By 1896 many of the Moschels we are following had lived in Chenoa for 27 years, having moved from the Peoria, Illinois, area after their 1862 arrival from Webenheim. By this time they were invested in this small town and the farms that surrounded it. Margaret Moschel Klein, our writer in this Act, had lived in the Chenoa, Illinois, area longer than she had lived anywhere in her life. Her first 20 years had been in Webenheim, Germany; seven more years in the Peoria area; and now 27 years in Chenoa. One wonders if she now felt more allegiance to Illinois and the U.S. or Germany. You can follow how The Cousins Four tried to figure this out below.

In 1896 there was certainly enough work at home for the Margaret Moschel Klein the woman who was to turn 55 in September. Her two oldest daughters were married and lived in the same county, in fact the same township. The daughters, like their parents before, had married brothers making for the mix of relationships that had gone on in the preceding generation. Five children were still living at home with Margaret and John, two sons and three daughters who ranged in age from 15 to 25. The two sons, no doubt, worked with their father on the farm. The three daughters helped their mother with the work of the house. One wonders how often Margaret went from the farm home into the town of Chenoa which was about four miles away. Eventually Margaret Moschel Klein and her husband John would live in Chenoa, but that was not true in 1896. Oral family history lead us to believe that John Klein was the primary person to venture into the community, even buying his wife's dresses.

What was Margaret missing out on by not fully participating in her new community? A quick overview of Chenoa since our last visit in 1876 is in order.

Chenoa - 1896

The one pioneer we have followed in Chenoa was Matthew Scott who developed Chenoa from 1854 onward. During his lifetime he put under cultivation 16,000 acres, built 200 houses, and miles and miles of hedge fence. Matthew Scott died on May 21, 1891. His wife, Julia, who had a history of ill health, managed the large holdings of the family. She was also involved in a number of other activities including President-General of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

German Baptish Dunkard Church

The period of the 1890's seems to be one where churches flourished in Chenoa. Often they replaced earlier churches. New churches built at this time include the Methodist (1896), St. Joseph's Catholic (1893), Meadows Mennonite Church (1890-parishioners originally from Alsace-Lorraine area in France and Germany), and the German Baptist Brethren-Dunkard Church (1888). The church Margaret Moschel Klein and her husband John Klein would eventually join was Trinity Lutheran Church in Chenoa which was started in 1901. It is uncertain what church Margaret and John attended in 1896. It is possible that they attended St. Pauls Lutheran Church, and we are investigating this.

As far as employment, Chenoa in 1896 experienced prosperous times. The March 8, 1895, issue of the Chenoa paper, The Clipper, stated the town had three industries: the tile factory, the coal mine, and the canning factory. The necessity of good drainage tile for the land has already been discussed. In the 1870's through 1890's much of this tile was produced locally, Chenoa being one of these locations. After the 1890's farmers bought tile from larger factories beyond the local region. The coal mines are a story of exploration, some success, and then eventual failure. Three unsuccessful shafts were sunk near the city. Finally, in 1887 a successful shaft was sunk and provided some employment in coal mining until a fatal accident in 1900. The third industry in the area was the Bloomington Canning company which was started in 1888. By 1891 it was canning corn grown by farmers working 800 acres in the area. In the busiest part of the season the factory employed 400 people.

The people of Chenoa worked hard in the 1890's, and they also pursued leisure. The city park was started in the 1890's. Initially the land was a pond, but drainage changed that to the city park that exists today. The park was used for a wide variety of athletic games and community fairs and shows. Two other smaller parks were established at this time in the city. Outdoor croquet was particularly popular in the 1890's and many families had sets on their lawns. There was a public croquet ground in town. As in the rest of the nation, bicycling was popular at this time in Chenoa. In addition to sports and other outside events, people in Chenoa were turning to clubs as a form of leisure. Many clubs were formed prior to the 1890's but two that were active during this time were the Red Ribbon Club (for men) and the White Ribbon Club (for women). Both were temperance organizations. At the time there were five saloons in Chenoa, providing temperance organizations plenty of work.

