1900 Holstein Story

by Henry Steinfeld - Born 1890  + Sources
This reading includes modifications.  Henry's full story will be found in the source links
NOTE:
1) Reinhardt Yauk was born May 5,1871 and wife Katie 1881. Their four kids birth spans 1900 to 1911. They Immigrated to Canada May 1912 thus the accounts in this story parallel very accurately what our Yauk Family would have experienced in Holstein prior to emigrating to Canada.

2) I added all the pictures and some text here from various sources. Since the Volga colonists were heavily regulated by the Russian-Kontors ( Saratov office), the villagers were forced to  the same rules in all aspects of their life, from religion to farming, etc. Thus these photos could represent any village.

Village of Holstein:
The first 17 years of my life I spent in Russia in the village of Holstein near the Volga River. I was born in the home of my grandfather, George Henry Stennfeld. My father, George Henry, and my mother, Katherine Elisabeth Wiesner, lived in my grandparent's home. My father had one brother and six sisters of whom the oldest was married to Adam Martin. As soon as the sisters were old enough to work for others, they were hired out by the year for wages for about 80 to 100 rubles a year. My sisters came home very seldom, perhaps only for the Christmas holidays and it was a very great occasion to see them again. This is probably the way Reinhardt met his wife Katherine.
Our folks were farmers and lived in a village of about two hundred families, all German people, mostly Lutherans who attended the same church and had one parochial school which all children had to attend from 7 to 14 or 15 years of age when they were confirmed. I was sent to school at age 6 and learned to read soon after that. My father sat down with me and taught me to read the German language with the first chapter of the Gospel of John. As soon as I caught on to reading, I read other chapters of the Bible, which I loved to read.
School
Our school started October 1 and we had to go 6 days of the week.  On Sundays when the minister had to preach at other villages (He came only on every fifth Sunday to our church), the "Shulmeister", our teacher as we called him, had to conduct the church services and read a sermon to the congregation out of a sermon book. The subjects we learned in school were reading, writing, Bible history, memorizing one whole hymn for each Saturday, memorizing the whole catechism and many Bible verses. Yes, we had to do some arithmetic. When I was about eight years old, a law was passed that we had to learn the Russian language, and from then on we had two teachers. 
Confirmation:
Confirmation was a very special occasion. Our confirmation (1903) was held in Galka where the minister lived. The confirmands of the 5 villages that belonged to our parish had to send the children that were to be confirmed to Galka. There the minister recited for two weeks special instructions of the catechism. Pentecost was the day of confirmation when our class of about two hundred boys and girls were dressed in their best clothes and led by the pastor and elders in a parade of four and four on a way from the school to the church that was decorated with green tree branches.
We all sang the song in German, "Jesus Still Lead On." Indeed it was a memorable day, the day we were confirmed and received our first communion. When we drove home that afternoon from Galka to Holstein, we had a severe rain storm and my brand new clothes for confirmation got wet. Confirmed had great meaning in a boy or girl's life, for now they were considered adults and did not have to go to school anymore unless they wanted to pass to higher learning. Then they went away to large cities where they went to college. But after confirmation we had to enter the ranks of full fledged adults in all work of adults - and at the age of twelve already.
Farming:
In sowing time in spring, we worked with horses and oxen in our fields, which we called acres that were scattered around the village in all directions about 3 to 5 miles away from home. Our horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks and geese were kept in barns in the same yard where our home was. Each family had all their animals in barns in their yards which were nicely fenced in. All the work of each family usually kept pace with the work of other families in the village.

