inches tall but, because of his broad shoulders, he appeared to be a much larger man than he actually was. He was a strikingly handsome man with dark eyes, dark hair and a beautiful dark mustache.”
“He had great natural intelligence, went to Ellsworth College for a time, was an avid reader, always studied and tried to improve himself. He was a good business man and acted as the Executor of Grandma Wilts estate.”
“Of course Uncle Herman helped Uncle John (Honas) bring other members of the family to this country. Maybe that is one reason why Herman did not marry until he was 30 years old.”
“Herman was a very devout man, a good Christian and a fine family man. There was a short period of family worship daily. The family belonged to the First Baptist Church in Eldora.”
“Herman purchased his 140 acre farm in 1909. Ethel May (his daughter) and Milo Butler purchased it from the estate when Aunt Ora died. They rented it to Ray Campbell for 15 years and their son, Charles Butler, has lived on it since January, 1959. The farm is located four miles west of Steamboat Rock”.
In addition to Ethel Mae, Herman and Ora (Doud) Gast had two other daughters Ruth, and Florence. They did not remain in the area.
At this point in the story we come to Ernestina Gast, the mother of the author of the material included here. She went by the name Tena, and was 16 when she came to America with her mother. She was 19 when she married William Henry Hartman in September of 1894.
“Ernestena had had a deprived life in Germany and therefore deeply appreciated the privilege of living in the United States. She never quite lost her German accent but she was a loyal dedicated American citizen. During World War I she was chairperson of the Red Cross unit which wrapped bandages, knit helmets and scarves for “our boys over there”. She was a member of the Eastern Star and as such served as Worthy Matron of the Steamboat Rock chapter for many years. One of her most satisfying activities was as teacher of a Sunday School class in the Congregational Church. She loved the kids and Dallas Walters was said to be one of her favorites.”
“We do not, of course, have any childhood pictures of my mother, Tena Gast Hartman. She came to the United States in July, 1892 with her mother, Emilia.”
“Like all mothers of large families, Tena worked very hard. It was a great day when we had a gasoline engine to run the washing machine and when Dad fixed up a contraption that pumped water into the house, so that, in a manner of speaking, we had “running water” in the kitchen. Mother made all of our clothes when we were kids, ev everyone sang. Chub had a Kate Smith-type of voice only more powerful and with greater range. However, she became a chronic asthma patient so she did not sing much in later years. If one can’t breathe, certainly one can’t sing. She didn’t play theen our coats.”
“Mother was a gentle person, soft spoken and very amiable. I don’t believe she ever had an enemy. Kids and young people in particular always liked her.”
The Hartman’s had a large family of eight children, Gertrude (known as Chub), Agnes, Orlo, Berdie (the writer of this story), Mildred, Willard, Vivian, and Kenneth.
“When Tena and Bill Hartman’s children were young there was always a lot of music around the house. Bill played the fiddle, oldest daughter Chub the base violin and next oldest Agnes played the piano.”
“Gertrude, known to most of us as Chub, was a colorful character. She had a great sense of humor and an abundance of humorous anecdotes which were always entertaining.”