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Christian Gengenbach Jr. (December 2, 1886 – December 19, 1972)
By: Cameron W. Azimi (his great grandson) May 2021
Christian Gengenbach Jr. was born December 2, 1886, on his family's farm in Fairview Precinct, Frontier County, Nebraska. His parents were German immigrants Christian and Carolina Friederike (Schmückle) Gengenbach, age 27 and 23, respectively. Their 160-acre farm was two miles northeast of the town of Eustis, which had been established on June 26th of the same year. Christian was his parents' first child. The young couple had been married for a little over a year. However, this marriage was to...
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Christian Gengenbach Jr. (December 2, 1886 – December 19, 1972)
By: Cameron W. Azimi (his great grandson) May 2021
Christian Gengenbach Jr. was born December 2, 1886, on his family's farm in Fairview Precinct, Frontier County, Nebraska. His parents were German immigrants Christian and Carolina Friederike (Schmückle) Gengenbach, age 27 and 23, respectively. Their 160-acre farm was two miles northeast of the town of Eustis, which had been established on June 26th of the same year. Christian was his parents' first child. The young couple had been married for a little over a year. However, this marriage was to be short-lived. Christian's mother caught a cold very soon after giving birth to him and died when he was seventeen days old. Her illness was possibly worsened by the particularly harsh winter of 1886/1887, which killed so many cattle that it was partially responsible for the end the midwestern cattle drives.
Christian Sr. sent for his younger sister Christiane "Nannie" back home in Germany to come help take care of his motherless son. On January 16, 1887, Christian Jr. was baptized by Pastor Herman Kloeckner at the Gengenbach home. His godparents were his maternal uncle Christian Schmückle and his wife Karoline. Later that year, Christian's Aunt Nannie arrived to take care of him, as did his paternal uncle Gottlob Friedrich. Both lived in the house with Christian and his father. Nannie moved out after marrying Christian's maternal uncle, Johann Jacob Schmückle, on November 4, 1888, but her role as Christian's caretaker would soon be fulfilled by somebody else. 21 days later, on November 25th, Christian's father remarried to the widow, Katharina Luise (Daiss) Hägele. Christian's stepmother had come to Eustis from Germany in 1887 and brought a daughter named Karolina Luise Bertha "Lena" into the family from her previous marriage. Christian's father and stepmother went on to have seven children together: Louise Christiana (1889), Wilhelm Friedrich (1891), Berta Pauline (1892), Marie Sophie (1894), Albert Gottlob (1898), Clara Lydia (1901), and Clara Emma (1903). Clara Lydia and Clara Emma died in infancy.
Beginning in February of 1887, Pastor Herman Kloeckner from Salem Lutheran Church in Gosper County held Lutheran services in Eustis-area homes. After the first Eustis-area schoolhouse stopped being used in 1888, the Gengenbachs and other Lutheran families served by Pastor Kloeckner began holding services there. This sod church was one mile west of the Gengenbach farm, across the road to the east of what later became Eustis East Cemetery. . Nellie (Evans) Baldwin, who taught school there, described the building as follows: "The school house was something like 18x30 feet, with walls 3 feet thick, and windows, two on each side, and a door on the end. No plaster on the walls, and no floor. The roof was made of heavy poles placed on an enormous ridge pole which lay in the crotch of an enormous post in the center of the room. On the poles, which were placed close together, was a layer of hay (to keep the dirt from sifting through) and on top of that a thick layer of sod."
By 1892, natural erosion made the sod church unfit for further use. After this, the Gengenbachs and rest of the congregation rented out the William Bopp building for services, which belonged to Christian Grabenstein and stood where the Eustis Fire Station now stands. In January of 1892, the constitution of St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church was adopted, establishing an organized Iowa Synod Lutheran congregation in Eustis. Christian's father signed this constitution as a charter member. Toward the end of 1893, the construction of a wooden church building at 102 North Ingalls Street in Eustis was completed. It was in this building that Christian was confirmed on April 8, 1900. Upon his confirmation, Christian was allowed to sit on the north side of the church with the men and other confirmed boys and received communion before the women, confirmed girls, and children.
As was required for the Lutheran children of German descent, Christian attended German school at the church in addition to English school. This German schooling taught the subjects of German reading, writing, songs, and catechism among others. The classes were taught by the ministers and would last all day, taking precedence over English school. Christian attended English school at the two-story, frame District 12 schoolhouse in Eustis, which was built in about 1887 near the site of the current school. The first floor had two rooms where classes were taught, and the teachers lived on the second floor. Christian spent his childhood working on the family farm, and after obtaining an 8th grade education, he left school to work.
As he entered his twenties, Christian wanted to start a farm of his own. In 1908, Christian and his father traveled out to Perkins County, Nebraska by train with one of his uncles Gengenbach to purchase land. Christian's father bought the Southeast Quarter of Section 21, Township 9 North, Range 38 West for $2,300. This land was intended to be Christian's farm in the future. Not long after purchasing the land and returning to Eustis, Christian and his father traveled back to Perkins County by train with ploughing equipment. Once they arrived in Grant, the two loaded their equipment onto a wagon and took it nine miles southeast to their newly purchased property where they then tilled the land. Before establishing his own farm, Christian sought to educate himself. He left Eustis in the beginning of 1912 and traveled to Enterprise, Kansas where he attended a business school for a period of six weeks.