One town celebration must be mentioned as it became a forerunner of what would be Chenoa's biggest day, i.e, the Fourth of July. In the 1800's many towns celebrated Independence Day, evidently sometimes Chenoa did and other times did not. On July 4, 1895, Chenoa celebrated in style. The motivation for doing so was the big fire, described below, which had all but consumed the downtown of Chenoa in 1894. The 1895 July 4th celebration did two things: it celebrated the nation's independence and was testimonial that the city had survived its worst test to date. On July 4th, 1895, there was a reading of the Declaration of Independence, songs by a chorus of 100 voices, an address by the mayor, music by two local bands, an invocation by a local minister, a baby show, both day and night fireworks, a greased pig contest, foot races, and a baseball game between Chenoa and Lexington. It was a precursor of what was to come 50 years later in 1954 and continue into the new millennium.

To set the stage for the 1894 fire, it helps to understand the nature of downtown Chenoa. The State Bank of Chenoa was formed in 1892, opening for business with $30,000 capital and 34-40 stockholders. The Chenoa Community Centennial Book lists several Chenoa businesses from barbers to blacksmiths to dressmakers to tailors to draymen to an undertaker to other merchants who sold groceries, drugs, clothes, implements, and other supplies. In one hour on Tuesday, July 24th, 1894, 32 business buildings were destroyed.

Oklahoma Row in Chenoa after 1894 fire

By the next day some descriptions compared the town to a Western mining town with shanty buildings arising from the phoenix of the ashes of the fire and merchants selling their wares in the open as people walked in the middle of the street because the boardwalks were gone. Passenger trains arrived filled with people wanting to see the devastation of the fire. Liquor flowed. Saloons were ordered closed. By Thursday the vault in the State Bank was bored into to disclose nothing had been damaged. Chenoa became a boom town with the shanty buildings being labeled Oklahoma Row which started just a scant two hours after the fire as lumber came to the site to build the temporary structures. By the morning after the fire groceries were being dispensed from that area to feed the exhausted residents.

After the fire, businessmen disagreed on how and where the city should be rebuilt. But rebuilt it was, and in record time. The next year the city voters agreed to build a city water works system and the water tower was built in the city park in 1895 after bonds were issued in the amount of $7600.

The population in Chenoa in 1895 was 2500 people, probably the most residents Chenoa has had. These were times of relatively good employment, established farming, resilience from a major catastrophe, churches and schools established and flourishing, and a century about to come to a close. The ethnic and cultural mix of the town and surrounding area reflected the times.

The Cousins Four Speculate

Before imagining what Margaret Moschel Klein's life was like in 1896, we thought the reader would like to know the facts we had and how we began to interpret them. As most genealogists, we began this project when it was too late to talk to someone who really knew. We did have some family stories, and we began to uncover some facts.

The first question we tried to answer was whether or not Margaret Moschel Klein ever spoke English in her adopted country. We had evidence in both directions. Here is how The Cousins Four began to decipher the puzzle. To refresh your memories, The Cousins Four are comprised of Elly Hess in San Carlos, California; Greg Rittenhouse in Los Angeles, California; Markus Klein in Webenheim, Germany; and Theresa Ripley in Eugene, Oregon.

Theresa initiated an email to the other cousins asking for their collective brain power in trying to determine if Margaret spoke English in America and how Margaret might have been involved in the Chenoa culture in this time frame.

Theresa wrote, "my mother and Aunt Bernice both told me that Margaret Moschel Klein never learned to speak English. My mother put this in writing, and I took notes when Aunt Bernice told me this. I think it makes a BIG difference on how Margaret viewed life in America if she only spoke German.

"Here is what my mother wrote probably back in the mid 1970's referring to her grandmother Margaret Moschel Klein.

‘I never knew my grandmother well, because she never learned to speak English and I (like a nut) didn't learn German. My mother and her sisters and brothers spoke German to her.' "

The Cousins Four all chimed in quickly with help. Elly wrote about her mother's memories of Jacobina Moschel Sandmeyer, who was a first cousin to Margaret and lived close to her in 1896 in rural Chenoa.

"My mother had a lot of memories of her Grandmother Moschel/Sandmeyer and as a family went there visiting often. My mother was 13 when Jacobina Moschel Sandmeyer died. Grandmother Sandmeyer spoke English with a heavy German accent."

From Germany Markus took the challenge and wrote the following. "Your mother was 19 when her grandmother died, so she had known her grandmother for a quite long time. It's hard to imagine that she could not communicate to her because of the two languages they spoke. I wonder about Margaretha not speaking English. One should say, if somebody emigrates for his own choice, one is desirous to learn the new language. Why oh why didn't she learn to speak the English? She was only 19 when she came to the U.S. and in this age it's not difficult to learn a new language. The only possible answer for me is that she did not want to learn it!