Winters were cold with much snow and the horses and cattle had to be fed regularly in their barns. In the mornings about the end of March, when the snow was gone, boys at the age of 7 to 10, took the family's sheep of about twenty sheep with their little lambs outside the village to find new green grass and to herd them. We took our lunch along and had a good time playing games we took turns watching the flock so they would not get too far away. 
Herds:
In April, when there was green feed on the pastures outside the village, the village hired families for the whole season to take care of the sheep, cows, and oxen and to herd them outside the village to pastures. The cow herdsmen came early in the morning when the children were still sleeping and drove the cows through the street of the village. Each family had to be early and had to have the cows milked by the time the herd passed by the gate. Our village had two cowherds, two sheep herds, one oxen herd and one horse herd. The cows came home every evening for milking and stayed at home overnight.
The sheep herdsmen kept the sheep in a fold during the night and the sheep were taken home only for shearing their wool, which happened twice every summer. Each family got a sheep from the fold for butchering when they needed fresh meat during the summer and fall work. Some neighbors took half of the butchered sheep and returned the same in weight the next time they butchered a sheep. Since we had no refrigeration, fresh meat was kept either in an ice cellar or kept in a gunny sack tied to a rope and put down into the well in our yard so it was close above the water which kept it cool and fresh until it was used up.
Well:
Our well was about 30 feet deep and water was pulled up on a rope that was attached to a long pole, which was rigged up and attached in the middle to a big tree. The long pole had an extra weight at the end, which made it easier to draw the water from the well. The water in our well had much saltpeter in it and was not good for cooking and drinking and was only used for our cattle and stock. The water for our home use, we carried home in 2 pails hung on a cross bar over the shoulders from the village spring outside the village. (Kulalinka Stream). The people raised wheat, oats, barley, rye, watermelon, sunflowers, melons and squashes. In our gardens we raised potatoes, cabbage, carrots and other vegetables. 
Breakfast and supper were eaten at home, but lunch was prepared and taken along and eaten under a tent that was raised by the wagon against the hot sun or rain. During harvest time in July when it was hot, the whole family took a nap in a shady place under the wagon, in the tent or under a shady tree. For us children it was a great time when the melons and watermelons got ripe. The melons and watermelons were used by the family as an after dinner treat as we use desserts here or as a lunch between meals.
Threshing Grain:
When harvest was over, every family brought home the grain, which was tied in bundles and put in shocks in horse, and ox wagons and stacked around the threshing- floor.

Threshing time meant a great deal to the boys and girls in their teens for they had to ride the horses that were hitched to rolling granite stones with six or eight corners and driven on a load of grain that was spread out on the threshing floor. The rolling stone knocked the straw to pieces and knocked the grain out. The straw was turned over 3 or 4 times to get all the grain knocked out which took about one hour to finish a load of grain. In a day we threshed about 10 to 12 loads of grain.
After sundown when the wind blew less than during the day, the grain and chaff were pushed to the middle of the threshing floor every time a load was finished. In the evening the large pile of chaff and grain was cleaned with a machine that was turned by hand which blew the chaff out in the back on a pile and the grain came out below in the front. The grain had to be put through the machine about 3 or 4 times through different sieves until the grain was really clean, ready to be sacked and put into the granary or sold to the ships called barges that shipped the grain to larger cities or mills where it was made into flour.

The winnowing mill ("Putzmijhle") separated the chaff from the grain. In modern times the sheaf-binder and threshing machine had been introduced. 
Not every farmer could afford a threshing machine. Hence several farmers bought one together or one farmer bought the machine and leased it to others.

The chaff was exceptionally good feed used to fatten the cattle. It was mixed with shortening and linseed and sunflower seed residue that was left over when oil was made from sunflowers. The sunflower oil tasted very good and was used in preparing all kinds of delicate baked goods and meals. Sunflower seed, as watermelon seed and squash seed, was also sold and brought a good price. 
Seasons:
Every season brought different work for the family in which all usually took part and together shared responsibilities and joys. Springtime brought seeding, planting of fields and gardens, cleaning of homes and yards and barns and granaries. Everything was used for good purposes, even the manure from the barns of the cattle, stock, and chickens, if not used for fertilizer for field and gardens, was used for fuel to heat the homes in winter.
Our family usually brought a whole load of grain to a mill driven by water and made into flour for the family and the shortening for the horses and cattle. The straw was put in tall long stacks to be used in wintertime. 