On March 27, 1913, Christian loaded up a train car with farm implements and livestock in Eustis and traveled by railroad to Grant to inhabit the land that his father had purchased five years earlier. He immediately began improving his land. By May 1, 1913, Christian had built a house, barn, granary, and windmill. His house was an approximately 28' x 32' frame house. While it was being built, he boarded with a neighbor, his stepmother's nephew, Emil Daiss. The house was square with a central chimney. It had two windows on each side and the front of the house, which faced east, had two doors. A dirt cellar was accessed from steps under the forward window on the south side of the house.
After a year of establishing his own farm, Christian (or Chris as he was known among the people of Perkins County) returned to his hometown to get married. On April 16, 1914, Chris was wed to Anna Karoline Schurr at her parents' home just north of Eustis in Farnam Precinct, Dawson County. The witnesses were Chris' brother Wilhelm and Anna's sister Marie. Following their marriage, the couple went by train to Grant and began a life together on Chris' farm. They were blessed with nine children over the course of the next twenty years: Harold Christian (1915), Lillian Carolina (1916), George Walter (1918), Arlene Marie (1920), Daniel Paul "Dan" (1922), Dorothy Viola (1924), Eleanor Louise (1928), Rose Alma "Rosie" (1932), and Anita Ann (1935).
Much like his father did in Eustis, Chris, was involved in the movement to bring organized Lutheranism to Grant. This effort succeeded on October 9, 1921, when the first Lutheran service in Grant was held in the local Congregational Church. Services were also held in homes and, for a time, in the old assembly room of Perkins County High School. During the spring of 1924, a constitution was drawn up after discussions among the local Lutherans of becoming an official congregation. On May 25, 1924, Chris became a charter member of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church of Grant, signing the constitution at the home of John C. Moller along with John C. Moller, William Brandert, Edward Brandert, Louis W. Behn, Henry H. Schroder, William O. Nolte, and Rudolph Janssep. Chris witnessed both the construction of Zion's place of worship in 1926, and the congregation's first service in their own church on the evening of April 3, 1927.
In the fall of 1930, Chris and his son George were afflicted with polio. Chris' illness caused him to be bedridden for several months and not able to farm. For this reason, his three oldest children, Harold, Lillian, and George dropped out of school to help manage the farm and take care of the younger children. Harold had just begun high school and never returned to school. Lillian and George resumed their schooling later. Friends and neighbors also helped the Gengenbachs with the harvest. After finally recovering, it took Chris a year to learn how to walk again. The polio forever limited Chris' ability to farm.
The Gengenbach family braved the dust storms, droughts, and economic recession of the 1930s. In 1933, the Gengenbach farm consisted of 22 acres of corn, 46 acres of oats, 20 acres of barley, 15 acres of seeded pasture, and 32 acres of tame hay. The drought of 1934 hit the family farm the hardest. Not enough grain was produced that year for their dozen or so horses. This forced Chris to sell a few of their horses and start borrowing a neighbor's tractor to increase yields. That same year, he purchased his own first tractor.
Despite the year's economic hardship, Chris also managed to finish paying his father's estate for the Gengenbach homeplace in 1934. Chris' father's will from 1924 bequeathed to Chris the original 160 acres of the Gengenbach farm, provided that he pay $2,800 to his estate. By the time Chris' father passed away in 1932, the United States was in the grips of the Great Depression and $2,800 was far too expensive for the land. Nonetheless, Chris paid the money and the Gengenbach homeplace became his on March 1, 1934. In 1933, Chris' stepmother - the only mother he ever knew - passed away as well.
Perkins County experienced a proliferation of community organizations during the Great Depression which mirrored the "alphabet soup" expansion of the federal government. Chris stepped up as a leader in the Perkins County community during this era. In 1924 and 1926, he served on the Perkins County election board, being responsible for voter registration and conducting elections. Chris was also an active member of the Perkins County Farm Bureau, moderator for District 76 School, Valley Precinct committeeman for the Wheat Production Control Association, Valley Precinct committeeman for the Perkins County Agricultural Conservation Association, Valley Precinct chairman for the Corn-Hog Control Association, Valley Precinct chairman for the Perkins County Soil Conservation Association, and the first leader of the local Swine 4-H Club.
The Gengenbach farm developed as the years went on. More land was purchased, outbuildings were constructed, and a new barn was built in 1930. In the late 1920s, with a seventh child on the way, Chris expanded the original house to the south. Two more bedrooms, a kitchen, a washroom, and an enclosed porch were added. The house's main entrance was moved to the new addition, which opened into the kitchen. North of the kitchen was the dining room, and north of the dining room was the living room. The house had four bedrooms. The northernmost bedroom opened into the living room and was where Eleanor, Rose, and Anita slept. The next bedroom, which connected to the previous bedroom through a door, was Chris and Anna's bedroom and opened into the dining room. The next bedroom was Lillian, Arlene, and Dorothy's and opened into the kitchen. The southernmost bedroom also opened into the kitchen and was where Harold, George, and Dan slept.