"Another thing comes to mind. Here in Germany we have a lot of Turks. The Turkish wives often have to stay at home, cooking and cleaning and have no opportunity to get out of their apartments. The husbands work with Germans and their children are in German schools, so Father and children are able to speak German, but the women do not leave their apartments and have no contact to German speaking people. These Turkish women are living here for decades and are not able to communicate with German people."

Then Greg in L.A. wrote what his mother, granddaughter to Margaret Moschel Klein, said in a conversation shortly before her death this year (2002). Greg noted, "She said that her German grandmother only talked to her older cousins and that she didn't have much direct contact with her." In a different email Greg, always the researcher said, "Let me check the 1900, 1910, and 1920 censuses to see what it says about her knowing the language."

Then in a later email Greg reported, "In the 1900 census there is a ‘yes' in the column for Margaret Moschel Klein on the question of whether she could speak English. Thinking that the census taker just put down yes for everybody, I scanned several census sheets and found a few people with a ‘no'. Likewise, in the 1910 census, there is a column for language spoken and ‘English' is what shows opposite her name. Of course, that doesn't mean she spoke the language well. The 1920 census asks for ‘mother tongue' and of course in her case that was German. She became a naturalized citizen in 1869, the year she moved to Livingston County."

Thus, we are left with conflicting reports. The census tells one story about Margaret and three of her grandchildren tell another story. What we know is that these three grandchildren were not left with stories of Webenheim told by their grandmother.

Plat Map 1893 for Pike Township in Livingston Co.

The next piece of the puzzle that began to make the story clearer was when Greg discovered the 1893 plat book of Livingston County, and specifically for Pike Township in Livingston County. For three of The Cousins Four, looking at this township map and drawing a line from one farm house to another farm house resembles our genealogy family trees. We have our English, Scottish, and German roots all contained in one township and all within a 2-mile radius of one another. For better or worse they needed to get along, and they intermarried out of their country of origin into another and had offspring who had offspring who had offspring who are having offspring who are now not connected by farms within a 2-mile radius but email and several hundreds of miles, or thousands of miles if we count Markus. Times change. Families can stay connected throughout those changes.

Margaret Moschel Klein and her husband John lived in section 22 of Pike Township. Margaret's first cousin, Jacobina Moschel Sandmeyer, lived one mile away in Section 16. Margaret's brothers, Frederick Moschel and Jacob Moschel also lived within a mile in section 22 and 23. Going down to the next generation Margaret and John's two married daughters lived with their husbands within a mile of their parents (in section 27), and Jacobina Moschel Sandmeyer's oldest son lived within 1 ½ mile of his parents (in section 26). Our Scottish and English relatives both lived 2 miles north of the German enclave.

Margaret's Letter in summer 1896

Margaret Moschel Klein

Let us imagine we can unearth one letter Margaret wrote to her sister, Catherine, who was in Beatrice, Nebraska. The letter, no doubt, would be in German. The letter was then forwarded to her first cousin, Caroline Moschel Schmidt, in Webenheim, Germany. These two sisters and first cousin kept a round robin letters going for years. (This round-robin letter will be a part of the next Act in Beatrice and then the following Act in Webenheim.)

It is not at all hard for this writer to imagine these women keeping in touch in this way. It's happening in our generation with cousins far apart and it's highly likely that it happened back then. It becomes even more likely when you think of Margaret and Catherine being the only sisters in their immediate nuclear family and their best link back to their homeland would be their first cousin Caroline or her sister Louisa. Women tend to keep in touch. We're sure these women did as well.

This imagined letter we have intercepted is long, as they all are, written on both sides and in quite small script to get as much as possible on each page. The letter represents the same type of letter Margaret wrote over the years to her relatives. The purpose of each round-robin letter was to describe daily life and what is happening to each family member and to the family as a whole.

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Margaret always set aside a portion of several days to first think about and then construct the letter she was would send to her sister, knowing that it would circulate in Beatrice and then on to her first cousins in Webenheim. Margaret started letters to her sister when she moved to Beatrice in the early 1870's. The family had essentially been split in half by the moves to Beatrice after 1876. Margaret and two brothers remained in Chenoa. Catherine and three brothers and half sister and their mother, Margaret, moved to Beatrice. The letters kept the family "together." Initially daughter Margaret wrote the letters to her Mother Margaret when she moved there in 1876. Then Mother Margaret and Catherine would see that the rest of the Beatrice family read them. Mother Margaret and Catherine would write the news of Beatrice and send both letters on to Webenheim.