Every family concentrated on the big manure pile that gathered in back of the barns. It was spread out in the yard behind the barn and more old straw was spread on top of it. Then horses were driven on it while water was put on it so it could be made into a mass that could be pressed. It was cut into squares and put up in the sun to dry. When dry, it was piled under the shed roof for fuel in wintertime.
Trees:
Since we had many oak forests growing on the hills that belonged to our village, trees were marked and numbered in the fall and each family drew numbers chopped down those trees for fuel. You could hear the noise of chopping the trees and the crash of the fall when they came down. Of the fallen trees, the branches were chopped off and the stem of the tree was cut in proper length so they could be loaded on the wagon to be brought home. 

Bread:
After the harvesting of grain, fruit and vegetables was finished, the trees were cut into shorter pieces and split into cordwood and set up into orderly rows. The branches were chopped short to fit into the fireplace for kindling. The larger pieces of wood were used to heat the oven for the weekly baking of bread. Our bread was made from rye flour and known as schwarz brot, (black bread). Mother baked some big round klatches of white bread and coffee kuchen (cakes) but that was extra and eaten on Sundays and holidays.
Meat:
The last work before winter was the butchering of the hogs and a steer.  Preparation began several days ahead of time to sharpen knives, prepare seasoning, invite relatives to help in killing the pigs, scald them in hot boiling water, and clean and cut them up. Everything from the pigs except the squeal was used for the family or household. The bristles could be sold, the droppings of fat was used for soap, the head was made into head cheese, much was used to make sausage which was smoked and hung up and dried to be used in seeding time and harvest. Bacon and hams were salted and dried and smoked to keep for a long time. Pork and sauerkraut was a dish we all liked very much.
Soup:
Our family was not rich, but always had enough to eat and never had any debts. We lived simply. There was not meat on the table every day, but we liked the meals and soups mother made. We ate the soups out of good-sized wooden spoons. When we had meat for our meals, grandfather or grandmother at the top of the table cut it up and gave each one his share. In our family there were table prayers before and after meals and morning and evening devotion when Stark's Prayer Book and the Bible were used.
Grandpa  Yauk's favourite meal with his home made spoon - just milk and homemade bread
Church every 
Sunday 
 Marry:
As my father's sisters got older, they were hired out to work for other people, usually away from home in other villages. They found their boy friends where they worked and got married far away from home.

My aunt married a farmer about 100 miles from us on the East Side of the Volga. During the revolution in 1917, her husband was taken away from the family and put in a boxcar with other rich farmers, Kulaks as they were called, and shipped to Siberia. That was the last we heard from them.

Marriage Procession
Extra Work:
Although our folks were farmers, they were also shoemakers and made new boots and shoes and patched up the old ones not only for the family but for other people as well. In winter when harvest and butchering was over, they went to the neighboring villages and lived with a family for whom they made shoes and boots to measure for the whole family.
Clothes: 
We had an old spinning wheel in the home and the ladies of the home and girls that were at home helped prepare the wool to be spun into yarn and sent to the weaver. The weaver made the wool into cloth for coats for men and coats and skirts for women. The skins from the sheep were tanned and fashioned into warm winter coats for boys and girls and for men and women. Sarpinka cloth (like gingham) was a famous Volga German cloth exported throughout Europe.
Katie Yauk used to spin yarn in Winnipeg while I helped.  KJH

 

The Volga used for exports & imports
Religion:
The people in our village were mostly Lutherans who attended church regularly. In the home, families had devotions mornings and evenings. They read a chapter out of the Bible and a prayer book and we children had to say our prayers and the family closed with the Lord's Prayer.
This all ended during communist rule (1917) with new rules, and in 1941 when all 400,000 Volga Germans were deported to Siberia. It's estimated 40 % died en route or in the camps and none were allowed to return. The German rehabilitation did not come till 1964 however the Volga autonomous region was not restored. The German name for this forced deportation was called " Trudarmee" 

Fortunately Reinhardt traveled to South America (1890's) as a migration delegate before he married Katie. He returned to Holstein until his family of six migrated to Canada (1912).