The Gengenbachs outfitted their house with lights powered by 32 volt glass batteries with wind chargers. The lights would dim and brighten according to the wind's strength. The Gengenbachs were one of the few families in the area able to afford that system. When the Rural Electrification Administration brought electricity to the county in 1945, their power source changed and running water was installed. The washroom off the kitchen in the southeast corner of the house used to have a basin and stored the family's coats but was converted into a bathroom when electricity came.
Chris and his wife sent all of their children to District 76 rural school one mile west and one mile south of the farm and all but one of their children to Perkins County High School in Grant. Almost every afternoon, Chris would drive to town to play cards at the pool hall. Usually, he would also pick up a few groceries, and when he did, he always made sure to put some candy in to take back to his children. On Saturdays, when the whole family went to town, Chris' children would sometimes convince him to let them go to the movies while he stayed in the pool hall playing cards. As a parent, Chris was described by his daughter Rosie as "good-natured, patient, and industrious." The Gengenbach household was characterized as follows by Mrs. Felix Knebel: "Chris and Annie are a very devoted couple. After a visit to their home one comes away with the feeling that all is well with the world when there are homes where so much love exists."
On December 7, 1941, Japan bombed the Pearl Harbor Naval Station, all but destroying the United States Navy's Pacific Fleet. Chris and his family found out about the attack on the radio after coming home from church. Chris' son-in-law Gene Kurkowski was on the USS West Virginia when Pearl Harbor was attacked, and was lost at sea for three days, but survived. Chris registered for the draft in the aftermath of the attack at the age of 55. He was not selected to serve, but his son, George, was drafted into the Army months before the Pearl Harbor attack and served the duration of the war in the California coastal artillery. He was on his way to Japan when the war ended. Another son, Dan, served a year as a telephone operator at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, Japan immediately after the war.
Before the war had started, Chris and Anna were only speaking English to one another and their children. It was only in the occasional circumstance when they did not want their children to understand them that Chris and Anna would speak German to one another. The only German that their youngest children knew was how to count from 1 to 10.
Throughout the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, Chris' children grew up, got married, and had children of their own but remained in the area. He gradually ceded control of his farming operation to his sons but stayed involved in the community. Chris was involved in the construction of the new Zion Lutheran Church. He was elected to the Building Committee in 1947, which was charged with obtaining information from other congregations that had built new churches. The new church, which was built at 705 Central Avenue, was dedicated in 1952. From 1945 to 1950, Chris served as the president of the Grant Cooperative Oil Company. He retired from public service after 1950.
Though largely retired, Chris remained interested in community affairs. Each year, Chris and Anna would donate money to the Grant firework display. They also donated money for the construction and operation of the Perkins County Community Hospital, which was opened in 1951, and to a new resuscitator ambulance for Grant.
In his retirement, Chris' focus shifted entirely to his children and grandchildren. His grandchildren remember their cane-wielding grandfather fondly, recalling him giving them rides in his three porthole Buick on Sundays as he surveyed the crops and chewed on a Roi-Tan cigar. If a grandchild got to sit on the center console of his Buick or received a quarter from him, it was a special treat. The whole family frequently got together at Chris and Anna's farm home on Sundays after church. They would have lunch, during which the women and children sat at the long table in the kitchen and the men sat in the dining room smoking cigars. Everyone would usually stay the whole afternoon and then have dinner together.
Chris and Anna, whom he affectionately called "old woman," lived on the family farm until October of 1964. At that time, they moved into Grant at 427 West 6th Street, the former house of their daughter Arlene and her family. The couple passed the homeplace onto their eldest child Harold, who had been living with them at the farm. Chris wrote his will on June 21, 1965. At the time, he owned 1,360 acres of land, which he divided among his nine children, sons and daughters alike. The transformation of his original 160-acre farm made him one of the most successful farmers of Perkins County.
Christian Gengenbach Jr. died at the age of 86 years and 17 days on December 19, 1972, at Perkins County Community Hospital. He had been in poor health for the previous eight months due to heart failure. His funeral was held on December 22, 1972 at the church that he founded nearly half a century earlier. Chris was buried in Block 18, Lot 24, Space F/G of Grant Fairview Cemetery. His pall bearers were Obert Daiss, Clark Schroder, Erwin Frerichs, Harold Brown, Faldean Lagler, and Jesse Deaver. Chris left to survive him his wife, with whom he had 58 years of happy marriage, nine children, and twenty-seven grandchildren. In honor of Chris and Anna's memory, a memorial window depicting the Greek letters Alpha and Omega was donated by Chris and Anna's daughters, Arlene and Rosie, and Rosie's husband, Jack Barry. The window was installed toward the back on the north side of Zion Lutheran Church's chapel. A memorial was also made in Chris and Anna's name toward the Zion Lutheran Church's Fellowship Hall addition, which was dedicated in 1999. |