Then the letters were circulated in Webenheim. Initially the letters had been sent to Philipp Moschel, but after he died in 1888, the letters went directly to his daughters. The Webenheim readers then kept the letter sent from Margaret in Illinois. The Webenheim and Beatrice news was sent to Illinois, and the round robin was completed. This was repeated again and again through the years.

As Margaret thought about composing her letter, she read once again the news from Beatrice and Webenheim. The letters were as precious as gold to her and read and reread many times. As the next reader in this round robin, Margaret was able to keep the letters from her sister in Beatrice. Initially these had been letters from her Mother Margaret and for the last 10 years letters from her sister, Catherine. These letters were among Margaret's most prize possessions.

Over the years Margaret developed an order in writing about the family in her letters. Margaret was a methodical woman and that showed in her style of writing and reporting about her family.

She always wrote about her brothers first. First she would report on Frederick Moschel and his family. Frederick lived the closest to them, and he and his second wife still had all four children at home. Brother Jacob Moschel lived on the farm next to Frederick, and he and his wife, Caroline, still had all six children at home as well. This made for a lot of first cousins for Margaret's children to grow up with which Margaret much appreciated. The first cousins also went to Pike Center school together. The school was a mile walk for Margaret's children, but it was only a half mile for Frederick's children and just across the road for Jacob's children. Not quite as close as the school in Webenheim had been, but still close.

Jacobina Moschel Sandmeyer

Next in Margaret's letters she reported on her first cousin, Jacobina Moschel Sandmeyer, who lived just catty corner from her brother Jacob's family and also just across from the Pike Center school. Margaret felt fortunate to have a female first cousin who had essentially made the same trek she had from Webenheim to the Peoria area to here. They were just three years apart in age, but the big difference was in the ages of their children. Jacobina's children were now all in their 30's. Jacobina's two middle sons lived and worked on the home farm. Jacobina's eldest, John Sandmeyer, lived 1½ miles down the road and almost across from Margaret's two oldest married children. John Sandmeyer's six children were already playing with Margaret's two grandchildren. This was good, Margaret thought, and they would all attend the same school, Hancock School. Margaret and Jacobina were as close as sisters now that Margaret's sister had moved to Beatrice and Jacobina's sisters did not live in the Chenoa area.

Next in Margaret's letters would be whatever news she might know about her first cousin Christian Moschel in Peoria. Margaret knew this would be of particular interest in Webenheim, but basically she left it to Christian to write to his own sisters in Webenheim. Margaret no longer went to the Peoria area, and it was best to write about what she knew best, her family in Chenoa.

Klein Family Circa 1900

Margaret devoted the longest part of her round-robin letters to her own family. She started with her married daughters, Katherine and Caroline (editor's note...if there were ever two overused names in one family, these are it, but try to keep up with the program). Caroline had married in 1888 to Louis Lommatsch, and then in 1892 daughter Katherine had married Theodore Lommatsch, brother to Louis. Well, let's all keep it in the family, an example set by their parents who had done the same. By 1896 both daughters had produced one child, making Margaret Moschel Klein and her husband John grandparents. In this letter Margaret had the antics of two grandchildren, ages 3 and 5, to discuss. The families lived on farms within a mile and a half of the grandparents.

After Margaret had covered all the details of her oldest married children, she turned her stories to the five unmarried children. These children were Anna, age 25; John D., 23, who was engaged to be married; Matilda, 20; August Carl, 18; and youngest was Amelia Margaret, 15. The sons both worked with their father on the farm and because it was the middle of summer, Margaret could write about the crops and how they were doing and contrast it with how she knew crops were raised in Germany. Margaret knew her Beatrice family would be interested in what farmers were doing in Illinois as well. She sprinkled the letter with many details of the spring planting, the heavy rains and heat and humidity up until now, and how they hoped the crops would turn out this year.

Her daughters, Anna and Matilda (or Tillie), were Margaret's right and left hands. They worked as hard or harder than she did and kept the house humming from day to night and were her daily support and help. She reported on their work and help and what these two young women did when they were not working with her.

Margaret usually ended her letters, this one being no exception, talking about Amelia Margaret, or Melia as the family called her. The youngest child often has a special place in a mother's heart, and Melia was no exception. Since the last letter Melia had graduated from 8th grade which was a symbol to the parents that one phase of their parenthood was over as most children at this time did not go on to high school. And now let's read the last part of this particular letter written by Margaret.

