Daisies abounded at the July 1913 wedding, a wedding that
almost didn’t come off. The bride was sick, but the daisies had been picked.
The cow was butchered and though some of it needed cooking, much of the food
was ready. Sick or not, the wedding
couldn’t be postponed. How would guests be contacted? What would happen to all
that food? Flowers could always be picked again, but probably not the daisies.
The wedding went forward, but had there been colored
pictures in those days, the bride surely would have looked green. As it was,
she didn’t look over-joyed.
A.J. wanted to marry Mae and farm, however he had little
money and Mae was in mourning for her father. His brother lived near Rio
Creek where A.J. got a job in early July 1910, working with a crew of
carpenters and builders. March 1911 found him in Milwaukee seeking employment, gradually finding a job. His rooming house at 7th and Clybourn is now under the freeway interchange. Milwaukee was far away in those days and much of the courtship was via the mail.
Born in Sheboygan, A.J.was a child when his
parents moved to a farm near Carnot. As his siblings, A.J. had a remarkable musical
talent, being accomplished on the violin and on a number of brass instruments.
He and his brother Gus played with others in several brass bands, although
A.J. played singly or with another as a two-man band. One cold Tuesday night
in February 1912, A.J. and Charles Hoffman played for a surprise party in
honor of Mae's’ family friends Mr. and Mrs. Ed Raether. Though it was a
Tuesday, they played until midnight when the guests had a sumptuous lunch
before going home. No doubt all in attendance were in the barn or in their
usual place of work at the regular time the next morning! Morning came well
before 7 AM!
Two days before the Raether gathering there was a leap year party
at the home of Charlie and Edith Toppe who lived fairly close to the Raethers.
It was another surprise party, but this time in honor of Charlie and A.J.. Why?
Neither had a birthday. In an evening spent playing cards and dancing, A.J. furnished the music at his own surprise party. Throughout the year he worked a
job by day and played many evenings until 5 days before Christmas when he left
for Long Lake 5 days to spend the winter in a lumber camp in the north woods. There
was money to be made. Often Mae's’ guests included A.J.’s siblings in
addition to her friends and cousins, though he was seldom there. A.J. furnished
the music for so many parties and dances that one wonders how much Mae enjoyed the social events. It was just prior to their wedding when they began
spending more time together.
The paper mentioned the high esteem in which Mae was held.
It said nothing about A.J. Though he was a hard-working farmer, it almost
seemed as if it was felt she was marrying beneath her station. When Mae got
so sick a few days before her wedding, perhaps it was nerves and wondering if
she should go forward. But, the daisies were picked and the cow was butchered.
It was 1913 and to call off the wedding would have caused talk.
But, talk there was, though not with A.J. and Mae. There
were no daisies, but the Christmas tree was up and the trees that brought the
smiles also brought memories of another event that happened years earlier.
Just after Christmas the wife of a prominent businessman
disappeared. In a day before telephones, it was not easy to find out who might
have seen her. Her husband said she’d been complaining about pains in the head
and her friends said she was acting strangely for some time. Some wondered if
it was insanity and whether suicide was a possibility. Where was she? When
there was no sign of her, a group of men formed a search party, combing groves
of trees, along the river and the lake shore. But nothing. Then it was learned
that her clothing and other items were gone from her home. Folks realized she
was not dead but had left her husband, perhaps going to live with relatives in
another area of the state or maybe even Michigan.
Why would she have left?
Everybody knew her husband was a good provider. They lived in
comfortable circumstances in a well furnished home. She had a good name and
lived in high society. What could have happened?
About two months later everybody knew. Boys playing in a
school’s belfry found a bolt of sheeting and some other things. Somehow the
boys knew the woman had sometime before burned such items and brought the
articles to her husband’s attention. It was known that about $20 worth of goods
taken from the house was found secreted in that belfry. By whom and why? As it
turned out, the woman had a close association with one of the school teachers.
Searching the teacher’s trunk, Officer P.M. Simon found silverware and other
things including items of the woman’s clothing, some of which were expensive. It
didn’t take long before everybody knew just how close the association was!
Not long after the paper contained a legal Notice of
Attachment demanding payment for the found goods or the teacher’s property
would be sold. What happened after that? Anybody knowing with certainty kept it
to themselves. It was rumored the couple was together for awhile in Chicago but
he eventually went west and she remained alone.
Field daisies, Christmas trees…..
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