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Amelia Klein

"Last, let me tell you about Melia's school experiences. The last day of school was wonderful. We had a big Last Day of School picnic and everyone brought baskets of fried chicken, potato salad, and lots of desserts. The teacher had arranged for ice cream to be made on the school grounds. Awards were given and many students got perfect attendance for this past year, including Melia, I am pleased to say. She has been so healthy this past year. We had a day packed with lots of singing and recitations (Melia did quite well in reciting some verses in German I had taught her). Some of the students had written very funny prophecies for the graduating 8th graders and the everyone played games. A few days before the final picnic the 8th grade ceremonies had taken place. There were only two 8th graders besides Melia, but you would have been proud to see her accept her program and certificate. She's a very bright young lady and I'm proud of her and so is the rest of the family.

"I shall end this very long letter and just say again how much we miss all of you and how delighted I am to received news of your families. I know the Bauernfest is coming in Webenheim and will be eager to hear about it in the next letter to us. By the time you receive this letter in Beatrice my brothers out there might be husking and you will be supplying all the farmers with their wares.

Until I hear from you, our love and best wishes,

Margaret and family"

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All of Margaret and John Klein's children probably attended school. The Illinois General Assembly passed a compulsory attendance law in 1883. The law stated every child between the ages of 8 and 14 was compelled to send their children to school for at least 12 weeks in the school year. Also considering John Klein's accomplishments as listed in the Biographical Record of Livingston County in 1900, it seems likely he would have insisted his children be schooled.

John Klein

The Biographical Record, noted above, has this statement about John Klein, "He has taken a very active and influential part in public affairs, has been a delegate to many county, senatorial, congressional and state conventions, and has been honored with a number of important official positions, having served as township clerk fourteen years, supervisor two years, assessor two years, justice of the peace eight years, a member of the school board, and president and clerk of the district many years. In 1885 Mr. Klein and N. J. Myer and others established the Eppards Point Fire Insurance Company, and the former was made president, the latter secretary of the same."

Earlier the same piece states, "Our subject acquired a good practical education in the common schools of his native land, which he attended for eight years, but his knowledge of the English language has been self acquired."

We still have not solved the puzzle of whether or not John's wife, Margaret, our writer above, used English effectively in her adopted land. It seems fairly clear by the 1893 Plat Book of Pike Township that the children who attended the rural school where Margaret and John's children attended were mostly children of German emigrants. Was there bilingual education? Did the Klein children first learn English at school or from their father? It seems clear that German was the language used in the house. Did Margaret's children teach her whatever English she knew? Or her husband, John?

Anna Klein

One thing seems clear. The Kleins/Moschels were keeping their ties to the motherland. The third daughter of Margaret Moschel Klein and John Klein was Anna. She did not marry until 1916 when she was 45. Then Anna married George Moschel whose father was also born in Webenheim. The couple were also second cousins. This couple had no children but in 1939-40 they were the authors of the Moschel Family Record, the document which in many ways has kept the stateside Moschels linked to our German roots. In 1896 Anna Klein lived at home with her parents and unmarried siblings in Pike Township. By 1910 Anna's parents and sister Matilda lived in Chenoa, while Anna boarded in Pontiac and worked as a notions saleslady. In 1916 Anna married. We will follow Anna closely in the next scenes to see what might motivate her to document her German roots in print.

The evidence thus suggests that German influence was strong in the Margaret Moschel Klein and John Klein household. German language was the language used at home. In the next Chenoa scene we will learn that a German church is established in Chenoa with strong support from this family. Then after World War I and during the build up to World War II, a child of Margaret and John, Anna, documents their German roots along with her husband (and second cousin) in the Moschel Family Record. Clearly, Anna's upbringing was strongly influenced with the German culture. Look at the evidence. Anna's two German emigrant uncles lived on adjacent farms. A Webenheimer first cousin of her mother lived about a mile away. Anna was aware and cared about her Webenheim German roots although she never traveled to Germany.

How do these German families in America change during these times and the times which are to come. This is what keeps The Cousins Four going. For those that are reading along, we hope you enjoy the quest. We know we are.

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As a personal footnote, this particular piece is being written in the summer of 2002. A major event has happened in the evolution of the Moschels in American and those remaining in Germany. For the first time in many decades an American Moschel descendant visited personally with German Moschel descendants in June 2002 in Webenheim, Germany. The coming together had been fostered by cyberspace, and this, too, becomes a legacy of the story of the Moschels which we will examine in due course.